Leather Phone and Key Valet

I have surfed to the ends of the internet and found a lot of retailers that sell a "key valet", usually to the tune of about 85 bucks. They are a really nice place to drop your keys, sunglasses, and phone in one spot. Most of them I saw were leather squares with the corners pinched and riveted. I prefer the clean look of molded leather and I know that leather, after being wetted, will form into all kinds of shapes and hold it. It is amazing stuff.

The first thing you need is leather, I bought two sides from Tandy. It is about a quarter inch thick and really holds shape when formed wet and then dried. The other thing you need is a form. I built two out of plywood. These were cut on a CNC machine, but could have easily been cut on a jigsaw. Measure out the size that you want, to me it was about 6 x 6 inches.

When you have your mold prepared, you cut the leather. This is the base length and width, plus about a 1 1/2 inches for the sides. So if your mold is 6X6, cut your leather to 9x9, this will allow the leather to form around the mold and then allow you to cut it off evenly. The corners pinch so rounding them helps a little bit later, see second photo.

Once your leather is cut. Get it wet in the sink. You will feel it get really soft. Run it under the tap for about 30 seconds per side. Then lay it over the inner mold, and place the outer mold over the top. As the leather is rough on one side and smooth on the other, I put the smooth side down, so that is what is shown as it sits on the counter. Use a vise or clamps to squeeze both sides together to form the shape.

Let it sit in the mold for about 24 hours.

After it is pressed, cut the top of the leather so that it is even. You can use a razor blade, dremel, or leather knife. The goal is to cut it so that when it is sitting on a flat surface, all of the sides are even. If there is uneven sides, you can run it over a belt sander to ensure everything is even.

I use a die that I spray through a small airbrush. It could be brushed on, but the leather REALLY soaks it in. I spray side to side, then rotate 90 degrees and do it again to prevent any patterns. Then I flip it over and do the other side.

The next step is to burnish the sides. When the leather is cut, there are very square corners which looks really awkward. So I run a chunk of bees wax along the edges and round the edges out with a burnisher (amazon) and it does a really nice job of smoothing/rounding the edges.

I have an old shoe polishing wheel from my grandfather. I put down some neutral wax all over the piece and run it over the polisher. You can see that the "parade gloss" does a really great job of shining the leather. The buffer wheel makes quick work of the effort.

As you can see, the piece with a little elbow grease turns out very nicely. I have also pressed design into the center of it with a 3d print, or laser engraved something into the center to personalize it for people, but even without it, the leather comes out very nice.

I have made about a half dozen for folks, and they are very well received.

Thanks for looking, if there are any question, feel free to reach out to me.