I'm thinking about making some leather dump trays, something that you can put on the dresser or table to put your EDC stuff into when you empty your pockets at the end or the day, and/or as a convenient place for those daily rotation items that you switch out regularly. My questions for you are how big should the tray be, and should the finished side of the leather be inside or outside??? Should it be square, or rectangular??? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
This has been on my list of items to make. I'm hoping to get around to it once I get moved and build a garage. The issue I kept running into when thinking about it is, they're not really a one size fits all kind of thing. I do like the finished leather on the inside. I like the idea of square better, but it depends on where it's going. If I put one on my dresser, it'll have to be a rectangle.
My initial thought is to make this 8x5 or 8x6, and about 1.5" deep. The rectangular shape would allow easier layout of items, with a wallet sitting to one side, and allowing knives, lights, ect to still have their own space. Maybe I need to make a small and a large, maybe the 8x5 as the small, and a 12x12 or 12x10 as the large.
Ultimately, I think I'm going to end up with about 4 of them. One for the bedroom, one for my office, one for the kitchen/living room area, and eventually one for the garage. I won't be running back and forth to my dresser to always put my stuff back in the tray. But if I can strategically place a few around the house, at least I know my stuff will be in one of them when I start looking for it.
A tray @ 10"x8" would be great. Could you not put 2 pieces of thinner leather together and have a finished side both inside and outside? Are the trays going to lay flat for travel and the corners connected with something that can be taken apart? I have seen several styles that are made for travel. There is a photo of a really nice one here: https://www.edcforums.com/threads/where-do-you-dump-your-gear-at-the-end-of-the-day.128638/ Let me know when you get this ironed out. I want one.
It would just depend on the type of leather you used. You definitely could do that, but you'd need a softer leather. Making them for myself, I'd probably just use some of the veg tanned stuff I have on hand.
2 layers would be possible, but would increase the cost substantially. Double price of leather, plus it would have to be glued and stitched. I considered a fold flat design, but don't think it is necessary, because if you know how to pack well it shouldn't be any more issue to fit an article of clothing in the tray.
Now you have me rethinking a fold flat design. @Black Train It could be designed to roll up in that case, which would be an interesting option......
