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Posted

I am a hobby leather worker. Been doing leather work for about 1 year. I have made belts, ladies totes, misc. stuff. I have been working on wallets recently. I don't have a splitter and can't afford/justify one.  Trying to make a nice wallet has been a challenge with thick leather. I have mostly got my leather from Tandy although I got some from Acadia for ladies totes that I am happy with. I got some calf skin from Tandy and although it is thin, it is also very soft. Not firm enough to use on wallets.

Recently I got a batch of kangaroo scraps from a member of this forum and I am very happy with the variety of kangaroo pieces that I got. It is about 1 mm. So I experimented with making a wallet and I am happy with how it turned out. Fast forward, I got a kangaroo hide from Maverick Leather and I am happy with the leather, about 1mm, and perfect for wallets.

So, I am wondering if any of you in the US are using kangaroo for wallets or is there a better source for a thin leather like calf that is firm?  I like  the kangaroo hide I got from Maverick Leather but just looking to see if there are any other options.

 

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Posted
12 minutes ago, TomWisc said:

is there a better source for a thin leather like calf that is firm?

You might ask your friends at Maverick's about their goat... thin and firm.

Posted

You can also just do what most of us do and use 3 to 4 oz. veg-tan cowhide as it is quite nice for wallets as well.  I make mine with 3 to 4 oz. for the backs (exterior) if it is not being stamped/carved & tooled or I use 4 to 5 oz. if it is being stamped/carved & tooled; for all of the interior pieces I use 2 to 3 oz. veg-tan cowhide.  All of my leather is from Hermann Oak and it is all very tough yet soft and pliable and with these thicknesses the wallets are never bulky.

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Posted
14 hours ago, LatigoAmigo said:

You might ask your friends at Maverick's about their goat... thin and firm.

Thanks LatigoAmigo I have not used goat before but I will check it out

 

4 hours ago, NVLeatherWorx said:

You can also just do what most of us do and use 3 to 4 oz. veg-tan cowhide as it is quite nice for wallets as well.  I make mine with 3 to 4 oz. for the backs (exterior) if it is not being stamped/carved & tooled or I use 4 to 5 oz. if it is being stamped/carved & tooled; for all of the interior pieces I use 2 to 3 oz. veg-tan cowhide.  All of my leather is from Hermann Oak and it is all very tough yet soft and pliable and with these thicknesses the wallets are never bulky.

I have not tried Hermann Oak leather yet, NVLeatherWorx. From reading numerous posts on this forum it seems they are one of the most popular leather suppliers so I will try some of their leather.

When using the 3 to 4 oz. do you do much skiving on the edges or just burnish the edges after assembling all the pieces of the wallet?

Thanks for your suggestion.

Posted (edited)

I'll second you should try goat.
Hermès use a lot of goat.
I use a lot of goat, lot of Hermès offcuts, and a lot of goat from the same places that they use.
Goat is very strong for it's thickness.
Not quite as hard-wearing as calf, and handles differently, not as dense.
Not as soft as lambskin, but, still very nice to work with.

Edited by mikesc

"Don't you know that women are the only works of Art" .. ( Don Henley and "some French painter in a field" )

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Posted
6 hours ago, mikesc said:

I'll second you should try goat.
Hermès use a lot of goat.
I use a lot of goat, lot of Hermès offcuts, and a lot of goat from the same places that they use.
Goat is very strong for it's thickness.
Not quite as hard-wearing as calf, and handles differently, not as dense.
Not as soft as lambskin, but, still very nice to work with.

Thanks mikesc for your vote for goat! There are 2 Tandy stores within an hour so I have defaulted to their stuff.And I don't want to knock Tandy because they have helped me many times. However, I need to try other suppliers to compare their leather quality to Tandy.

Posted

Rocky Mountain Leather Supply sells various calf skins and will split to whatever you want at no charge.

Terry

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Posted

Springfield had some nice kangaroo at one point.  You might look at their website and/or phone them.  They will also tell you about other options that meet your needs.  They stock lots of different things and I've had great luck with them.

Posted
On 4/21/2019 at 12:44 PM, TomWisc said:

I have not tried Hermann Oak leather yet, NVLeatherWorx. From reading numerous posts on this forum it seems they are one of the most popular leather suppliers so I will try some of their leather.

When using the 3 to 4 oz. do you do much skiving on the edges or just burnish the edges after assembling all the pieces of the wallet?

Thanks for your suggestion.

I do very little skiving so as not to make the leather too thin but only along the areas that I will have multiple layers on top of each other.  I use the T-slot method for my pockets so that I am not building a thick edge.  Depending on where you are located, there is a supplier in Napa, CA (www.hidehouse.com) that has calf and I believe that they have some thicker stuff than what you traditionally find.  I have a bit of calf, lamb, and goat here in my shop that I use on specific items but most of my stuff is from veg-tan cowhide as the durability is great.  I have used some Roo but not much, it is very strong though and I use Roo lace over calf because of this.

  • 2 months later...
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Posted

you can also check buckleguy - they have light weight buffalo skins

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