Skiving

UNIT 3 SKIVING
Structure
3.1 Introduction
Objectives

3.2 Purpose of Skiving

3.3 Types of Skiving
3.4 Tools Used
3.5 Types of Pressure Foot
3.6 Health and Safety
3.7 Summary
3.8 Key Words

3.1 INTRODUCTION
Skiving is the process of reduction of thickness of the material either from grain or flesh
side of material in order to aid and eases the various closing operations at different levels.
A layer of substance is removed under this process without hampering the existing
strength of the material. When we join or attach two components together without any
skiving, it doubles the substance and creates problems for next operations to perform
during shoe making and cause discomfort to wearer. Hence the importance of skiving can
be noticed and specified results could be achieved.
Objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to
• understand different types of skiving,
• make skiving specifications,
• know tools and machine required, and
• assess health and safety measures.
The skiving operation is required to perform to achieve various treatment in upper
closing like folding, back seam, attaching component together, cording, binding, bag top
line, French binding, etc. Different types of skiving are required to do different kinds of
operations. In case of leather, skiving operation is much easier to perform than on
synthetic material. The skiving is not being done on textile due to its nature and feel.
Skiving can be performed in following ways :
• Manual hand skiving
• Machine skiving
Hand Skiving
This skiving is normally done in small units to make uppers and samples, as they
cannot spend for skiving machine. Local shoe manufacturers are producing small
quantity of uppers and facing financial backlogs. Various tools and accessories are
used during this skiving are, Rampi, work stone and sharpening stone. This type of
skiving is mostly done on piece rate bases by the operatives and hence the quality
and material strength is needed to be check during skiving.

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Basics of Sewing

Manual Skiving by RAMPI

RAMPI and Work Stone

Other Tools for Manual Skving

Work Stone
This is used as a base during hand skiving. This is found in rectangle or
square shape with smooth and plane surface.

18 Work Stone
Sharpening Stone Skiving

This is found in rectangle shape and has smooth and coarse surfaces on its both
sides. The smooth surface is used for sharpening the tool and coarse is used for
leveling the scratchy edge before sharpening the tool.

Sharpening Stone

Oil Cane
The oil cane is used to contain oil during sharpening the edge and provides fine
sharpening after spreading it over the sharpening surface of the stone. The water
gives more or less same result as oil for lubricating the surface.

Machine Skiving
Hand skiving has limited scope and cannot be used for mass production in current
scenario in footwear industry. This makes the skiving work unsystematic and
requires more time and skill to perform it. This also decreases the productivity and
increases the operation cost. That is why the mechanization came into existence
and skiving becomes very convenient with the skiving machine.

A Process of Machine Skiving

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Basics of Sewing Two types of skiving machines are available in footwear industry are :
• Single-step Skiving Machine
• Three-step Skiving Machine
Single-step Skiving Machine
Single step skiving machine is called so because; mechanism allows only one type
of skiving at a time in one setting. The machine is having a cylinder arm with
attached platform allows space for the skived material after skiving. The machine
is installed on table and motor is fixed beneath, which is connected to the pulley
with the help of V-belt. The power is transmitted through V-belt to the machine
mechanism and starts functioning. Foot paddle is fixed under the table and pressed
for the necessary operation.

Figure 3.1 : Single Step Skiving Machine

The skiving machine makes the work easy and increases the productivity; hence it
is suitable for mass production in footwear industry. The different machine parts
involved to make the required skiving are :
• Pressure Foot
• Bell Knife
• Bottom Feed Roller
• Sharpening stone
• Skiving guide
• Top pressure adjusting assembly
• Front adjusting Knobs
• Side adjusting Knobs
• Top lever
There are various kinds of pressure foot exists in closing room to obtain different
kinds of skiving. The main function of the pressure foot is to press the material and
determine the width and angle of skiving been done. The material touching part of
pressure foot should be smooth and fine as it always touches the grain surface of
material and can damage the top surface in case of roughness or scratches on it.
Such scratch may damage the grain layer of material and cause rejection and
wastage. The design and shape of the pressure foot vary according to the type of
skiving required.
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 • Parallel shape of pressure foot is require for folding skiving (parallel Skiving

as per knife and roller).

• Flat fore part of pressure foot is require for raw edge and underlay
skiving (width and angle of skiving).
• Grooved in between the pressure foot is require to make grooved
skiving for pin tucking and cording purposes.
• Teflon material pressure foot or Teflon tape wrapped foot is used for
skiving on synthetic material and patent leather.

Pressure Foot

Bell Knife is called so because it is having a shape of bell.

Front View of Bell Knife

Bottom feed roller helps in feeding the material by gripping the flesh side of the
material without damaging it.
Sharpening stone is in round shape and used to sharpen the bell knife. The
surface of the stone is very fine and also required dressing during sharpening the
knife.

Sharpening Stone
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Basics of Sewing Skiving guide is fixed near the pressure foot and used to determine the skiving
width during skiving. It should be properly locked or unlocked during setting.

Guide

Top pressure adjusting assembly helps in setting the required pressure on

material to be skived. The top pressure is determined according to the skiving
required and thickness of the material.

Top
Pressure
Adjuster

Front adjusting knobs are situated in front part of the skiving machine and are two
in numbers. The first knob is connected with the sharpening stone and used to bring
it near the bell knife for sharpening. The second knob is connected with the bell
knife and allows the knife to move left or right side of pressure foot accordingly.

Sharpening
Bell Knife
Stone
Adjuster
Adjuster

Side adjusting knob is connected with the bottom feed roller assembly, which
allows to set distance between knife and feed roller according to the thickness of
the SCARF to be passes. Normally the minimum distance between the roller and
the bell knife should not be set less than 0.5 mm. This distance may vary
22 accordingly.
 Skiving

Side
Adjusting
Knobs

Top lever is connected with the top vertical pressure adjusting assembly and used
to lift the pressure foot during skiving according to the situation arises.
SAQ 1
(a) Explain different types of skiving.
(b) Describe various tools involved in manual skiving.
(c) Describe advantages and disadvantages of machine folding.

3.2 PURPOSE OF SKIVING

The purpose of skiving is to :
• Improve the appearance of the footwear, by removing any sort of bulkiness
caused by the overlapping of component or by joining of components.
• To make footwear more comfortable.
• To help in better adhesion.
• To make stitching operations much easier by reducing bulkiness.
• To aid construction during lasting.
• To reduce substance at edge to make turning over easier.
• Make entire area workable.
• When lining is inserted, to avoid the edge being bulky and uncomfortable.
• On bindings – to avoid the bound edge being bulky.

3.3 TYPES OF SKIVING

3.3.1 Raw Edge Skive
Open Raw Edge
• Open raw edge is used when the upper sections are to be left with raw edges,
especially on heavy leathers with/without any sort of edge treatment such as
gimping/punching/binding, to give a smooth and uniform finish/look along
the edge of the component and to remove loose fibers from the edge.
• The depth of skive is normally 1/3rd of the material thickness and width of
skive must not be more than the edge stitching distance, i.e. 1.5 -2 mm. 23
Basics of Sewing Closed Raw Edge
• Used in case of closed seams in order to give smooth and uniform finish by
removing excess bulkiness from the edges.
• A steep angle skive of 35 degrees is made, the width of which is
approximately 2-3 mm and depth is 2/3rd of the material thickness.
• Width and depth of skive could vary depending upon the material thickness
and strength.
• On thin and soft materials, there is no need to go for closed edge skives.
• Care must be taken not to affect the strength of the material.

Raw Edge Skiving

3.3.2 Folding Skive

It is necessary to remove the bulk so that the leather returns to its original thickness after
folding over.
Hollow Fold Skive
• Is done in case of heavy leathers.
• Depth of skive is half of the material thickness and width is usually twice
the folding margin plus 1mm roll over allowance.
Shallow/Wedge Fold Skive
• Is done in case of comparatively thin and soft leathers.
• Depth of skive tapers down at 35-degree angle leaving 1/3rd of material
thickness at the tapered edge and width is twice the folding margin.

Folding Skiving

Fold Skive for Bagged/Roll Top Edge

• It is done to give a smooth top line with no stitching visible.
• Skive is same as shallow/wedge fold skive.
• Enough substance must be left at the edge to hold the stitching.
• The lining must also be skived in a similar manner in order to eases the
folding operation before turning the lining.
Fold Skive for Blind/Invisible Seam

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 • Is done on components to give a folded appearance without the stitching Skiving

showing.
• The bottom component is underlay skived and the top component is
shallow/wedge fold skived for soft leathers and hollow skived for hard
leathers.
• Then the two components are stitched face-to-face, top component folded
over and stuck to the bottom component. Grain skiving is being done
sometimes in order to stick the surface while turning the component after
stitching.
3.3.3 Underlay Skive
Underlay Skive for Lapped Seams
• It is done on the bottom component where two components (top and bottom)
are to be stitched together by overlapping.
• It is done to avoid any bumps or ridges on the upper, which could cause
problems in stitching as well as print-through after lasting.
• These bumps also cause the uneven featheredge, uneven roughing and
leaves gapping during sole lying.
• Normally, underlay skive is done on the flesh side, but in case of unlined
footwear, it can be done on the grain side of the component, to give a better
appearance inside the footwear.
• Skiving depth must taper down gradually to the finest possible edge to
prevent a print-through after lasting.
• Skiving width must be 2-3 mm behind the stitch marking line/underlay
margin, so that at least the first row of stitching comes on full thickness of
both the materials, to give enough strength and durability to the seam.
Hence, it is necessary to do stitch marking before underlay skiving.

Under Lay Skiving

3.4 TOOLS USED

Rampi
It is used during manual skiving of cut components. This tool is mostly used in
sample making, as one or two pairs are been made during sampling. This tool is
mostly found in two categories are light and heavy RAMPI. The light Rampi is
used for the upper material skiving and heavy one is used for bottom component
skiving.
Sharpening Stone

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Basics of Sewing This is found in rectangle shape and used to sharpen the hand tool (Rampi). This
stone has two surfaces called top and bottom is used for leveling and sharpening
accordingly. The smooth side of the stone is used for final sharpening and coarse
side is used for leveling the scratchy edge of the tool before sharpening it.
Hand Brush
This is a normal brush and used to clean the passage used for dust and different
surfaces of the machine bed. During skiving scarf is coming off from the flesh side
of the material and stuck inside the various cavities exists with the mechanism.
Lubricant Oil
This oil is used as lubricants during sharpening the skiving tool and helps in proper
sharpening of the tool. This also prevents the metal surface from rusting.
Work Stone
This is used as a base for the skiving operation. This is found in square and
rectangle shape and has different dimensions according to the space available in
the closing room. The both top and bottom surfaces of the stone is found very
smooth, which helps in providing fine base for the skiving tools. It also used to
sharpen the edge of the tool during skiving.
Thickness Gauge
This tool is used to measure the thickness of the component before and after
skiving. This measures the material thickness in millimeters and to maintain its
accuracy level, it is calibrated accordingly.

Dressing Tool
This is a kind of tool, which enables the blunt stone to clean and sharpen its
surface, and makes it compatible to sharpen the bell knife during skiving. By
continuous use of sharpening stone, its edge becomes smooth and fine that is not
find suitable for sharpening the knife and hence it requires dressing.

Scale
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 The scale is found of steel and plastic and used to measure the skiving width, but it Skiving
can be replace by skiving width guides. These guides are pre-made according to
different skiving widths and distributes by supervisor to the skiving operator.
Emery Stone Stick
This stone is used to smoothen the sharp edge of bell knife. During smoothening
the edge, this stick is hold by the operator horizontally and placed to the edge from
inside of the mechanism.

SAQ 2
(a) Explain purpose of skiving.
(b) Describe various types of skiving found in closing room.

3.5 TYPES OF PRESSURE FOOT

Different types of pressure foots are required to obtain different kinds of skiving. These
foots are available in different sizes and shapes, depending upon the type of skiving to be
achieved. These foots are made of metal or Teflon material. The synthetic coating on the
surface of the material gets damaged due to heat created by the friction, which can be
eliminated by using Teflon pressure foot. This type of pressure foot has cool surface on
high temperature cause by the friction between pressure foot, knife, bottom feed roller
and material fibers. Following are the types of pressure foot required to perform different
skiving :
• For a splitting cut, use a wide pressure foot-maximum gives 50 mm skive
width. In this case the pressure foot must be parallel to the bottom feed
roller. The splitting cut is performed without using any guide.
• To obtain the fold skive use same pressure foot as above but a guide to be
fixed is needed to meet specified width of skive.
• To obtain the raw edge skive, different pressure foot is required, which has
fore part rising and back part down on its surface to get the specified width
and angle of skive. The width guide is set accordingly near the pressure foot.
• To obtain the underlay skive, same pressure foot is required used as above,
which has fore part rising and back part down on its surface to get the
specified width and angle of skive. The width guide is set accordingly near
the pressure foot.
• Pressure roller is also used for skiving thicker and coated materials like
Thermoplastic and heavy leathers.

3.6 HEALTH AND SAFETY

(i) Set and check the rotary parts of the machine before switch on the machine.
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Basics of Sewing (ii) Scrap should be collected in metal bins.
(iii) Belt guard should be in place.
(iv) While sharpening the knife care should be taken so that scrap do not catch
fire due to sparkles.
(v) Work area must be kept tidy.
(vi) Never use hand to remove jammed material, use a brush or stick.
(vii) Wear specified mask during skiving.
(viii) Wear specified glass during dressing and sharpening.
(ix) Use finger guard during skiving.
(x) Use appropriate footwear and apron.
(xi) Know your fire drill.
(xii) Inform your superior in case of any events.
(xiii) Keep your tools and accessories in reachable place.
SAQ 3
(a) Explain the purpose of pressure foot.
(b) Describe various types of pressure foot used in skiving machine.
(c) Describe health and safety measures to be followed during skiving.

3.7 SUMMARY
Skiving is the process of reduction of thickness from grain or flesh side of material in
order to aid and ease the various closing operations at different levels. A layer of
substance is removed under this process without hampering the existing strength of the
material. When we join or attach two components together without any skiving, it
doubles the substance and becomes inconvenient for next operations to perform during
shoe making. Hence, the importance of skiving can be noticed and specified results could
be achieved. Different types of skiving are performed over the components as per the
given specifications and it could be done manually or by machine. Different tools are
used and safety measures are followed during skiving. The skiving operation is required
to perform to achieve various treatment in upper closing like folding, back seam,
attaching component together, cording, binding, bag top line, French binding, etc. Raw
edge, underlay and folding skiving are three types used in upper making. Manual skiving
is normally done for the sampling and machine skiving is preferred during production.
Different types of pressure foots are used during machine skiving are available in
different sizes and shapes. These foots are generally made of metal or Teflon material as
per the requirement.

3.8 KEY WORDS

Bag Top Line : It is a kind of edge treatment given on top line of
28 shoe upper.
Cording : It is a kind of decorative treatment given on the Skiving

vamp of shoe upper.

French Binding : It is a kind of edge treatment given on top line or
other edges of shoe upper components.
Veldtschoen Construction : One of the shoe construction, where lasting margin
is turned outside instead of inside.

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