2022

Wilbur's Leather Splitter

Wilbur's Restored Leather Splitter

In April I restored my grandfather, Wilbur Mixson’s, leather splitter. A hundred years ago my grandfather made his own leather and leather items including the one I most remember, bull whips.   It was rather odd how I came into possession of the leather splitter.  A distant cousin, Jerome Feaster, contacted me on face book asking if I wanted my grandfather’s leather splitter and sent me a photo of it.  I had no idea what a leather splitter was. much less that my grandfather owned one but if it belonged to my grandfather then I, yes, I wanted it, I told Jerome. I have known Jerome FeasterFE012 my whole life, he is of the grandsons of Mary Telula Mixson836, my grandfather’s oldest sister, and Jacob Wesley Feaster.  Jerome, a few years older me, I would see on occasion when he visited my grandparents or some family gathering like the annual Feaster-Mixson family reunion.  Jerome explained that sometime after Grandpa had died, Grandma had giving him the leather splitter which had been sitting in his old family barn over fifty years.

Jeroome on his horse*

After a brief chat with Jerome we arranged a time for me to come out to his farm and pick up the leather splitter.  I had see Jerome several times in the past few years, at the county farm festival, riding his horse on the side of the road after the Micanopy parade, and more than one funeral including Dad’s.  Jerome house sits on part of the old Feaster homestead which is a few miles from my grandparent’s farm and the old Mixson farmstead which uncle Jimmy still lives on.   I drove down the country road with memories of the past, the Yawn’s lived there, the Becks lived over there, the Feasters lived here as I turn down the dirt road leading to Jerome’s house. 

I pull up to the house, park my car by the fence, and as I get out I see Jerome in the garden so I walk over to him and he shows me his garden and offers me some of the kale and collard greens he has grown. He cuts off a couple heads which I graciously accept and put on the hood of the car as we exit the garden gate and follow him over to his barn.

Jerom waving rope at cattle drive*

Jerome is quite a character, seeming to have one foot in the past and the other in the present. Living on the old family farmstead that has been divided amongst children and then grandchildren, Jerome has not gone far from his roots.  He no longer drives a car due to some medical condition, he explains, but he gets around on his trusty horse that is now in the pasture next to the barn.  I’ve seen him a few times riding his horse down the side of the country roads, and then again at the Marion County Farmland Preservation Festival which he is a strong supporter of.  Then there is the mock cattle drive in which many of the locals gather on their horses and reenact a cattle drive from times of long ago.  

Leather splitter in orginial condition

We approach the barn, it is a simple thing, several bays of post and beams covered with a tin roof, and head to the bay which is filled with farm implements and a work bench covered with rusty tools and various items, some of which I recognize, some I do not.  Jerome points to a rusted hunk of cast iron about fourteen inches tall sitting on the bench, “There it is he says.”  I look it over, and interesting looking contraption, various knobs and a crank on one side.  Jerome explains how it works, you feed a strip of whole leather into it, turning the crank which then splits the top grain portion of the leather off from the lower quality corium or split layer that suede is made from.  “You want it?” Jerome asks and I say, “Sure.”  It belonged to my grandfather, sure I wanted it although not sure what I would do with it.

Jerome's Model A

After talking a few more minutes I mentioned that I heard he had a Model A Ford truck which he confirms he does, asks if I want to see it and I say I do and he leads me over to a shed next to the barn and shows me the old truck which he explains his grandfather had bought new in the 1920’s.  It was pretty bad shape, considerable rust and the engine was missing.  I asked him about the engine and he said they pulled it out a few years ago to have it rebuilt but never got it done.  I would have liked to restore it but would need a dedicated garage or barn to do so, something I don’t have.  Perhaps another time.  We return back to his house, me lugging the leather splitter, and another car pulls up which he says is a woman to come cut his hair.  I say goodbye, get into my car, and return home.

Dissasembled leather splitter

Several months later I decided to restore the leather splitter.  After taking it completely apart, I sandblasted and repainted each piece and then reassembled the unit.  For a base I used actual pine board that came from Grandpa and Grandma Mixson’s old house when they tore it down (story) and then had a brass plate made for it.  It now sits in my living room.

*Photos of Jerome from his Facebook page

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