which spacing between straps do you like better?

[esantoro]

Ed do you ever make any out of skirting/tooling sides.

I have used tooling sides and am ready to get back to the tooling sides, 5/6/7 oz. The reason at least for going to the chrome tan is 1.) I got a pretty good price for about 20 sides; 2.) the market seems to go more for the softer leather; 3.) it is easier to store.

I'm looking to get back to the veg tan and even start in on bridle leather, which is why I got into the various needle plates and presser feet.

Here are some pics of my veg tan bags, Though the style I'm going with now is that of the pic I posted recently.

Ed

Edited February 28, 2008 by esantoro

[TracyMoss]

Nice bags, I can see where the chrome tan might not be suited for strap on the side. Thanks for sharing.

[esantoro]

Nice bags, I can see where the chrome tan might not be suited for strap on the side. Thanks for sharing.

You think with chrome tan, it would be good to go without a shoulder strap?

[TracyMoss]

You think with chrome tan, it would be good to go without a shoulder strap?

Let me clarify. If the dees or rings for the strap are sewn on the side of the gusset in chrome tan, it might be more likely to tear out. Especially if the dees or rings are sewn on with chrome tan/chap and not veg tan.

[esantoro]

Let me clarify. If the dees or rings for the strap are sewn on the side of the gusset in chrome tan, it might be more likely to tear out. Especially if the dees or rings are sewn on with chrome tan/chap and not veg tan.

I'll have to post my signature method for stitching on these dees. Actually, if you want, you can go to www.waldenbags.com and read the section where I detail the shoulder strap dee construction.

[TracyMoss]

I checked out the website, and it If that bag is stuffed it will hold a lot of weight. Do you have problems with the chrome tan stretching at the loop that the dees are in. Not, trying to insinuate anything about the quality of your bags, they are really nice. I am just thinking about structural soundness in the dee retainers. Could be that there is no problem at all. But I have seem some lower quality bags fail at that point, and they were not cheap in price...just in production.

[electrathon]

The spacing on the grown bag looks better than that on the black one.

Aaron

[rdb]

Ed, I don't think there is another person on this board who has examined large bags more than you. Your attention to the details shows in the bags you make. They not only look beautiful, but the details indicate a piece of leatherwork capable of lasting a lifetime, as they once all were. The test of time has always been in the little things that hold...dee ring straps, corner/end stitching, etc. Yours shows every indication of passing the test.

Don't forget, that in the old days there was quite a good business for people who repaired things...i.e cobblers. Imagine that...jobs! Shoes were meant to be repaired/refreshed. They were not throw aways like today. If your straps were to fail at some future date, although I doubt they would under normal use, they are easily replaced. That to me, is an indication of something made well, and accessible to repair and modification.

[esantoro]

Ed, I don't think there is another person on this board who has examined large bags more than you. Your attention to the details shows in the bags you make. They not only look beautiful, but the details indicate a piece of leatherwork capable of lasting a lifetime, as they once all were. The test of time has always been in the little things that hold...dee ring straps, corner/end stitching, etc. Yours shows every indication of passing the test.

Don't forget, that in the old days there was quite a good business for people who repaired things...i.e cobblers. Imagine that...jobs! Shoes were meant to be repaired/refreshed. They were not throw aways like today. If your straps were to fail at some future date, although I doubt they would under normal use, they are easily replaced. That to me, is an indication of something made well, and accessible to repair and modification.

Thanks so much for noticing this. There's a whole philosophy behind these bags, and their construction is therapeutic as well. It just feels so good in one bag to trump all the crap that exists today in films, music, fashion, politics, education, the full spectrum of society. After I complete a bag, I just stand back and realize that I've actually done the very thing so many people seem no longer interested in doing. I love Ghurka bags, but even they lack a certain integrity and ruggedness. Little ol' me in my workshop has done what Ghurka has either forgotten or is no longer interested in. It's all about appearances now, not about the deeper lying ideas and questions. Your notice of all this thrills me and helps me in the conviction that I'm on to something and should stick with it. Other people are noticing too. There's something in these bags that comes out, that one just feels, and it has to do, I think, in the honest and rather simple way they are constructed.

I also like that you noticed that because they are constructed the way they are they can be fixed and mended in the future to really last a very, very, long time.

Thanks, again, as it's so wonderful to know that my obsession is pointed in the right direction.

ed

[esantoro]

I checked out the website, and it If that bag is stuffed it will hold a lot of weight. Do you have problems with the chrome tan stretching at the loop that the dees are in. Not, trying to insinuate anything about the quality of your bags, they are really nice. I am just thinking about structural soundness in the dee retainers. Could be that there is no problem at all. But I have seem some lower quality bags fail at that point, and they were not cheap in price...just in production.

I think I've precluded this problem from appearing by saddle stitching with thick thread and riveting through 4 layer's of 5/6 oz chrome tan and a metal clip.Ed

Which spacing between straps do you like better, that on the black Ralph Lauren bag, or that on the Ghurka bag, whose spacing is narrower? Both bags are about 17" wide and 12" tall. Ed

I just got in two sides of the leather used in this ghurka bag.