DoubleKCustomLeathercraft

Although I don't think I'm losing eyesight I'm curious if some kind of jewelers glasses or readers might improve some of my tooling. I do occasionally... miss the mark. Is there anyone here that's used jewelers/dental style loupe glasses? Or does anyone have any suggestions? Just picking brains right now, but I've been considering giving something a try.

I'm glad you didn't get offended. I think people are afraid to give out advise these days because people get their feelings hurt. I'm impatient myself, but I'm forcing myself to be more patient with the processes, which has benefited me. But it's hard to wait for the finished product to appear. Keep practicing and you'll master it all eventually.

It looks to me like you didn't case the leather correctly. By the looks of the beveling impression it was either still a little too damp, or dry. I know a lot of people will only dampen the leather with a sponge or spray bottle, then go to work 15 minds later. From my experience, it works and is satisfying but when you case the leather overnight in a plastic bag, then let it dry for (x) amount of time (back to near original shade) then dampen it again, and let it come back to original, the impression from the tool becomes neater, crisp, deep burnish, smooth (like butter) swivel knife cuts and you'll have more time before the leather gets to the too dry point. Don't always case this way, sometimes I'll only leave it in the bag for a couple hours. It just dries a bit faster A little bit of bevel chatter around the curl. I dunno what the correct term is because I rarely tool floral or scroll work anymore. And on the veiner, give it a bit more tilt so the impression fades a little faster as it goes towards the center. The basket weave looks near perfect, the stitching is just as good. Couldn't ask for a better finish. Things we've all had to go through. I didn't know about this site when I first started, and it would've been nice to get advise. Could've saved some time and leather.

Oh great! Now you got me wanting to get a beaver tail to work with. That bag looks pretty damn awesome!

I love this craft. And I like to be challenged. I have a couple customers that give me all kinds of different, outside my expertise challenges. But sometimes I need to challenge myself on something I'm familiar with. Belts, sheaths and holsters mainly, with the idea that I will take on just about anything except saddles, clothing, armor or footwear. I don't have a large enough shop to do those and footwear require tools I don't own or use. It has taught me what I need to work on under pressure. In this challenge it was layout mainly... a bit sloppy compared to when I take my time on an order. My stitching should be neater to. And I did mis glue the lining about 1-1.5mm off mark missing the edge on about an inch of the buckle end. Can't tell really, but we all know when we messed up 😉

I dunno who else does this, but every so often I get a wild hair and have to do a timed challenge. I call it the 3 hour challenge or the afternoon build. Pick a project thar would normally take 6-8 hours too do, and try to make it in half the time. So far this is my third challenge in the last year. I made a holster for my chest harness, fully tooled and assembled in 3. A carved pancake 1911 holster, lined and stitched but didn't get it dyed in that time window. Did that later to finish it. I'll continue to challenge myself. It helps me develop my time management skills and gives me an idea of what I can accomplish under stress. I need a new belt like I need another hole in the head. But this time I decided to do a gunslinger stitch challenge. Unfortunately I grabbed the wrong template and didn't realize it until I got the stitch lines laid out, but hey... gotta go with the flow. Iquestioned some life choices after i punches all my stitching holes hahaha. In the three hours, I was able to get this belt blank cut, skived for the buckle, gunslinger stitch pattern (all hand stitched), reinforced with a stiffener (gun belts), lined with water Buffalo, all holes and slots punched, snaps set, and half the perimeter stitched. So I wasn't able to compete it in the time slot, but I'm still happy where I ended up. The gunslinger stitch is nowhere near as nice as I would normally do. Like I said, wrong template for the width and it moved on me when I was grooving the stitch line. There's about 45 feet of thread on this belt. That's a lot of hand stitching to do in a short time. My fingers hurt lol I finished stitching this morning, sanded the edges and gave it a few coats of neatsfoot oil. I'm leaving it natural, only oiled, and no burnished edges. It'll be my daily work belt and I want the patina to really show quickly. The best way for that is to leave everything as natural as possible and just wear it. Hermann oak holster side, matte black buckle, black 4p line 24 snaps, and water Buffalo lining

Thanks everyone. I strive to exceed expectations. We're or worst critics, so it's nice to hear from others.

My edged tools are all superbly sharpened to a mirror finish. That's why I had to get stitches in my knuckle (chisel went to the bone) . A sharp blade cuts clean and easy, a not so sharp blade tears the flesh. Even my little wedge banger axe is razor sharp, for a little while anyway. This is the key to getting it to cut clean. And every plane is going to be different. So it's a matter of trial and error

I've never researched anything in skiving, just kinda jumped into it and learned from my horribly costly mistakes. I have no clue what the angle of the frog is on this. It's just a cheap home depot plane that I bought and mainly used for end grain when I was building my shop. I did completely change the edge geometry though. Even ground it all flat and even (these cheap planes need some extra tlc to get them cutting good) It just takes a bit of trial and error to figure it out. The plane chisel does have to stick out further than if you are planing some lumber. Also it's a sweet spot that you must find by trial and error. Too far, and it chatters as you run it down a strap. And at the end if always catches and I need to go back with my skife to clean that up.

Here's an order I finished up stuff last week and delivered to the customer over the weekend. He was so pleased with everything that he's plane an order for 2 sheaths for a couple Randall knives, another for a blackjack model 7 knife, and a buck 119. Along with another chest holster system I've developed for his scoped freedom arms 454 casull. And then when that's all completed we're moving on to a tooled rifle scabbard to display his grandma's pre 64 Winchester 94, pre 46 actually with the 30WCF which became 30-30 in 46 because Marlin developed a new lever gun (I believe the 336) and somehow got the caliber name changed. Beautiful gun, has the saddle ring which just does something for me, great shape... I'm actually more interested in the rifle myself lol Pancake holster with elk for a 1911 longslide 10mm. Knife sheath with snapping turtle inlay for his 9 year old son's knife Backcountry chest holster with grizzly for a Freedom Arms 83 475 linebaugh (ouch)

First off, thank you. I'm not sure what the name of the weave is, but I happened upon it by accident when I made a center consul cover for my dad's truck. In a straight line it's called a walking back stitch, or locking back stitch... something like that. If done right it will look like a rope on one side, and the normal saddle stitch on the other. Think of it as steps, forward 2 steps on one side, back one step on the other, rinse and repeat. It's a single needle way of stitching with a locking stitch that won't run if it breaks. Crossing over with two needles instead of one on a butt joint created this very interesting looking stitch. So I brought that into this design as a extra sling point. On my original design I used lace, which looks pretty but only serves that single function. Man I'm long winded sometimes Thank you as well Chuck. Appreciate it.

Just wanted to share a tip with anyone out there having issues with skiving by hand. We all know the potato peeler safety skife is useful, and a lot of us dad using it. It takes a bit of practice to perfect. I fell I've mastered the art of the skife knife since I work with one thickness, and thin down straps for example. 25-30" of skiving can be stressful trying to get out even. Which is where I have a tip to share. I was in my shop planing a couple boards down to even thickness for a welcome sign I made. It got me thinking, why can't I use my hand plane on leather? Nobody says you can, but there's nothing saying you can't either. So I took my small plane, I refer to it as a finger plane but it's a bit larger than those. Changed the edge geometry a bit and starting playing around with some scrap leather to see what happens. Spent some time figuring out how far to set the blade depth. Fine tuned over a few projects, kept extremely sharp (as all blades should be) Well, this little plane has changed the skife game, for me anyway. Here's a pic of the plane and what it does with leather. You can see how fine of a cut it makes, just barely skimming the high points on the buckle side of this belt blank (more on that to come on that) Anyway, it works and it's a cheap alternative to help reduce some skife anxiety. You can pick these up for like $10.

Here's how it rides pretty much. The gun's weight will bring it down in front a little bit further, but I didn't have the gun to work with.

I came up with this design about 3 years ago trying to figure out a good chest holster for my 44. Originally I made it using lace, but eventually settled on "Titan" brand "survivor cord" paracord (tinder, snare wire, monofilliment fishing line, etc). I weave the holster onto the harness using about 8 feet of the cord. I know it's not a ton of cordage, but a couple snares and tinder is nice to have in the montana wilderness. I use a metal stick release buckle on the strong side to make it easier to put on and take off. Operates just like a cobra buckle. This is my first actual sale of my design which makes me excited. I've made plenty of the Alaskan style chest holsters, but that's not my pattern. The holster is made for a Freedom Arms 83 chambered in a the wrist breaking .475 Linebaugh (basically .480ruger for those that haven't heard of the LB) with a red dot sought mounted on top. This customer also wanted the gunslinger stitch on the shoulder strap. The grizzly bear seems to be a very popular pattern for me. And it's fitting for where we roam.

Thanks everyone. I think the customer came up with some good design ideas that I was hesitant to do. He is one that challenges me with nearly every order. Which I personally enjoy any and all challenges, but within reason of course.