JLSleather

http://www.alternateforce.net/blueguns-handguns.html http://duncansoutdoor.com/httpduncansoutdoor-comwp-contentuploads201505dummy-gun-inventory-2015-05-22-xlsx/ http://www.ifithermoplastics.com/products/blue-guns-handguns

Much of what you are talking about is personal preference. I've seen great holsters made by stitching the leather and THEN forming. AND I've seen great holsters made by forming the leather and THEN stitching. Each his own. As for a groove, I almost never use one on a holster, though I often do on a wallet. Basic reasoning is... any time you cut into something you weaken it. In the holster, I want to leave the strength. In the wallet, you don't need the strength, but you may want to recess the stitch since it will be in and out of your pocket a LOT. But the groove is a very shallow one, and most of the 'recessing' is done with tension. There are some free patterns over there which may help get you on track. Hopefully, by doing a few of these, you'll get an idea for what you like and what you don't - and begin to develop your own 'style'. Use 'em as is, or make your own modifications (this is the point) -- a pancake can easily become an IWB or "convertible" with a few lines added/moved ...

It almost seems important to some of you to defend those people. Which is strange, since I'm not attacking them, nor do I see anyone else doing that. My position, the rest of you can order as often or as little as you like... makes no difference to me.

Each person sets his price his own way -- I don't debate it. But I do think that anyone who thinks they've always got good leather down there hasn't seen much leather. Well, in all fairness, I haven't ordered anything from down there for a few months. Probably they've fixed all their issues since then

Yikes -- jack up the leather $75 (about $4 per foot times 18) to save me $20 shipping?

Yep, mine showing $11.79 per. H.O. price right around $8, and that's for "A" grade.

Leaving this off one more day, since the site was upgrading.

Got a former customer wanting a holster for the Sig 229 with rail, avenger style. Since i'm not currently making these, I'll throw it out there. Here's the idea: if you make these (he rather likes (W/C drum dyed leather) then let me know, including a picture of your work I can forward to him. I mean, picture of a holster for the 229 ... Short version: Give me a legitimate reason to recommend you, and i will! I'm going to tell him something TODAY.

These letters (on a checkbook) were about 1/8" high, black on red background (the customer's logo). This one was done by laying it out on plastic, cutting out the letters like a stencil, airbrush the resulting stencil, THEN cut and bevel the letters. The outside circle was about 3" across. The lettering inside the circle was about 3/8" high (capitals). After cutting, I still had to touch up the edges of the letters just a bit. In hindsight, I didn't charge NEARLY enough for that one

Very small letters can be done with the airbrush, but those particular letters may create more work than they 'solve'. If you're going to use a brush, definitely spend the extra few $$ and get the sable hair brushes.... FAR better than the camel hair or synthetics. And if you flush them out and form a point in them when you're done, they'll last for YEARS. Using the airbrush for lettering can require a little thought sometimes, but in the end it's MUCH more versatile than stamps.

That some awful purdy 'scraps' rite-cheer

Well, within limits. There comes a time that it's just too settled to make it worth it. Darker colors are worse (having more pigment to settle). With acrylics, basically if it isn't hardened, it's still good

I have one of these and some of the rolls. It works okay, but I don't use it as much as I thought I would. The designs transfer alright, but I suppose I'm spoiled on years of hand tooling Likely offering mine for sale in -- oh --- say a month or so.. Got some straps I'm going to run through it first! Really only "down side" is getting it set right to center the design on the leather, but then you'd have that with any embossing machine / strap cutter / etc. Not that difficult, but easiest way is to set it up and run as many of that type as you need, instead of switching back and forth between rolls. Then again, the sewing machine is the same way... try to do all the black stitching before switching thread ...

Alcohol or "spirit" dyes definitely settle out, and are no good. The water-based dyes I'm only guessing would be LESS likely to 'age out'.

Call it an "overstitch" -- 5 or 6 would work.

This was hard to follow. It sounds like you're talking about basically bolting a top plate in place. But I sidetrack at teh word "ram", which with those little presses I think of as being the movable part of the PUMP. But maybe you're talking about the "nub" under the horizontal bar? In that case, it might depend on how thick the plate you have. To be effective, the plate would need to extend at LEAST as far down as this "nub", and be matched side to side. You could do that by boring a hole to clear the nub (maybe 1/16" bigger diameter and 1/16" deeper), and drill and tap on each end and insert a piece of threaded rod (no need to weld or use "U"s).

Not sure what you're calling a "western rig", but many of the holsters I've made for 5" 1911's were tooled and featured a safety strap (usually a thumb break style) for going OVER the hammer (down). These people were using the holster for decoration, basically, while at the range - and assuming that speed was not the issue. They wanted firmly held, covered with a strap, and purdy

Yep, got it straight now I simply don't order any. I've refunded a couple dozen orders and cancelled the orders. Sad, but the fact is I'm not going to be bent over a barrel waiting to receive what should have come the first time. It's no longer an occurrence -- it's become the norm-- suppliers send what they feel like sending, and if it's returned, they aren't out anything, and if it's not returned, we got over (again). I simply refuse to play "mail tag" sending leather back and forth. While I made good money in leather, truth is I can make more doing other things (and STILL not punching a clock). No worry-- that fella what got the bulk of it said he was satisfied for what he wanted it for, so at least it wasn't just destroyed (which is what was going to happen if I had to look at it much longer). Plus, sitting at the tooling bench and the computer desk has made me WAY too soft, which I simply can't allow

Stitching was the 'thing' that stuck out for me. Aim at a consistent length and a consistent tension. Could be the angle of the photo, but some stitches look deeper / shallower. But I agree that overall, that's a pretty good looking first shot! Free holster patterns and tips over on the site... help yourself! http://www.jlsleather.com/diy/holster-patterns-diy/

The Colt, RIA, SA, Ruger, and Wilson Combat are so similar you can use the same stitch pattern for them all. The Kimber is a bit thicker..

All of this is gone.

Oh, yeah.. does this help? http://www.jlsleather.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Gk43_P1.pdf

Glock 43 pancake style holster pattern now available for download. Walleyes are biting on the river, so there may be a delay to the next one

Each his own, I suppose. I will say that if you are measuring on the grain side of the belt, then the thicker the leather, the more it will be off by.

Actually, I think that one was from Jim Simmons. If his middle name is Lawrence, then that would be a "JLS", but not the same guy Still, for those interested in that kind of thing, there will be a Glock 43 concealed carry type holster pattern up on the site today!