charon

Hi all, Today I tried to do a belt out of 2 pieces of 2mm leather dyed in different colors and glued /stitched together. I dyed both straps, oiled and buffed them afterwards, both belts were perfectly smooth. However, after glueing them together both sides (!) got terrible bubbles and ridges: I dont know what I did wrong. I even glued only half the way first and checked the glued va the non glued part. The non-glued parts were perfectly fine. The glued part got bubbles on each side. I only used a thin coat of contact cement on both sides as I always do. Is it the glue? Did I put them together in a wrong way? Is there anything I can do to „rescue“ the belt? These marks on the red dyed side lighten the leather so this side is probably lost... Any advice is highly appreciated. Best regards, Charon

If that guy was Ian Atkinson (Leodis Leather) hes‘s right, its all in there. I can totally recommend you his Build Along #8 Enhanced Wallets. You have really everything in there to build a wallet along with an 8h video for a really low price. Cant give any info to the other pattern makers on etsy but his are well worth the money if you‘re a beginner

Now thats really ironical. The whole discussion is kind of retarded. As I said in my opinion thats a great achievement looking at it from a marketing perspective. They both made 25k$ with their products and should be happy with it. Threatening other people by claiming such a basic shape as "unique design" is ridiculous. I like your input in the reddit :-) It just made me think what I would do if I receive messages like that from people like them just because you sell a dozen wallets that look like that. I don't want to be arrogant, but mine are made from better material, crafted better and completely done by hand...

Compared to the price you'd pay when you buy all this stuff the deal was a dream, question is would you really buy all of that stuff? Anyway, if it was me I wouldn't hesitate a second...

Isn't that reaction just normal when you bend the grain side of leather? It gets better with treatment but I have that effect on all items which are bent on the grain side...

This topic gets me every now and then, great insight @BDAZ, thank you for that. I came across this topic when doing my minimalist cardholders. Accidentally I did the same "design" as a guy that did a (successful) kickstarter with his wallets, he even trademarked the name. While he has my respect for his great marketing skills, the design that he claims his own, is basically a piece of leather wrapped twice around itself, so nothing fancy or even unique. That guy also used lasers to cut the leather and make the stitch holes so there's even not much craftsmanship to it. Interestingly there was another guy doing a kickstarter with a similar design and he was hard pressed (with support of lawyers) to change his design. I don't think this design would stand a chance in a court regardless of the country but it made me think whether I could get trouble continue making these wallets. My conclusion was that I can but that topic never gets out of my mind. I don't know whether this has been discussed somewhere else but I would be highly interested in hearing your thoughts on that particular issue.

I use Fiebings Carnauba Creme and Fiebings Aussie as wax finishes.

I guess thats a matter of philosophy. Many people want the sweat to get into the leather to produce a natural patina on the leather. Eventually every finish will fail with time but Resolene is an acrylic coat that covers the wallet thus making it more water repellent than waxes or oils. You can even go higher by using laquers and stuff like that. But no finish (I know of) will make your wallet survive a run in the washing machine. Soaking it in water for 2 hours while heating it up to 40-60C and spinning it will likely cause damage to any leather item regardless of the finish. Also, your leather will get soaked with water when you drop it into a pool or a bucket of water regardless of the finish. I wouldn't make the decision, which finish to use based on these scenarios. Rather you would want to consider whether you want to support developing a patina and make it smooth with a natural touch (wax finish) or whether you want to make it more wear resistant and shiny (acrylic finish, laquer, tan kote, bag kote, Resolene,...). The latter also provides more UV resistance and thus preservation of the original color from what I experienced. In the end you should get multiple finishes (they are sold in small bottles as well) and test it on a piece of scrap leather. I use wax finish on all my edc items (wallets, keyfobs, ...) and laquer/acrylic finish on my bags/belts/heavy duty items that are likely exposed to a lot of wear or weather. Hope that helps, cheers!

You're definitely on the right track. This technique is called turned edges and is a valid approach for putting some pieces of leather together with the stitching next to hidden. Problem with this approach is that the stitching becomes visible when the seam is under heavy stress. You can improve this by using smaller holes and tighter stitching, but from what I know the only method to truly hide the stitching line is by using a piped edge. The pipe completely covers the stitching line even under heavy stress. However a piped edge is nothing I'd use to cover a cane handle but on the other hand there is also no stress to the leather on a handle as well. So try to use a higher spi and smaller holes and you're good to go... Good job on your first attempt.

If you like to preserve the natural look and feel of your wallet I recommend Carnauba Creme. Not as water resistant as Resolene but you seldom use your wallet in heavy rain...

I'm using floor tiles that I picked up as sample, works pretty good and you don't need any fancy weights or space. You can even pile them up to save space. I'm doing my stuff in the living room so I know the pain... As I said I really almost exclusively work with that thin leather and it works pretty good if you keep a few points in mind. Sheep skin is really difficult for inner wallet parts since its really soft and supple. You're better off with baby calf, baby buffalo, kangaroo, kid or goat (going from good to ok). I once did a complete wallet out of lamb skin in my beginnings and I even utilised the fact that the leather gets stiffer from dye to make it work for a wallet. However I never did that again afterwards. In my opinion even goat is too supple. I'm sticking with calf, buffalo and kangaroo...

Since I'm dealing quite often with pretty thin leather I ran into this problem pretty often. There are several ways to handle that issue: In my experiments, oiling the pieces before dyeing doesn't prevent the dry-curling from happening but it lessens the effect Putting plates/weights on the leather slows the drying down significantly (at least in my experiments and some of the dye went into my marble slab). You'll have no curling but you will have shrinking and hardening effects nonetheless Buffing off the excess after drying gives the leather a bit of it's softness back After buffing, I treat it with 1-2 coats of NFO and buff it after it sits for a few minutes. Let it dry completely then Depending on the item you make (I do a lot of wallets) apply your finish. I often use Carnauba Creme, which additionally gives the leather some smoothness and after buffing it it's almost back to normal As JLS mentions: Cut it after that treatment and take care of the edges then Hope that helps Charon

@DunluceHave you made business with Elfitakorea recently? Or anyone else? I wrote them an Email and never got an answer. Thought they were out of business since there were no updates for a long time. Just saw theres an article from 2018...

For items like this you have two options: - mark your stitches in one run. Use a 2 prong iron for going around curves and corners. - if you need the distance on the top to be equal you have a spot where your two runs meet. You can be lucky and meet perfectly, but in most cases you will have to decide whether you do a longer or shorter stitch. Choose that spot wisely, many people use spots that are hidden or unpromiment

My skin was around $45. The thing is the size is enough for one outer part of a wallet, so it's hit or miss. The most pain for me was that given that these pearls are really hard (in fact these skins are fire resistant) your cutting edge looks really bad. So you basically have no choice but doing a turning edge as Ryan did. I tried to beautify the edges with edge paint and ended with throwing it around the workshop. You may have be lucky with one skin but for me there's simply no way for a consistent small series, so I ended up discarding the plans. There are versions where the pearls are sharpened but I don't think the handling will be easier with these. As has been said, it's good for inlays in belt buckles or things like that. My skills just ain't good enough for that stuff. Again Ryan, good job on your wallet, I bet your brother will be happy with it.

Good job on the wallet! I recently tried to hand-cut and hand stitch stingray leather and I totally feel your pain. My stitching looks okay on the lining side and terrible on the outside. Made it on the list of things I will never do again, especially since these skins are pretty pricey in my area.

I use JJ harness needles all over the place. I tried many different needles and as has been said before, these are the best by far. I use No.4 for wallets and No.3 for anything bigger like bags. Threading is easy and I never broke one.In terms of thread you should use what you like and try a lot. Thread can be really really expensive and the discussions about thread can be really esoteric. I tried many different threads, from Linen, including Amy Roke and Fil au Chinois over Nylon to Polyester thread. It really depends on what look you want to achieve, what colors you use and how strong the sewing needs to be. You'd need a stronger thread for a saddle than for a wallet for sure. I make a lot of wallets and I prefer artificial thread over linen. My current favourite is some Chinese Polyester thread, but that changes over time. In terms of SPI - again - that's totally dependent of what look you want to achieve. From what I see in the picture you posted I'd say that's a 6.5 SPI iron with 0.6mm thread, a good choice for wallets like that. For that look I use Craft Sha 4mm irons from Goods Japan ,they ship free but delivery takes time. The mentioned Craftool will do the same trick. You can also go to 3mm, which equals 8.5 SPI and looks finer but is much more stitching. That's a matter of taste, use 4mm on biker wallets and 3mm on bifolds. But if you want it to look like your picture 4mm and 0.6mm thread (432/532 if you go for linen) should be fine.

I agree on that. I am subscribed too and you get valuable information in the channel. The fee is as blue duvk mentioned the amount of a cup of coffee a month and as long as there are updates at least once a month there‘s no point for on/off subscriptions or anything like that. Nigel is a good speaker and the tutorials are spot on and precise. Keep it up Nigel there are so many questions to be answered.

Wow, @dirkbathose look fabulous. Can you tell me what tools and machines you used to make these knifes? I always wanted to give knife making a try but struggles to buy expensive machines like a belt sander for it...

Take a look at the messenger bag Ian Atkinson makes in his video here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rycY4Q96UQ8 You can follow his over 2h video to make it step by step and the printable pattern costs cheap. Just made it and I can totally recommend the pattern for non-professionals

Thanks for your suggestion Harry. So we‘re back at doing heat treatment to the edges. As I said in my first post I‘m not willing to spend $2000 for an iron thats basically a modified soldering iron with a tip that looks like a pocket knife, just because some French company said it costs like that. Is there an alternative? Normal soldering irons can be adjusted from 150C to 400C, shouldn‘t that do the job as well? Just need a tip then...

This is a real fun discussion and I enjoyed reading the comments so far. This is something I also often thought about. My history in leatherwork is really short so far but I consider myself a crafter, since my approach and my goal is to master the techniques and create beautiful made, functional items. From that perspective people like Nigel are "master crafter", they create perfect made, aesthetically but functional items. For a leatherworker, such items can be viewed as art since we know how much experience and effort is necessary to produce so clean and well made things. But the non-leatherworker will always see it as the functional item. When I look at work such as Mike does I always see that as art since it's adding decorative value to functional items at a very high skill level. Also, there's some sort of "own style" involved when making such items, which in my opinion is a property of art. The transition between craftsmanship and art is smooth for sure and I think we all cross the border from time to time while living mostly on one side.

Those look really nice and as you said they show no wear. I ordered the applicator you recommended at AliExpress but it takes 4-6 weeks to get here, so I wait patiently. I think I can get the top of the edge sorted out with a good applicator, my main concern is the side, which looked awful every time I tried applying it. Any issues with your applicator there? Hard to tell from the pictures. Thanks

Both Resolene and Bag Kote will not darken the leather much and prevent it from getting dirty too fast. However, even with these products applied your leather will get patina and wear over time, which isn't always bad in my opinion. I'm not aware of a product that prevents darkening of the leather over time.

Mutt, I hope you weren't offended by my comment, I didn't want to be mean or start a debate either.For me as an end consumer it's all about quality and price. We also have many really good knife makers in Germany (someday I'll let me build one from one of them, we have some REALLY good ones), but they start at a price that is way beyond of what I can afford (~$450), even though the shipping is next to none. So I start looking around the world (sad enough) to find something I can afford in the quality range I expect. And while there are many really good knife makers in the US as well the shipping already knocks me off. I'm not willing to pay 30% of the value of an item as additional shipping fee. I don't know how eastern countries manage to ship for next to nothing but that's my main reason to buy there instead of the US. Additionally, the quality has improved significantly and there is not much (if any) difference in quality. Still, the price stands for itself. And at that point I'm not even at my customs or import taxes...