Sorry, Martin … I still don’t know

One thought though : If you don’t know its function; what makes you assume that it is a ‘Leather Rolling Machine’

MichaelG.’

Googling Shoemakers leather rolling machine threw up quite a few hits.

Hello Martin,

Hope the restoration goes well. Watch working with Greenheart though, I'm told slinters can easily go septic.

Hi Martin, well that's scrubbed up very nicely.

Regards Nick.

Well Martin bought it and if I had been at the auction I may well have bid.

Andrew.

P.S. In my neck of the woods, there are quite a few saddlers. They may have been interested too.

Hi Martin, if you don’t know by now the use of this machine, I could give you a explanation. I just sold a machine like that, different model.

Greetings, HP

Slight digression: chap I knew had a company making leather seals. Slitting leather into thinner sheets is called ‘skiving’, so he employed several skivers. I wonder how it came to be associated with being lazy

I had one of these ,but sold it years ago. Never knew its use, but leather roller makes sense. I am pretty sure the rollers were quite heavily textured for grip (?) so I think polishing them was a mistake.

Hi all, regarding the mentioned leather rolling machine.

This is a machine used by shoemakers. Traditionally the veg tan leather for the insoles(not a slip-in insole, but the actual foundation of the shoe, as the uppers were sewn to this insole) and the outsoles were soaked in water, then wrapped in cloth/paper allowing the moisture to penetrate the leather but absorbing all excess. Once the leather was damp but not soggy, maybe next day, the pieces of leather would be hammered on a stone slab, starting from the centre and working your way to the edges. Hence the wide face of the shoe hammer. This would compress but more importantly pre stretch the fibres. While still damp, the insole would be nailed to the last, a few nails in the middle and nails all around the edge of the last. Now the leather was allowed to dry, the outer ring of nails preventing the insole from shrinking together again. This process was important  to prevent premature stretching out of shape of the shoe once the shoe was worn. The same was done with the outsole, except this time it was sewn to the welt while the leather was still damp. The above leather mangle is doing that job. The bottom concave brass roller turns faster than the convex steel roller at top. There is pressure on the leather and a certain amount of drag, which helps to stretch the leather. A 6 mm outsole has quite a bit of resistance. Yes, the rollers should be smooth.

Hi Duncan

An explanation I had for ‘skiving’ meaning lazy, was that skiving (as you say the process of thinning leather) was a very easy task in the shoe making industry compared to the other tasks.  So as skivers had an easier day than the other workers, the name became associated with lazy people.

Alan