NO Sew Prototype Veg Tan Wallet

[kgg]

I am hard on my wallets and my store bought finally had seen better days. I stuff everything including the kitchen sink in there. So I figured I'd step out of my comfort zone and give a try at making one. I called it my 804 RNR.

To add too the challenge:

i) It had to be able to hold six credit card size cards.

ii) Hold real money.

iii) As thin as possible to fit comfortably in my front pants pocket without bulging.

iv) Be able to attach my keys to it. I never go anywhere without my keys and wallet. They are sort of a package deal.

iv) Look distressed like the bank account.

v) Have No stitching.

What I came up with seems to fit those requirements and is over 3/4" thinner in the pocket. The wallet consists of one piece of 4-5 oz veg tan, 1 money flat money clip, 5 good old fashion copper rivets, a little leather glue, dab of dye and some Vaseline.

Photo 1: Thickness of old store bought wallet (34.31mm).

Photo 2: New No Sew prototype wallet (12.92mm)

Photo 3: D-ring (1 1/2") for clipping keys onto wallet. D-ring and money clip attached to wallet flap by a copper rivet.

Photo 4: Wallet interior with money and cards.

Any and all comments are always welcome. Thanks for looking.

kgg

[MtlBiker]

Nice!

(But what's the "804 RNR" refer to?)

The part where the money clip is installed... is the leather doubled there (so that the back side of the clip is inside) or what?  Your photos don't show that part.

Have you done anything with the edges of the leather?  Beveling, burnishing, etc?  (I'm trying to learn what to do.)

I really like the distressed look.

 

[kgg]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

But what's the "804 RNR" refer to

The "804 RNR" refers to serviceman 804 of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, one of the 68 men too survive, out of 800, going over the top on July 1, 1916 at Battle of the Somme. I am planning on making a "804 RNR" stamp for future use.

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

The part where the money clip is installed... is the leather doubled there (so that the back side of the clip is inside) or what? 

What I did was a drill a hole in the long flat side of the money clip that is on the outside of the flap to accommodate a copper rivet.

I then cut to shape a small piece of leather to wrap around the D-ring, wet molded it around the D-ring, dyed, glued and punched a 3/32" hole in the piece.

The money clip was then slipped over the top of the flap and a 3/32" hole punched in the wallet flap that lined up with the hole in the money clip. I put a small wipe of Vaseline around the 3/32" hole on the inside of the flap, then I used a heat gun to melt the Vaseline into the area around the hole so when it was set the edge of the head would be counter sunk just a touch.

I then stuffed the copper rivet through from the underside of the leather through the money clip and the D-ring leather.

Then I cutoff the access rivet shaft, installed the copper washer, and hammered round the remaining shaft of the rivet with the rivet setter.

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

Have you done anything with the edges of the leather? 

What I did was sand the edges and to give a little bevel using fine sandpaper as I didn't have a proper small edger to give a nice edge. Edger and burnisher on the way.

Once the wallet was constructed I used good old fashion Vaseline to put some flexibility into the leather by smearing inside, outside and all the edges of the wallet and then heating it with a heat gun. It was amazing to watch the leather suck up the Vaseline like a sponge. It didn't leave the wallet feeling greasy or oily, just flexible enough.

Thank you for the questions and compliment.

kgg

Edited September 3, 2021 by kgg
missing sentence

[kgg]

Picture of inside flap money clip rivet head slightly counter sunk.

[rleather]

I really like the unique way you put it all together. I never would have thought  of a key holder attached to the wallet. Nice job!

[garypl]

Very ingenious how you put all the components together - nice job!

only constructive comment I have is that the rivets seem to be longer than necessary.  I usually cut them so only @1.5 to 2 mm is sticking out past the burr.  Once you dome and peen it, there’s not a noticeable post sticking out past the burr.

 

[LatigoAmigo]

6 hours ago, kgg said:

Any and all comments are always welcome.

My first impression is that I wouldn't be looking forward to sitting on those oversized rivets, but then I saw that you made it for your front pocket. I might have used smaller, double capped rivets that would sit flatter.

[kgg]

4 hours ago, rleather said:

I really like the unique way you put it all together.

Thank you.

1 hour ago, garypl said:

Very ingenious how you put all the components together - nice job!

only constructive comment I have is that the rivets seem to be longer than necessary.  I usually cut them so only @1.5 to 2 mm is sticking out past the burr.  Once you dome and peen it, there’s not a noticeable post sticking out past the burr.

Thank you, I didn't realize until I had the first one cut and hammered down that I realized it was a bit long so I thought I might be able to just cut it off and re-install. So I did a test removal of a rivet installed the same way on a double layer of glued 5 oz and it was a royal pain to get the rivet shaft ground down so it could be removed from the burr. I was surprised as how tight the shaft is in the burr. I figured if I tried to remove the first rivet I stood a better then average chance of ruining the leather. So I decided to continue on the same with the others. The next one will  hopefully be a bit cleaner looking. 

8 minutes ago, LatigoAmigo said:

I might have used smaller, double capped rivets that would sit flatter.

I looked at some double caps which would look really nice as they do have a nicer lower, smoother profile. I decided against using them as I didn't think they would stand up as well since the metal connecting shafts seem very thin.

All Great comments.

kgg