Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>
> Joe Bender-Zanoni wrote:
> >
> > That looks very nice indeed. What did you use to cut the leather and skive
> > (is that right?) the edges?
>
> Personally, I like to trim the nose and the rear edge with a single
> edged razor. I always lay white tape down to see where the cut is going
> to go so I can get the right distance from the rivets, a nice smooth
> curve, etc.
>
> The Swift happens to come with the lower flap edges already chamfered (I
> usually correct the little "factory" bobbles so it is more uniform).
> But the B.17s that I have modified came without the chamfered flap edges
> (a Brooks economizing move) so I used the tool second down from the top
> in the picture. This tool (I don't know the proper name) puts a uniform
> chamfer in the edge of the leather without the danger of going to deep
> by accident. The tool at the top is a skiver, which I never have found
> a use for when modifying saddles. The three lower tools in the photo
> are all for putting different amounts of radius in the cut edge of the leather.
>
> Leather tools photo:
> http://www.velo-retro.com/
Calvert Guthrie sent the following about the proper name of the tool: "FYI: We called this a French edger or chamfering tool. In Britan (and occasionally here) it is known as a skirt edger"
I'm partial to English term: skirt edger! Like in, "Eh Guvnor, you're a right Skirt Edger you are, wink wink nod nod."
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA
.