How not to ruin my paperwork

About 10 or 12 years ago I bought a vintage document case from an antique store. It was in pretty rough shape and I was told it was from the 30's or 40's. I decided to use it for holding my 16th C repro maps and other documents, as it was leather and leather is period right?

Well, the thing was in rough shape to begin with but I really liked the shape and design. So I decided a while ago to attempt a recreation of it. Now I know it isn't historically documented or anything but I really like the shape and design. I am fully comfortable with the fact that it is plausible and not documentable. Here's the startings:

5 oz veg tan leather dyed brown with oil based dye
poplar end caps cut and rough shaped
blued carpet tacks to tack down the leather after it was epoxied to the end caps.

Open:
A close up of the inside with the end cap:

Temporarily closed with rubber bands:


Next up is the buckles and straps to keep it close. I have some small square buckles that I cast and am going to use those with straps stitched onto the body of the case. Three should be enough.

More hopefully over the weekend!