Civilian Tool Roll

Following the design and manufacture of the tool roll for the W/NG, it's time to make a civilian one for the SQ4 toolkit.

Firstly however, a word on part numbers. The tool roll listed in my 1930 Model A parts list is Z/23 or 6640-26 - the same as that listed for all models until the war. It's also listed in my 1951 Square Four parts book (and the 53 & 54 SQ4 books, come to that), unlike the 6640-46 identified for all the other post-war models until the advent of the Rexine tool roll for the 1955 season. Go figure.

I have some suitable materials:

Design

These are Ray Tolman's two original tool rolls, with the military version on the right and the civilian version on the left:



You can see that the military version is bound, has two straps, and has a much larger flap. All fabric is single thickness in both tool rolls. The military version also has deeper pockets, though the dimensions of the pockets seem to be similar otherwise.

Ray Tolman's words:

Both tool rolls measure the same in the pockets. The big differences are:

• larger, rectangular cover flap
• fabric edging around full perimeter and at top of all pockets, civilian roll has no edging and is constructed of lighter, less durable materials.
• two straps with steel fittings vs more durable brass, IMHO, on civilian roll
• slightly larger end flap on W/NG roll having rounded corners instead of angular corners on civilian roll
• the W/NG tool roll should be more durable than the civilian one due to to the beefier construction. The steel strap fittings are prone to rust as compared to brass. Steel was likely cheaper to produce...

So, we established the pocket spacing and experienced some shrinkage on the W/NG tool roll. We'll use this experience in the manufacture of the civilian roll. Here's a drawing of the tool roll Ray made; we'll assume this is a 6640-26, since the it's much more likely to be from a single than a post-war SQ4:

Here's a close up of the original:

The plan this time is to use this more khaki canvas, with khaki straps. The canvas I have for this one is not waxed like the military one, so I am changing to lighter needles for this one:

Getting on with it, here are the bits cut out and with the hems folded in:

All assembled, with the flap down:

Open. You can see in this picture that the stitching is very ragged, in fact the machine was dropping stitches. I realised later that when I had changed needles, I had put the new needle in backwards! I had also cut the corners in rather than just folding them or mitering them, which means there will be a weak point there.

Here it is again, filled with my SQ4 tool kit. Note that some of these are home made and a bit of an odd size; conversely the pockets fit well, following the second W/NG prototype exactly though the pockets are shorter.

Closed, filled and rolled up. Overlength tools poking out, dodgy stitching in full view:

Stitching the pockets on the second prototype civilian tool roll:

Pockets in place. This is the same piece of material as the first prototype - the back or main panel is new:

Box stitching on the strap:

Here's the strap riveted in place:

The completed tool roll:

Filled and rolled up:

Here's the tool roll on the bike:

A couple of years later, the simplicity of the civilian tool roll exposes it's weakness. It's a little frayed and some of the seams are open:

I've made a new one to replace it, with heavier canvas and double hems - not to Ariel spec, but it should be much more robust:

Here it is, filled with the SQ4 tool kit:

And on the bike:

Here are a few links to my other toolkit pages:

• W/NG toolkit
• SQ4 toolkit
• Military tool roll
• FH tool roll