SKIVIING :- To reduce the thickness from the edge or Cutting at an Angle on the Edge of a Piece of Leather to

Reduce the Thickness.

The purpose of skiving is to: Improve the appearance of the footwear, by removing any sort of bulkiness caused by the over lapping 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.
Incorrect skiving not only reduces the quality of the upper but also reduces
the life of the footwear. It accounts for high re-work and rejection rate.
Whatever of the purpose and importance of skiving, this operation has
been practiced even before the advent of the machines. It was done
manually, with the help of a hand skiving knife.
Whatever process may be used for skiving, the principles of skiving
remain the same. The reduction of material is mostly on the flesh side but
in some cases, the grain surface may also be skived.
TYPES OF SKIVING: SKIVING

Raw Edge Skive

Open raw edge

Folding Skive Underlay skive

Close raw edge

Hollow

Shallow

OPEN RAW EDGE:1. Open raw edge is used when the upper sections are to be left
with raw edge, especially on heavy leathers with/without any
short 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
2. The depth of the skive is normally 1/3rd of the material thickness
and width of skive must not be more than edge stitching
distance, i.e., 1.5-2.00 mm.

CLOSE RAW EDGE: Used in case of closed seams in order to give smooth and uniform finish by removing excess bulkiness from
the edges.
Angle of the skive is 35*degree.
Width of the skive is 2-3mm and depth is 2/3rd of the material thickness.
Width and depth of the skive could vary depending upon the material thickness and strength.
On thin and soft materials, there is no need to go for closed edge skive.
Care must be taken not to affect the strength of the material.

FOLDING SKIVING:It is necessary to remove the bulk so that the leather returns to its original
thickness after folding over. Folding skiving is of two types:1. HOLLOW FOLD SKIVE: Is done in case of heavy leathers.
Depth of skive is half of the material thickness.
Width is usually twice the folding margin plus 1mm roll over
allowance.

2. SHALLOW FOLD SKIVE: Is done in case of soft leather.

For this, width of the skive is twice the folding margin.
Skiving depth tapers down at 35* angle leaving 1/3rd of the material thickness at the tapered edge.

UNDERLAY SKIVE: 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 on the upper, which could cause problems in stitching as well as print-through
after lasting.
Normally, underlay skive is done on the flesh side, but in case of unlined footwear/blind seam, 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 material, to give enough strength and durability to the seam.
Hence, it is necessary to do stitch marking before underlay skiving.