Show us your leather

[raWorkshop]

New, and beaten to shit on a farm for 3 months. I added the d-ring after the fact to the first model, it's charmingly clumsy.

Edited December 20, 2011 by raWorkshop

[LckyChrmsBBoy]

Lefty love the color of the stitching!!

Is there a chemical/product I should stay away from that could damage the tendon stitches?

[lazybum]

[mikecch]

Some nice evos in the last few posts

My Blackacre wallet, made by theblackgoat, at 4 months:

Pics taken right after a clean, before conditioning...

Edited December 21, 2011 by mikecch

[leftyaxeslinger]

Lefty love the color of the stitching!!

Is there a chemical/product I should stay away from that could damage the tendon stitches?

Haha, I got the wallet right when I was putting some new denim in roatation. Love the blue stitches! Not sure about products to stay away from. I bet mikeecch would know....

[w11114m]

Is that cowhide CXL inside?

[leftyaxeslinger]

ah crap... accidentally neg repped mikecch. Sorry.

Wish there was an "are you sure?" warning!

I offer some indigo stained leather...

[mikecch]

Is that cowhide CXL inside?

My wallet?

It's Wickett & Craig "English" bridle on the inside. I like to call it American bridle

Seems quite different from most American and British "bridles" too, much more grain growth than the more traditional smooth, waxy surface.

ah crap... accidentally neg repped mikecch. Sorry.

Wish there was an "are you sure?" warning!

Np mate, seems to happen a lot with 5.0

[Tiro]

so finally got around to taking pictures of my Kamida natural cordovan wallet, hope I can take some better shots in the future, no daylight when I took these...

and a bonus shot with my kamida watch strap (natural sd leather) that is a few months old

[Tiro]

a few more, I'm using it for about a week now

[rubyblue]

Nice one timmy, but I told you after handling the wallet myself.

You might be able to help me ordering a custom made one?

[TheNorthern]

cross post . . .

13 oz Golden Brass 1+ year old

[dave023]

Nice wallet Timmy...

[itylerstewart]

@tiro

Panerai **DROOL**

[kenzie]

corter cordovan/natural bifold ~4 months

can anyone give me some advice on what to do about this side of the wallet? it's gotten really dull and kind of coarse, and i've tried applying obenaufs a few times but it doesn't seem to help much. any ideas?

Edited December 31, 2011 by kenzie

[mikecch]

so finally got around to taking pictures of my Kamida natural cordovan wallet, hope I can take some better shots in the future, no daylight when I took these...

Very nice tiro!

That cordovan looks quite different to Horween's indeed, a bit more grained than Horween's waxy, fleshy finish - very much looking forward to seeing how you wallet will age.

can anyone give me some advice on what to do about this side of the wallet? it's gotten really dull and kind of coarse, and i've tried applying obenaufs a few times but it doesn't seem to help much. any ideas?

That's CXL on the outside?

Stop feeding it fats/oils - rest it for a day, clean it and coat the surface with a bit of diluted wax (melted with a bit of water or oil). Bring the waxed surface to a matte shine with a bit of polishing much like you would do on shoes.

[kenzie]

That's CXL on the outside?

Stop feeding it fats/oils - rest it for a day, clean it and coat the surface with a bit of diluted wax (melted with a bit of water or oil). Bring the waxed surface to a matte shine with a bit of polishing much like you would do on shoes.

i can't quite remember, honestly... it's from corter... might be cordovan? haha well thanks for the advice

[mikecch]

^ You mentioned it was a CXL/natural wallet, so I assumed CXL on outside and natural veg. tanned on inside.

[TheBlackGoat]

^ mike is right on cxl.....I would just take a damp cloth to it and clean it off. I like Dr. Jackson hide rejuvenator to polish my cxl goods.

just use sparingly. I also am a big fan of fiebings leather balm as a protective coat after cleaning cxl....again...use sparingly.........it gives it a nice mild coat of wax that can be rag polished to a nice natural cxl shine......just my 2¢

Edited December 22, 2011 by TheBlackGoat

[Happy Hooligan]

here's my update... all Early To Rise...

[kenzie]

^ You mentioned it was a CXL/natural wallet, so I assumed CXL on outside and natural veg. tanned on inside.

well yeah, but i don't remember if it's cxl or cordovan outer. semantics. well thanks for the help

[mikecch]

^ No worries mate...though CXL vs. shell cordovan is a huge difference, both in terms or leather and price.

Judging by your photos I would say it is cattlehide CXL.

Probably be a good idea to ask Eric - if it is indeed shell cordovan, I would recommend holding off oiling the wallet for a little bit, and take theblackgoat's advice rather than mine. I've found waxing shell cordovan to be rather tricky - looks kindly ugly and hard to reverse when not done properly.

[leftyaxeslinger]

Tanner Goods belt. about a year of off and on use...

[Tiro]

Nice one timmy, but I told you after handling the wallet myself.

You might be able to help me ordering a custom made one?

pretty sure that can be arranged rob, we'll talk about it next time i visit the store...

won't be too long i think, those lot.44's are calling my name...

Very nice tiro!

That cordovan looks quite different to Horween's indeed, a bit more grained than Horween's waxy, fleshy finish - very much looking forward to seeing how you wallet will age.

thanks mike, the pictures really don't do the leather justice imho (i'm not a great photographer either), it's really shiny (almost wet looking as kamida called it) and smooth, also feels quite bullet proof...

i had never heard of natural cordovan before but i guess in japan, anything is possible.

all i know is it's from a japanese tannery but i don't have more details about it.

i'm also quite curious for the evolution, don't know what to expect or what to do with it.

i guess it's a quite 'boring' simple wallet in design, but i was going for that as it makes it alot more timeless and i'll have less of a risk of groing tired of it.

i think i'll go the 'kiya route' and just use it and not do anything to it really.

if i had seen the wildchildxflathead wallet before i ordered mine, it might have inspired me, kinda digging that wallet alot.

[hollowsleather]

Horween also makes 'natural' shell cordovan, it's just not a common finish.

It's not as light as the stuff on that Kamida wallet, presumably due to a different mix of oils used in production. Makr uses it for some of their wallets:

It's just a bit lighter in color than Whiskey shell.

[mikecch]

thanks mike, the pictures really don't do the leather justice imho (i'm not a great photographer either), it's really shiny (almost wet looking as kamida called it) and smooth, also feels quite bullet proof...

i had never heard of natural cordovan before but i guess in japan, anything is possible.

all i know is it's from a japanese tannery but i don't have more details about it.

i'm also quite curious for the evolution, don't know what to expect or what to do with it.

i guess it's a quite 'boring' simple wallet in design, but i was going for that as it makes it alot more timeless and i'll have less of a risk of groing tired of it.

i think i'll go the 'kiya route' and just use it and not do anything to it really.

if i had seen the wildchildxflathead wallet before i ordered mine, it might have inspired me, kinda digging that wallet alot.

I really like the look of the Japanese stuff in natural - closer to that light golden tan which is reminiscent of a simple veg. tanned leather than Horween's natural shell.

Would love to handle it in person one day - I've never handled natural shell cordovan before.

Fantastic wallet mate! Hope to see more of it.

[Tiro]

Horween also makes 'natural' shell cordovan, it's just not a common finish.

It's not as light as the stuff on that Kamida wallet, presumably due to a different mix of oils used in production. Makr uses it for some of their wallets:

It's just a bit lighter in color than Whiskey shell.

that's much more 'tan' then natural though?

the 'nume cordovan' that kamida sourced makes 'flaws' in the hide much more obvious, guess that is the reason why he sent the leather back 3 times before he was satisfied with the hide he got and why the finish isn't all that popular...

i'll try posting updates when there is some noticeable change.

thanks for the kind words guys

Edited December 24, 2011 by Tiro

[mikecch]

Fellow leather nerds, it's time for another group buy project!

This time it's with a little workshop in England called Equus Leather, run by Charlie who is trained in classic English saddlery and who has been making leather crafts professionally since 1995.

The belt this time around will have a little bit of a military twist to it, being a 1.5" wide hand-cut strap, fitted with a solid-brass custom double-pronged garrison-style buckle, ending with a slant edge tip.

The buckle fold will be held together by hand-sewn saddle stitching in waxed Irish linen threads. The edges left raw after a clean cut (I mean, really clean.)

For the leather, we'll be revisiting Baker's tannery from the Quercus project, this time with a modified form of their oak-bark butt which is referred to as the russet bridle butt. The leather will be 6 mm thick (or a little more), have an incredible grain growth, and is "natural" coloured for optimal evolution with time!

This is one of the very best cattlehides available in the world, undergoing a long, slow but gentle oak-bark tanning process (1 year and 1 day sitting in up to 72 of Baker's bark tanning pits) and then finished off by hand.

Very few tanneries in the world produce leather in this old-fashioned way - it is how vegetable tanned leather used to be made.

Anyway, please do let me know if you're interested

(I'm taking names for the newsletter list until new year.)

A quick follow-up...the prototype has been made!

Here are a few pics from Charlie - the final version will look more or less the same with a couple of minor tweaks, including the appearance of the pins and the thread thickness:

That's the end of the updates I'll be doing here.

Please do PM me if you're interested; the project will close at new year.

[mikecch]

Fellow leather nerds, it's time for another group buy project!

This time it's with a little workshop in England called Equus Leather, run by Charlie who is trained in classic English saddlery and who has been making leather crafts professionally since 1995.

The belt this time around will have a little bit of a military twist to it, being a 1.5" wide hand-cut strap, fitted with a solid-brass custom double-pronged garrison-style buckle, ending with a slant edge tip.

The buckle fold will be held together by hand-sewn saddle stitching in waxed Irish linen threads. The edges left raw after a clean cut (I mean, really clean.)

For the leather, we'll be revisiting Baker's tannery from the Quercus project, this time with a modified form of their oak-bark butt which is referred to as the russet bridle butt. The leather will be 6 mm thick (or a little more), have an incredible grain growth, and is "natural" coloured for optimal evolution with time!

This is one of the very best cattlehides available in the world, undergoing a long, slow but gentle oak-bark tanning process (1 year and 1 day sitting in up to 72 of Baker's bark tanning pits) and then finished off by hand.

Very few tanneries in the world produce leather in this old-fashioned way - it is how vegetable tanned leather used to be made.

Anyway, please do let me know if you're interested

(I'm taking names for the newsletter list until new year.)

A quick follow-up...the prototype has been made!

Here are a few pics from Charlie - the final version will look more or less the same with a couple of minor tweaks, including the appearance of the pins and the thread thickness:

That's the end of the updates I'll be doing here.

Please do PM me if you're interested; the project will close at new year.

[orlylow]

does it mean anything if a wallet is more prone to indigo stains? i.e the faster the indigo stains appear on the wallet, the 'lousier' the quality of the leather?

does it work this way?