Yes Stuart it is the leather corners that have to be right. Large webbing back packs are about the right size and lots of guys use them. Like this one on ebay. Search for others.
To make these corners, have a look at the Technical Section: "Pannier bag corners". Depending on the quality of the leather: maximum thickness 2.5 mm !
Thanks Hans I have already found and read over the article in the technical section. Its great that so many members are willing to share so much information. This will be my first restoration and my first vintage bike so I have a long learning curve ahead of me, I'm sure Ill make a few mistakes on the way but that's often the best way to learn. Reading the shared experiences in both the forum and technical section gives me more confidence with the build, I already feel that I have the backing and help from hundreds of experienced professionals.
Thanks for the link, I am committed to make my own now, I have already purchased the canvas, webbing, copper rivets and leather. I have also bought sheet brass to manufacture my own brass hardware for the webbing tips. the 1 and 2 inch buckles I am using ones that I have dug up on the battle grounds of Hong Kong. I am a WW2 historian in my spare time and retrace the routes taken by the Japanese and British during WW2 with a metal detector. Unfortunately I mainly find unexploded hand grenades so end up calling EOD. But we have discovered 2 American Avenger bombers and a few months ago we were honoured to return a watch we found back to Canada to a living relative. you can watch the Canadian news video on this link
