Bifold w/ coin pouch - Italian Camo & Buttero

[MudBugWill]

Very rarely do I get to sit down and make an item without regards to efficiency. This is a wallet I made for myself for a trip to Japan to study with my leathercraft teacher. Most everywhere is cash only there and you need to use many coins, so I wanted to treat myself to a nice wallet finally. 

The exterior is Italian camo leather and the interior is Buttero. It is stitched at 9spi with Amy Roke 632. All edges are dyed and burnished with Funori seaweed. 

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by MudBugWill

[alpha2]

Well, that's just spectacular! Love the seaweed edges, didn't know that was a thing.

Jeff

[goingconcernMA]

This is beautiful work! I can imagine this took a fair bit of time. If I may ask a few questions:

 

• How thin is this leather split to? Looks fairly thin - is it 0.5mm?
• It looks like you have partially lined card slots - is it difficult to get the fold to the same depth for each slot?
• Your skiving seems is crazy exact - any tips on getting to that level of consistency?

 

Thanks for sharing

[MudBugWill]

32 minutes ago, goingconcernMA said:

Thank you very much Alpha2 and goingconcernMA for the kind words.

I used 5 thicknesses for this build, which is probably a little over the top.

The card pockets are .5mm leather folded over. Everything is fully lined, including the card slots. The card bank is pretty tricky with lots of strategic skiving to reduce bulk and to nestle each card slot into the next. That way there aren't any lumps when viewed from the side, or gaps when viewed from the top as if you did a regular t-slot.

Sadly there aren't any tricks to the skiving. It's just the usual long runs on the bell skiver and a bunch of free-hand skiving. I free-hand a lot of edge beveling with my knife and card slot skiving, but it takes me ages to carve out the indentations for the card slots to nestle. I wish there was an easier way haha

 

[bikermutt07]

Can't say I love the camo, but that has to be one of the finest executions for a wallet that I have seen here. Or anywhere.

Bravo, Sir and have a fun trip.

[YinTx]

That is a truly fine bit of craftsmanship.  Inspirational, thank you for sharing.  I hope you get to enjoy that for many years.

YinTx

[Riem]

Great craftsmanship - I admire your stitching! You say you're going to study with your leathercraft teacher? Looks like the teacher might pick up a tip or two...

[VYO]

That is one beautiful wallet to be very proud of!

[noobleather]

Wow that wallet is clean and really well put together. All the components look great together.Where in Japan are you going to study?

Anata no saifu wa subarashi desu

[mike6642]

A very nice wallet, with excellent workmanship.

[battlemunky]

That looks about flawless. Kudos on near perfection!

[Bob Blea]

That is very clean work, very impressive!

[bvdv]

Not a fan of the camo either but the wallet is marvelous.
Nicely executed.

what is/are Funori seaweed and how do you use/apply it.
Bert

[GrayHallidayJr]

Super nice!

[battlemunky]

So, I was back admiring this....two things came to mind.

1. funori seaweed burnishing--can you please tell us more about this as a burnishing agent. I couldn't find anything online other than using it as a haircare thing 
2. is that button leather wrapped and if so, did you do it and how

Sorry for stalking but this is a really nice piece.

[AltaAndina]

Beautiful burnishing - can you tell me more about your burnishing process? 

Is that by hand? Is the seaweed an extract? What do you use to apply? 

It is so even and consistent. 

@MudBugWill - thank you! 

[Danne]

Very clean work. Your attention to details is really good.

[MudBugWill]

On 2/4/2019 at 7:40 PM, noobleather said:

Wow that wallet is clean and really well put together. All the components look great together.Where in Japan are you going to study?

Anata no saifu wa subarashi desu

ありがとうございます！

I study with Yamashita-san "GO Designer Leathers" in Ebisu. 

[MudBugWill]

Thank you for the kind words everyone!

As for the burnishing:

I think 90% of the work to achieve a nicely burnished edge is done before you even apply anything to it. I make everything oversized and cut flush. I use very thin layers of glue. I use a mini Japanese hand plane to round each edge nicely and sand them smooth. The radius of the edge is important. If the edge is too flat, you are just pushing the leather back against itself and mushrooming it. If it isn't rounded, the burnish will never look right. 

You can make edges like this with any of the usual burnishing agents: Water, Tokonole, CMC, Gum Trag, etc. I use Funori because I enjoy the process of making it and the history.  It is a dried Japanese seaweed that you grind up, soak in water and heat. I think you are just extracting the cellulose or something. Then you strain it and use it as you would any burnishing liquid. It needs to be refrigerated though. It gets pretty rank pretty quickly. It smells like dead sea creatures when it turns haha. Apparently it was used to mount scrolls and is used in art restoration as a delicate glue. 

My method is:

-Glue the edges using contact cement and a glue scraper. The glue must be as thin as possible otherwise the edge will have lines and ridges. 

-Hammer the joint

-Cut flush in one cut if possible. I like to use a ruler and score a light line with a fresh Olfa blade. Then I use my Japanese leather knife and make the cut, using the score line to steer it and keep me on track. 

-I then begin the process of rounding the edge. I like to use the mini plane with as little as the blade out as possible. I begin knocking of the corners working from the leather surface to the center of the edge. I flip and repeat to form a rounded edge. 
Edge bevelers are faster to knock of the initial corner but just make a flat spot and another corner that needs to be sanded and sculpted. I think it is faster to do as much cutting with a plane and as little sanding as possible. I also free-hand bevel with a knife instead of a plane when the situation calls for it, such as on corners and concave curves.

-Then I sand to sculpt and smooth the edge. 

-I apply the Funori and burnish gently with a piece of my old cut-up khaki's. I add beeswax to the canvas as necessary to help with the burnish.

-I sand, run alcohol dye on the edge. let dry, and repeat the Funori, burnish, sanding and dye as needed. 

 

[MudBugWill]

On 2/14/2019 at 7:05 PM, battlemunky said:

So, I was back admiring this....two things came to mind.

1. funori seaweed burnishing--can you please tell us more about this as a burnishing agent. I couldn't find anything online other than using it as a haircare thing 
2. is that button leather wrapped and if so, did you do it and how

Sorry for stalking but this is a really nice piece.

 

On 2/15/2019 at 10:42 AM, AltaAndina said:

Beautiful burnishing - can you tell me more about your burnishing process? 

Is that by hand? Is the seaweed an extract? What do you use to apply? 

It is so even and consistent. 

@MudBugWill - thank you! 

 

On 2/14/2019 at 3:42 AM, bvdv said:

Not a fan of the camo either but the wallet is marvelous.
Nicely executed.

what is/are Funori seaweed and how do you use/apply it.
Bert

 

On 2/4/2019 at 7:40 PM, noobleather said:

Wow that wallet is clean and really well put together. All the components look great together.Where in Japan are you going to study?

Anata no saifu wa subarashi desu

I forgot to quote everyone who had questions. Sorry, I am new to this interface

[RockyAussie]

Thanks for sharing @MudBugWill I always find it strange the interplay of using beeswax and the use of dye later in the process. Because I mostly work with crocodile and the hard and soft nature of it I only use edge painting processes which require a fair bit of difference to get a good end result. Instead of a mini plane I use high speed sanding machinery mostly to start with followed by several coats of paint with sanding and ironing between some coats. The beeswax comes only into the polishing at the end.

[battlemunky]

Thanks for the detailed reply @MudBugWill.

[artigiano]

Truly beautiful work and thank you for generously sharing your technique. May I ask where you source those beautiful polished snaps?