Post Office Tool Case No. 3

Let me introduce you to the British Post Office Tool Case No. 3.

These tool cases have been around I'm told for over 50 years, I have two of them, one of them is about 40 years old, the other celebrates its 30th birthday this year! Whilst I didn't work for the 'Post Office' or British Telecom as it would now be or BT for short, I did work for a government organisation with close ties to the GPO, PO, BT etc.

So here are the two cases I have.

The older one is the one on the left and it's had a hard life! The only main differences between them is the ID pocket on the outside of the older one and the saddles on the handle strap are sewn to the case on the older one, where as they are riveted on the 'newer' one on the right.

Looking at the older one now in some more detail.

As you can see the leather is very soft and supple on this one. It's currently empty waiting for me to renew the zip on it. A job I did about 28 years ago as well as redoing some of the stitching. The leather hasn't had any special treatment since it was issued to me.

So opened out you can see the running loops running across the case for tools to slot in to, these can be varied in size and they tend to stay at the same tension all the time, no elastic is used, just leather.

The big pocket on the left is for small items and it is held shut with big press studs.

And moving on to the 'newer' one.

As you can see from the stitching the design is the same with only a few minor differences. Not quite a supple as the older one, but it is gradually getting there I guess, may be another 20 years and it will be as good.  It still has the original zip on this one, but the tag fell off some years ago and a cable tie has been serving that duty since!

And here is it fully populated with tools, some of the tools are the same age as the older case, still giving good service, no need to replace them. The side cutters are new though, these do become blunt or damaged with use. It didn't come with all of the tools you see, I added to it over the years, hence doubling up on the loops!

And again inside the pocket are some additional hand tools, bits and bobs etc.

The remarkable thing about these tool cases is that you can still buy them, not cheap I give you that, but as you can see they will last a life time! They are available from this company Canford in UK sizing details are in their own PDF file.

BagFinds

Here are some bag posts from around the Internet

1. What's In My Bag? Why, A Mobile Office, Of Course... - Giftie Etcetera
2. What’s in my bag: May 2013 - Pretty Green Tea
3. What's In My Changing Bag?! Miracle Bag Review.... - Sparkles and Stretchmarks
4. What's in my Bag - May 2013 - Daisybutter
5. What's In My Handbag ? - Sweet Elyse
6. Filofax and Coach - Purple is My Happy
7. Day 11 – What’s in your handbag? - Imysworld

Enjoy

WebFinds - 7 September

If you are a Philofaxy reader then you will be familiar with WebFinds. Here's a Bagsey equivalent for your enjoyment:

1. Emotional Baggage - Reg Hardware
2. My Cambridge Satchel - Anita Lim
3. Another handbag post....... - Musings of a Caribbean Princess
4. Making an iPad case - Planet Millie
5. Bag, Bag, Bag – and Another Bag! - Kanalt - The Zeitgeist of Zoe
6. What's In My Bag? - Thoughts and Exploration
7. Frugal Friday: Vlieger & Vandam Skull Print Tote - Bag Snob
8. Made in England - The Brooks England
9. Fendi 2Jours Bag Special Edition - Pandith News
10. what's in my handbag? - Drifting Through Life
11. The Many Bags of Dakota Fanning  - The Purse Blog 

Enjoy

New Messenger Bag

As you will recall I'm a happy user of a 'man bag' or in my case a camera bag with out the internal inserts, which I use for carrying all of my everyday clutter around with me, I hate stuff in my pockets, and I tend not to forget things if they are in my bag!

This is still working well, but I recently became the owner of an iPad and also I'm in the throws of moving over to the more regular use of the A5 Filofax.

The existing bag will just about take an A5, but it's a bit of a squeeze, but it will not take the iPad safely. Not quite big enough. I have an old 12" Targa laptop bag that I've used for a few years, it will take the A5 ok and the iPad ok, the main problem with it is that being a laptop case, it has a zip that goes around three sides of the bag, so you are always looking for a flat surface for it before you open it. Not ideal.

So looking on the Lowepro site I noticed that one of their new product ranges called the Event Messenger has provision for the iPad in a padded compartment and when I checked the dimensions it was plenty big enough in height and width for an A5 Malden. Perfect, so I ordered the Event Messenger 150 which is the medium size of the range. I hate bags that are too big!

So this is also a combination of tablet/camera bag, but the internal dividers all come out, so you can reconfigure the internal space as you need. The interior is soft and well padded too.

I've left one vertical divider in and I can tuck my reading glasses in at the end.

As well as a broad strap there is also a carry handle useful when you are lifting it in and out of the car. There's also a slim outside pocket on the rear side of the bag, which will be fine for travel documents and the like.

Here it is with an A5 Malden and an A5 Finsbury, both 30 mm ring models, and tucked in the back section is my iPad in it's leather case.

In the front there is also a full width zip pocket with pockets for things like mobile phones, iPods, compact cameras, pens, memory cards etc.

The flap secures with a clip and two velcro strips. The shoulder strap is broad and has a padded shoulder pad as well, so it's quite comfortable to carry fully loaded.  There are also elasticated pockets on the outside at each end with expand to take a small bottle of water or similar.

Like my other man bag/day bag it will take my camera gear... but I have a dedicated Lowepro camera bag for that!



  

One bag for everything?

Wouldn't it be great if we could have one general purpose bag that we could use for different assignments. I'm not talking about hand bags here. Yes I know they have to match your outfits etc etc.

But if you are thinking about say a travel bag or a bag you use for work, wouldn't it be great if we could find a bag that was big enough for small enough to use for various loads. I hate having a bag that's way too big for what I'm carrying, or way too small when I need to carry a few more things.  Does such a thing exist?

Looking around on the net I came across a few bags that might suit. I particularly like this one called the 'One Bag'



It's available here: http://www.undfind.com/

I also discovered Unit Portables. This one is even more modular allowing you to add different 'units' to the bag to build up the configuration you need. You could also remove units when you aren't using them.

You will find the details here: http://en.unitportables.com/  I particularly like the bright colours in this range. Nice definite colours, bold and cheerful.