Hello guys, Ive been wondering what are the perfect thickness composition for bigger bags like totes, messenger and so on. I will normally work in this order exterior > bonded leather (salamander) > interior exterior thickness i would do 1.2-1.4mm if its a strap, 0.8 if its for bags. salamander i only work with 0.4mm regardless of color Interior i would skive them down to 0.5 which i recently kinda reconsidering the thickness.. the thinner it goes lesser the natural texture is gonna present.. unless its non textured leather type. unless this is a padded watch straps, then i might add extra leather i collected from my past splitting services. from the composition above my total thickness is around 1.7mm-2.3mm depends on what project. is this too thin? please discuss and share thoughts!
Hi TC,
An important factor to consider in all this is if the lining is getting completely glued down or kept loose. This changes everything.
Generally I do not fully glue down linings with the exception being sometimes the bottom because I want to to be stiffer or gussets in which case the lining needs to be much thinner.
For exterior leather I generally use 1.8-2.4mm total with reinforcement(if needed). This all depends on your leather type as well as the effect you want from your finished bag. Then the lining I use is between 0.8-1.2. You mentioned 0.5. This is far to thin to use as a loose lining and should only be split so thin if it's going to be fully glued to the exterior.
If you are making something that is fully glued then best is to test with scraps to see how the hand is once all layers are glued.
P