CanuckAmuck

Yeah, the wooden handled tool appears to be an edge creaser, but there are no markings to identify it as any particular brand. That might explain why they're looking so good for (possibly) 60+ years old!

My grandfather recently moved into an assisted care facility, and my uncle was cleaning out his things when he found some tools in a WW2-Era bag (the pouch is stamped 1945, and a stamp inside the bag itself says 1943) that he thought I might like, so he shipped them over to me. According to my uncle, he believes my grandfather had taken up leatherworking in between his service in WW2 and the Korean War. I've taken some pictures of the tooling tools that have markings on them. I'm hoping we can try and figure out when they actually date from! They're in remarkably good condition, considering their supposed age. My uncle said the tools were rolled up in the tool bag untouched for a few decades. There is also a crumbling yellow envelope (empty, unfortunately) for an invoice from the "Henry Frank Leather Co., Inc." located at 220 East Washington St, Syracuse 2, N.Y. .. A preliminary Googling shows that a Henry Frank Leather Co existed at an address on Walton St in Syracuse from 1960 to 1991, supported by a photograph from 1983 I found on Flickr. This means that the envelope is from either before 1960 or after 1991 (which is unlikely). The tooling tools are marked with a Craftool Co. marking, and they're numbered 104, 198, 352, 433, 704, and 708. In the bag there was also a weird brown block of some kind. Doesn't appear to be metal (or at least doesn't react to a magnet), and has FP13 stamped on the end of it. A little bit rough to the touch, like a fine-grain sandpaper. Anyone know what it could be?

Yeah, I tried having the card flipped around in the slot, but it still fails to read. The weird thing is that when I try to tap my card, the reader doesn't give an error like it's getting confusing signals; it just doesn't register anything at all.

This is what I had used for my wallet, I picked up a roll at the local hardware shop for like two bucks. For my purposes, it was less about protecting cards from thieves; rather, I wanted a barrier of some kind that didn't introduce too much additional thickness to stop the cards inside the wallet from confusing the metro station readers when I tried to tap my metro card located on the outside of the wallet.

Thanks for your suggestion! I made a prototype wallet with some aluminium tape hidden between the leather and the lining, to separate the cards on the inside of the wallet from the tap card located on the outside of the wallet. I have discovered, however, that this somehow disables the tap card on the outside of the wallet (even though it's Machine -> Card -> Leather -> Aluminium) - it doesn't register on the tap machine while it's in its slot, only if I remove it from the wallet to tap. It seems the aluminium is a little too good at scrambling signals!

I'm wondering what solutions y'all have to blocking smartcard signals in wallets/ID holders/etc. I've got two tap-and-go smartcards (my transit card and resident card) but encounter problems tapping if both are in my wallet at the same time because the reader is receiving signals from both cards. How do you get around this problem?

Wow, thank you! Welcome to the community! Hope to see some of your posts around.

I'll look into that, thank you!

Thank you! It was actually my first time doing a lot of what went into the bag. I'd never worked with zippers before, nor turned an edge. I haven't skived leather before either, and you can tell I need some work on that. Accidentally skived a few bits right off. Good thing this was just a prototype!

Currently, if you're wearing the bag on your right side (as I and my friend do), the key holder is located back and to the right. This makes it a bit awkward to reach and grab one-handed. If I move the key holder to the diagonal-opposite corner (to the right of the inside zippered pocket), it would be in a much more convenient spot to reach without having to twist your arm. Thank you! I might cut this strap off and install an adjustable one in the future. I just wanted something for now to see how the bag looked more-or-less complete. I agree that the bag could be larger in size. My friend wanted something approximately the same size as her current bag (which she said was about 9x9in), so I designed it for those dimensions. I'd probably increase it to be a couple inches wider though, perhaps 11in x 9in.

Thanks! I originally had a gusset for the zipper pockets in the design, but wasn't a fan of how they looked when I made a craft paper mockup. Even without the extra space a gusset affords, the pockets seem spacious enough though, so I'm happy with how it is now. Thanks for noticing the stitch lines! I'm pleased I could make the design without too many visible stitch lines. I also hid the stitch lines for the gusseted pockets on the front with the drop pocket on the inside, so unless you flip the drop pocket out you can't see them either.

A friend asked me to make a bag for her to replace her aging fake-leather bag, so I sketched out some designs and made this prototype using some nice chrome-tanned leather. Took about a week or so to make, spending a few hours on it each day. I've previously only made small items like wallets and passport covers, so this is my largest and most complex item so far. The bag measures approx 9in x 9in. There are a few design changes I plan to make before making her version of the bag - like perhaps making the bag another inch or two wider, changing the placement of the key holder, lowering the drop pocket a little more, making the strap adjustable, and adding a zipper to shut it. Overall though, I'm pretty happy with how this one looks, and plan to use it myself for the time being.

Thanks @bikermutt07 and @Mattsbagger! I'll be sure to give that a watch.

I did give it a bit of a tap, but I suppose I didn't tap hard enough - I was wary of denting the leather by hitting it too aggressively. What do you mean by "cast a loop"? I'll admit it's not a phrase I'm familiar with.

Thanks Mutt! I'm happy you noticed. I think I'm really getting the hang of stitching now.

Put this together last weekend. It's a minimal, simple wallet for holding a few cards and some cash, held with some elastic string. Wanted to practice my product photography and needed a model, so I didn't bother dying the leather, but I think I like the natural veg tan colour anyway. I'll wear this around for a couple months to see how it fares, maybe get a nice little patina going.

This is the wallet I finished this weekend. I'll carry it around for a couple months to see how it fares, maybe get a nice little patina going.

Thanks! I'd rather go for simple and play with the colors; that said, like @garypl noticed, stitching tapered gussets is a pain!

Just finished making this coin pouch. It's my fourth iteration of a coin pouch design, and I'm quite happy with the look of it. I'm gonna wear this one in my pocket for a month or two and see how it fares. Leather used was a simple 3-4oz veg tan dyed Bison Brown and Canyon Tan, with brown thread and a silver snap.

Thanks for the tips! I'll keep them in mind when I paint something. Thanks! I enjoy it a lot already.

@DJole That looks great! I'm not quite at the point of tooling things yet, but that's a great design! How did you apply the dye to precise areas like that? @bikermutt07 Thanks for the recommendation! Hexnhit appears to be based out of Thailand rather than Taiwan, but I'll check around my local leather shops (heading to one later today for some supplies anyway) to see if they have any! @garypl Thank you! I hope this forum will be a useful resource for me to develop my skills, and hopefully I can inspire/help others as well!

Hey everyone! I'm Ben, a 26 year-old Canadian expat currently living in Taiwan. I recently got into leatherworking in October, after I took a leathercrafting workshop with a friend in Vietnam. Bought myself some tools and leather on my return to Taiwan, and have fallen in love with the craft! I've always been a maker - I do photography, cross stitching, filmmaking, and (frankly, too many) other hobbies - so I've enjoyed diving into leathercrafting. I started out making a really janky-looking passport cover, and have since made some coin pouches and moneyholders and dice bags for my Dungeons & Dragons players for Christmas. All through, my cutting, stitching, burnishing, and designs have become better, so with each new project I'm even more proud of my work. I'm amazed with how much I've learned in just three months, and I know I've just scratched the surface. Can't wait to see what the next project will be! Attached are some images of my latest project, an updated passport cover that I'll be taking with me on my travels. Hope to see y'all around! -Ben