Thanks to all who replied so far for your help and advice.

I'd love to see your instructions, Thunderbolt. If they're too long to post, you can pm them to me.

And I've got questions about 2 of the items in your materials list.

1. What is leather lacquer? I'm hoping to use pre-dyed leather, so do I still need lacquer?

2. I'm also planning to cement and stitch a piece of the softer leather over the lid as I've seen done in some photos of this style. If I do that, do I still need an edge finisher?