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I'm no expert, so I'm glad to be corrected, but here's my take: you can 'paste' a back with Tokonole or Gum Trag, but to actually weatherproof it you're going to want an acrylic topcoat like Resolene or Mop & Glow afterwards. Larry

Those are very nice! It's interesting how you adapted the trigger guard cover from the S/A holster; don't often see that on holsters for semi-auto's, but it works very well. Larry

I took the post at face value but your post got me curious, Al, a google search didn't turn up anything but searching facebook came up with a company called Jacket Hunters, LLC, in Virginia.

I have a western saddle made by Rick Mayberry/Sugar Creek Saddlery that has fixed stirrup leathers - one end is mounted in the front, down to the stirrups and then ran up through the tree, where a little bit of the stirrup leathers are held in place by a kind of pin that snugs up against the tree. One of the pins fell out and I am looking to replace it, but I haven't had any luck finding anything like it. I've been using one my of saddle strings to hold my stirrup leathers on my saddle and I would like a more permanent solution, ha ha. Does anyone have any idea on where to look? Or is this something I should look into having made? Thanks in advance

Hi folks, A year or more back, I posted on here about a pattern I'd created to make leather holsters for my two long-slide Glock pistols. They were thumb snap, cross-draw, which was something I just couldn't buy on the open market, so I had to "roll my own." Had a massive thick headache-inducing welt the same thickness as the Glock trigger guard. Recently, I have been shooting some of my single action revolvers and making holsters for them, but in a strong side, old-west style. And this got me to thinking that I'd like to be able to have one of my long-slide Glocks at "gunfighter" position for long hikes in the woods. Anyway, I adapted my sixgun holster pattern (pic for reference) and made the necessary adjustments to accommodate the Glocks, as well as their red-dot optics. Most importantly, I did away with my massive welt and just used a 1-ply welt, then bent the holster to create ears covering the trigger guard, as I typically seen done on leather Glock holsters. Saved a whole lot of work, for sure! I haven't found the need for any sort of retention strap, as the holsters were wet-molded to the guns and seem pretty secure. At any rate, if they ever loosen up to a point where retention is needed, I can pretty easily retro-fit a strap that would snap to the holster loop, which comes on and off via Chicago screws around back. Just posting these as they're kind of a novelty, but also, I had someone ask me for the pattern for my thumb snap version, so if anyone would like a copy of this pattern, I'm happy to provide—might save you some trial and error. Regards, DeWayne

So, I'm wondering why your profile says you're in Virginia but you're posting from Pakistan?

No different to anywhere else, it just depends on the individual and what they're looking for style-wise, there's no over-riding preference as a nation. As for fit it's become a nightmare these days as different countries/manufacturers appear to have their own ideas about what constitutes sizes. Once upon a time I could buy a shirt/jacket/coat in L and it would fit but that's no longer the case, I bought a shirt a while ago that was labelled XL and it fit like an L!! A coat marked 48 in one country is labelled as 54 in another. I won't buy clothes unless I can try them on first.

You can buy just the awl needle itself without a handle, I just happened to have a spare that I was given with a heap of leatherworking stuff. As long as you don't rotate the drill chuck it should punch the same alignment each time.

I have one set of Japanese style 3mm irons with a matching set of 3mm REVERSE irons, in which the slots are angled the other way. (/ / / and \ \ \, to roughly illustrate.) I have found the following steps useful, especially on thicker pieces: 1) Before putting the 2 pieces (or edges) together, use dividers to get a nice straight line, and use the irons to punch one side of the piece, not both. I'll call that the front side. Be sure that the irons are VERTICAL, so the holes go straight without any wobbling. I find that I am much more consistent with the irons running along the line away or towards me (rather than across), since I can just see the vertical better. 2) Tape/glue the front and back sides together. 3) Use the pre-punched front side as a GUIDE, and re-punch every 5th or 10th hole with a single prong, or a diamond awl, going all the way through the pre-punched front layer just enough to show on the reverse side. 4) Use dividers on the reverse side to mark a stitching line equal to the front side margin. That line should consistently cross the guide holes. 5) Use the reverse irons, and the guide holes, to create the stitching line on the back side. The reverse irons should match the pre-punched front side holes, since they are a same spacing. 6) Now I am ready to stitch, using the advice given above about consistency in needle technique.

Quick one for the community—I run Jacket Hunters, a leather jacket business that’s been shipping to Australia a lot more lately. We’re trying to decide what fits and cuts make the most sense for Aussie buyers. Do people go for slim biker cuts, or prefer regular/classic fit? I’ve seen both, but not sure which is more in demand when it comes to leather jackets in Australia.

My current/recent projects that I’ve considered have been: dog collar, a couple sheaths, and a dangler. I’m attempting to make them as environment-resistant as I can, as the pieces will be subject to a fair bit of use and abuse. -AZR

Dwight and Dikman, I actually found a set of drill press punches at harbor freight. The first thing I noticed was that you have to have the drill running, which bothers me for some reason, but as it punches, the friction does burnish the hole at the same time. Jury is out on if I prefer drill bits or the punches… For my work surface, I actually have a scrap of 10oz that I cased and hardened, and put another piece (not cased) on top of it, and that it what I put my working piece on. So far, the punches/bits haven’t gone through and hit my table (yet). I also use it when I’m stamping. Dwight, you mentioned putting a needle in the press… are you using glover’s needles? My diamond-point needle doesn’t seem to be long enough to fit in the chuck and still have enough travel to punch through. And Dikman, of everything that I have, I don’t actually have any awl bits. Are you referring to the little interchangeable ones? Thank you for your input guys, I’ll play around. -AZR WHAT is THAT?!?! Whatever it is, I want one!

Thanks Digit, for letting us know what machines you used. Your bag is beautiful!!🙂

If you are only applying it to the smooth side, no harm. If you are applying it to the suede/velvety side, it will glue all the fibers down and won't look or feel like suede. Depends on what you want it to do for you.

Ok supposedly there are no stupid questions, so let’s test the theory… I’ll take for granted that you aren’t supposed to use gum trag on suede. Why? What happens? If I’m burnishing the flesh side anyway, wouldn’t it help? In the meantime, I’ll be using edge paint and hope for the best. Still feels like my first rodeo, AZR

This way, the zipper doesn't get ruined from being pulled apart when the bag is open. no stress on the zipper at all.

@CoupdeTete Try a shoe repair supply wholesaler , they are a standard type of eyelet for boots . As for high quality ,they don't make them like they used to . I just recently bought 2 boxes of 3000 black ones that were made in the 1950's for the military. They are so good .

@BossHogg, I moved this one over to Wanted in the Marketplace.

I live just west of, and pretty close to Portland . There is a lot of sporadic machine turn over here in the NW area. also Lots of small sew shops tucked away, and also people sewing . If looking for a good clean used I see them popup all the time . You can run across some nice clean machines on the Portland Craigslist if check at it regularly . I not doing Facebook, but I here there some machines come up in the for-sales there also . .

Perfect, thank you! Never found it before,seems it is well stocked

Those are my thoughts as well but the rest of the work looks high quality.

Very good effort. I have yet to do the style of gusset myself but I will have to give it a try sometime. Does your Adler 69 allow you to get around the gusset sides better than the Global 1335? I am curious if the Global 1335 machine has a reciprocating feed dog or does the feed dog only move back and forward like the Adler69?

Yes, I still have access to these patterns, but we are not sharing them as it was a very long journey to obtain them. However, with that being said, my friend will make anybody a holster that wants one, as this is how he makes his living.

Thank you! I'll be here all week!

Thank you all -- sheepskin parchment, will research it from NYC leather shops, thank you so much for your interest in helping source a product will keep you up dated in August when we start printing this partticular drawing.