# Alligator and Chevre (Goat) Wallet



## cabomhn (Jul 19, 2017)

Hey all,

Thought you guys might like to see my latest custom piece. You'll probably be able to tell the improvement over my last wallet post on here haha. This wallet was made with alligator from a great tannery in Georgia called American Tanning and the interior was made from Chevre, which is a french tanned goat leather. The chevre has a unique grain that really complements the gator well and holds up well over time. It doesn't scratch like cow leather and is also resistant to stretching out with moisture (like your sweaty back pocket haha). Ive gotten some new tools recently that have helped including a vintage Landis leather splitter. It's a super awesome 1930s/1940s tools made in St. Louis that is really hard to find any more. The reason for that is because back when shoemaking jobs starting going overseas, they usually were shipping the machines overseas with them and just replacing the labor so finding one of these things in nice shape is really hard. This one came from a shut down shoe shop in Los Angeles and I'll be happy to keep this thing working for another generation!

Picture of the Landis Splitter:


 


Another tool I got is called a fileteuse, which is basically a specialized leatherworking tool design to heat crease your edges as well as use to melt and smooth out the edge paint used on exotics and all chrome tanned leathers. Traditionally, there's this incredibly expensive version of the tool made by a company called Regad in France that used to dominate the market. Lately, there has been a maker in China who has started producing some exceptional leatherworking tools that I purchase my machine from him instead. It really changes the perspective on "made in China" when you see some of these tools made by a guy also passionate about his work just on the other side of the world. Really amazing stuff. I have a few images of this tool in use in the imgur photo ablum linked below showing WIP pics of the wallet. 




https://imgur.com/id%3DFjEq1%3Btype%3Dalbum



The finished product:


 


Here you can see the interior. The stitching is with a blue french linen thread and the interior creases were all done with the fileteuse machine and edges are smoothed using the machine as well with a different attachment 


 

Another shot of the side edges: You wouldn't know it from this picture, but the wallet exterior is made up of 3 layers (1 gator + 1 cow + 1 chevre liner). The edge paint is there to hide all of this for one perfectly smooth edge. This edge paint is probably not the best term, but it's all known as edge "wax". Super durable, and really wear resistant. 


 

Let me know if anyone has any questions about the process!

Reactions: EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 13 | Informative 1


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## Tony (Jul 19, 2017)

Beautiful piece of work! Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## DKMD (Jul 19, 2017)

Gorgeous work! Love the tools too!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13 (Jul 19, 2017)

Outstanding craftsmanship !! Thats a sweet looking wallet.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Nature Man (Jul 19, 2017)

Simply outstanding! My grandfather was a shoe repairman in the early to mid 1900s. He had some incredible equipment that you would surely have liked. Not sure what happened to it, as he died in the 1980s and he lived back in Tennessee. Chuck


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## barry richardson (Jul 19, 2017)

Good stuff Matt! I assume that Landis machine has some sort of blade that is super sharp?

Reactions: Like 1


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## cabomhn (Jul 19, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> Good stuff Matt! I assume that Landis machine has some sort of blade that is super sharp?



Yeah that's correct! It basically has a 3" x 6" by ¼" blade that has a hollow grind on it with a small secondary bevel. Then, once it was sharpened I stropped it to polish it up. The key is the correct pressure between the rollers so that the leather is completely supported as it pushes the leather into the blade.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wildthings (Jul 19, 2017)

Beautiful job Matt! Are you hand stitching the wallets

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Mike1950 (Jul 19, 2017)

Beautiful work.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## cabomhn (Jul 20, 2017)

Wildthings said:


> Beautiful job Matt! Are you hand stitching the wallets


Thanks a lot. I am! I only do hand stitching but I will admit that when doing bags I really wish I had a machine


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## Wildthings (Jul 20, 2017)

cabomhn said:


> Thanks a lot. I am! I only do hand stitching but I will admit that when doing bags I really wish I had a machine


At this point of my leather making I really enjoy the hand stitching. I dunno kinda relaxing for me. Usually in front of the TV watching an Astros game and stitching along


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## cabomhn (Jul 20, 2017)

Wildthings said:


> At this point of my leather making I really enjoy the hand stitching. I dunno kinda relaxing for me. Usually in front of the TV watching an Astros game and stitching along



I definitely agree, it's a lot of fun when I do smaller things. However when trying to make something like a fully lined and raised belt, it quickly becomes the thing of insanity

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Mike Hill (Jul 20, 2017)

Oh my! That's a beaut! Puts my eelskin and salmon skin ones to shame!

Hand stitching always skared me! Thought I'd punch a hole in something I didn't want to poke a hole in! I stuck to tooling and lacing - It was Texas after all!

Reactions: Like 1


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## cabomhn (Jul 20, 2017)

Mike Hill said:


> Oh my! That's a beaut! Puts my eelskin and salmon skin ones to shame!
> 
> Hand stitching always skared me! Thought I'd punch a hole in something I didn't want to poke a hole in! I stuck to tooling and lacing - It was Texas after all!



You better believe that when I went to make my stitching holes I was sweating punching through a $90 piece of gator

Reactions: Agree 2 | Way Cool 1


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## NYWoodturner (Jul 20, 2017)

Gorgeous work Matt. Your attention to detail has not faltered.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## cabomhn (Jul 20, 2017)

NYWoodturner said:


> Gorgeous work Matt. Your attention to detail has not faltered.



Thank you very much! My work is still moving, just has changed directions for a while!


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## tocws2002 (Jul 20, 2017)

Awesome wallet and craftsmanship. Hopefully you've found a market that allows you to charge what you need to charge for your work, it's outstanding!

-jason

Reactions: Agree 1


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## cabomhn (Jul 20, 2017)

tocws2002 said:


> Awesome wallet and craftsmanship. Hopefully you've found a market that allows you to charge what you need to charge for your work, it's outstanding!
> 
> -jason



Thank you! These alligator wallets sell for around 300 or so. It's hard with the gator because the price of the skin can be variable and sometimes the skins just cost more. These came from a 200 dollar skin that I can make two wallets from since I'm just using the belly from it. Then, the inside is chèvre which is about 60 dollars a skin for a quality french tanned skin. So all in all at the 300 price I'm making about minimum wage on an hourly basis for these! It helps pay for the hobby and it's fun so I can't complain

Reactions: Like 1


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## NeilYeag (Jul 20, 2017)

Really pro work. Gosh from the pics I would have never thought this was hand stitched.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## cabomhn (Jul 21, 2017)

NeilYeag said:


> Really pro work. Gosh from the pics I would have never thought this was hand stitched.


 
That's the best compliment you can get on stitching! Thanks a lot. My stitching was really transformed when a company from South Korea started making these new stitching irons that work extremely well


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## NeilYeag (Jul 21, 2017)

cabomhn said:


> That's the best compliment you can get on stitching! Thanks a lot. My stitching was really transformed when a company from South Korea started making these new stitching irons that work extremely well



Can you give me the details on the stitching irons I would like to check them out. The ones I have are not so great.

Thanks,

Neil


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## cabomhn (Jul 21, 2017)

NeilYeag said:


> Can you give me the details on the stitching irons I would like to check them out. The ones I have are not so great.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Neil



Absolutely. Mind you, they are expensive, but, that being said I treated these as an investment into my product quality and small "business". What type do you currently have? 

The KS blade punch are considered "combination irons", meaning that they leave a hole similar to if you were piercing with an awl but are actually meant to be driven all the way through the leather. They don't have a big taper so your top hole isn't much larger than your bottom hole where you've punched through. I've been able to punch through as much as 16oz of leather using these. One way these have really benefited me is my backside stitching, where my old cheapo chisels would produce inconsistent holes on the backside making it hard for me to get consistent angled stitching. For reference on the KS blade size, my irons are their 3.0mm spacing, which equates to approximately 9 spi or so. As far as teeth combination, a 2 tooth + 10 teeth set lets you be ready for pretty much all stitching combinations. I was hesitant about the 10 tooth when I bought it and it being hard to pull out of the leather, but these teeth come so well polished the thing just glides out without a lot of trouble. For comparison, in my cheapo old irons, I would be lucky if I ever even got to use my 6 tooth because it was too hard to pull out of the leather.

I'm not sure if you are familiar with Vergez Blanchard, Amy Roke, etc, but these irons are meant to "prick" the hole but the hole is meant to be finished by an awl. I apologize if you know all this already just trying to put down some info. One nice benefit of the KS iron is that if you really screw up and drive your KS blade irons into something hard (like a granite block etc) and screw up one of the teeth, they can be replaced individually and don't require you to buy a whole new tool. Some people don't like their modular construction because they aren't as "pretty" as the Blanchard irons, but to me, I care about how well they function and these things work great. They have a low center of gravity which makes them not prone to tilting on you when driving them with a maul. 

All around, expensive tool, but you get what you pay for. The owner Jin is a great guy and extremely friendly to your questions. A lot of people reach out to him on Instagram and get to know him a bit and he hands out 15% off coupons a decent amount to people, which is a pretty significant savings. 

http://ksbladepunch.com/

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Wildthings (Jul 21, 2017)

cabomhn said:


> That's the best compliment you can get on stitching! Thanks a lot. My stitching was really transformed when a company from South Korea started making these new stitching irons that work extremely well


Link?


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## cabomhn (Jul 21, 2017)

Wildthings said:


> Link?



Check out my previous post I added a link at the bottom

Reactions: Like 1


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## RogerC (Jul 23, 2017)

Awesome job looks great.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## NeilYeag (Jul 23, 2017)

Great info. The ones I have are just basic ones from Tandy, OK going through thin stuff, but anything thick enough for knife sheaths forget about it. And for sure the 5 prong one if you pounded it through anything thick it is almost impossible to pull out. I finally just used them to mark the spacing and then drilled the holes out. Works OK, but the stitching effect is certainly different. I looked at the ones that you reference. the prices seem reasonable for what they are. I am a little confused about the spacing options. What do you think is right for sheaths?


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## cabomhn (Jul 24, 2017)

NeilYeag said:


> Great info. The ones I have are just basic ones from Tandy, OK going through thin stuff, but anything thick enough for knife sheaths forget about it. And for sure the 5 prong one if you pounded it through anything thick it is almost impossible to pull out. I finally just used them to mark the spacing and then drilled the holes out. Works OK, but the stitching effect is certainly different. I looked at the ones that you reference. the prices seem reasonable for what they are. I am a little confused about the spacing options. What do you think is right for sheaths?



Saw this as I'm getting ready for my flight to taker off. I'll be sure to get back to this when I'm home in about a week. Sorry!!


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## Strider (Oct 12, 2017)

I've seen cool but this is so much better! :)
Sweet find!


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