Wallet fail, need advice

[sandmanred]

I made this wallet of 2-3 oz veg tan.  It's way too thick and stiff to be of any use.  I did make a practice one of much thinner leather.  I could see the leather for this one was thicker but didn't anticipate how much it would add up in thickness.  It's way too thick and stiff to be of any use.  I could see it part way through but decided I could learn something by finishing it even though it's pretty much worthless as a wallet. 

What leather would you recommend for this style and where would you get it?  

 

[Webicons]

It looks like you’re using full width card pockets.  You can get away with “triangles” and reduce the edge thickness by a 1/3.  On this template you can see what I mean about the card pockets.  

Edited April 9, 2021 by Webicons

[mike02130]

Short answer: Back at 1.5mm.  Pockets, .8mm.

Long answer:

1.5 mm for the back.  If you want it lined then use 1mm and glue on .5mm.  If you want to go higher-end, use two pieces of .5mm with a piece of .5mm Salpa in-between.  With Salpa hold it back a bit then take a bone folder and and shape the edge which will give you a nice raised look.  Insides .08 or if you want lining, two pieces of .5mm glued together.  If you do lining, hold it back a bit on the edges that are sewn so you can eliminate skiving the outside edges.  The T pockets ought to be skived all the way around (not the tops) to eliminate panty lines.  I like goat/chevre leather.  Buttero is nice, too.  Rocky Mountain leather sells both and does splitting and free shipping.  I use 3.0 irons and .45 mm Vinymo or Meisi thread and Uniters edge paint.  Sometimes it's difficult to not get a gap between the tabs on the T pocket and the one below it.  To remedy that, I make the tabs slightly longer (vertically) and skive a few millimeters of the face on the bottom of the tab and then skive the back of the covering pocket at the top so there is no gap.  Comprende?

Edited April 9, 2021 by mike02130
added info

[CastleLeatherWorks]

So this is how I make my pockets you can see the profile . I use a “T” shaped pocket and I use a French skiver to get the backside down as thin as possible about a half in from the top of the pocket. It really does cut down on the interior bulk of the wallet. This leather is 0.6 mm and I was making a wallet that holds 4 cards in each side so 6 pockets and 2 fronts the front 2 don’t get Skived at all to maintain a consistent thickness. Hope that helps a bit 

 

take care 

[sandmanred]

Awesome!  Thanks for the suggestions and specifics.  I need to digest it all a bit to make sense of it but I think I get most of it.

[mike02130]

This is a little card holder I happened to be working on today.  It is two pieces of goat leather glued together equaling about 1mm. 

I mistakenly put the pictures in reverse order.  Better to read bottom-up.

I cut the card slot sides and bottom over sized, glue, then flip it over and trim to size.  This ensure an even edge resulting in little or no sanding.

 

 

I skive the lower front of the T slot tab and the upper corners on the back of the covering pocket.  This is not necessary but by overlapping them it ensures no gapage between the card slots.

 

 

 I skive the back of the T-slot to eliminate any bulky panty lines when assembled.

Edited April 10, 2021 by mike02130
just to damn complicated for me