Leather A4 Folder / Clutch Bag

Well, I had started to attend RCIA lessons recently. And last week they presented us with a Bible. I am excited about owning a true physical Bible for the first time (physical, cos I do download those Bible Apps in App Store before). 

But something came to my mind, how am I suppose to go to class with the Bible. I don’t want to look like a preacher, walking to the lobby with a Bible in hand. Yet I don’t want to put it in my other canvas bags; they are either too big or too shabby for a purpose like this. 

And so I went to search for a proper bag to carry the Bible and perhaps some other notes that they gave out.

What are my searching criteria?

• MUST be Leather (nuff said)
• Be able to hold the Bible of 2” thickness
• Be able to hold A4 size notes
• Not looking like a schoolboy or working bag

With that in mind I went to search for the dream bag. The only “type” of bag that matches my criteria above was to get a clutch bag. Something I can hold it in hand and don’t need a sling to carry around.

Searching on the Internet is one of the most challenging things in life. They can present you with everything that sounds vaguely the same to totally different. -_-“

In the end I remembered I know of this business contact of mine, which does leather belts and stuff. So I decided to check out their website, Aquila Fashions

The first (and only) product that caught my attention was this:

Felt it pretty much suits my criteria and best of all, MY FAVORITE COLOR! So I contacted the owner’s son on my request. The initial reply was disappointing as he mentioned this folder will not be able to hold the Bible’s thickness of 2” (50mm). But I held on. I went to their office to discuss if the thickness can be altered in such a way it can accommodate the Bible’s thickness. Went through a casual talk with the owner and he agreed to customize one for me. 

I dropped by one fine day to see the progress, and saw the owner’s son was doing my order personally. 

And today, I received the message from him that its done! 

Chose a different leather color from the strap

I love these imperfections of leather. This is what makes it PERFECT!

Just look at the color and tone. Totally blew me off!

A closer look on the grains. Color seemed to have changed in this picture, camera settings fault.

Looking Goody!!!

Will be giving them a thin layer of Obenauf’s Leather Oil before I bring them out tomorrow. 

Red Wing Beckman 9013, Resoled!

Finally, here are the pictures after the 9013 was sent for resoling.

A brief recap, the front portion of the sole was coming off, and the rubbers were seemed to be cracking.

Sent it to resole, and the cobbler is none other than Shukey @ Far East Plaza. Singaporeans should know about this shoe repair shop pretty well. They are one of the most reliable names here.

Collected them after 1 week plus of wait. Was anxious and excited to see how are they gonna stitch the soles back to the boots. So here it is:

See any difference?

Here they are!

The black stitches are done by them.

Can’t see the black stitches from here?

The stitches are hidden INSIDE the soles! 

Gonna clean them with the Obenauf’s Leather Cleaner and give them a nice LP application before putting them to the test. In the meantime, gonna keep alternating my 875 and DBs for now!

Red Wing 875 (After 6 months)

6 months of near intensive wear..

On a side note, I just collected my 9013 back from the cobbler where it was sent for resoling. Will be posting the pictures on the next post. :)

How do I lace up the shoes?

I read on a site, can’t remember which one, which someone posted about having problems with putting on their Red Wing Beckman shoes. I can totally relate to that as initially I have problems putting on taking out as well. It will take me VERY long to put them on. And upon reaching a place where I have to take out my shoes, I will be cursing and swearing inside as it will be the painful chore of removing or undoing the laces again.

It’s a chore, I admit, if you are doing the laces the contemporary way like this:

But I had learnt the other way of lacing, which greatly helped in a sense that I only need to “loosen” 2 sets of the X portions and wriggle, TA DA! Its fast and it leaves an awesome imprint on the tongue of the boots cos there will always be 2 sets of underlying X thats resting on the tongue;

This is the lacing method that I personally love a lot. 

For those of you having problems with doing and undoing the laces, no harm giving this a try!

Credits:

Ian’s Shoelace Site

Shoes Palace Network

Finally, sending the 9013 for resole

Yup, the day is today. Decided to send the 9013 to Shukey for resole. Luckily, the man said I only need to change the front and the heel still ok, so no need o change that. Plus stitching required so there will be additional charges.

When I was there, saw a LOT of shoes being repaired and caught a glimpse of a few Red Wing changing the crepe sole as well.

See you soon 9013. :)

The time has come, for the 9013 to get resoled

Well, the time “sort of “ has come. I am still running on budget deficit for the month :( and hopefully I will have some extra cash to send my beloved pair of Beckman for resoling. Had called to enquire and it cost SGD$150 +/-? Can’t remember the exact cost as I called about 1.5 months back.

Here are some picture on how bad the sole had worn off. I am shocked by how its actually been corroded off instead of worn off from walking. I mean, I can totally understand if the rubber had worn off from daily walking and trekking. But the situation here is that there are some areas that seemed to have “corroded” off and dried and chipped off. Places like around the stitches are most obvious. And the top half of the sole, that is nearer to the mid sole, is also showing signs of “crocodile mouth” when walking. It appears that the glue used wasn't holding on so well. *shrugs*

I have stopped wearing this when this problem surfaces as I am worried that water and oil may get in between the sole and the lower parts of the boots which will cause more corrosion as that area will not get dried up so easily.

Therefore, I am putting it to rest for the time being, while preparing to bring it to a cobbler to have it resoled. Will definitely post up the pictures once the resole is done.

See the “crocodile mouth” gap? 

Heres how the “mouth” looks when walking. It will get worse if I still carry on using it.

Areas near the stitching seemed to had dried and chipped off.

They were the areas that first show signs of wearing off

Went to a renovation site wearing my 875

And heres how it looks like when I stepped out. Love it!

Greetings to readers from reddit.com!

Well I got a pleasant surprise when I checked the Stats page of my blog. A thousand over views in a short span of time from www.reddit.com, the male fashion advice section. (I know this is a small feat to most big blogging names out there but it means A LOT to me.) I believed its the Clarks Desert Boots with application of Obenauf’s LP that caught the attention of the readers there.

I am glad to be able to provide a small contribution to the information web that you guys are looking for. :)

Do let me know, readers from anywhere, on what kind of updates you wish to read/see about in my blog and I will try my best to put them up for your reading.

God Bless.