Making a bifold wallet (Updates with pictures during progress)

[Danne]

3 hours ago, Scoutmom103 said:

Beautiful work.   Thank you for sharing all of the pictures

 

Thank you

[noobleather]

Wow a very slick looking wallet.

Thanks again for posting pics of the process

[Danne]

2 minutes ago, noobleather said:

Wow a very slick looking wallet.

Thanks again for posting pics of the process

Thank you

[CastleLeatherWorks]

always a pleasure to see your work @Danne !!

 

[Danne]

1 hour ago, CastleLeatherWorks said:

always a pleasure to see your work @Danne !!

 

Thank you

[Dunluce]

Could I please ask what programme do you use for drawing your templates and how do you do the stitching lines?

[chrisash]

Fantastic high quality work a inspiration for all of us to seek and hopefully someday equal

[Danne]

2 hours ago, Dunluce said:

Could I please ask what programme do you use for drawing your templates and how do you do the stitching lines?

Here I used Google Sketchup in 2d-mode. But prefer Autocad LT (because it's possible to calibrate the printer for the error you often get in the feed direction of the printer) which is often smaller errors 0.7-1mm for a 200mm (From my tests of different cheap and more expensive laser printers)

But Autocad is also a lot more expensive, and have a little steeper learning curve. 

1 hour ago, chrisash said:

Fantastic high quality work a inspiration for all of us to seek and hopefully someday equal

Thank you Chris

[RevMoore]

Exquisite work. A true showing of what can be done with time and the desire to better one's skills. Top notch all the way through..

[Danne]

40 minutes ago, RevMoore said:

Exquisite work. A true showing of what can be done with time and the desire to better one's skills. Top notch all the way through..

Thank you

[Hardrada]

@Danne: how many cards can you cram in those slots?

I'm asking because I just made a simple side panel as a test and not only are the card panels making the whole thing rather fat in the middle (even after skiving 2 oz leather), but when I insert two cards the whole thing bends and it's putting stress on the stitches: and enough stress will rip the leather at the stitching line.

[Danne]

46 minutes ago, Hardrada said:

@Danne: how many cards can you cram in those slots?

I'm asking because I just made a simple side panel as a test and not only are the card panels making the whole thing rather fat in the middle (even after skiving 2 oz leather), but when I insert two cards the whole thing bends and it's putting stress on the stitches: and enough stress will rip the leather at the stitching line.

Oh, i'm not really sure. The person I made it for said he would need six cards in total (So one in each pocket) 

And when I glued those pockets in place I put a card in the pocket when I glued it in place, removed the card, put it under the next pocket when I glued that in place. And it worked perfect. 

I have the same type of wallet but with two pockets on each side (Never been used) and I just tried to put two cards in each pocket and it works fine without bending or stress on the stitches. 

 

[jimi]

2 hours ago, Hardrada said:

how many cards can you cram in those slots?

My opinion with wallets is if you need a wallet for 7 cards then get one with seven slots or compartments, if you start putting 2 cards or more into the slots then that is when your wallet will start to open and fail unless the pockets are made to take more than one card.

[battlemunky]

Valid point @jimi. However, I have absolutely zero self control like I'm an angry toddler or something, so I plan this into the design and make my wallets to have the slide toward the fold so when another angry toddler decides 3 will fit where one was meant, it doesn't lose cards. In theory at least...

[Hardrada]

8 hours ago, jimi said:

My opinion with wallets is if you need a wallet for 7 cards then get one with seven slots or compartments, if you start putting 2 cards or more into the slots then that is when your wallet will start to open and fail unless the pockets are made to take more than one card.

I agree completely. And if you look at MY wallet you'll see that there's only one card in each slot.

People, on the other hand, behave so unlike me that at this point I'm so frustrated at being by them frustrated that I've chosen to try to foresee and accommodate. Because, if the leather rips due to abuse their conclusion and judgement will be: "this wallet sux and so does the maker".

Edited March 18, 2021 by Hardrada

[jimi]

2 hours ago, battlemunky said:

Valid point @jimi. However, I have absolutely zero self control like I'm an angry toddler or something, so I plan this into the design and make my wallets to have the slide toward the fold so when another angry toddler decides 3 will fit where one was meant, it doesn't lose cards. In theory at least...

Lol....well that´s one way battlemunky.

 

1 hour ago, Hardrada said:

I agree completely. And if you look at MY wallet you'll see that there's only one card in each slot.

People, on the other hand, behave so unlike me that at this point I'm so frustrated at being by them frustrated that I've chosen to try to foresee and accommodate. Because, if the leather rips due to abuse their conclusion and judgement will be: "this wallet sux and so does the maker".

yep, people tend to abuse things and later say it was bad workmanship, But i would not change a valid design of a wallet because of someone´s bad habits, that´s just my opinion. Also how many cards do you really need in your wallet daily!!

[Danne]

3 hours ago, Hardrada said:

I agree completely. And if you look at MY wallet you'll see that there's only one card in each slot.

People, on the other hand, behave so unlike me that at this point I'm so frustrated at being by them frustrated that I've chosen to try to foresee and accommodate. Because, if the leather rips due to abuse their conclusion and judgement will be: "this wallet sux and so does the maker".

Of course I don't have a lot of experience from used wallets, but I have done a couple for friends that have been used for a couple of years. And they have put two cards in some of the card slots. The problem I see with this is that once you start putting to cards on one pocket, you can't really go back, because leather will stretch to make room for those cards. But i'm not worried the leather will rip.

I do have one thing to say about card pockets though, and I know a lot of crafters will see this different (even large brands, will not mention which brands though) 

Goat have a lot more strength than cow leather. And from my amateur observations, the goat I use stretch a little bit when needed, full grain cow leather I use doesn't stretch as much and can tear easier. So what do I want to to say with this? If you look at my photos in this thread you can see that I skived the "card pocket ears" I start skiving from the stitch line so I will stitch through the full thickness or close to full thickness. And this have never been a problem, but if you have a look at my Instagram and look at my latest card case in brown veg tan cow (with the scare pattern) those card pockets are 0.9-1mm thick and edges are not skived at all (except for the overlapping part and T-slot edges) And the reason is because I don't want it to tear if it's "abused" I mean in my opinion, that card holder should hold a drivers license and a credit card and maybe one more card in the middle and/or a folded bill/bills. But I told the person who have it now (Made it for a friend) start with two or three cards, after a week you can add one more card so you have totally four cards. And the reason to wait a week is because it will be a little hard to remove the cards before the pockets have stretched a little bit (which it will do with time)

I don't say it's wrong to skive card pockets on cow leather. And as I said I know large brands who does it. But a skived edge will of course not be as durable, and I have done tests on cow leather and decided not to skive those edges. (I'm talking about veg tan cow leather now) and of course different leather behave different, but for the leather I use I don't see it as a good solution.

Disclaimer: I'm a hobbyist, and no expert, this is based on the few different leathers I used, and the tests i've done, and from analyzing wallets that friends have been using for 2-3 years. And I don't say the methods I use are the best methods, but it's methods I personally feel confident with and I don't feel worried about the durability, even when that wallet is abused. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Danne

[sbrownn]

On 9/1/2020 at 2:57 AM, Danne said:

Thank you.

When you are making a creased edge like those do you edge them first with an edger, or just use the heated tool to make the edges?

Your creased edges are beautiful.

[Danne]

8 minutes ago, sbrownn said:

When you are making a creased edge like those do you edge them first with an edger, or just use the heated tool to make the edges?

Your creased edges are beautiful.

It depends on the type of leather. If it's veg tan leather I use a creaser, a softer chrome/combination tanned leather I often prefer to use a sandpaper to round off the edge. 

If I crease before or after a round off the edge depends on the type of creaser I use. I use Regads F and FN, with F-irons I prefer to round off the edge after I crease (Because F-irons don't change the shape off the edge. FN-irons do round of the edge because the shape of the iron, so when I use those irons I prefer to round off the edge with a edge beveler or sandpaper before I crease.

Thank you. 

[Hardrada]

21 hours ago, Danne said:

Goat have a lot more strength than cow leather.

Guess I should be using nothing but goat then; because this is what happened with 2 oz Dollaro:

[keplerts]

8 hours ago, Hardrada said:

I can't tell from you picture what the problem with Dollaro is.  What is wrong?

 

 

Guess I should be using nothing but goat then; because this is what happened with 2 oz Dollaro:

 

[Hardrada]

47 minutes ago, keplerts said:

I can't tell from you picture what the problem with Dollaro is.  What is wrong?

Look harder and closely at about the Rule of Thirds' lower right powerpoint.

Nasty rip there, innit? Right at the 4th and 5th stitches from the bottom. Happened when I inserted the bone folder, but it coulda happened when inserting a card, I'm afraid.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Hardrada

[Danne]

5 minutes ago, Hardrada said:

Look harder and closely at about the Rule of Thirds' lower right powerpoint.

Nasty rip there, innit? Right at the 4th and 5th stitches from the bottom. Happened when I inserted the bone folder, but it coulda happened when inserting a card, I'm afraid.

I have very little experience from Dollaro (But have made a watch strap with it) In my opinion (Some people will not agree with me) I wouldn't go as thin as 2oz with veg tan cow for a card pocket. Or I wouldn't with any other leather either, an exception would be goat with a turned top edge. Or fully lined constructions I haven't tried at those weights.

Also keep in mind, this is MY opinions, and only based on my limited knowledge, because I haven't worked with a lot of different weights of leather. (Mostly 0.5mm and 1mm)

 

[keplerts]

22 hours ago, Hardrada said:

Look harder and closely at about the Rule of Thirds' lower right powerpoint.

Nasty rip there, innit? Right at the 4th and 5th stitches from the bottom. Happened when I inserted the bone folder, but it coulda happened when inserting a card, I'm afraid.

Thank you, yes, I see it now.  I use kangaroo for my wallet interiors and have been very satisfied.  It is strong and thin and makes a great wallet.

[Hardrada]

22 hours ago, Danne said:

I have very little experience from Dollaro (But have made a watch strap with it) In my opinion (Some people will not agree with me) I wouldn't go as thin as 2oz with veg tan cow for a card pocket. Or I wouldn't with any other leather either, an exception would be goat with a turned top edge. Or fully lined constructions I haven't tried at those weights.

Also keep in mind, this is MY opinions, and only based on my limited knowledge, because I haven't worked with a lot of different weights of leather. (Mostly 0.5mm and 1mm)

 

Whilst I'm not gonna take your opinions as gospel, I will, however, consider them close to encyclicals, after seeing your work ()and based on your experience. Thus, I've decided on using nothing but chevre for wallets from now on, barring any of those notable exceptions that crop up from time to time.

Fortunately, the Dollaro was just an experiment of sorts, as I was trying to decide on panels shape and how much of a curve and difference in height between one side and the other I could have:

 

So, nothing lost but something learned.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Hardrada