If I want to panel skive 2mm leather down to 0.5mm, what's the best notch to use with the perpendicular tension comb? I see many people just leaving it on the second notch. However, a lot of professional Japanese leather workers seem to use the fourth or fifth notch.
Hi Pequod Express, The answer to this would depend on the softness of the leather, whether you are using a roller foot or not and a few other factors. For most soft to medium temper leathers I would use a roller presser foot as this reduces the tendency for the leather to bunch up as it gets pulled into the bell cutting edge. That said I would generally run the softest spring pressure I can as this also reduces the tendency for the leather to get overly compressed as it feeds into the bell. If soft leather gets overly compressed it tends to cut up and down into the leather and at times even cuts right through the leather.
Does it matter whether the stone grinds the knife from the top of the bevel towards the knife edge, right to left, or vice versa? I find that sometimes marker ink gets removed right to left and at other times left to right.
No not really because the first time you sharpen it will sharpen the back side of the bevel on the right and every other time after that when you advance the knife forward. It would be pretty rare to see the sharpening start from the left of the bell though because that should only happen if you took the blade backward for some reason. Some suggest doing that to have a double bevelled edge but I think they don't have a clue myself.
@@wildharry3203 I've read about the double beveled edge and don't want to complicate things. I just want to sharpen when necessary. I don't want to be fiddling with too many parameters. When my knife was new it seemed to sharpen from left to right. As it has begun to wear, I've noticed that when I do a long tuning grind with marker ink, the grind is right to left. This is making me think my periodic 10-second flash touch-up grinds may be doing nothing to the edge. I thought I had had sharpening down. Then when experimenting with splitting 0.9mm Salamander down to 0.3mm, I realized what I thought was a sharp knife edge indeed was not. Thanks for all your help. You have helped me dial in this machine.
@@pequodexpress You may find a few more answers on this forum I frequently post stuff called Leatherworker.net. I am known there as RockyAussie. This is a link to where I shared some of this information - leatherworker.net/forum/topic/100825-how-to-use-a-bell-skiver-video-1/
Hi Peggy Gibson, I think what you are calling a brush is the stone dressing tool where I am cleaning the sharpening stone. You should be able to get one from The Cowboy sewing machine dealership over there. Another good alternative that I prefer is a diamond tip dressing tool which most engineering supply shops have.
Hi Pauline, The sharpening stone is just the normal one that comes with this Cowboy machine. At the end of the sharpening I back off the sharpening so that it is only lightly grinding. After that a few very slow runs with some leather cleans up any fine burrs left on the bell edge.
![ค้าง (STILL) - GEMINI [ OFFICIAL MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ftxx3hk5vkU/mqdefault.jpg)
Great advice cheers Brian 🙏🍻
If I want to panel skive 2mm leather down to 0.5mm, what's the best notch to use with the perpendicular tension comb? I see many people just leaving it on the second notch. However, a lot of professional Japanese leather workers seem to use the fourth or fifth notch.
Hi Pequod Express, The answer to this would depend on the softness of the leather, whether you are using a roller foot or not and a few other factors. For most soft to medium temper leathers I would use a roller presser foot as this reduces the tendency for the leather to bunch up as it gets pulled into the bell cutting edge. That said I would generally run the softest spring pressure I can as this also reduces the tendency for the leather to get overly compressed as it feeds into the bell. If soft leather gets overly compressed it tends to cut up and down into the leather and at times even cuts right through the leather.
@@wildharry3203 Thank you for your very thorough explanation, the best I've come across on the topic.
Does it matter whether the stone grinds the knife from the top of the bevel towards the knife edge, right to left, or vice versa? I find that sometimes marker ink gets removed right to left and at other times left to right.
No not really because the first time you sharpen it will sharpen the back side of the bevel on the right and every other time after that when you advance the knife forward. It would be pretty rare to see the sharpening start from the left of the bell though because that should only happen if you took the blade backward for some reason. Some suggest doing that to have a double bevelled edge but I think they don't have a clue myself.
@@wildharry3203 I've read about the double beveled edge and don't want to complicate things. I just want to sharpen when necessary. I don't want to be fiddling with too many parameters.
When my knife was new it seemed to sharpen from left to right. As it has begun to wear, I've noticed that when I do a long tuning grind with marker ink, the grind is right to left. This is making me think my periodic 10-second flash touch-up grinds may be doing nothing to the edge.
I thought I had had sharpening down. Then when experimenting with splitting 0.9mm Salamander down to 0.3mm, I realized what I thought was a sharp knife edge indeed was not.
Thanks for all your help. You have helped me dial in this machine.
@@pequodexpress You may find a few more answers on this forum I frequently post stuff called Leatherworker.net. I am known there as RockyAussie. This is a link to where I shared some of this information - leatherworker.net/forum/topic/100825-how-to-use-a-bell-skiver-video-1/
Thanks for this video! What kind of brush are you using to clean the stone? Where might I find one in the US? Thanks again. :)
Hi Peggy Gibson, I think what you are calling a brush is the stone dressing tool where I am cleaning the sharpening stone. You should be able to get one from The Cowboy sewing machine dealership over there. Another good alternative that I prefer is a diamond tip dressing tool which most engineering supply shops have.
Hello ducky 👋🏻👋🏻 how can you make that knive so clean after grinding, what kind of grinder do you use?
Hi Pauline, The sharpening stone is just the normal one that comes with this Cowboy machine. At the end of the sharpening I back off the sharpening so that it is only lightly grinding. After that a few very slow runs with some leather cleans up any fine burrs left on the bell edge.