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charon

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Everything posted by charon

  1. The 3mm Stitching iron gives 8.5 stitches/inch, the wallet is roughly 5 inch (4.7) by 4 inch (3.7) closed and I agree that it looks a little crowded with the thick thread. I'll try a lighter thread the next time but I think something like a bifold wallet looks rather rough with a 5 or 6 stitches/inch. I tried to improve the stitching with a piece of scrap but the only thing that changes the overall look is an overhand knot or even a double loop, which improve the "straight" side slightly to an angle but also make the "neat" side look less neat. You're right, the inner of the divider looks different just because I flipped directions, having the straight side on the inside of the wallet where it's less frequently seen. I totally agree about the maintenance method thing, I think as an IT guy you're aligned to work that way. I also break my project into smaller steps and complete them one by one just as I would do in programming and I totally have some unsatisfying wallets in the drawer too. The grip of he roo is firm but since it's a 1-2 oz leather it's soft when it comes to tighten the thread. Maybe I should try to pull it not too firm. @bikermutt07 The stitching is hammerd down really well but this damn Lin cable is hard to tame (Maybe it really is way too thick for the item) If anyone has a suggestion for a better skiving that wold be really nice. Because I ruin a lot of leather when trying to skive the 2oz leather to 1oz and the result is always uneven with that nasty safety beveller. Thank you for your input guys, highly appreciated
  2. Thank you for your suggestions. I made a few before feeling confident enough to post them here and I truly messed up a few before :-) You're right, the thread is pretty chunky but I like it a little chunkier and my sewing looks awful with 532 and 632 thread. I made a few with .6 Tiger thread, which come out a little thinner. I pull the thread one side up and one side down, just as Ian mentioned it in his video, tried a few different approaches but it's always one side straight and one side nice. Honestly I don't like the blue thread either but it was supposed to match the cotton lining. The color is supposed to be red brown and turned out nicely on calf, however on this roo leather it was more like a red so I had to make a choice about the thread/lining color and went for something unusual. Since I'm still learning material and techniques and am currently not able to sell the items I'm testing as much as I can. You're right about the creasing but I only have one crappy Chinese adjustable creaser and am not happy with the results. I'm looking for some nice fixed creasers but they're hard to find in my area. In fact I tried to burnish the top edge, but the leather is .8 and a little sloppy, so it's hard to get good results. I did some versions where both the divider and the back piece are lined, in that case I have a rolled edge there too. The reason for the wavy rolled edge is not the glue (I glued it with contact cement and hammered it fairly well), it's the skiving. Since I want to avoid a bumpy look, I skive the part where the edge rolls to half using one of that bleck, curved safety skivers that Tandy and others sell. Having leather that is .8 and needing to skive it to .4 is a total mess. I screwed more leather than I used and when I manage to skive along the whole top with a straight, cut edge and no cuttings in it, the result is mostly uneven. So at the part where it looks ok I managed to skive it to .4 and roll it nicely. At the thin parts I skived it to like .2 or .1 (at some points you can even see through the leather) and the result is mostly uneven. To date I haven't found a better way to achieve a good looking result. Again thanks for your kind words, you encourage me to show off more projects :-)
  3. Hi, I'm Andy, I've been a reader a longer time here and I wanted to show you a wallet I recently completed. In normal life I'm an IT guy and a few months ago I had the feeling I need to create something with my hands to compensate my fully mind-based job, if you know what I mean. I came to leatherworking by the requirements that I can do it with my hands, I can do it in the apartment at home, I don't need big tools and I don't make much noise (since my son is sleeping by the time I'm working). While I now know that the last part is the hardest I came to have pretty much fun with leather so I think now it's the time that I can start to contribute here once in a while. So here's a Bifold wallet I made, the leather is veg tan kangaroo, lined on one side with some cotton, dyed by hand, finished by hand and stitched by hand with Fil au Chinois 332 blue. I started all my projects with Tiger thread and was pretty happy about it but since everyone talks about that French thread and common opinion is that this is the best thing to use, I gave it a shot. And...I hate it. I needed to wax it extra since without extra wax it was impossible to sew with and it created knots by itself all the time. Maybe someone has an advice for me, maybe I was totally doing it wrong but I breathed a sigh of relief when I was finished. Since I'm a total beginner I used Craft Sha 3mm stitching irons and a standard saddle stitch (as explained from Nigel Armitage in his videos and I watched Ian Atkinson as well). However I can't get that zig-zaggy look on both sides. My stitching is always ok on one side (I chose the outside of the wallet for that side) and straight on the inside (can be seen on the second picture). Maybe my material is too thin, but I stitched a lot (compared to the time I'm doing leather items) but I can't figure out how to get it right. I also tried the overhand knot Nigel is referring to but that isn't helping. MAybe some of you have an advice for me. C & C are appreciated. Thanks, Andy
  4. I also think @DreamFactory has the right to be concerned and also was totally polite about it, you shouldn't just copy this really nice pony (kudos to DreamFactory for the really nice item), but I disagree with @Webicons about the Lean and Port wallets. Something like the Lean wallet is neither innovative design (it is in fact lean, because it's just a piece of leather wrapped around 3 times) nor something that could be patented. Even I do these things as a minimal wallet without even knowing there's someone else calling it a "Lean (tm) wallet", although I use different material and are still able to cut and make holes by hand and not with a laser. It's like claiming you invented the card slots for a bifold wallet, the possibilities for designs are limited and thus are doomed to be "copied". But that's just my $0.02 But I have a slightly offtopic question to @DreamFactory, just because you mentioned it: Is Elfita still doing business? I love their tools and would like to order some, however they didn't respond to my mails and since you know them personally... Andy
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