French Skiving Knife

The French skiving knife, often called a French edger, is a small tool with a curved, notch-like cutting edge set into a wooden or metal handle. Rather than slicing all the way through leather, it's built to shave a controlled layer off the surface — thinning a section down so it folds more easily, or feathering the edge of a piece so two layers overlap without creating a noticeable step. It can also gouge a shallow channel and countersink the area around a rivet head so it sits flush.

This makes it especially useful in bag and wallet making, where straps, gussets, and folded corners need to be thinned before stitching or gluing so the finished piece doesn't end up bulky at the seams.

How to use it

1. Rest the tool against the edge or surface you want to thin, with the notch riding along the leather.
2. Push the tool forward in short, controlled strokes — French edgers cut on the push, unlike a knife pulled toward the body.
3. Control depth by how far in from the edge you position the blade; shallow passes remove less material per stroke and are easier to keep even.
4. Work in several light passes rather than trying to remove all the thickness in one pass, which is more likely to gouge or catch.

Care

Strop the edge regularly the same way you would a knife blade; a well-maintained French edger holds its edge for a long time and rarely needs full resharpening. Because the cutting geometry is a small notch rather than a flat blade, sharpening it does take a bit more care than a straight edge — many crafters send these out to a specialist rather than attempting it freehand.