Leather bags and carpet bags

The previous thread of leather bags and Silas Morgan's mention of carpet bag construction has me thinking about various bag options. BTW, I was not aware there were Scientific American volumes on Gutenberg. I can see that taking much of my time that should be used on more mundane pursuits. Those articles are amazing!

The carpet bag article was very interesting and they are not that hard if you have some understanding of sewing or construction. The one item that you might need to obtain is the metal frame and I did find premade ones but only up to 12 inches long. But looking at them, it would not be too hard to use tubular metal from the hardware store to bend, flatten and drill your own.
The tubular frames I found
http://www.sewthankful.com/BagHardware.html

I ran across some bags on Ebay that had that old "satchel" or messenger bag type look. If you search in Women's handbags for "Coach" "leather" and either brown or black you will see quite a few results. The older vintage bags and briefcases from the 70's have that old satchel, briefcase or saddle bag look with brass hardware. The satchel briefcases show up in the womens handbags section quite frequently though they are more of a unisex bag (actual briefcase). I see them for under $50 all the time on Ebay.

Another one that came to mind are the old brown leather postal bags. A friend who is a mail carrier has one. They are fairly large and have that old well broken in leather look. He took home all of the old leather bags when their small town post office changed to new bags. He has since sold them all but you might run across one on Ebay or if you know a mail carrier somewhere. I would love to get my hands on one as an in between bag to carry with luggage.

I just wanted to throw all of this out there, please feel free to put in your $.02 or links you have.

I was also planning on starting a new thread on "Useful Bags", but I wanted to at least get started on the canvas bag I want to make... so I could post pictures...

I have the canvas, and figure I'll make the frame from some metal rod that I have.... pound the ends flat, drill holes in them, and use a loose rivet for the hinge. I'm still looking for a chunk of Masonite to use for the bottom, or I might just use some heavy plastic that I have (you wouldn't see it, because it's between the canvas shell and the lining)

Guess I should start working on it now.....

YAY! Sweet links all round. Bravo. I think I'm going to scavenge fabric from an old coat and make some kind of bag. Or a cold-weather vest/waistcoat. Can't decide.

Hi.
I am looking for leather bag which have sturdy brass fitted finish and heavy duty stitching. So please suggest according to my requirements.

leather satchel bag