OrthodoxMason

Mike, Indeed, what you say is quite true. I shall try to devote some time tonight or tomorrow and reformat the post to publish the pictures here along with the comments. Many thanks!

Moto, Many thanks for the kind words! I have indeed been spending quite a lot of time looking over Occidental Leather's price points. I discuss this a bit more in my update post that I just published here on the forum. Their prices are helpful comparisons, but I think that ultimately I am going to have to commit to a substantially higher price point than them. They are offering mass produced gear, and truly they strike a lovely balance of quality and cost savings. I'm interested in making the best quality bag, and as such am faced with the reality of charging a more top shelf rate. Now, who knows if anyone is keen to buy such a bag? At any rate, that is decidedly more verbage than you bargained for. Thanks for the recommendations to the business post, I shall try to read over them later today! Indeed, slow but certainly onwards. The update post that I mentioned has been posted!

Hey all, I wanted to provide an update for the leather tool bag work that I am doing. A number of you have provide much appreciated feedback and advise, for which I am quite grateful and indebted. I elected to write up my update as a series of brief posts each attached to an appropriate photo. Due to the file size format of this forum, I am going to link to the Imgur album that I created. Hopefully, this format works well for everyone and remains in keeping with the forum. TOOL BAG UPDATE Best regards, Patrick

Pardon a six month space of silence, but I just wanted to thank everyone in this thread that was kind enough to chime in with their ideas and recommendations. Truly, having such input has been a helpful guide. I'll try and compose an progress update post soon. My main line of work is construction and design, so this project often has to take a backseat. Moving slowly is still moving. I'm aiming to begin selling these tool bags alongside other leather goods in late spring. In my update post I'll cover more of that in depth, but I wanted to reach out to you guys first because I welcome your continued input. Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to dialogue with me. Hopefully, I can contribute and give by to this forum. Best regards, Patrick P.S. Dun, I have implemented your curved tab suggestion to great effect and am excited to show it to you. Thanks again!

Pardon my potential ignorance, but are the folds of leather that I am working on considerably different than a typical lapping of two separate pieces of leather? The hardest aspect of the stitching for me now are the folded edges. Doubling over the edges in a pleasing and efficient manner has been quite a challenge for me. In your experience, do you believe that stitching those connections ought to be similar to a more typical connection? Would you happen to have any advice on how to approach such an aspect?

Dun, Ah, I see now! Thanks for the excellent recommendation! I will begin approaching those corner cuts as you have recommended. It makes a good deal of sense.

Below is a brief breakdown of the linear runs of stitching required to make the bag. I thought that y'all might enjoy these measurements for points of comparison and review. Main Pouch - 70 Linear Inches Front Bag - 40.5 Linear Inches Pencil Pouch 20 Linear Inches Total - 130.5 Linear Inches Working on such a stitch intensive bag (at least to me) means that refining the stitching process yields huge saving in terms of time and effort. I am grateful for your collective thoughts and replies, for I have much to learn.

Many thanks for the advice! Indeed, the chicago screws are a bit of any overkill. For the pencil pouches, it is part bulletproofing and part aesthetics. I am not worried about the time to install them though. Compared to the stitching time, it is quite minimal.

Yes, I am using stitching chisels

Thanks for all of the insight and helpful advice! Sorry for the delayed reply, I was out of town this last week. After reading through the replies, I am going to work on the following aspects and see if they culminate into faster stitching speeds. I read on an old forum post that folks were able to perform 6" runs of stitching in 12 minutes. If I am able to work my way to such a rate, I will be quite content! Use a dull awl in conjunction with the stitching chisels to widen holes temporarily. Use smaller harness needles. John James #2 is where I'll begin. Wear sewing palms to help push needles through. Thanks again. I will try and follow up with any progress that I make. Dun, Can you elaborate on where this inside corner punch should be used on my bag? I am intrigued, but I don't quite understand. Thanks

Hey All, I'm in the process of developing durable, hand stitched tool bags for tradesmen. The first iteration I'm working on is a traditional carpenter's bag. By trade, I'm a builder who specializes in structural masonry and timber framing. I began leather working as a way to replace the old Medallion bags that I had used for years and were falling apart. I'm quite happy with where I have landed design-wise, but believe there are a few production processes that need improvement. Generally speaking, I'm looking for any guidance on how to approach stitching through two layers of 8-10oz. leather in an efficient and frustration free manner. I'm a believer that hard work will always be hard work, but it shouldn't be frustrating. Right now, there are a few of aspects that exasperate me, and I'd like to iron them out if I can. Below, I've posted a brief overview of my stitching process and a few pictures that hopefully provide further insight. I plot out all of my stitching lines and use a groove set to hollow out a channel for the stitching to lay flush into. I use a SEIWA 6x4.5mm Stitching Iron to mark and puncture all of my runs of stitching on a cutting pad. I use large 000 harness needles with 1.0mm tiger thread waxed. I use a french styled stitching clam on some aspects of the bag, but the doubled up edges don't seem to provide enough material to clamp down. I've also used a table vise to good effect as well. Also, I sometimes wet and hammer flat the edges before stitching them in place. Currently, I rely on a little scrap leather to help push the needles through. I know I need to buy or made a some sort of glove to keep my fingers free, but should I be having to force my needles through? Hopefully, this provides enough background to my current progress and situation. Let me know what I need to explain further, and most importantly what areas I need to improve upon. Thanks for taking the time to read this and help me out. Here is a link to an imager album that I had already compiled featuring pictures of my work with a further description. Best regards, Patrick P.S. Let me know if I am formatted my post incorrectly, or have posted in the wrong place. I am still learning the rope of this forum. Thanks again