Leather splitter - make your own
Leather splitter
make your own.
As some of you know, I enjoy making sheaths for my tools and when ever I need to make leather thinner, it has been a challenge, I have used knifes and sometimes my thickness sander attachment for my oscillating sander. The other day I stumbled across a picture of a small splitter, that a guy called Miro had made and figured that I needed to make one my self, so I searched the gigantic world wide web, found out there were loads of models, but most of them were too much DIY for my taste.
This is what it ended up looking like.
First step was to try and figure out how it worked, sketch it up on paper, decide on some dimensions, find scraps of wood that could be used, also I took the decision to make it a project anyone with basic woodworking skills and a table saw could build, so no metal parts or fancy details, finally it was just to get going.
Here a video of how the splitter worked after I build it.
(I'm still struggling when I need to put videos in LJ, now the picture stays small).
Press HERE to go to Youtube.
Lets start building:
Starting with the lever mechanism, that sets how thick the leather will be.
Sawing some 9mm plywood into 33mm wide strips.
Decided to go for 120mm long just because I liked the number, at this point I had only a sketch of the concept, so I had to wing it.
Three pieces cut to same length.
Since I had now decided the inside width of the splitters case, I could cut some 15mm plywood, for the base and sides of the case, took a decision to make it 20cm long, as this was a nice round number…
Main parts made, we have a case and a lever.
To make it stronger, I also made a cross bar, wanted to make sure the lever was rigid, so the leather will be thinned equally.
This should be rigid.
I could have used hard wood dowel, for the levers leather support, but I had a piece of aluminium rood so that was cut to size with a hack saw.
Also found some wood dowel for the case, where it will push the leather down, to make it cut even.
A piece od hardwood, to make a blade support.
App 30° split on the table saw.
This should be sturdy enough to hold the blade firmly in place.
Gluing the lever.
Brat nails and screws.
We got a lever thingy…
A small jig.
Made to fit the lever, to drill holes on the sides for the aluminium leather support rod.
Marking position.
Now possible to drill down the center, with out the drill bit is walking off.
Dead center.
Same for the other side.
Quite pleased.
Marking the aluminium rod.
With a punch, for drilling.
A ride in the drill press.
Drill and countersink.
Pre drill holes in lever arm and screw it in place.
Next step was to attach the lever, to the case.
The challenge was to figure out where the pivot point should be… After some thoughts, a cup of coffee, trying to imagine and making small tests, I went for it.
80mm in from the end.
Placed the lever in the center, so there were 40mm in each end.
Back end.
To find the position, it was put on some ply scraps, here 12mm, but these were too low in my tast.
So they were replaced with 15mm, before drilling.
So I opted for a wee higher, 30mm again a nice round number.
Found my cabinet joining screws.
Sanded two of them a wee down in length, so they would fit in the project.
Just a little under 9+15mm.
Drilling through case and lever, on the pivot point.
Here you can see the 15mm spacers and the lever screws are being mounted.
Then screwed in from the outside.
The lever can now pivot.
Up, to make leather thinner.
Down, to make it thicker.
This makes it possible to find the position for the blade holder.
The blade is straight over the center of the rod, at the thickness I expect to use most.
Cutting some rabbets to give the blade holder a fixed sturdy position.
Like this.
Blade holder can be screwed in place, but not yet glued.
Like this.
Blade position.
But I might need something better that painters tape to hold it…
Yes, hardwood.
Cut down to a thickness I liked.
45° cut.
That looks fair and solid.
Yeps that's fine.
Marking up for screws.
Just went for the same as the lever rod screws.
Routing long holes for the screws.
Marking.
Drilling with 5mm drill bit.
Giving the hole a 6mm thread.
This will make it stronger.
Countersink on the underside.
6mm bolt screwed and glued with epoxy.
That should stay for ever.
Blade holder back in place.
Blade clamp on top.
Washers and wingnuts.
This was where I discovered, that there were a small difference between the to sides….
So a small washer was put under the left side of the lever aluminium rod, to even out.
Now totally even.
A happy monkey here.
Notice I made a small cut in the sides of the blade clamp, so it can move forward to give maximum support to the blade.
Open up.
All open…
Let's test it, before we go on.
Pulling.
Works like a charm, easy as noting…
To control the lever arms position I made a star knob on my star knob jig.
I kind of like these.
Drilling a hole…
And a bigger one to hold a bolt in place…
Figuring out the length of the bolt.
Sawing it to length.
I love my new MFT3 vice holder.
The bolt also got a washer and a nut.
Adjusted all the way down to lowest setting.
Where the mouth is closed up on the cutter.
As you screw the star knob, the mouth opens up.
Adding a pair of springs, to hold it down.
The fact that it's springy makes it possible to start the cut.
Sprigs attached to lever.
Last step is to drill holes for the hold down rod.
And put in the rod.
This will feed the leather so the cut becomes even and the blade can't dig in.
Less is more.
Time to test it.
Opening lever and feeding a leather strop.
Close it up to the thickness you want, using the star knob.
Pull from the back.
Sexy shavings will occur…
Woodworking nerd doing leather shavings.
T finish it up, you turn the strap around and feed other end.
Close up.
Pull.
Sexy shavings.
Thinned leather and shaving.
This was where I made a video recording arm, to hold my mobile, so I could make the video, laugh.
Less really is more.
Writing the info.
Job done, I'm now the happy owner of a leather splitter, this will make life easier and give new opportunities, when working in leather.
Hmmmmm perhaps it's time to put up some of all the leather sheath making stuff I have on the hard drive.
Too many projects, too little time to get it posted. Big smile.
I decided to share this one in a more easy way, so I made a drawing of it, with all the measures you will need to build one your self, like this I can contribute a wee bit, to Miro who gave the inspiration for me to build it.
A special thank you to Miro, who ever you are out there on the gigantic www.
Hope it can be to some inspiration, or even better some tools.
Best thoughts,
MaFe
Leather splitter
make your own.
As some of you know, I enjoy making sheaths for my tools and when ever I need to make leather thinner, it has been a challenge, I have used knifes and sometimes my thickness sander attachment for my oscillating sander. The other day I stumbled across a picture of a small splitter, that a guy called Miro had made and figured that I needed to make one my self, so I searched the gigantic world wide web, found out there were loads of models, but most of them were too much DIY for my taste.
This is what it ended up looking like.
First step was to try and figure out how it worked, sketch it up on paper, decide on some dimensions, find scraps of wood that could be used, also I took the decision to make it a project anyone with basic woodworking skills and a table saw could build, so no metal parts or fancy details, finally it was just to get going.
Here a video of how the splitter worked after I build it.
(I'm still struggling when I need to put videos in LJ, now the picture stays small).
Press HERE to go to Youtube.
Lets start building:
Starting with the lever mechanism, that sets how thick the leather will be.
Sawing some 9mm plywood into 33mm wide strips.
Decided to go for 120mm long just because I liked the number, at this point I had only a sketch of the concept, so I had to wing it.
Three pieces cut to same length.
Since I had now decided the inside width of the splitters case, I could cut some 15mm plywood, for the base and sides of the case, took a decision to make it 20cm long, as this was a nice round number…
Main parts made, we have a case and a lever.
To make it stronger, I also made a cross bar, wanted to make sure the lever was rigid, so the leather will be thinned equally.
This should be rigid.
I could have used hard wood dowel, for the levers leather support, but I had a piece of aluminium rood so that was cut to size with a hack saw.
Also found some wood dowel for the case, where it will push the leather down, to make it cut even.
A piece od hardwood, to make a blade support.
App 30° split on the table saw.
This should be sturdy enough to hold the blade firmly in place.
Gluing the lever.
Brat nails and screws.
We got a lever thingy…
A small jig.
Made to fit the lever, to drill holes on the sides for the aluminium leather support rod.
Marking position.
Now possible to drill down the center, with out the drill bit is walking off.
Dead center.
Same for the other side.
Quite pleased.
Marking the aluminium rod.
With a punch, for drilling.
A ride in the drill press.
Drill and countersink.
Pre drill holes in lever arm and screw it in place.
Next step was to attach the lever, to the case.
The challenge was to figure out where the pivot point should be… After some thoughts, a cup of coffee, trying to imagine and making small tests, I went for it.
80mm in from the end.
Placed the lever in the center, so there were 40mm in each end.
Back end.
To find the position, it was put on some ply scraps, here 12mm, but these were too low in my tast.
So they were replaced with 15mm, before drilling.
So I opted for a wee higher, 30mm again a nice round number.
Found my cabinet joining screws.
Sanded two of them a wee down in length, so they would fit in the project.
Just a little under 9+15mm.
Drilling through case and lever, on the pivot point.
Here you can see the 15mm spacers and the lever screws are being mounted.
Then screwed in from the outside.
The lever can now pivot.
Up, to make leather thinner.
Down, to make it thicker.
This makes it possible to find the position for the blade holder.
The blade is straight over the center of the rod, at the thickness I expect to use most.
Cutting some rabbets to give the blade holder a fixed sturdy position.
Like this.
Blade holder can be screwed in place, but not yet glued.
Like this.
Blade position.
But I might need something better that painters tape to hold it…
Yes, hardwood.
Cut down to a thickness I liked.
45° cut.
That looks fair and solid.
Yeps that's fine.
Marking up for screws.
Just went for the same as the lever rod screws.
Routing long holes for the screws.
Marking.
Drilling with 5mm drill bit.
Giving the hole a 6mm thread.
This will make it stronger.
Countersink on the underside.
6mm bolt screwed and glued with epoxy.
That should stay for ever.
Blade holder back in place.
Blade clamp on top.
Washers and wingnuts.
This was where I discovered, that there were a small difference between the to sides….
So a small washer was put under the left side of the lever aluminium rod, to even out.
Now totally even.
A happy monkey here.
Notice I made a small cut in the sides of the blade clamp, so it can move forward to give maximum support to the blade.
Open up.
All open…
Let's test it, before we go on.
Pulling.
Works like a charm, easy as noting…
To control the lever arms position I made a star knob on my star knob jig.
I kind of like these.
Drilling a hole…
And a bigger one to hold a bolt in place…
Figuring out the length of the bolt.
Sawing it to length.
I love my new MFT3 vice holder.
The bolt also got a washer and a nut.
Adjusted all the way down to lowest setting.
Where the mouth is closed up on the cutter.
As you screw the star knob, the mouth opens up.
Adding a pair of springs, to hold it down.
The fact that it's springy makes it possible to start the cut.
Sprigs attached to lever.
Last step is to drill holes for the hold down rod.
And put in the rod.
This will feed the leather so the cut becomes even and the blade can't dig in.
Less is more.
Time to test it.
Opening lever and feeding a leather strop.
Close it up to the thickness you want, using the star knob.
Pull from the back.
Sexy shavings will occur…
Woodworking nerd doing leather shavings.
T finish it up, you turn the strap around and feed other end.
Close up.
Pull.
Sexy shavings.
Thinned leather and shaving.
This was where I made a video recording arm, to hold my mobile, so I could make the video, laugh.
Less really is more.
Writing the info.
Job done, I'm now the happy owner of a leather splitter, this will make life easier and give new opportunities, when working in leather.
Hmmmmm perhaps it's time to put up some of all the leather sheath making stuff I have on the hard drive.
Too many projects, too little time to get it posted. Big smile.
I decided to share this one in a more easy way, so I made a drawing of it, with all the measures you will need to build one your self, like this I can contribute a wee bit, to Miro who gave the inspiration for me to build it.
A special thank you to Miro, who ever you are out there on the gigantic www.
Hope it can be to some inspiration, or even better some tools.
Best thoughts,
MaFe