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Second go at the leather valet tray.  Not entirely happy with it, although it turned out functional enough... working on 2,3 and 4 as we speak...

I think the brass rivets are more difficult than copper rivets from what I can see of folks using them in videos... all I can say is I could barely nip the tips off and rounding it with a very large ball peen  hammer was a chore.  Metal got hot from hammering!  Enjoy...

RValet1LR.jpg

RValet9LR.jpg

RValet10LR.jpg

 

YinTx

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Looking good. 

Suggestion, if your having issues with the brass rivets they may be hard from the manufacturing process or just the makeup of the brass. Try annealing a few of them and see if that helps at all. The brass will reharden as you work it but should give ya the ability to round the end of the rivet before it gets too hard. 

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Big improvement from the first if I remember.  I'm not a huge fan of these trays.  I just don't like the aesthetics of the excess material when the corners are gathered.  Not your design, all of the similar ones.  If it were mine I'd try to scallop the corners so when drawn together it stays more boxy.   Having said that, your execution is great. 

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Its' hard to tell if it's lined or if that's just the flesh side?  Is it lined?

 

Also, love the tray, very nice look.

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Max,

Thanks for the hint, I may have to anneal to see how it works.  Just broke my granite since I had to hammer it so hard!  BAH.  So just spent $20 on an anvil from H.F.  I'll see if that does any better.  After I finish mashing the last 2 rivets in the second one, I'll put up a couple of photos of it as well.  

Not such a big fan of the style of tray either, so I had tried a different version, which was the first one I did.  The vertical sides didn't appeal to me, so I tried this version with the rivets.  I thought maybe these would be simple to make, but turned out not so simple with the tooled inserts and dye, finish, 3 coats of edge paint,etc.  

They are lined with suede, Venator.  Hence the painted edges vs. my usual beeswax burnish.

YinTx

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Those look great and interested in knowing what you used for the edge paint on those, it is hard to tell.

Thanks

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Oldnslow,

Thanks for the compliment.  I used the Fenice Brown Edge finish marketed by Tandy as Eco-Flo Professional Edge Dressing - Brown.  They had a sale here 32 oz for $8.50 or so, so I thought I'd try it out.  Suede backed veg tan seemed like a good challenge for it, seems to have done well.   3 coats, first one melted in with a hot iron, second one sanded down, third  one left alone.  I could have probably slicked it with some paraffin for a better shine, but I decided to leave well enough alone this time around.

Hope that helps.

YinTx

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Oblivion!!  Welcome back, long time no see!  and, Thank you!

YinTx

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I have the black and the dark brown so please splain me the hot iron or can you post a photo.

Thanks

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I just have a fat old soldering iron, I run it over the first layer only to "melt" the coat a bit on the surface, which seems to smooth things out nicely for the next coat.  I think a lot of folks use the side of a fileteuse for that, but I haven't spent the $$ for one yet... so the iron it is.  

At the 3:43 mark you can see one being used here...

YinTx

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The suede is perfect for this.  Really sets off the leather on inside bottom.

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Very Nice!

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Thank you Brown.

Here is the latest version:

TValet2LR.jpg

 

TValet6LR.jpg

 

TValet9LR.jpg

 

YinTx

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That looks grate.

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Thank you, Venator and Brown.

Here is the latest iteration.  It would be nice to know how to square out the bottom some instead of the rounded shape I end up with, so if anyone has suggestions:

BlueValet3LR.jpg

 

BlueValet2LR.jpg

YinTx

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Have you tried creasing it when it is cased?

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Brown64,

That blue leather is like an oil tanned pull up.  I didn't think that could be cased?

YinTx

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IMHO this one looks like the Kmart version compared to what you did with the brown/red you posted previously. The stitching/finished edges/center insert all add to the one you did previous. Thats just me though, dont take it the wrong way. I think what sets yours apart from a big percentage of the others is the two colors of leather nicely stitched with the nice middle inserts.

Squaring up the corners, not sure what leather your using. If vegtan you can wet mold and crease the line in there, 

With the chrome tan or similar you can do a tight fold and stitch around where you want the crease to be or put a center section like the others but have the outer layer fold over just the edge of the insert and stitch that line around. Its kind of hard to explain but its almost like adding a welting line on upholstery items but without the tubing in it if that makes sense. It may work, it may not. 

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MadMax,

Agreed, the others look much nicer, but I make what the customer is willing to afford, and the last blue one sells for significantly less than the hand stitched 3 layer tooled and edge coated versions.  Actually, so far, it sells, the detailed ones have not.

I may try your ideas on a future version to get a block shape.  I debated wet forming the veg tan one, but I didn't want to take a chance on messing up the dye job with water blotches, etc.  I'll do a trial run and see how it goes.

YinTx

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Yeah I hear ya, gotta make what sells. 

One thing I do sometimes is just spray the vegtan with a spray bottle then let it sit a little bit. The water is applied in a more controlled manner and doesnt pool anywhere like it potentially can when dipping it in a tub of water. 

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I would cut a shape from a firm but still flexible plastic similar in shape to your one with the insert but a bit larger and sandwich it in between the layers.At a pinch a folder from office supplies will work. Some would use a cardboard of sorts but if it gets bent it may show.

DSC06990_resize.JPG

IMGP8579.jpg

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