Freeloader made a very nice bag, and I was hoping to buy one from him in 2019. I know what it takes to make a bag, because I do some sewing myself, mainly various types and styles of bags, and protectors for my metal detector control heads. I decided to retire in 2019 and enjoy life some more, and ultimately I broke down, spent the time and effort, and made my own finds bag. Like a lot of folks here, I went through the bags from Home Depot and Lowes, only to be disappointed. My son has a small sideline business making Dopp kit bags, so I told him what I wanted to do, and he gave me a bunch of his drop off and end of roll material. I made the first bag from cheap cotton duck to see how I liked the tool placement, and then made the next one putting my digger and pointer back to back...it’s that way because of how I hunt.
My detecting buddy wanted one, so I made one for him that didn’t have the frills I put on mine.
Here’s the prototype from cotton duck fabric on top of the goodies he gifted to me...
Here’s the modified version that I’ve been hunting with for the last couple of hunts. It actually has too many bells and whistles incorporated in it, but it fixed the problem of coins slipping between the bag and me because of the original bag had two belt loops that would bunch up, creating a gap between my hip and the bag. You can see the quick fix on the first bag to alleviate that, and then I made a one piece loop for the belt so it could not happen again.
Then I couldn’t find a belt that I liked, so I made one by folding three layers of 1000D Cordura on itself, and used the hardware from a belt that was made from soft cotton webbing.
Yesterday I made a version that’s simpler. It incorporates a pointer pouch with a hand digger pouch on the same panel, a coin pouch that has the bottom half made with heavy coated mesh so that dried dirt can sift off and into the bottom of the bag, and a front zippered pouch with a heavy duty YKK zipper. Inside that pouch is a loop for a carabiner so I can put my van keys in there if I want to. There’s also a loop by the pointer to attach a lanyard. The next bag I make will have these loops replaced with D-Rings. The loops are actually a pain to work with.
The point of this is that you can probably talk someone who sews into making a bag for you, or make one yourself if you’ve got access to a sewing machine. These bags are 8” wide x 4” deep x 11” tall...that’s the finished dimensions. I took them to my club meeting last night, and a lot of the people thought they were too tall. But I made it tall because I dig a lot of trash, and have had to stop hunting to find a garbage can or take the trash back to the truck. That won’t happen again!
Now I’m going to make mesh bags for me and Mama when we head to Florida in three weeks. Hopefully that will keep the sand to a minimum in her Santa Fe Sport.
Happy hunting.
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