Tandy Leather Expedition Briefcase Kit

[FoamerAce]

Update:

After one month's use, a rivet popped out. When carried by the handle, the full weight is held by only two rivets and one let go. Could be I didn't set it properly. Could also be the rivets aren't quite long enough. But it's definitely the case that it's not designed well. It would be straight forward to add some stitching along side the handle rivets. Those are the only two that are being pulled apart from normal use. Unfortunately my customer is on the other side of the country. Fortunately setting rivets is easy to do, and that one is accessible.

I mailed him an anvil and setter along with a couple rivets and gave him a link to a YouTube. Hopefully all will be well. If it pops loose again he'll have to send it back and I'll add the stitching. On the bright side, he tells me he is otherwise very pleased with the bag. He carries it to work every day and gets frequent complements.

[Redochre]

The Nigel Armitage Messenger Bag is a really good pattern & it comes with a video.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Redochre

[leathervan]

What I do is pound the rivets flat so they sure and catch right. If it is done right there are no marks on the rivet head. Otherwise I am never quite sure wether it will hold or not. In my view a flat headed rivet looks just as good as a domed head on a rivet. But maybe it looks more machine made that way, I don't know. A rivet popping out has happened to me before also and it is frustrating and embarrassing sometimes. Actually a Chicago screw would probably be better in those places where there is a lot of stress.

[leathervan]

How did you attach your lining. Cement? It looks great and I am anxious to try it. My problem with the expedition kit is when I tried to put some stain on it the result was it got all smudgy so I did the whole thing with a smudgy look to it but it doesn't look too bad that way. I wish I had a pic but can't upload one right now.

[FoamerAce]

Yes I used cement to hold the lining. I don't know how well that worked. I put it on the leather and let it get tacky. Then I carefully laid the lining on and pressed it down with a piece of 1" PVC used like a rolling pin. I applied more cement around the edges to be sure they were fixed good and strong. Then I trimmed off the excess. The thing is, in some places it didn't stick at all, and in others it soaked through the fabric. Where it soaked through it got discolored. I rubbed it where it was soaked after a few days to dry, but with only partial results. When the lid is closed the lining crinkles up where it isn't stuck to the leather.

My stain started out looking smudgy, but I kept applying Dr. Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator, especially to the dark areas, and it evened out quite a bit as the oils worked through the leather. The other thing is there's four or five coats of finish on there with a good buffing, which always removed pigment, after each coat. A word about Tandy's Waterstain, it's a good idea to dampen the leather when applying it. I didn't do this for the one piece that gets covered by the rear pocket and it looked like ass.

[sepharad]

The design is great.

The leather is miserable and my top grain is lifting like alligator skin, along stitch stress points.

The instructions are miserable after step 12 and I am having to tear it apart to reassemble. Just a few extra, exploded images could do a lot to fix this. There may be an online video in the future by the designer.

Typical Tandy giant stitch holes, good for beginner.

Basically, buy it, trace the pattern pieces and use good leather, replace the stitching holes with smaller spacing using an iron, replace the giant thread with something quality like Barbour linen or Hungarian linen from Campbell machine.

This is a really Nice design and the fellow who designed it did good job. He needed to give it to 2 or three people to see where they could not follow his directions to iron that part out.

[mtroyalguy]

I made the bag. The picture on the box was more use for the final steps than the instructions were. And the first time I tried to use the bag the rivets popped on the shoulder strap and then on the handle when I tried to use that. But at least I have a nice pattern now.

[CyLee]

The kits are great jumping off points for newbies. I bought half a dozen of those expedition bags when they were on sale for 99.00 last year or earlier this year. I figure they will be great gifts for foster kids or college students with financial hardships. I love teaching others leather crafting despite having plenty more to learn myself. Having these kits allows some to be inspired to create their own design or simply have something hand made that is precious to them. The giant holes though... I loathe those.

[robertmeco]

The kits are great jumping off points for newbies. I bought half a dozen of those expedition bags when they were on sale for 99.00 last year or earlier this year. I figure they will be great gifts for foster kids or college students with financial hardships. I love teaching others leather crafting despite having plenty more to learn myself. Having these kits allows some to be inspired to create their own design or simply have something hand made that is precious to them. The giant holes though... I loathe those.

They are also great to copy and use for patterns

[Musa1989]

Awesome thread,

I definitely joined the right sight when it comes to answers and opinions of people who have actual experience in this field.  I built one of these bags recently as an exercise with the plans on copying the pattern pieces and warping them into something I like better.  To be honest I am not happy with how mine came out.  The fish stencil they provide looked like a good idea, but now I have a massive fish I didn't tool well on the front leather panel.  Otherwise, I am not fond of the simple two pocket interior which I find rather narrow.  I will post pictures when i figure that out.

For those of you looking to buy this pack, I think it is a good starting point as many have said, but I would like to point out a few issues that everyone has touched on but no one really discussed in detail.  

1) the rivets are one size, medium apparently, and the manager at a nearby Tandy even mentioned they are kind of a generic item with little thought being put into the variation of leather thicknesses and the effect that has on rivets.  and thus the rivets pop out all over the place.  She alluded this was a poor kit design flaw that I went through as did many others, popped rivets on a finished product.

2) have some curved needles on hand, or heat and bend some like I did to my Osborne saddlers /harness needles.  Well worth it for the gussets.  Also this ties into how much attention you need to pay to what you are doing in sections 12 and 13.  These sections should have instructed you to hold the interior panel over the back or front and count how many holes it will sit bellow the tops of either.  6 not including the rivet hole or the start of the thread.

3) The holes in this project are large, enough so for a saddle stitch and then some.  When coupled with the absurdly thick Tandy thread this isn't a problem.  I also ran out of thread which came in this project which I thought was maybe my doing but I am doubting that.  I wound up using some black tiger thread in 1mm I just got offline.  stuff lays out amazingly as usual.  

4) several of the members mentioned the handle is a weak point.  I noticed that from the get-go and reinforced mine with my own large rivets and some .080" thick Kydex at 1" wide by long enough for about 1/2" over hang on both ends beyond the last rivets.  I tested the bag out with heavy books first and the handle feels like any professional bag I have carried with no sag and complete load share.  just my two cents on that.

 

I really like what a few of the members here have done with this kit, or the basic Idea that was this kit.  @ FoamerAce, I really like your interior.  How did you do the pockets on the inside?  I was thinking about doing something like that and making one of the compartments larger by another half of their original depth but thought to construct the basic bag first.  I actually have some nice harness leather from Wickett and Craig that I decided to use for the next bag.   Really would like to do something like FoamerAce did and line it + add pockets inside and out side on the front with a second panel.   I plan to use some Kydex as stiffeners and protectors for key items.  Any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated.

 

I am especially interested in the lining techniques used; FoamerAce did you use some fabric textile cloth for yours?  how does that hold up over time?  I really like the idea of an inside sleeve for an Ipad/ macbook.  

 

Overall I like the general aethetic of the bag, but feel it needs some updates to be competitive with it's modern enviorment.  I like some functions but at the same time dislike it's limitations.  Tandy, as usual, has a great idea that they executed on a level maybe not as great as the idea itself.