Wednesday 17 April 2019

Custom canvas tool roll

Last year I bought a set of English plough irons that happened to come in an old tool roll. As it was busted, I thought about making a new roll for the irons.


A quick cleanup with 400 grit sandpaper and mineral spirits to clean the irons.


A high-level, not proportional, plan of how the roll will be made. The entire thing will be made from 2 layers of antique canvas my wife stashed away ages ago. The roll proper will be 25cm by 25cm, with a 14cm flap covering the tangs and a 7cm side flap.

 The fun begins... cutting the fabric panels to size. As it's a very large roll of fabric, I was able to cut the components as continuous panels. The main body and tang flap became an 80cm by 27cm panel (24+14+2 times two), the side flap became a 16cm by 27cm panel and the tool holder became a 30cm by 27cm panel)

Main body and side flap cut to size (I actually made the side flap too small and redid it)

 Side flap with seams penciled in
 The tool packet panel with 8 equal pockets... geometry is your friend. There was a mistake here too and I should have allowed some space on the sides as the fabric is quite thick
 Tool pocket stitched to the main body
 Let's dry test the fit of a plough iron
 The new side flap, at the correct size.

The side flap stitched to the main body

 The closure mechanism in place, can you spot the error? Now it's time to stitch the seam all the way around, leaving a 10cm opening to turn the tool roll inside out.
 Tool roll turned out, pressed and fully loaded.
 Tool roll almost finished... the next part of the project is to treat the outside of the tool roll to make it water proof. A similar process to Filson's famous "tin cloth". This will come in a follow-up post.