charon

I‘d say this is never pyrographed. Instead I think ghis is stamped on the leather using a rubber stamp. There are nice stamps available everywhere and the key is to use waterproof ink such as archival ink. Ian Atkinson has a video about rubber stamping leather on his channel, check it out.

Wow that‘s real good advice here. If it would be my choice I‘d go for the die. In my region you can get a small press for around $150 and you can use dies up to the size of wallets. Well worth the $$ and the most precise and quickest option.

Post them even if they‘re not, no one‘s gonna single you because it‘s not like it‘s made by machine. We all learn from each other and I appreciate the critique as much as the kind words here

If you ask me the diamond chisels are really good for beginners to intermediates and work perfectly for most items. But you need to move to prickkng irons (I believe the new terminus is French style) and an awl. Starting with that throws you back compared to these Chinese diamond chisels (at which point I currently an) and it takes a huge practice to get it really nice. But when you want to master it there‘s no way around. Currently I use the awl for thicker leather but the Seiwa/Craft Sha when I do wallets. The 1.5mm is perfectly fine for that though they look quite big on the pictures. I currently try the Wutas and hammer them through, which also gives a nice look but ultimately I‘ll switch to pricking iron and awl especially because I line to see this as an old craft and an art so I don‘t like the idea of getting a sewing machine either. Try sending him a PM directly through Instagram. He responds pretty quickly through the platform (less the time difference). Done that, worked perfectly. Sent my enqiry there he‘s currently asleep I guess. Can‘t believe I‘m writing this but do you mind to share the „lot of people making some great tools“? Turns out you can be a gearhead aside IT...

Looks really good to me too and I quite like the business satchel as well...

Also ... always pay attention after you handed her, who has to be obeyed, a purse which allows her to carry a gun with her all the time

I made 2 of them today. I totally agree with fredk, trace the pattern from the book, make a cardboard template, trace it to the leather and cut it. I made mine with a small headknife and they turned out ok. After sanding/bevelling/burnishing the edges noone will notice the difference when you don't lay them on each other. Since mine are going to hold straps on a bag they're the maximum distance apart from each other. When you make a bag like me the least you want to do is spend hours for the shield tabs... Bikermutt you overhauled me while writing :-) .. fully agree with what you say

Thanks for the tip. I have a fable for small passionate crafters as he seems to be one. Wrote him a message at dhgates, let's see if he responds. Weird site behaviour, I don't even know whether the message has been sent However these are not really cheaper but better made so I might give these a shot. Any experience with them? The only problem I have with that kind of shops is that you visit it for a specific item and then ... oh look at that nice handmade awl ... and I end up with a $500 cart...

Thank you for the kind words. I started myself not too long ago and in my opinion you should always share what you have. That's why we're all here... Also, when you look at that wonky stitching there's a lot to learn for me too

I made some pictures to make it easier to follow. When I do cardholder wallets, my card section consists of 3 pieces, 2 being t-slots and one for the front, which is different. There are many ways to construct these but the principle stays the same. Here's one of these card-sections: There's a hidden pocket behind the very top piece and 2 card slots, which take 3-4 cards each. The width of the T-tab matches exactly the width of the stitches of my chisel: When I start punching the holes, I want to make sure, that the pockets get bound properly. So I start at the transition in the middle, to make sure it wraps nicely around the piece and doesn't cut it, because the stitch is too short: Since the width of my tabs is essentially 5 whole stitches/6 holes, the transition from the middle tab to the top tab fits by design (see 2nd picture, there's one full stitch that hangs over to the top piece just like in this image). Since leather can be a little stretchy and since I skive the tabs down, there are chances that the stitch, which binds the top piece to the underlying piece, is slightly larger than a full stitch normally would be (this is the case on the wallet shown). However, in that position it blends nicely and doesn't jump into the eye in my opinion. So for me that's fine. Hope that helps.

Tool it - don‘t stitch it, since the stitching here is purely decorative. Stitching something like this takes ages... You can color the tooling in the desired color if you want...

I know they do but since shipping to my country is pricey I‘m not in their gold/elite club which means the price for 2.5mm in 10 prong and 2 prong are $120 excl. shipping. They have to be *really* good compared to the Craft Sha chisels to be worth that price.

Totally made my day I own the Craft Sha 1.5mm and 2mm versions and use the 1.5mm (8.5SPI) for wallets and watch straps and the 2mm version (6.5 SPI) for Bags, Notebook-covers and a-likes. But as you said these give a rather big, diamond shaped hole. So I think I'd give the 2.5mm Craftool Pro a shot. I just need to figure out where to get them with no Tandy in my country.

I guess that is what makes us register in a forum like this. I learn something new everyday and I always try to share what I do and why I do it. I didn't mean to correct you, I hope you didn't get that in the wrong neck. I'm relatively new to leatherwork, but I (mostly) don't use store bought patterns either. Sometimes I use print patterns but they can be adjusted easily. By the way do the holes of the Craftool Pro Chisel really look like this? I use the Japanese Craft Sha Chisels and the holes are much wider than what I see in your picture. Might be worth to get a set of these when the holes are that much tighter.

true words, guess that's what I'm going to do.

Next time do it intentionally and call it special technique :-) I totally like the look it gives.

Well done, I like the cross stitch on the keeper. Greetings from the neighbour country!

Guess there is no real alternative?

I make the pattern so that the T matches the number of stitches. Also, I mostly have three parts stitches together and I always start at the transition of the middle to the top part hanging over the top stitch. That way I make sure I get a whole stitch to bind the parts together. When I use my pattern and the corresponding 2.5mm chisel, the transition from the middle part to the bottom part is also automatically one full binding stitch by design. The transition from the top piece to the divider is not always 100% but no one notices when this stitch is slightly larger than the others. So in essence design your t-slots to match your chisel and you‘re good to go

Basically everything has been said. Since I also went to a German school I throw in my $0.02. The circumference of a circle is U = 2 * pi * (radius of your circle). So, basically as Instinctive says, you have to choose your radius in a way that the circumference U divided by the length of your stamp is an even number. To me the stamp also looks like 12mm, so your U has to be a multiple of 12 (but at least lets say 6*12, since you want to go round). As Retswerb said, you have to choose whether you set your stamp outside, inside or on the circumference line of your circle. I assume you put it outside, which means the inside of the stamp aligns and the outside doesn't. To be perfect, You'd have to transform your circle to an n-edge (German: "n-Eck"), whith the length of n being the length of your stamp. If I were you I'd do the following: Since only one side of the stamp will align because you are going round with a straight stamp as already has been said, I'd take a divider, draw a circle on a piece of paper and draw 12mm tangents around it until you like the result. You don't mention how big your circle is going to be. However, just from the maths I would start with a radius of 21mm, which gives a circle with a circumference of 132mm, which are exactly 11 stamps of 12mm length. Adjust from there..

Thank you for your explanation :-) The question came to my mind when looking at your picture of the (finished) gussets. There is a crease mark on it and from that crease mark to the edge the leather is black (on that picture with that lovely edge paint this applies also to the section where there is no edge paint yet). So, that is also "lining excess" that you left there intentionally or how did you achieve that dark border? Sorry for the extra question but that looks so nice, I have to know how it's done.

Really nice that you share all the process with us! Also this is such a nice piece you put together, I wish I was able to produce such good and clean work. One question came to my mind that I was not able to see from the pictures: How did you do the edges of e.g. the gussets? I do not mean the edges you painted but the area close to the border where the croc meets the edge. It almost looks like you turned the lining underneath the croc... Or did you paint over the edge to make the border that dark on the front side? Hope that doesn't sound too silly...

Looks really really well made. I'd also be interested in the different leather weights you used. Is the first picture the unfinished version? It looks stitched all around on the second picture and you don't see the stitching go all around on the first picture. I totally love the extra storage on the left and the overall clean look. Can you post a picture of the front as well?

Perfect visualisation of that T-style piece I was trying to explain with words. Thanks Tugadude!

I think the key is to try all things yourself and make your own decisions. Since everyone is pushing the resolene/water mix for the back I might give that a shot too, but still I'd recommend to try Tan Kote as well and make your own decisions. I use an old dry T-shirt to apply a thin pure/undiluted coat of TK to the back. Look which way the fibers run (rub with your finger over the leather and see which way the fiber lay down and apply evenly. Go over it in one direction after the application. Works every time for me and still looks good on my belt despite wearing it for a year every day now.