conceptdiba

I'm not sure, I think one of the guys I did the order with spoke some french so he was the one who contacted them. The price was <18euro per container. Not expensive really, but shipping is what will get you if you're in north america.

Sorry Matt, me and a few others already went ahead with this. I'll probably organize it again a year from now as a few people expressed interest after the order had been placed.

The leather is thinnest at the spine of the binder...soft pigskin inner, 2oz veg-tan stiffener, and then a slightly firm 1-2 oz kangaroo outer if I remember correctly. 6oz of stiff leather may indeed be quite tough to fold smoothly. Keep in mind that the same thing might apply to a wallet, but after being sit on for a while it will lay flat! Also keep in mind that when the binder has a normal amount of stuff in it, it will have a few inches of materials inside and will not need a super sharp fold at the spine.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Please clarify and I'll do my best to answer

I've never used it personally, but that's a cool idea. Have you consider doing a rolled edge? It's quite thin and would likely benefit aesthetically from doing so.

I can't remember exactly what it's called. High-impact polystyrene or high density polyethylene. I get it from a local plastics store and it comes in large sheets (16 square feet I think?). It's exactly the kind of thing you need. It's stiff, but easy to cut. At the right thickness, it won't bend too much and I use it for all of my patterns large or small.

Very clean design. I like it! I did something a few years back with the buckle & snap closure and it's incredibly convenient not having to do up two buckles every time. The snaps are barely even visible too, so it works out great. I think your bag would benefit from a coat of edge paint if you don't want to do a full edge burnishing. A slightly darker brown on the edges would be pretty quick and easy and would really step the bag up a notch in aesthetics. Great work!

thanks all! cheers. good eye! It is 10 per inch

"see the attached file"...I think you may have forgotten to attach. PM or post and I can better point you in the right direction

I was just in Vancouver last weekend, and there's a place that carries some roo. The owner thought they were sold out, but while going through the rows of hides with me he found some in a denim blue colour that he might still have! I believe it was chrome-tan. Pretty stiff, with a fair amount of marks. The place is called Lonsdale Leather. I've seen them carry kangaroo in larger stock. Just ask how soon they're expecting to get more in, because they had quite a lot stocked last year. edit: I also remember seeing quite a bit of kangaroo lace in-stock.

Very nice work. I really like how the scales on the alligator inlay become smaller as the inlay tapers. Super cool.

Hi all, I finished this project a week or two ago and thought I'd share! The front is an old burgundy alligator skin, the back in aniline kangaroo, and the interior is pigskin. It's customized for everything an accounting student could need in a portfolio! Completely hand-stitched and finished Back: Aniline kangaroo in Bone -Back pocket fully lined in pigskin (to match interior) -Loop closure in alligator with kangaroo strap Interior in full-grain tan pigskin -Notepad slides in and can be swapped out -Strap holds in calculator, which can be replaced with a smaller or larger item and adjusted with strap -5 pen/pencil holders + 1 larger sized holder for eraser or highlighter -2 open pockets for phone and cardholder, sticky notes, etc Close-up of stitching. Completely hand-stitched and finished

Very cool. Excellent choice of leather!

yep

Not yet. I learned about it from a craftsman who was trained by a retired Hermes craftsperson. He's not sure if they're still using it, but at his time of training, that's what Hermes used. I've seen photos of work done using this edge paint and it really is fantastic. I'm still interested in going ahead with this group buy. I've got a few people interested but nobody is in any particular hurry, so I'm waiting a bit longer.

I believe it's the CT0

Campbell-Randall has made a simple 'fileteuse' for a much cheaper price which I use. Worth looking into. The matte finish comes from the edge paint. Some are glossy, some not so much. I'm organizing a group buy for the edge paint Hermes is using, if you're interested. In regards to the bag, I believe leather such as veg-tan is used in the handle. I'm pretty sure that is what they do on their Kelly bags.

Hi everyone, Many of you took part in my thread on edge finishing, and some ended up purchasing either the Mando or Campbell-Randall edge-heating tool machine (I purchased the latter) A number of people have asked about sourcing edge paint, and I've found the source for the best kind to use. Top-tier craftsman who need a waxier edge paint use this stuff, and it was used by Hermes (I'm not sure if it's still the kind they use, but it definitely was). The company is called Beraud, based in France. The problem: Sold in 1kg/2.2lb containers per colour, and they keep fresh for about a year. Shipping isn't exactly going to be cheap, either. The solution: Organize a group buy. Tally up exactly how much we need of each colour, order the appropriate amount, and re-package into smaller containers and ship individually to each person. White can be combined with black and brown to obtain different shades of brown and grey, and I'm sure there are craftsman like myself who would also like colours such as red, blue, etc. I don't have a pricelist yet, but it's fairly reasonably priced from what I've heard. The problem just involves the fact that most people aren't going to use over 2 pounds of a single colour of edge paint in a year. Would anyone be interested in this? -Andrew

Please see my post here and let me know if you're interested. The LCI stuff isn't ideal, and isn't available online, but I did find the edge paint that is. I've tried a few brands and none of them work as well as I'd like.

like billymac814 pointed out, the high-end stuff is applied via a heated edge tool which was discussed in this thread. I know a source for the edge paint but it's overseas and only sold in large containers. If you'd be interested in doing a group buy with me and a few other people, please send me a PM, so shipping costs can be split and the large containers can be split into smaller sizes for us small craftsmen!

Looks GREAT! Good call going with the natural pattern rather than a uniform colour...really goes nicely with the brown. What exactly is an arm guard for??

beautiful edge work!

Thanks! If I'm understanding you correctly, that is exactly what I'm doing on the next one. It'll just be 2oz veg-tan in between the calf and the suede lining, but I will have it be 1/4" smaller all around so no bulk is added to the seams. Here's more or less my way of doing these handles: 1) Cut out strap to desired length and width 2) On the flesh side, draw a line across the width of the strap, at a set distance from each end of the strap. These lines are where the 'strap' part ends and the 'handle' begins. (it's all one continuous piece of leather). Essentially this is where the edges of the strap will meet when folded over. Draw this line on the grain side too, as long as you're sure you'll be able to erase it later. If you can't erase, just make a small mark with a pencil or awl. 3) On the grain side, use your pricking iron and/or awl to make an inch or two of stitching holes from where the line is, towards the END of the strap (not towards the middle). You'll want to do this along BOTH edges of the strap, as well as on BOTH the left and right side, like so 4) Roughly measure a piece of rope, leather, or filler to be the length of the distance between the two lines. You need to make sure rope, if that's what you use, isn't too thick for the leather to wrap around it. You'll really have to fine-tune the width of the strap and/or rope to get it perfect. 5) Apply glue to the entire area in between the two lines, like this. Also apply glue to the rope or filler you're using. 6) When ready, stick the filler/rope right down the centre, and fold the edges together. It helps to keep one edge of the strap flat on the table, so the handle doesn't end up 'twisting' 7) Use your pricking iron, starting right on the line you've made in step 2, and mark/pierce them all the way to the line on the other end. Stitch these holes, and do your edge finishing. You're essentially done the handle, but attaching it to the bag is kind of tricky so I'll continue here. 8) As you can see in the second picture in the my original post, the stitching doesn't just end when the strap starts tapering and becomes the handle. This is the tricky part. You need to make tapering marks/holes on the main panel like this and then stitch the strap to them. This is the reason you made the stitching holes in step #3. Then glue the rest of the strap in place and stitch it to the main panel. You can always just end the stitching when the strap starts to taper, like this, but it's kind of amateur. I honestly don't know if it's possible to do this handle stitched down the way I've done with one continuous piece of leather unless it's by hand. Most luxury bags will use a D-Ring to separate the handle from the strap. It looks good, but I like doing certain things in a way that are unique to hand-made. You can obviously modify what I wrote to suit the way you do things, but that covers my method which is exactly what I did to make this bag. If you're anything like me you'll have trouble deciphering written instructions, so let me know if you need clarification on anything! hope that helps.

Very cool. I love the shape and the hardware.

Yes, I just did a binding, like this. The construction in that picture might seem a bit odd (it is). This kind of construction is very new to me, so I'm having to improvise along the way. For the zipper, I use a skiving machine to thin down the edge of the calf (as the calf is fairly stiff too), and then glued and folded. Then, I apply glue to the top of the zipper tape, as well as to the underside of the turned/folded edge, and stick them together. The lining was quite a pain. Normally one would just glue it to the underside of the zipper tape, and then stitch all three layers (the outer, the zipper tape, and the lining). I wanted a folded edge on the lining too, so I glued and folded the lining just like the outer, used my pricking iron to make the holes, and then stitched the outer&zipper to the lining. It MIGHT be possible to glue all 3 layers together before using your pricking iron, but I find it very difficult to maintain a consistent edge allowance when going through so many layers. I'm stitching at 10 per inch and small variations in distance from the edge will really stand out. I hope that all makes sense. As for the leather, talk to a lady named Amelia Corey. amelia.corey@charter.net is her email. She is based in Connecticut and is a N.A tannery rep (not a wholesaler) for Tannerie D'Annonay in france . Very expensive, full hides only in black or brown (both in stock in the U.S and ready to ship) and it's almost $12/ft, so you're looking at a few hundred dollars per skin. She will send you samples. "Vocalou" is what I'm using. Very glossy finish chrometan french calf. This is the stuff Hermes uses (they recently bought this tannery out). You honesty probably wont find nicer french calf, I think.Tell her Andrew sent you "Rusticalf" is also very nice, it is THE softest calfskin you can buy. Phenomenal stuff! hope that helps!