JoelR

I've done a few of this type. I my approach is to glue and stitch the reinforcement flat and then fold and glue the halves together. Takes a bit of planning to get just the right amount of leather in the band area of the two halves.

That's how I do it with all wrapped holsters and flat-back holsters. Won't do it any other way. You didn't mention it so not sure if you do this, but I taper the strips to better wrap around the top of the slide. Taper center (of sight channel) to outside and both ends about 1/4".

Sharing another holster just delivered and approved with two thumbs up by the customer. Holster is for a 2" S&W Model 66 with Ring Lizard (Java Lizard) on the left and alligator on the right. Holster is a little long for a 2" but was necessary to get the degree of cant the customer wanted. Couple of layout marks still visible, so that is something I need to keep an eye on... A big thanks to Big River Leather for allowing the use of your design - Hope I did it justice. I'll be adding this to my website and including a link back as promised.

+1 to Harbor Freight 1x30. Well worn 80 grit Zirconia belt and a damp edge gives EXCELLENT results. As stated, inside curves are more difficult so I use a dowel rod wrapped with 120 grit for those that are too tight for the belt. The belt sander is also much gentler on those pesky soft overlays. Worked wonders on rounding the edges on a glove-soft alligator overlay I am working on.

They do carry replacement blades in the Harrisburg store and I have seen them online (but not on the tlf site), but they are quite pricey. And yes, I did notice the steel was a bit soft and burred easily when stropped with a wool wheel and white rouge at high speed. Something I have not had to worry about with the same process on wood plane blades.

Walked out of my local Tandy this weekend with my first splitter and thought I would offer some initial impressions since splitters are an often discussed topic. First some caveats since the splitter I got was "special". The unit I purchased was a returned unit with a stripped blade bolt so I had to drill out the original threads and use a heli-coil to bring the mount back to original specs. Being a returned unit, I do not know what the original user did prior to returning the splitter so YMMV. I also do not know if this is a newer version or an older version. My version has a natural-colored wooden handle and a large depth setter. The pictures on Tandy's site have a black handle and what looks like a small depth setter. That being said, here are my observations: 1) The blade was HORENDOSE! Never have I seen a blade meant for leather working in such poor shape. Not only was it dull, there were burs all over the place. I did not see any stone marks so I do not believe the original owner screwed it up but that COULD be the case. This was not a case where it just needed some final stropping, the entire blade needed reworked from the ground up. 2) The feed wheel needed torn apart, cleaned and re-oiled to spin as smoothly as possible. Make sure you wipe it down good with alcohol or acetone as there is oil on it. I think it is blued steel so a coat of JB Paste Wax will help to prevent rust without inadvertently oiling your leather. 3) There is a ton of play in the feed wheel mounts. For the default setup of this splitter, this is not a big deal, but if you feel the need to modify it (see the next point) this will need addressed for consistent splits. 4) The minimum split is somewhere in the 4oz range. The depth stop can be removed to allow for a finer split, but if you are looking for paper-thin splits, point 3 comes into play. I am thinking of grinding down the depth stop to allow me to go down to 1 to 2 oz. If I do this, I will probably add brass shims to the feed wheel mounts to stabilize them. I’m sure there is a practical limit to pull-through splitters and this is the reason for the limited depth. 5) There are no markings for blade position. The instructions state that the blade needs positioned 1/8" behind the center-line of the feed roller. Well, without some sort of markings, this is not any easy task to accomplish. A center mark would have been easy for them to add during manufacturing. Additionally, this plays into point 3 as well, the play of the mounts is easily 1/16", so, if the 1/8" is critical to a proper split, the play provides you a 50% variance! My overall thoughts: The splitter does what it is meant to do. Once the blade was re-dressed, I was able to, with some difficulty, split a 5" wide section of 10oz down to about 7oz. I dressed the blade freehand, so I wasn't expecting butter-smooth splitting and it certainly is not. I will need to create a jig to properly dress the blade or send it off to be professionally done. If I send it out I will have the blade hollow ground to give a better edge while preserving as much of the flat for the mounting bolts. The numbers along the handle offer nothing more than reference points. In my opinion it would be better to have them as oz marks and one could then easily set the blade position properly with a simple micrometer. Even the ability to place the depth stop "at zero" for setup only so you could set the blade position by having it just touching the roller would be a huge help. Overall I am happy with the purchase. No more hand-skiving belt ends (which I am not really getting any better at), and I can now even out my horsehide belt liners, thin front panels of holsters for those looking for more detail than I can get with 10oz, and try my hand at a few other things I would like but have stayed away from for fear of the skiving I would need to do.

Good tip. I have thought of the same in the past but never got around to trying it. I have used a powered hand planer in the past and it worked. Dulled the blades quite quickly though and those blades are so thin (and double-sided to boot) I doubt I have the skill to resharpen them and attempting such would only result in bloodied finger-tips...

Thank you all and thank you Southtexas for the pic so I know what to look for. I ended up picking up a set of stainless 'carving' tools from Harbor Freight that have a few of the profiles I was looking for (once I clean them up a bit and add some girth to the handles). I did not see any of these on Barry Kings site so maybe I was looking in the wrong area or he does not have them on the site yet.

Anyone have a source for stainless steel modeling spoons. I'm tired of the chrome on the Tandy spoons coming off and scratching my leather. Thanks.

Good info from all. Thanks. Main issue I am having is I do not know what kind of response I will get at this type of show. Most of the vendors are food vendors and a large proportion of the attendees are kids and teens. So, maybe I just need to go with a worst-case scenario and follow rdb's advise and start stocking up on the belts. And, Art, you have been quoted! LOL...

I am thinking of setting up a stand next June at Mechanicsburg PA's Jubilee Day. It is the longest running and largests single day street fair on the east coast and only 8 blocks from my house. If I decide to set up a stand, I would like to have a few high-end belts (gun weight, horsehide lined, sharkskin, etc.) available but I see belt length being something to contend with. I do not have a store-front and I don't want to make a bunch in differnet lengths and end up with expensive belts in specific lengths that I need to find a way to sell off after the fair. I was thinking of making these belts before hand by punching the tongue holes and finishing off the toungue, and stitiching (with a machine) everything but the final buckle end. I figured this way I could measure the customer on site, pull the stitching to allow skiving of the buckle area and then hand stitch the buckle area back up, punch the holes for the buckle and chicago screws and seal the end in a few minutes to have a belt that was sized to the customer without having the customer wait too long. Other option would be to finish everything except the stitching and buckle area and do everything mentioned above plus stitching the entire belt while the customer waits but this would require me moving my sewing machine, getting a power source and having the customer wait longer. Kind of on the fence on this one and figured some of you may have been through this or have some good ideas. Thoughts? Suggestions?

What are you thinking??? Seriously. FWIW, when I do a new design for a customer, I almost always do a proof before making the actual holster - especially when exotics are involved. May take a little more time this way, but it ensures that the templates were designed correctly and shows me any areas that need addressed in the final product. Of course, it helps to have a sewing machine to do this since you can quickly stitch up the POD. Some times the PODs are good enough that they can be sold by themselves (marked appropriately), other times they end up in the scrap pile.

If you look closely at the first picture you can see that the original handle is bent. That was the result of trying to set one of the Tandy snaps which are harder than say a DOT snap post. For this setter to work, it really needs to be mounted to a bench to be able to apply enough pressure to the ram. Once I have the disposible funds I plan on making something similar using one of the Harbor Freight 1 ton arbor presses but as this setter gets little use (it's honestly easier to grab the maul, setter ram and anvil and just hammer away) it's hard for me to justify the additional cost. Maybe if I set a lot of rivets and similar it would be worthwhile to create a multi-use ram. It does serve a purpose in those situations where you just don't have the clearance to swing a maul - i.e. I used it to add snaps for reinforcement bars to my motorcycle saddle bags to keep the outer rim from colapsing.

The VG holsters I have done in the past have all been dipped. Only issue I had was now that they are about 2 years old, the one is more of a dark brown and the other is almost a purple color. Both were made from the same hide and from very similar portions and both were sealed with Tan Coat. That being said, I have a batch of VG brewing right now to experiment with some more. My old batch used apple vinegar while the new batch is using white vinegar.

Good looking belt. Took me longer than the others to come to my senses. Did 5 belts (two childres belts and 3 adult belts measuring between 46" and 56" - the childrens belts and two of the adult belts were stitched with a single length of thread ) by hand. After the last, I decided I needed a sewing machine. Now hand stitching a belt is a significant up-charge.

I am working on a similar project. Still in the mental design phase. If I get anything solid put together I'll let you know. I think I have a good plan in my head but need to work out the finer details. What I am working on is based on an old Osborne design.

Just called. Sending and email to Derek now. Thanks K-man!

Sent an email on Monday. No response. Will try calling later today but I am sure the price may be a little steeper than I am willing to shell out so looking for alternatives.

Anyone have a source for a Kel-Tec PF9 dummy gun or would like to off-load one they currently have? Duncan's "put (me) on the interest list and let (me) know if/when (they) cast it". Yeah, well, I need it in a few weeks, not a few months if ever... Thanks.

Thanks for the compliments. The reinforcement strap being on the trigger side is a client request. I believe he said it was based on a holster that used to be made by Milt Sparks called the Roadrunner

Well, it's been months since I posted any pictures, so figured I'd show what I have progressed to - All with practice, willing guinea pigs, and the fine recommendations and advice from this forum. This started out as a proof of design (the black holster) and the final product but became a his (freshwater shark) and hers (left-handed black Wickett & Craig) for matching his and hers Browning Highpowers. The black was thrown together to check for dimensional accuracy and to ensure I liked where the stitches ran and was machine stitched. The Freshwater shark was the adjusted version and all hand stitched. Unfortunately, although my leather working skills have improved, my picture taking skills have not... And the money shot:

Additionally, saw that Duncans used to mold a CZ83. If the only difference is the finger rest on the trigerguard, you could always modify it. I did not see it in their list of current inventory, so not sure if they are still making it. http://www.duncansoutdoor.com/customs_album/slides/CZ%2083%20cast.html

You're not alone. Edging away from Resoleen and did my first finish with the 1:1:1 wax:wax:neatsfoot mix and am getting heavy rub-off. Gonna let it sit a day and hit it with a fresh buffing wheel and see what happens. This is a proof-of-design holster that my best customer decided was good enough for his wife, so I certainly don't want her to cut him off because I caused her nice white pants to turn black...

Answering my own question. The d-frame cylinder is slightly shorter than the k-frame and the k-frame has more metal on it under the cylinder between the triger guard and the cylinder. No match. Gonna have to make due with the 4".