charon

+1 for the stitching pattern, I love it. I also think something like this can be your signature just like a makers mark. I make some belts too from time to time, it's the best selling item for getting some material costs back. What you also did really well is running that crease exact where the brown belt and the black edge meet. Brilliant idea it makes the belt look so much more professional. So oooh and awww from me too. Did you skive the part that gets wrapped around at the buckle or do you leave it as it is?

Nevermind, I like yours at least equally :-) Again really outstanding work

Hi folks, my wife asked me for a card holder for all of her shopping/memebership/whatsoever cards. Normally do cardholders all the time and that shouldn't be any issue. However, she insists to have one of these card holders with the plastic inserts in it to have easy access to every single card without having to search for it beneath other cards. But honestly I hate those plastic whatever to call them card things. I understand the issue with the quick access but I will not buy such a plastic insert and do some leather outside of it. In my opinion that's a total waste of leather since these plastics get stretched and break with time and as I said I think they're ugly. So my question here: How do I achieve the same attempt while using leather (or other natural materials). I have access to nice thin .8mm leather but even with that it'll get quite bumpy when doing it for like 10 cards. Any advice is appreciated.

Lots of good advice here, I will throw in my few points here since I also started in leather to make wallets. In terms of thickness that mostly depends on personal preference. I'm from Europe and we like really thin and nicely done wallets. For my Bifold wallets I use veg tan from 0.8mm to 1.0mm max. However, you could use thicker leather for your outside piece (up to 2.0mm) but I wouldn't recommend it for the inside pieces. Basically wallets - especially the style you posted, which I also prefer - consist of 3 "layers": The outside piece, the inside divider, which forms the bill slot with the outside piece and your card slots/coin pouch pieces. Normally I construct the card holders completely separate and the stitch it to the middle piece. Now to comment your last picture: These aren't layered but also T-pieces. You can see that clearly when you look carefully at the picture: At the edge you always have two layers of leather. You would never stack up 5 layers of leather that would look really bulky. The trick is that you have a small piece (about 10mm wide and 10mm high for my card holders) on both sides that form the T with the body of the card section. These "overlaps" get butted up perfectly underneath each other make it look like it were squares and not T-parts. You plan the height of the pocket so that you have only 2 pockets overlap with the body part and stitch them together. That stitching is hidden in your card pockets. Maybe that helps. Takes a lot of precise cutting and practice tho but keep going, you'll get there. Buying patterns has already been mentioned, I totally recommend buying those of Ian Atkinson (Leodis Leather). You get the sizes, the exact patterns and hour long videos you can follow step by step. Helped me a lot to get started.

I use Tan Kote for the Flesh Side of my belts. Had good results with it .

Brilliant execution, I totally love the minimalists. The way you work with color is totally my taste. Your edges are really well made, did you edge paint the black edges and burnish the brown one?

Good point Tugadude, I'll try pulling straight next time. I change the way I stitch all the time since I only started a few months ago and just like you I always strive for improvement in everything I do. A day I learned or improved something is a good day.

As a rather new leatherworking addict my story is not nearly as good as the ones I already read, however, I still want to share it in case anyone is interested: I work in IT for about 10 years now and it's like arriving at work early with a huge pile of ToDo and coming home late, the pile is even higher than in the morning and you produced - well, nothing. I always had the feeling that I need to create something with my hands that will last longer than our fast paced digital products we consume and throw away every day. Additionally, when you come home from a long day of meetings and annoying stuff all that's left in your head is pudding so about half a year ago that urge to do something with my hands grew stronger. I totally feel Mutt, blacksmithing was also the first thing that came to my mind. It's something I always wanted to do (in fact it was - or is - my "When I retire..." plan). However, with a regular job and my young boy sleeping next to my workshop in my apartment in the evening hours when I have time to do something, blacksmithing was out due to noise, dirt and lack of space. My coin purse fell apart that time and I watched a video of Ian Atkinson doing one. I bought a pack of leather tools from Amazon and some pieces of scrap leather alongside his pattern and here it is. I have bought so much tools and leather since then and I'm doing something every evening, even if it's just finishing some leather I dyed the night before or just some smaller tasks. Still thinking about how to sell some stuff to get some money back to buy more materials but I'm learning every day and it clears my head after some hard working with my head during my regular job.

+1 for Fiebings. You can also watch Ian Atkinsons vieo on dyeing leather to get an impression of various dye types. However, I'm pretty happy with the antiques that you can get from Eco Flo. Depends on what item/tooling you're giong to make. Regarding the finishes there are lots of options and again it depends on what you're trying to achieve. Resolene gives a shiny, glossy and finished surface, I like to use it for heavy duty items such as belts that might get contact with dirt/moisture. Using that for a wallet is way over the top (in my opinion). For wallets I always use Carnauba creme with a good rub and it never let me down. I suggest you buy a small bottle of both and try them. I've also had good results with Japanese finishes off of Goods Japan. Tan Kote has some friends too but I only use it to finish the flesh side of the leather

I still have this issue all the time and also complained about it in my post about the Bifold wallet I made. I still have no good solution for this and even doing the cast doesn't fix the problem in a quality that is acceptable for me. However, what I learned is the following: you can influence what your "front" is by switching you're first hand needle. Let me try to make that a little more clear: I always punch my holes (for a wallet) with a 3mm Japanese Diamond Chisel (or whatever you may call them, giving 8.5 SPI), holes pointing down towards me, stitching towards me and I always use .6 Tiger thread for my wallets. Now when stitching my card pockets to the divider, I want the zig zag to be on the right side of my clamped piece. So I start with the left hand needle, right hand needle comes underneath, goes into the bottom of the hole and gets pulled tight with no knot. The result is that the right side gets the nice zig zag, the left side is basically a straight line of stitches. When I sew my divider to the back piece, I want the zig zag to be on the left side of my clamped piece, which is the outside of the wallet. So what I do is I start with my right hand needle going in, left needle comes underneath, gets into the bottom of the hole and gets pulled tight with no knot or cast. The result is a zig zag look on the left side and a straight line on the right side. Doing a cast does - at least in my cases where I stitch 4 layers of .3mm leather together always lead to one side being nice and the other one being sloppy and wonky. If there are any suggestions on how to fix that I'll take them. In the meantime I live with one side being a straight line. Edit: When starting with the left hand needle I pull the left side up and the right side down when pulling the thread. You have to switch that also when starting with the right hand so the right hand goes up and the left hand pulls down.

It is a niche market for sure but I don't think there's that much of a competition in terms of "stealing" customers. Everyone has his own style and preferences and I think only few of us consider joining that market on a professional level. As I said, I've been a pool player for 15+ years and since I'm now into leatherwork of course I'd like to make a case for myself and if it turns out ok maybe for some guys I know. But it is as it was already mentioned: there are few pool players that do want to pay $500+ for a cue case and since I know now how much work making one would be I wouldn't want to make them for business anyway (since I don't own a sewing machine I'd have to hand sew it anyway and that's not practical if you want to sell items).You're better off doing saddles, wallets and belts for earning your rent. I mean there's no black magic to making those cases, it's basically a few tubes lined and glued together and wrap some leather around it. And I'm not asking for business secrets but a hit which fabric to use for the inside and how to line the tubes properly would help a lot. The rest is making straps, boxes and closing mechanisms...

I totally agree on the patina and story point, and also agree with bikermutt. It was more of a question since I have no experience with (veg tan) leather being exposed to water and moisture on a daily basis. My expectation was that it would rot from the (unfinished) inside. Good to hear that that's apparently not the case. Thanks for your experience and kudos to your Dopp Kits. Again those look great

Ah, now I can get a glimpse of the closing mechanism with the bar, that wasn't obvious on the previous photos. Again, nice workAh, now I can get a glimpse of the closing mechanism with the bar, that wasn't obvious on the previous photos. Again, nice work

Ok I did the exact same search (with the quotes) and got over 3k results with none of yours being on the first 5 pages, so either I‘m too stupid to use the search function or you used a different function than me (the magnifying flass on top?). Anyhow, as Oldnslow said most of the information is held back because its their trade secret. It‘s everyones right to do so, my philosophy is a bit different. A craft cannot grow or develop without sharing of information. But the JB pattern seems to be a good starting point. I‘d see that I can get some tubes and just try to start. Will share the progress when I get to make it in terms of materials, patterns,... The greaters mystery so far for me is the proper lining of the tubes so if anyone has some experience with it I‘d love to hear it

Hi, I wonder whether anyone here has some advice for me. Having played pool for about 15 years and having started leatherworking now, I want to build a pool cue case (2 butts 4 top shafts) I‘ve seen that the pinned box zipper thread is used for a cue case and I‘ve seen one thread mentioning a cue case, which has the images removed, but hhere‘s no thread really handling the how to. Which material is used best as tubes? How to line the tubes? Whats the best approach for a top and bottom? What weighs are used best?How do I get started best?... Thanks for any advice

I‘m blown away by the level of quality you put in every detail. I also like the cleanlyness of the whole piece. I‘ve never seen a handle like this does the bar serve any function or is it decorative? Also, since the handle is not in the center does it lean on one side when carried?

@kiwican thank you for sharing your experience thats really good to hear so you didn‘t do anything to the inside as well? Thats great, one thing to care less about when I try doing my own version

Thats what my concern was. A Dopp Kit will be exposed to water or at least moist air when dropped in a bathroom. With the inside being unprepared my fear would be that it sort of decays from the inside. I thought of making one myself recently and the first thing that came to my mind was waterproof fabric but a quick search returned only ridiculously expensive stuff thats way over the top for a Dopp Kit. The bees way however sounds like a good idea, I often read about NFO/Beeseax compounds that bring good results. Maybe that‘s worth a try. Never the less these are great made items and I love the accent leather. It‘s a combination you don‘t see that often what makes them even more outstanding. I have a passion for well made everyday items like that.

Really nice work, I like it a lot. Are they machine or hand sewn? Can you post a picture of the inside, are they lined? Awesome craftsmanship...

Yeah that's not too expensive but in my case the piece would be $20 and shipping+customs would probably be around $50 though I didn't ask for a shipping quote at SL yet. Interesting, never heard of Tyvek wrap used in wallets, does it sizzle when you bend the wallet or do you hear it? I would have sewn it too, glue is doomed to loosen and you don't want your wallet to go to the bin because of that part. I love the outside, marks on the grain give the pieces a story, I enjoy working them into my pieces. I also like the contrasting thread.

Awesome work. And I like your makers mark

+1 for the edges. Are the stitching lines below the card cuttings decorative? Also, I'd like to see a picture of the back, I love the look of that Horse leather. It's on the list of materials I have to try out..

I wasn't aware of that. I just went by the look and my Tilapia skins looks close to what you had. As said, mine is matte so I'm currently wondering how to finish it. Working with Resolene or Carnauba Creme doesn't seem to be a good idea because of the bulky surface. I don't think the result will be an evenly covering finish.

I tried some skiving yesterday with the bottle trick Bikermutt mentioned and at least I can say that after some help of my good friend Jack that I was pretty satisfied with the result. However, my wife had another perspective... @baroness thanks for your input, afaik you need reverse versions of your iron to use it on both sides but my holes come out angles on both sides with my Japanese stitching iron. Ordered some WUTA 3mm pricking irons to see whether it makes a difference when I use an awl or if it's just me thats untalented :-)

To me this fish leather looks like Tilapia. I have one skin lying aroubd here I could post a pic of the raw skin if anyone is interrested. @Rockoboy may I ask how you finished the „grain“ side to be shiny? Mine seems rather matte