Restoration of leather police bags

[dutchhgt]

Hi,


As my nickname suggests I'm from the Netherlands and new to the forum and have a question to my fellow vintage BMW lovers. I recently laids my hands on an original set of leather police bags (sometimes called Denfeld bags, but I don't know if this is true), including brackets. Now there is some work on these bags:
First some of the stiches are worn out. In fact the leather is still perfect, only the stiches are rotted. Can anybody share his experience in redoing the stitching, or have it done?
Second one of the locks is missing. Anybody knows of a source to purchase these typical snap locks?
These bags should be on my R27. Any pictures on how the brackets should be fixed to the frame are welcome (whh(dot)vanheugten(at)zonnet(dot)nl).
I hope you know what kind of bags I'm talking about. I don't know how to add pictures. Pictures are in the Flickr pictures set of Allen Altherton (a.k.a. Roundel).

Thanks for your help!

[universalb50]

...folks who make harnesses for horses often have a special sewing machines that are strong enough for use for leather repair. You might try them? As for the locks, most Denfeld panniers used ABUS locks that were similar/same to standard Deutsches Wehrmacht issue. These are not difficult to find in Europe. I think modern Bundeswehr uses the same lock, but nowdays painted green instead of gray?...