Question:
so i mention to my mom that i'm looking for a leather keepall type bag, and she mentions her father in law had just the thing. turns out he was polish, managed to escape during the nazi invasion, was arrested and escaped twice, and ended up in the RAF as a pilot. he bluffed his way into a teaching position on a base, first as a marksmanship teacher (having never shot a gun) and second as a sewing instructor (having never touched a needle). apparantly war makes you a quick learner, cause this is one of the things he made there:
it looked really bad when i first saw it, and i regret not taking pics, cause the transformation is amazing. it had some shoe polish or something on it, which i had to remove, and was badly dehydrated and cracked. i finished it up with clear wax polish.
Answer:
I've always loved vintage goods not only for its intrinsic quality, but also because of its perceived history. I've always wondered who owned it before and what situations they were in, etc.
Answer:
the bag looks really good
do you use it actually?
Answer:
i'm not sure i'd use it. you can make rotted leather look better, but you can not un-rot it. if "rot" is the right word.
i see this in vintage leather-bound books. they can look bad because they are dirty, and they can look bad because the dyes/chemical residues in the leather - from the way they were tanned, prepared for binding, etc. - have damaged the leather from the inside. a lot of book dealers will clean the dirt and apply a thin coat of vaseline to make the leather look decent again. still they are not close to good as new. i also have vintage briefcases and i've seen much the same thing there.
i'm not sure what was wrong with your bag in the first place. it may have been poorly maintained. it may also have been not world-class leather on the day it was stitched together. either way, if the leather looked very dried out, the polish you've applied may not be restoring the original elasticity. it could rip if you load it down and use it, esp. at the load-bearing parts where the handle's attached.
Answer:
That bag is sweet.
I have a matching set of canvas duffle bags that my Mom sewed in highschool or something. They are bright green canvas that's all faded out, quite dirty and hideously ugly but they've been all around the world with me and I won't stop using them until they fall apart.
Answer:
it's really too big to use everyday, so it'll be my travel bag. i know what you mean about leather rot, but it's just abrasion.
i think i'll probably end up making my own bag, i saw some guy making wallets on sufu, so now i'm all inspired.
