Tugadude

Unless you use them a lot, just become proficient using round hole punches for the ends and then cut straight lines connecting them. If I made a ton of belts, I'm probably invest in one. If you are new, and you insist on having them, maybe look for some el cheapo imports for the time being. I know the old saying "buy once, cry once" as a reason to invest in quality, but if you are only going to use them a couple times a year is it really wise? If you use them regularly, then sure, buy a good set. Use your resources to invest in higher quality versions of what you DO use regularly. That's my free advice, and worth every penny!

Very nice work! And a worthy subject. I love the 8th USAAF emblem. Sorry you got hacked. Seems to be a lot of that lately.

I like that idea. Seems to make the stitching more accessible, a more comfortable position. Thanks for sharing that.

Not a bad way to go. I'm sure it will stay in place nicely if it is tight enough. it isn't like it will get a lot of hard use. Nice work.

Very nicely done. Would like to see the bottom. You did a nice job keeping the stitches very even. That isn't the easiest thing to do!

What exactly did you buy? The SVG file is offered free, no charge. So is the .pdf file. Here is what the SVG pattern looks like. They look like round holes to me.

P.S., as a side note, after sitting in my back pocket so long, with the cards putting pressure on the card slots, the leather stretched. The top of the wallet originally had a nice crease detail, but I took a knife and cut across the top to eliminate the convex bow in the leather that resulted from the stretching. It is minimal now, but still somewhat evident, just a slight convex bow. Anyway, that's why the top edges aren't currently finished. I'll probably re-crease it and then paint the edges like it was originally, but haven't been motivated to do so to this point. Wanted to explain why the sewed edges are painted and not the top.

I think this is right. And put everything you traditionally carry in a stack on the table to help determine how many pockets you need. I did that and decided to split up the cards into three primary batches. One batch or stack is all of my medical stuff, insurance stuff and driver's license. The second batch is the debit/credit cards I carry. The other batch was small, just my Target Stores debit card and my Sam's Club ID. Those go into a pocket along with folded bills, which honestly I carry less and less of. I don't know about everyone else but I can go weeks without spending paper money. Every situation is different I guess, but that's the way it works in my world. I go to a lot of baseball games and they don't even take cast anymore. They stopped during Covid due to the potential for contamination and never changed back. And I'm fine with that. (please let's not make this a political discussion. If you prefer cash, I support your decision too) So anyway, I sat down and looked things over and came up with my own design, one that is very minimal and serves me well. I keep saying I'm going to redo it, that it was just a prototype, but then I look it over and it is doing fine so why bother? It actually has one outside pocket on each side and on folded piece of extremely thin leather sandwiched in between that creates the potential for three additional pockets. So it is two pieces of leather, two stitching lines and is holding up extremely well. I like the patina it is developing. When it gets scratched, a quick rub with my thumb and it disappears. The size is 3-3/8" x 4-3/8" x 1/2" thick. The two pockets were made via the slit method, with round punched holes at the edges to prevent tearing. It is working just as intended. In all, I typically have 10 cards in the wallet and whatever cash I have at the moment. There is room to put receipts in the wallet temporarily. I remove them when I get home or back to the office as appropriate. I've experimented with about a dozen styles of wallet and nothing I've made or seen has been as thin, functional and durable as this one. It has been my daily carry for 2 years now and I've no doubt it will last a decade or longer, no problem. Probably much longer. Hope I do!

I used something similar and ended up just using contact cement to anchor it and it is doing just fine. It was sandwiched in between two layers of leather. I would say it depends on what you intend to use it for. If a money clip, no problem. If you are going to use it to clip something extremely heavy to a belt, then maybe that's another story. Either drill a hole and use a fastener or maybe you can use the round part at the top of the cutout. But you'd need something with a reasonably large head to do any good.

Like anything, you'll find folks with all sorts of opinions and they are all valid. In the end, if it works for you, it works. Here's a thread discussing whether to use a round or tapered maul. Then general reason to use tapered is that it allows for a little less elbow movement. That might be helpful, might not. To me it also matters how you are seated. A higher versus lower chair, etc. If you use it a lot, you'll want to find a comfortable ergonomic environment in which to do it. I'm sure if you search you'll find other useful threads.

For the price, I have found these to be pretty effective. For small wallets, the 3mm would be good. EDIT: No need to buy the one-prong iron in my opinion. But if you buy the whole set, not a big deal, still less than $10 bucks per. https://www.springfieldleather.com/Craftmaster-3mm-Diamond-Point-Stitching-Chisel?quantity=1&other-options=1

Zuludog gave some great recommendations. Here is the topic thread he mentioned. Nigel Armitage's info pertaining to specific chisels and their use, along with the recommended needle and thread size is extremely valuable. I suggest you check it out. Very educational in my opinion. Many leatherworkers like Ritza 25, also known as "Tiger Thread" due to the tiger on the packaging. I think the 0.6 and the 0.8 are particularly suitable for the type of work you are wanting to do. Here also is the list of reviews from Nigel Armitage. If you check out his current videos he shows many of the chisels in action. You can also sometimes catch the "wall of chisels" in his workshop where they are on display. Quite the collection! This might not be totally up to date, but you can check by going to his website. file:///C:/Users/Peter%20Jaegers/Downloads/Armitage%20Stitching%20Iron%20Reviews.pdf Good luck!

Amen! My sincere condolences, but I know you’ll meet again. May that truth will comfort you brother.

I apologize for taking your comment too seriously. I guess I'm suffering the effects of situations on a "non-leather" forum I used to frequent. It was filled with naysayers who laid in the weeds waiting to strike at any opportunity. Got so bad I left. So please forgive me for having a short fuse. I will try to keep it in mind the next time. We all have moments where we need to take a deep breath. Thanks for your comment! Ray

Chuck, please do me a favor and delete the part of your message where you quote me. I went back and edited that out because I thought better of it. Your copying it before I could do so has now memorialized it. To answer your question, nobody can avoid every potential hazard all of the time. The fact remains there are oftentimes simple solutions to avoiding some risks, that's all I was hoping to communicate. I could have said wearing an expensive respirator was a good idea and while it might make sense on one level, it isn't practical or affordable, so I didn't. Working outdoors when you have to work with stuff that gives off fumes is just a good idea. Now somebody is going to point out it isn't good for the atmosphere to do so. Sometimes you can't win.

I responded and then thought better of it. I'll just let my original comments speak for themselves.

P.S. I'm not picking on anyone in this thread or other similar threads. We're all guilty of making assumptions and repeating things we hear or read. I know I am. When in doubt, trust nobody but yourself and if it seems dangerous, avoid it!

The spurious nature of the OP's message aside, I think it is worthy of conversation. Breathing in any chemicals can't be good for anyone. Period. I don't care if it is bathroom cleaners or paint strippers or in this case, gasses emitted during the operation of a laser on leather. None of it is going to be beneficial and quite possibly, some might be harmful, even to the point of serious impact on one's health, now or in the future. And therein lies the rub. Many illnesses and other afflictions don't appear until many years later. Ask a dermatologist about the long term effects of sunburn. The potential for skin cancer sometimes begins with that sunburn you experienced in your youth. Too late to do anything now but remove the cancerous cells and hope for the best. And so, when I read threads like this I cringe. I cringe because we're talking about things we (most of us anyway) don't understand. Do we really want to take the word of a machine manufacturer? Did they do exhaustive studies on all of the gasses created when using their machine on various materials? No, of course they didn't. To suggest otherwise is just silly and naive. And I don't think leatherworkers are going to be able to give an educated answer either. Not unless they are aware of a study where that laser or similar was used on the leathers in question. And again, the studies likely don't exist. What we are left with is good old common sense, which is unfortunately uncommon at times. Nobody should take comfort in the words of others as to what is safe or not, especially when all they are doing is going with their best guess. So what to do? Use chemicals sparingly, going with safer alternatives whenever possible. People lived for thousands of years without all of the harsh cleaners folks use in their bathrooms weekly if not daily. And if their ventilation isn't the best, and it usually isn't, I don't even want to think about all of the stuff wafting around the homes. Work outside when you can. Move the laser to the back porch if the weather is decent. You'll be safer and maybe enjoy the view. Oh, and don't forget to wear sunblock! God gave us senses for a reason. Most of us can immediately smell things that are potentially harmful. Avoid them. If you don't, you'll probably feel OK next week and maybe even next year. Who knows the damage that might be collecting only to be revealed later in life when it is too late.

No expert here, but from what I've read here and elsewhere, kangaroo hides are commonly much thinner that cow and other animals, but you get the same or even more tensile strength anyway. A quick search yielded one site offering "extra heavyweight" kangaroo at 1.2mm, which is 3 oz. If you desire 10 oz. for its thickness, you can always do layers of kangaroo, but you might not want to do all of that stitching. If I were making a dog leash, I'd be looking for quality latigo, which offers a lot of strength as well as moisture-resistance. Good luck!

Make Supply makes templates which might be very useful if you intend to make multiple wallets of the same type. Their site is here: https://makesupply-leather.com/templates/free-leather-templates/ Choose a style that you like and download the template for free. If it is something you really like, order the pre-made templates which make your life easier. They even have videos!

that's very nice!

Here's a tutorial that might give you some ideas. http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-make-leather-axe-sheath.html

Chuck beat me to it. Another point you need to address is where the welt terminates. I would taper the leather welt on the ends so that it transitions more smoothly to two layers. This example is cut to eliminate the need...

Nice work above. The lacing is some of the best I’ve seen.

I think there's much to learn for all of us here. Reflecting on one's work is helpful. Many if not most of us here don't make a living off of our leatherwork, but there are those who do. And those who do have to figure out ways to separate themselves from the herd so to speak. That might be in their marketing, but oftentimes it is in the work itself. And even those of us who do this just because we can and we love it can figure out ways to differentiate what we do. Rossr made a good point about not wanting to copy the work of others he sees on the web. That's the right approach. However, one can always take a bit from here and a bob from there and cobble together something unique to them. And it should be based on one's own taste, what appeals to them, while also providing something universal in appeal. Not always easy to do. I saw a brand which used indigo dye on a lot of their work, fading from raw leather to a transparent indigo wash and finally to opaque indigo. I'd hate to see a bunch of folks attempting to do the same. To me that dilutes that person's brand. If everyone began to try it, wouldn't that negate the special feeling you get when you view that company's offerings? But if that technique appeals to you, maybe there's a way to vary it and turn it into something unique to you. Just some random thoughts. The examples below are similar to the one I remember. The gradient effect is similar, but notice how one company, the first and last examples, are bands of color while the other company, the one represented in the middle, took a different approach. That's similar to what I'm suggesting, taking a concept and changing it so you're not copying.