AndersenLeather

If you intend to punch the iron all the way through the leather then i'm afraid you bought the wrong tool. As @Tugadude said this is not what the amy roke pricking iron is intended for. They are like the old pricking irons which are only ment to mark the leather. What you should have bought is sometimes described as a hybrid pricking iron. These are sharp and able to punch all the way through. Wuta and kevin lee and almost all of the highend chinese pricking iron are like hybrids.

http://reddit.com/r/leathercraft

When looking at their webpage they only sell junk locks. The only places I have found that sells nice brass locks are Abbey england and this company: https://abasfashionaccessories.com/collections/key-locks

You can find it here: https://www.instructables.com/id/Classic-leather-briefcase-with-accordion-gusset/ On my blog you can find the same and much more http://andersenleather.blogspot.com/ the locks are from http://abbeyengland.com/

Yes I wrote it I’m glad it helped you. It sure helps me remember what I did. I have also changed steps and techniques as you learn something new every time you make one. I have just made the templates in acrylic with holes for everything so that will speed up the process. I work slow so I think I’m closer to 60 hours if not more. 30hours is fast!

You did a really good job on that. I'm impressed that it only took you one week to make. How many hours a day did you work on it?

I just took a picture of the bag while its being held:

Thanks. Yes the closure is both good looking and practical Thanks a lot. The bar is what holds the bag closed. The bag does lean a bit but as the bag is not that thick it is not problem at all. Yes making the blog post takes a long time but it makes it so much easier to make another bag at a later point. The leather is 1,4-1,6 mm ( 3,5-4 oz) and the lining is 1-1,2mm (2,5-3 oz)

I made this music bag. It was a lot of fun and as this was my first bag with a lining I learned alot about that. For the complete build go here: andersenleather.blogspot.com

They use a number of threads... unless the use a sewing machine

This is one way to do it: andersenleather.blogspot.com/2015/10/burnish.html The trick is to burnish the very edge of the edge before dyeing the edge. I also use a felt marker. A wool dauber should only be used if the edge is the same color as the leather.

I also think it is a matter of making the best use of the leather. On this briefcase which cost 4500 euro I really don’t get why they did it.

I dyed the leather myself.

I'm not sure I understand your question completely. Most of the bends are made by cutting a single slit around halfway through the leather. These slits only works when you bend the leather outwards (bending so that the grain side of the leather comes closer together) Only two bends was made using a groover. This was where the bend had to be inwards (bending so that the flesh side of the leather comes closer together) Also I did not wet the leather at all.

I used a 3,2 mm italian double bend. It is not a bridle but a normal veg tan completely undyed. It is not at all waxy but very water absorbent.