Post by I was REX on Jul 9, 2016 8:05:10 GMT -6
Hello, Internets! I recently kicked a $1,200 - $1,500 (per month) arcade gambling addiction (mostly...there are some relapses I am almost one month clean again.) and decided that I needed to spend the extra money in a ridiculous Manner. In the past 7 months, I have purchased three wallets from either Corter Leather or Albatross Brand.
BLUF: Albatross wallet is "the bee's knees, the mutt's nuts, the cat's pyjamas" at $40 (currently $45 with "free" shipping) and Corter (in general) is always so close to being great, but falls a little short (in my opinions).
Here are the items I shall discuss along with a quick look at handkerchiefs
I have been noticing that gentlemen be spending $20+ on handkerchiefs that are half the size of a regular one. I either carry a hav-a-hank bandana (american made and cost $1.50) or a japanese furoshiki which is about $6...full size and a little heavier of a material. Some are double sided and blah blah blah. You can also use them to carry your bento boxes. I know all of you have bento boxes every day.
The wallets are the corter snap, the corter indigo and the albatross brand natural
I backed the albatross wallet for $40 on kickstarter and it is unreal. It is machine stitched and assembled in Mexico which is why it is cheaper.
Since I was so impressed, I started checking Corter for other options. While I waiting for their snap wallet to be released, I impulse bought the indigo bi-fold...which is odd since the belts I bought were not the greatest...just check the end on this beast.
Also, you can see that it was not burnished after cutting and the cut is horrendous. I e-mailed the owner and he said it should not look like that and sent a replacement. THey are good at "making it right" but I would prefer right from the start. I do not want free stuff. I just want what I paid for, but I did buy the 3 for $99 belt deal and maybe I did get what I paid for. I also think the belt hardware was inferior...But I digress.
here is the albatross (6 months use) and the corter indigo (no use...two coats of Obenauf's heavy duty LP)
the albatross has some scarring based on keys in back pocket one day and another day I sat on some coral. That thing is a beast.
albatrossbrand.myshopify.com/collections/products/products/bifold-natural
shop.corterleather.com/collections/frontpage/products/the-signature-indigo-collection
as you can see, the edges on the albatross are a bit more substantial and finished better. The stitching on the indigo is done by hand and the thread is heavier. The albatross has two pockets under the card section and the corter does not (I was not prepared for that difference).
The finishing and burnishing on the corter is not as good and the edges are not glued and the layers of leather between the stitching and wallet edge will start to move and look a little sloppy very quickly. I had a previous one that I carried for a week and looked really chewed up. I e-mailed the owner and he said didn't look burnished properly and sent me a new one...hence the no wear on this one. Very odd manner of doing business. I gave the previous one to a friend and he said that it doesn't fit various countries bills perfectly. I just checked, and some bills from various countries, barely peak out the top. I did not have the problem with the albatross, but I see the machine stitching is just a tad closer to the edge and is the causation of this phenomenon in the Corter version.
I like the indigo wallet look, but with the Albatross at $40 and the indigo at $80 (got it during a sale)...I would recommend the albatross with thicker leather, better finishing, better features and better price.
and then, i got the snap because I can't spend my money fast enough. There is always more at the end of every month.
I like this style of wallet and one of the reasons I went with Corter after my previous blunders, I cannot find this look without a coin pouch anywhere.
but...as with my previous corter purchases, this has some minor flaws. The first you can see in this picture is that after two weeks in my pocket (and two coats of Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP), the bottom corner puckered a bit. Not a huge deal, but it does detract a little from the finished appearance.
I did not take interior pictures, but you can see stock photos on the corter website
shop.corterleather.com/collections/frontpage/products/snap-wallet-natural
this is the buckled corner and an example of the burnishing
and that is how it looks from the other side. I think the edges are very rough in general.
but now, my major problem. The screw used to hold the concho on for the snap was domed and caused the snap to not properly engage. For most of the past two weeks, I would not get a good snap on the wallet about half the time. It would come undone when I put it in my back pocket or when taking it out. It was driving me insane. I did not want to e-mail the owner because I feel bad that every time I do, he just sends me free stuff. If it was a big company like WalMart...ok, but I am not out to get this guy to send me free stuff. So I tried to figure out the problem on my own. I looked at the screw and the anchor part of the snap and thought that the screw was hitting the center of the bottom part of the snap. I took the snap apart and without the screw, it snapped perfectly.
You can see the domed screw and the center part of the bottom half of the snap that it would hit. This would keep the snap from engaging properly. The last thing I wanted was the snap coming undone when in my pocket and flopping around and scarring the wallet all funky like. And if I pull out an unsnapped wallet, that would look cheap. Why even have a snap if it doesn't snap? In that case, it is just a bi-fold with a stupid floppy hangy part. So I found a similar threaded flat top screw but could not find the right length. I took my dremel and cut off some threads and then screwed it in with some metal adhesive to lock it down. Now the snap works perfectly every time and stays snapped like it should.
I do not see how a company would produce this or why they don't receive complaints about bad snaps every day. Really, even if I got it snapped "good" before, it was a little crooked and took very little pressure to come undone. I e-mailed them the other day with this solution to their problems, but have not heard back. They were recently hacked or something and I do not expect a rapid response right now. I think he will call me a hero and give me a key to the city for this simple solution.
I pointed out the flaws in the snap wallet, but now that it snaps, I really do like it and will continue to carry it...until I find a better one without a goddamn coin pouch. The red moon wallets always have coin pouches and are like three feet thick. I can't sit on three feeet (one yard) of leather. Also, $400+ for a wallet is insane. $125 for this corter snap is reasonable, but still a few steps away from "living the dream"
So, that is the information on Corter and Albatross wallets. Maybe I should buy something from Don'tmournorganize, but his website is weird and I guess you just e-mail him and tell him what you want? I don't understand that.
BLUF: Albatross wallet is "the bee's knees, the mutt's nuts, the cat's pyjamas" at $40 (currently $45 with "free" shipping) and Corter (in general) is always so close to being great, but falls a little short (in my opinions).
Here are the items I shall discuss along with a quick look at handkerchiefs
I have been noticing that gentlemen be spending $20+ on handkerchiefs that are half the size of a regular one. I either carry a hav-a-hank bandana (american made and cost $1.50) or a japanese furoshiki which is about $6...full size and a little heavier of a material. Some are double sided and blah blah blah. You can also use them to carry your bento boxes. I know all of you have bento boxes every day.
The wallets are the corter snap, the corter indigo and the albatross brand natural
I backed the albatross wallet for $40 on kickstarter and it is unreal. It is machine stitched and assembled in Mexico which is why it is cheaper.
Since I was so impressed, I started checking Corter for other options. While I waiting for their snap wallet to be released, I impulse bought the indigo bi-fold...which is odd since the belts I bought were not the greatest...just check the end on this beast.
Also, you can see that it was not burnished after cutting and the cut is horrendous. I e-mailed the owner and he said it should not look like that and sent a replacement. THey are good at "making it right" but I would prefer right from the start. I do not want free stuff. I just want what I paid for, but I did buy the 3 for $99 belt deal and maybe I did get what I paid for. I also think the belt hardware was inferior...But I digress.
here is the albatross (6 months use) and the corter indigo (no use...two coats of Obenauf's heavy duty LP)
the albatross has some scarring based on keys in back pocket one day and another day I sat on some coral. That thing is a beast.
albatrossbrand.myshopify.com/collections/products/products/bifold-natural
shop.corterleather.com/collections/frontpage/products/the-signature-indigo-collection
as you can see, the edges on the albatross are a bit more substantial and finished better. The stitching on the indigo is done by hand and the thread is heavier. The albatross has two pockets under the card section and the corter does not (I was not prepared for that difference).
The finishing and burnishing on the corter is not as good and the edges are not glued and the layers of leather between the stitching and wallet edge will start to move and look a little sloppy very quickly. I had a previous one that I carried for a week and looked really chewed up. I e-mailed the owner and he said didn't look burnished properly and sent me a new one...hence the no wear on this one. Very odd manner of doing business. I gave the previous one to a friend and he said that it doesn't fit various countries bills perfectly. I just checked, and some bills from various countries, barely peak out the top. I did not have the problem with the albatross, but I see the machine stitching is just a tad closer to the edge and is the causation of this phenomenon in the Corter version.
I like the indigo wallet look, but with the Albatross at $40 and the indigo at $80 (got it during a sale)...I would recommend the albatross with thicker leather, better finishing, better features and better price.
and then, i got the snap because I can't spend my money fast enough. There is always more at the end of every month.
I like this style of wallet and one of the reasons I went with Corter after my previous blunders, I cannot find this look without a coin pouch anywhere.
but...as with my previous corter purchases, this has some minor flaws. The first you can see in this picture is that after two weeks in my pocket (and two coats of Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP), the bottom corner puckered a bit. Not a huge deal, but it does detract a little from the finished appearance.
I did not take interior pictures, but you can see stock photos on the corter website
shop.corterleather.com/collections/frontpage/products/snap-wallet-natural
this is the buckled corner and an example of the burnishing
and that is how it looks from the other side. I think the edges are very rough in general.
but now, my major problem. The screw used to hold the concho on for the snap was domed and caused the snap to not properly engage. For most of the past two weeks, I would not get a good snap on the wallet about half the time. It would come undone when I put it in my back pocket or when taking it out. It was driving me insane. I did not want to e-mail the owner because I feel bad that every time I do, he just sends me free stuff. If it was a big company like WalMart...ok, but I am not out to get this guy to send me free stuff. So I tried to figure out the problem on my own. I looked at the screw and the anchor part of the snap and thought that the screw was hitting the center of the bottom part of the snap. I took the snap apart and without the screw, it snapped perfectly.
You can see the domed screw and the center part of the bottom half of the snap that it would hit. This would keep the snap from engaging properly. The last thing I wanted was the snap coming undone when in my pocket and flopping around and scarring the wallet all funky like. And if I pull out an unsnapped wallet, that would look cheap. Why even have a snap if it doesn't snap? In that case, it is just a bi-fold with a stupid floppy hangy part. So I found a similar threaded flat top screw but could not find the right length. I took my dremel and cut off some threads and then screwed it in with some metal adhesive to lock it down. Now the snap works perfectly every time and stays snapped like it should.
I do not see how a company would produce this or why they don't receive complaints about bad snaps every day. Really, even if I got it snapped "good" before, it was a little crooked and took very little pressure to come undone. I e-mailed them the other day with this solution to their problems, but have not heard back. They were recently hacked or something and I do not expect a rapid response right now. I think he will call me a hero and give me a key to the city for this simple solution.
I pointed out the flaws in the snap wallet, but now that it snaps, I really do like it and will continue to carry it...until I find a better one without a goddamn coin pouch. The red moon wallets always have coin pouches and are like three feet thick. I can't sit on three feeet (one yard) of leather. Also, $400+ for a wallet is insane. $125 for this corter snap is reasonable, but still a few steps away from "living the dream"
So, that is the information on Corter and Albatross wallets. Maybe I should buy something from Don'tmournorganize, but his website is weird and I guess you just e-mail him and tell him what you want? I don't understand that.
