Making Men's Fine Leather Wallets

[firdarrig]

Although I haven't done it in years, I would use either kip or Italian bookbinder's calfskin, 1 1/2 - 2 oz. To keep the wallet from springing open, just fold your inner piece inside the outer piece and see how much sticks out and cut that excess off. When you glue it up, glue from the outside toward the middle leaving a hump at the middle bottom, which can be sewn or not, I just always stopped my stitching at either side of the hump. Since you're using very fine, thin leather, the hump is not an issue, and the wallet folds up perfectly. That very thin, fine leather also means that the pockets (credit card slots) don't create too much bulk. As long as your leather has some body (as either kip or calfskin do) there is no need for stiffener. Good luck.

Terence Plunkett

Renaissance Leather

[JoeSnuffie]

I make my interiors with either goat or calf. Calf is much softer but goat can be split a lot thinner and still be strong.

This is made with 1.75oz calf skin. The total width of the liner is 8.5", which allows the pockets to hold business cards. It's about 3.75" tall now but that might get trimmed a little when I do the final fitting. It just depends on how it looks. You can tighten it up a little if you don't want to allow for business cards but you're also going to make it a tight fit for more than one credit card in each pocket.

When I use chrome or oil tanned leather for the shell, it always wants to spring open a little at first. I set a cutting board on them with some weight, overnight, and this helps a lot. but usually, after a couple days of use, they're worn in and lay flat on their own.

[DavidL]

The brown leather is that goat or calf?

[JoeSnuffie]

The brown leather is that goat or calf?

They're actually both brown, but the darker one is chocolate treated with leather lotion, making it very dark. The other, sort of russet colored, is cow. It came from a couple lots of scraps I purchased and as best I can tell this is a chrome / oil tan. Or just chrome that's been heavily oiled and waxed. A lot of these scraps have some really nice looking defects. The rest of this hide has really great spots, scratches and blemishes.