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Welcome..no you're not alone. Although she doesn't do the leatherwork, my wife does plenty of other non-lady hobbies such as sculpture, wood turning, metalwork. I feel sorry for those blokes who don't get to share the pleasure of visiting a tool shop with their partner and having them be as keen on buying new tools!! adam

Hi Matt, its worth phoning Le Prevo and having a chat. I did and learned mor ein 15mins than in the weeks of web trawling. I bought my first proper piece of leather based on the guys advice, and i'm really happy with the leather i got. As for tools - one way is to buy on eof the Tandy starter kits. It comes with various projects and tools and some dyes etc. The tools may not be the worlds greatest but they provide you with a starting point. Often the kits are on sale at a price that is lower than just buying the tools alone. be ware though...leather work is addicitive and you may find yourself finding excuses to buy more tools and leathers. I have spent loads since my wife bought me a starter kit this christmas!

come on in...the waters lovely!

thanks Chavez. I know what you mean! i've just finished a different billfold today that has some sections with 3 layers of the same 2mm leather used on this wallet - because i punched the holes with an awl in each piece separately, relying on the overstitch wheel to mark the holes, i did find the odd place where the holes werent quite lined up and did take some pulling to get the needle through. I am definitely getting neater with my stitching on every wallet i have made. I'll get some new pictures up once i finish it properly.

Great, thanks....sounds worth knowing about. Although i'll have to wait a while...gotta buy a chuck for the lathe tomorrow and thats about £100 !!

I'm interested to know what your opinion of this place is... what are the prices / products like? is it worth a drive out?

if you are referring to the darker edge around the item, i have a feeling that is a rolled edge. KK has done a really good tutorial about wallet guts (its a sticky on the How its made forum) which shows how he does them. I tried it myself on my first wallet last week and it works really well.

its a good place to store your next leather wishlist and maybe a couple of homeless moths! and thanks for the link - wasn't aware of that company.

Thanks Domino, the reason i used punch holes rather than a nail is i wanted a round cut to prevent the knife cuts from tearing and getting any longer with use. A nail or awl hole would not give that kind on edge and so i steered clear of those. The Columbo side is really nice...I was nervous about getting it because its my first bit of "proper" leather. I had used a couple of tooling bellies i bought dirt cheap in Tandys sale, but its pretty crappy stuff. I phoned Le Prevo and spent 15minutes chatting with the guy who selects the leathers. He was extremely helpful and knowledgable and gave me a really good explanation of the differences with the leathers. Call him - you wont regret it. As for the lining, i used strong double sided sellotape to hold the lining in place so i could trim the edges a couple of millimeters from the outer edge of the leather, then it was sewn between two layers of leather all the way around. Its loose inside out of choice. I prefer the look, and i think its a little easier on the liner if it can move to accommodate its contents and the folding of the wallet (of course i could be totally wrong about that!). That violene sounds interesting! I don't think there are many original ideas anymore, just variations on older designs - plus i'm convinced northerners have a well developed sense of design!!

finally posted the results of my previous post - My first bi-fold wallet oh, i also just made a little pouch for my car door actuator as its knackered and falling apart!

Its not perfect, but then it was designed as a prototype! I wanted to make a lined bi-fold with a coin purse, as i always have more metal money than paper! The edges need finishing and i need to give it a coat or two of leather balsam. I'm not overly happy with the closing mechanism as its a bit fiddly in use. However, i am definitely improving in the stitching arena. I have been using this for a day and though it does have flaws i'm really pleased. Thought its better to actually use it for a bit before designing any alterations. Its made from 2mm veg tan Columbo side (from LePrevo) dyed with a coat of Eco-flo Briar Brown - stitched with linen thread and lined with a nice purple satin. I wanted to make the wallet without any metal hardware, and this is the result.

actually i'm not! i work for the company that makes the toys! and thank you all for the kind words.

Dwight - how did you know his exact sizes? thats exactly right - he only ever wears the same brand of jeans and only ever buys the same size, and so has convinced himself the label is correct! Thanks all for the suggestions - some really good solutions. I had already settled on the idea of removing the back centre section - i had done some tooling that is less than great, so this is a good chance to replace it with something much better! adam

After putting a lot of work into a belt for a friend, i was a bit put out to discover he has been kidding himself about is waist size. He tried the belt, which is definitely the size he thought he was , only to find he can't fasten it! So rather than throw it away, I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on good ways to extend a belt? thanks Adam

I bought some veg tooling bellies for practicing on, and one of them has a large patch at one end where the grain has been lost during the tanning process. Looks almost like its been ripped off. As this end is pretty useless I was wondering if there is any way to improve the look so that i could use the leather for something other than bin filler? adam

well then complain to your regional advertising standards commission....thats what they are there for! I work in the UK advertising industry, and things like that are simply not allowed. Its misrepresenting the product and misleading the consumer. Stick up for your rights and give the advertisers a wake up call. adam

In a shameless bid to try improve my videos view stats, i thought i would introduce one of my other hobbies aside from leathercrafting. I sometimes dabble in the art of stop frame animation...and after a short hiatus getting my leather bug well and truly ingrained, i was suddenly fired up to create a new animation in response to a competition call for videos expressing your hopes fr a forthcoming software update.....i know - very sad! But as i use the software daily in my real work, i could not resist the opportunity to revive the "Yorkshire Cyberman" enjoy... Yorkshire Cyberman CS6 adam

I just bought my first piece of "proper" leather from Le Prevo last week. Because i'm a noob i was worried about getting the right leather, so i rang them up and spent 15 minutes chatting to the guy who selects the leather for your order. I didn't catch his name but he was a brilliant source of advice. The leather i bought arrived a few days later and its really nice stuff. I learned so much from those few minutes talking that i would recommend Le Prevo to any one! adam

Yesterday i made a prototype pocket penny pouch which i hope with a little bit of tweaking will become a viable little product. Today i managed to finish off stitching the suede strip around my wallet ready for folding inside to make the rolled edges (a la KK's tutorial) - now i need to fix the guts in place and choose a nice shiny satin liner...hmmm red or purple or blue?

oh well - it still looks really cool. Your customers got a great treasure sack there!

looks great - any chance we could see it with something else in shot to give it some scale? adam

Ahh - thanks Sylvia...language - the root cause of most of the worlds troubles! i tried the method as shown on the videos and am very happy with the results. If its good enough for Dunhill and Hermes to drag it across a couple of times then thats good enough for me! I can see what you're getting at with the hair drier, Chavez- i just cant be that bothered! As for buying waxed thread, Unioncraft - well if you can nip out to a local shop when you need it thats great, but where i live i need to buy it online if i want waxed, and that costs extra postage and takes ages to arrive. I can easily buy unwaxed linen thread in many more colours than the waxed ones. Now they can be waxed too. adam

oh! as simple as that! i'll be damned. great videos - can beat seeing real craftsmen plying their skills. Thanks for the links. And speaking as a video editor the editing on the Dunhill video was superb as well.

after reading on the forum many times that people wax their own thread using Beeswax, i decided to give it a try. So often i have read " pass the thread through a block of beeswax" - sounds simple enough. Trouble is my beeswax is solid as a rock! How on earth does anyone pass a needle and thread through this stuff? I tried melting a small amount in a pot and dipping the thread in it but that just becomes a congealed and tangled lump...by the time i had untangled it, most of the beeswax had dropped off. Please can someone tell me how this is done? adam

wow! flight case and missile launcher...intriguing combination. great looking piece. I hope when i get some more experience and make my case it comes out looking that good.