dotsun

Yeah I'll put more than one coat of Resolene on my next one to help give it more shielding.

There is no residue on the buckle, but I wouldn't expect it to stick to it as it's pretty slick. I agree that it looks as if the finish lifted off the leather. It was fully dry, I finished the belt several days ago and just wore it for the first time today. Perhaps drying time between coats is my issue. I resisted it one time with supershene, waited an hour or so for it to dry then applied the highlight stain. Came back the next evening and finished it with 1 coat of Resolene. Sitting here looking at it I have to wonder if the supersheen is preventing any penetration of the dye into the leather so that the dye just stays on top of the supersheen coating allowing flakeage. I guess that's what it's supposed to do though. lol I'm pretty new at this so I'm sure it's something I'm doing or not doing that's causing this to happen. Thanks for the thoughts, keep em coming.

I just checked the buckle, it seems fine. It has rounded edges and no rough spots. I can understand wear, but it seems the finish shouldn't rub off to the bare leather after 1 day of use.

Well I've made a couple of belts now and I love the way they look, but I'm having trouble with the buckles scuffing my finish. I have been resisting the borders with super sheen, applying a hi lite dye, then finishing with resolene. And after wearing the belts I get this: I'd appreciate any ideas to help prevent this as I don't even want to give someone a belt that's gonna do that so quickly. I've tried a couple different buckles from Tandy and they both did this to my belts.

Man that holster looks great. I have no doubt my problems* are mainly due to inexperience as I've only been at this a month or so. I've probably made 10 or so holsters and a couple other (very) odd pieces. Thanks again for all the advice, and @ Katsass I'll try that trick next time I make one like this. *- leather related problems that is.

Thanks for the advice, guys, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I agree it needs something for retention, wet molding and closer stitch lines is how I've done most of my other holsters and they work great but I really wanted to not mess up my tooling. lol Unless there's some trick to it every time I've wet formed and molded to the gun it's negatively impacted my tooling. I think I'll try again with a Chicago screw and see if I can make that work. If not I'll give in to the retention strap.

Hey guys, Man I'm having a blast making all these holsters! I have a slight problem with this one, however. I finally got it all together and finished and it was perfect and very tight but after wearing it for a day it's loosened up and doesn't offer as much retention. I'm thinking on the next one I'll put a Chicago screw in at the trigger guard for adjustable tension as I'm trying to avoid a retention strap on this design.

Wow those look outstanding. I just did something similar, but I need to make a real gun belt. (And learn how to tool worth a crap) I don't have a machine and couldn't imagine doing that much hand sewing. Also I really like how my dye job turned out, but if anyone has any pointers on getting it even I'd appreciate it. lol

That's awesome. How do you do that dye job. I'm like a monkey with a wool dauber and it'd probably run all over the holster on me. lol

It's cool to see some TN people on here. I'm from the other side over by Knoxvegas.

Thanks for the welcome, guys. It is a S&W 38. It's Dave.

I just started leather working last week and I'm already addicted. So far I've made a couple of useful items and destroyed a lot of cow hide. lol Here's the only thing I'd display in public: