Critique For Passport Holder Please!

[KelseyR89]

Hey everybody!

I've been making leather products since February and have mostly done really simple, basic things but wanted to see what you all thought and if you had any suggestions/ideas on how I can improve. I feel like my edges could be more smooth but am not sure how to best do this as my leather is too thin (I use 3-4 oz) to really use an edge beveler....

Thanks

[DoubleC]

I recently made some credit card holders. And they weren't perfect by any means but I used the same oz leather and was able to burnish them. I bought some quik slik from Sheridan Outfitters (only place it is sold) and applied it with a q-tip and then used my electric wool burnisher on the edges. They weren't edged either. And although it's not all over, in some places they look like one piece of leather on the edges and are really slick. If you wanted to go farther you would dye after that, put a mix of paraffin and beeswax on the edges and use a wooden burnisher. Your edges don't look bad but I can see where they weren't burnished. Beautiful wallet though. Cheryl

[chrstn53]

You should be able to bevel the edges with a size 0 or 1/32" edger to round them off. Try some saliva or water and a wood handle to blend the pieces. Bob Park has a good article on fishing edges. http://leatherworker.net/bob-park/FinishingEdges-2-15-11.pdf

[rawr66]

I haven't used anything 2-3 oz, but I've made some wallets out of 3-4 oz. For burnishing I will cut the pieces slightly larger, maybe a couple millimeters. and then cut a straight, clean edge after dying. Then I'll lay the piece of leather flat on my table, take a cloth and wrap it on my finger, and rub against the leather pushing down and against it.

[KelseyR89]

Thanks, guys! Rawr, I think I'd like the look of cutting off the edges at the very end and finishing up then. Right now they're kind of rough looking and I think I'd like hem better if I did that I'll also try that Quik Slik too!

[Greg528it]

Looks good, radius the corners a bit, and burnish

[Sona]

Looks good to me.
For the edges: if you haven´t got a fitting edge beveler you could oversize it first - like mentioned before - cut it afterwards and use some sandpaper to round the edge in some strokes. But sand it just in one direction, otherwise you´d lift up the fibres and polishing might become e little bit harder. Even a 240 sandpaper might be just right to round them as you don´t rough it up that much this way. After that -> aplly some water, slick it and keep on doing the rest of the edge work.