How To Sharpen A Cheap Skiving Knife

Can you take a $20 Amazon skiving knife and put a decent edge on it?
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[@hamptonconsultants4815]

Great video. This is the kind of content beginners like myself need to see. I’ve been crafting with leather since 1978. 🙂

[@sleavesleather]

Thanks! Ummm…. 1978 and you still call yourself a beginner?! I’d say at least “seasoned pro”. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@hamptonconsultants4815]

@@sleavesleather when you think you are to the point you can’t learn anymore you need to reevaluate your ego and your skills.

[@sleavesleather]

Totally agree, I’ve only been at this for a few years now - while I have some knowledge to share I still have much more to learn!

[@CyCrowFPV]

Really good to see that it can be improved. I have the same knife but haven't used it long enough for it to be overly damaged yet. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos. - Subbed!

[@sleavesleather]

Hey Chris!! Thank you for the comment and for subscribing. Happy to hear you found this useful. I’ve been using this skiver for almost a week now after sharpening and it still works as good as it did at the end of the video.

[@geoffreyboyling615]

I have one of those knives I scraped and sanded off the red paint from the handle to reveal the wood, which has quite an attractive grain, and now it is more comfortable to hold I sharpened the edge on progressively finer oil stones to remove & grind out the tiny secondary bevel to make one bevel about 5mm long; by hand without using a honing guide, then followed it with a strop It has turned out surprisingly well, very sharp, and has become one of my favourite knives, for both cutting and skiving

[@sleavesleather]

So many people still think just because it’s a $12 skiving knife there’s no way it can work. I agree that better steel will hold an edge for longer and may last for years with regular use and proper maintenance but you could buy 5 of these for the price of one high end knife and have them last nearly as long!

[@JohnClothier]

that was really interesting!

[@sleavesleather]

Thanks John! Happy to see you’re still around 👍

[@lweismann]

A good technique tip: Go both directions when sharpening on stone or steel. Only Pull back when stropping.

[@sleavesleather]

Thank you for the tip!

[@gm_fatboy]

I have this Amazon "skiving" knife. Yesterday I spent almost 1 hour sharpening it and skive a piece of leather, but it doesn't work well at all. Of course, I didn't know the right way and used only leather strop with green compound, but still, I'm not happy. I don't wanna spend more money to buy one more sharpening/honing set and just think about buying a pro or almost a pro skiver. Could you recommend not a very expensive skiving knife? Thanks.

[@sleavesleather]

I’ve never searched for one, I’m actually still using this same one. If I were to buy a new one, at a reasonable price. I’d look on Etsy, there are some really amazing knife makers on there that offer some great skiving knife options. I’d also reach out to the leather suppliers, most of them will have tools available and would be able to offer options in your price range.

[@gregsmith284]

Push hedge when you sharpen and drag it when you strop

[@sleavesleather]

Thanks! I’ve learned this since the video, even better skiver now!

[@alxhiding]

the problem is that your angle is way off. there is a better tool for this job specifically for skiving knives made by nattools, gets you a better angle than that. but it's not necessary, just doing it by hand will produce a better result due to better angle. also way too much polishing compound

[@sleavesleather]

Works great after the work I did in this video. I appreciate the insight though.

[@littlegirllost2654]

Bought one, OMG dull as crap and I use one a lot

[@sleavesleather]

Have you tried to sharpen and polish it? I’m still using this same one from the video.

[@achadhaamoratsim7098]

Why not test it by actually trying to skive instead of slicing?

[@sleavesleather]

Skiving, cutting - they both show how sharp the blade is… didn’t think it mattered.

[@achadhaamoratsim7098]

I’ve found that it takes a much sharper edge to solve than to cut.

[@sleavesleather]

Care to share your KZbin channel?

[@ianknight2053]

I would have preferred to see you actually skiving with it.

[@sleavesleather]

I appreciate the feedback.