Dan28

I haven't really made anything this year after spending tons of time last year making all my Christmas gifts. Needed a break to catch up with some other stuff. I'm going to Ireland in July and needed some luggage. I saw that my current daily messenger bag (my first bag) would not meet the carry on requirements for the airline. So I decided to make one that would. I also don't really want to check a bag and risk losing it, so I decided to make a duffel bag that I could carry on with me. I finished the new messenger bag about two weeks ago and have been using it since to break in so to speak. I almost finished the duffel yesterday. I finished the main bag with about two feet of thread left. Had to order some more waxed poly from Maine Thread Co. I just need to stitch the strap and it will be done. The messenger bag is mostly 8 oz leather, with pig skin lining, brass hardware a few copper rivets, with a clasp and accent dragon that I powder coated with "veined copper" powder. The brass d-rings are 1 inch, the strap buckle and clasps are 1 1/4 inch. The dimensions are roughly 12 inches wide by 9 1/2 inches tall and about 5 inches deep. The dye is mostly Fiebings saddle tan, however I mixed in some denatured alcohol and a bit of Fiebings Ox Blood to get the color it has. The duffel bag's main body and sides are made from 8 oz leather. The top is made from 6 oz leather. I wet formed the sides of the duffel bag. It used up basically one whole uncut piece of pig skin for the main lining The sides were lined separately. The deminsions are roughly 20 1/2 inches long, 9 1/4 inches tall, and about 10 1/2 wide. I used brass hardware, copper rivets, and some regular rapid rivets that I powder coated in the same veined copper powder as the other bag. While the strap isn't done, it will be using 1 1/2 inch brass hardware, the buckle will be a center bar buckle though. The dye is Fiebings Walnut. I got my leather, pig skin, dye and clasp from Springfield Leather. I may have gotten that dragon accent piece there too, or maybe from Tandy, I've had it in my hardware bin for a while. The brass hardware came from Buckleguy. All the rivets, copper and rapid came from Tandy. I used waxed poly chord form Maine Thread Co. On the messenger bag, its their .040 size and my stitching holes are 4mm. The duffel bag has .045 waxed poly chord with 5mm stitching holes.

I agree with Bruce about braiding would not look as good as rivets. Then again, I just am not a fan of the edge braiding style. I have the same issue bending the post on copper rivets from time to time. Maybe its the rivets I'm buying, or I'm just hitting it too hard.

I've thought about getting a 3D printer. Do you think that the material would work to print out designs to stamp into leather with an arbor press? I know its not going to last like brass or other metals that you cut a design from a CNC machine (which I would also like). From the videos I've watched 3D printing is a lot quieter than any CNC machine and noise is a factor for me.

I did a search for "Curved Needles" and this came up. Its cool because this is the exact stitch I plan on doing and why I was looking up curved needles in the first place.

I am mostly dreading the stitching the strap as I usually laminate two pieces skin side out and glue/stitch them together for all my straps. I also stitch on my couch with the tv on too. I also do some of my strap stitching and smaller stitching items to work as I can stitch on lunch and during some tasks that don't require my full attention during the day. I would say my first messenger bag took me 20 to 30 hours just to stitch. I've gotten a bit faster now.

Everything Huns shows us on here is just so clean and precise looking.

Not bad at all especially for your first bag. I've only made one small case this year, but am about to make myself some kind of luggage/carry-on-bag for a trip to Ireland in a few months. Like you, I'll probably make it up as I go along. Its good to see other ideas. I'm not looking forward to all that hand stitching though.

Pretty cool. I've been considering/procrastinating about building something similar for my Wide Glide for months. I did so much leading up to Christmas though, that I havent made anything other than a small tablet pouch this year.

The whole idea to make them came from those belt clips. I had them in my hardware collection and had no plans to use them and came up with the idea of these. I had no plans to use them on anything for myself. The only item I occasionally wear on my belt is a magazine pouch and I made leather loops for it. The one good thing I can say about the metal clips, are that you don't have to take off your belt to use them. I have a feeling one of them will end up on the visor of a truck holding sunglasses though. Looking at them, I concede you are probably right about using two clips per item. I can see them tilting on the belt. Oh well, they are basically stocking stuffers. I think I spent about the same time dyeing and applying Resolene to them than actually making them. Bob, I saw extended gussetts somewhere and thought they would be functional for helping keep items in the pouch. I used a V gouger (if that is the correct name of the tool?) and scored a line on the inside of them so they would bend a little freely.

I lined both my holsters with veg tanned pig skin that I dyed. My first holster was made from 10 oz leather and was probably my 3rd or 4th project. There's a picture of it in my gallery. I didn't know about the chrome tanned leather w/ metal, so that's good to know. Although so far all I've worked with has been veg tanned leather and pig skin. Although I do have some pre colored glazed pig skin I have got from Springfield leather that I'm not sure of its tanning method.