Briefcase - A Learning Experience

[RavenAus]

Did you skive the leather down at all? I think with that thickness it could easily lose a few oz at the seams

[Paulsleather]

That's it - there you go - problem solved - staring me right in the face the whole time. Thanks mate.

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do that. The only skiving I did was at the tops of the panels where I folded the leather over and stitched across the top for a clean edge. Now that I think of it, I was pretty miserable doing that skiving. Seemed like it would never end. I'm sure it was due to the fact that my technique needs work (or practice, or both)... and a sharper blade wouldn't hurt either.

Thanks very much for that suggestion, RavenAus. It will really make the gusset work more manageable in the future.

[David8386]

Good job, I think it came out very nice. Thanks for posting it.

David

[Paulsleather]

Thanks, David.

[lightningad]

It took a full double shoulder - about 12 sq feet - for the bag. I had to cut the strap from a second one, though. I now have plenty of left over for small laptop sleeves!

sorry if this is a dumb question...does that 12sq ft include the lining or is that another 12sq ft?

adam

[RavenAus]

To be honest, my skiving technique is pretty rubbish too A new blade really does help. What do you use to skive? I have Tandys super skiver - not so super really, it's a pain to use and the result is never even! I'm trying to figure out if there's any way I can make an edge skiver that won't cost a fortune, but coming up blank right now

Edited January 18, 2013 by RavenAus

[Paulsleather]

Yes, Adam, add maybe another 8 for the liner. Since its thinner, I cut with scissors and was able to minimize waste due to simply tracing the patterns vs taping them down on the leather.

[lightningad]

thanks Paul, very useful in helping me gauge what i might need to make a similar bag.

[Paulsleather]

Yep, mine is similar to the Tandy one but I got it at Springfield leather. I'm not sure if its the right tool for the job that I was trying to do. Let me know if you come up with a cost effective way to make one.

[Bob Blea]

Hi Paul,

I'm really impressed. I've been trying to learn this stuff for several years now and I'm not to the point where I would try something like this. It looks really nice and you should be proud.

Bob