JLSleather

Pics are pretty small, hoss I'm up the road a bit. That yer bottom dollar?

That's a LOT of discussion about stickin' a piece of thread through a hole! I got Stohlman's book forever ago, and I got quite a kick out of it. PAGES and PAGES of 'technique', then toward the end he says "you could just run one needle and then run it through the other holes and you'd end up with the same stitch". Yeah, not exact quote, but if you KNOW that's not exact, then you already know EXACTLY what he said (which, basically, was that). Youtube .. really? SO many videos these days .. I'm not "anti" video, but I realy think people could improve their technique by turning off the computer and actually DOING some leather work! Stab a hole, keeping the awl inside the channel (if any). Push the thread, pulling a bit on the other side of the thread (to prevent piercing the threads). Do it again. Do it again. Do it again............... No degree required.

Yep, that's ant-streak. Fella kin tell by the mud puddles left behind ..

Vegetable tanned (carving) leather is skived, or leveled, so the part of the animal doesn't have much to do with the thickness (almost nothing at all). Are you carving it? I don't carve belly leather (spongey). The shoulders (which includes arms and a neck) can be a bit soft too, but you can get decent carving in a shoulder, and some folks PREFER them for your type of project, due to the somewhat parallel fat wrinkles often found in shoulders (they like that look). The butt is the firmest part of the hide. Closest to the back is best - the cream of the crop. It comes with a proportional price, too, if that's a concern. All that said .. determine .. 1.) How much will you need for your project? and 2.) Is it carved / stamped? and 3.) Am I looking for sleek and professional, or rustic and 'hippie'?

Yeah, I had my turn back when, with the 2B and 4H pencils, gum eraser, all that. Talk to the kids in drafting class now days, and their mouth falls open as they say "You used actual PENCILS?!" Tool and die work for about 100 years, so I learned a good bit of cad When my 'allowed' copy of AutoCad became obsolete (doesn't work with newer operating systems) I was done - NOT paying that kind of money to upgrade. Still, I 'get' the value of cad. Graphics programs can be made to work, just like the 4H pencil. Drag a line, "smoosh" a curve ... But it's guess work. In a cad program, I want that line parallel and offset by 3/16, a few clicks and I'm good. Never messed with turbo cad though. AutoCad mostly (because that's what Frigidaire / Electrolux used). I've seen some others, and some still in the old industry are now using Pro-E and Solidworks. A tutor would only be useful, I would think, if they are local to you. But if you have the program, I wonder if you couldn't hire a couple of your patterns digitized - complete with layers. From there, you may be able to alter those drawings to suit the next idea?

Well, yeah, I guess it is. How will you close it .. big snap? Hook n loop? Tuck clasp? If you're just using a line 20 or 24 snap, fella might first determine where you want the snap to go in the front. Should be easy enough from the way you described making the other one. And if you have the "male" part located, should be simple enough to leave the flap long, fold it over, and leave the impression of the snap for the female end. Am I missing something here? Once the snap is located, you can trim the rest of the 'flap' as long or short as you like in whatever shape you prefer.

The DS is about .05" bigger than the SP101 (ish).

I usually leave the mag release exposed. I know some folks won't use a holster that doesn't cover it so - I know HOW and will cover it is requested. I actually saw one (just one) that when holstering the weapon you'd 'chuck' the mag! As for hard-line detail, I like what's reasonable. I saw a pic the other day (though didn't see the actual item) that was formed down so tight that the pin on the other side that rides the slide lock was pressed up (like a pic of the weapon). You'd have to SHOW me, cuz unless I see it I wouldn't believe that's not a pain in the butt to get the gun out. Oh, and which of us hasn't followed someone's link and found "holsters" so loose they'd fly out without some kind of snap/strap get-up ...

Okay, then I must be REALLY cheap. Saw someone with an Etsy shop, selling "card wallets", which was a couple pieces of scrap (like 3.5" x 4 1/2" ish) with big old holes and some rope thread ran through it. Total investment MAYBE $1, selling a bunch of em for around $50 each. Now, I didn't pay for it, and I didn't sell it. Puts it squarely in the none-of-my-business category officially. Sometimes, though, I wonder just how quickly a fool and his money are parted ......... Oh, I "could" make those, but I prefer to just give the pieces to the local boy scouts and they handle those!

Putting in perspective, more than one machine seems expensive, until you get the bill for building the addition onto you shop! Jus' thinkin' out loud here ...

I was wondering about that too. According to the Taurus site, that 7-shot has a 1.53" width, which would put the cylinder size larger than the K-frame, almost big as the L's. Now I'm lost .....

Yeah, the leather was that bad. Downright spongey -- I wasn't even going to waste time tooling it. Like trying to leave a permanent impression in a marshmallow. I sewed an avenger style holster right quick, gonna try a color. It's what .. like 2/3 of a foot, so if it don't work, so what! Outside of the bend in the holster was almost black (darker than I thought that dye would even go) and the rest MUCH lighter.. just a band of dark down the fold about 3" wide. Thought as a 'last ditch' effort, I'd dye it solid black. Same results .. part of the leather sucked the dye right in, some wouldn't. Took the lighter 6/7, gonna try maybe two layers. On a 50" strap, I could stretch it an inch without trying all that hard. Pathetic. I did find a piece of the 3/4 to work as a LINING for a 'jeans' belt. The rest, I decided I didn't need the headache. Already out the money, no point in also being out the peace of mind. One other experienced holster maker didn't care for it either (same supplier, different batch). Oh, well.. now I know. Oh, and Fiebing's browns have always had a reddish tint. If you don't like the reddish, go with the chocolate instead of the dark brown. Here's a couple belts I did WAY back, just for this display reason. Both dyed the same way, top one with "brown" and bottom with "chocolate".

That's what I was thinking .. "357" covers a dozen models.

That the leather you got from New York? I had the same issue. Finally took that leather and threw it out. If I would have known, I could have just tore up a couple $100 bills and saved myself some time and aggravation.

There are bigger guns, but that blackhawk is likely a bit tough to 'conceal'. I got a fella up this way, showed me his Super Redhawk - wants a shoulder holster for it. Barrel should be right about mid-thigh Oh, maybe it helps to show your wife how you SAVED $35 (ish) by not needing the dummy gun? No?

Not sure about the 'old' version Red, but I have that 'dummy' they're talking about. Cylinder is 1.700" (ish), and the holster resulting from it fits the NM pretty sweet. No idea how that relates to the old one ...

Belly is by far the stretchy-est part of the hide. For a wallet, you don't really need strength. Only consideration, maybe, do the splitting before you cut the parts out, so you don't stretch the parts out of shape in the splitter.

I often 're-work' a pattern. There will be some difference in the thickness of leathers, even two pieces cut from the same hide can vary. The "extra" stitch line -- I don't think it's a problem. But, is it usually on the 'high end' like that? Because in that area, you might consider half the thickness of the trigger guard, rather that the thickness of the slide. With the Glock, you're looking at what .. maybe .400" difference? So half that is .200". So, is your stitch line "off" by about 3/16"? If so, that could be one issue.

The Stohlman books got widespread - at least in part - due to the wide reach of Tandy marketing. While it's Al and Ann on the by-line, these books were sold through (and by) Tandy. You can't read too far on this site without realizing that while not everybody LIKES Tandy, most everyone has HEARD of them. Then, part of it is just who beat who to the 'punch'. I mean, I bought 'Art of Hand Sewing' in the 1980's. There are certainly other books - and these days videos, too - about hand stitching. I don't purchase any of them, because 1) I know how to stitch, and 2) I'm not a collector of these books. No offense to the author of the other book, I'm simply not paying to have someone tell me what I already know. I suspect there are others who think the same ........ OH .. not to take anything away from Mr & Mrs. Stohlman, I think their work is STUNNING and INSPIRING

You'll get a LOT of different answers to what the "minimum" distance to the belt loop is. I've seen holsters with about 1/2" between the stitch line on the gun and the slot. It 'can' be done, as most of the pressure should be downwards (not backwards) but I prefer more like 3/4" of "meat" in there. Too close and you have usability issues, too far and you create concealment issues (smaller is better where possible). I'm not seeing how this distance would be responsible for a gun leaning out, though. Some guns with big 'spaces' where you describe may lean out, but it would be due to something other than that. Like, belt loops TOO LOW on the rig would probably be the first thing. Also, a belt loop that is TOO WIDE for the belt used may allow some movement. Basically, I think if your loops are above the balancing point of the gun and close to the belt size, the spacing shouldn't cause a 'lean'. In fact, that's rather the dual loops on these style holsters .. tends to suck it IN, not out (if high enough). Just got done 'scratchin m' head' over another design the other day. Good to make a guy think sometimes, I imagine, but ... Lady has a 1911 (which is pretty narrow already) and wants to use a steel belt clip, a thumb break snap/strap, and forward slant, and carving design with initials at the top. So, how to fit all that in without the strap covering initials - and the snap not interfering with the clip, and the clip not preventing the snap closing, etc. Some of these are pretty straight forward, this one not so much.

Nope. Never held on to one myself, but lookin around it looks like the 327 LARGE FRAME revolver is closer to the 686 size than the 642.

Dotted line is stitchin'. When stitching, I start on the top right side of the stiffener, lower of the two rows (where it's not attached, that's the "start") Go 'round the slot, 'round the stiffener, then 'round the slot again (hence the double stitch) and end below and to the right of the slot. Do not cut, mark, or even 'stew' on the two circles with the "6" between them. This is only so you can measure the pattern (if this distance is 6", then you printed the right size). The other dimensions don't make no difference neither. Just so a fella can see at a glance how much cow he's fixinta need ...

Yikes! Sorry... Password is glock17 (no caps, no punctuation). Since I didn't add that, I should maybe also clue in some other info .. right back

I'm perhaps not RJF's best 'witness', so perhaps someone else can help with that. When you mentioned Tandy's "wallet guts" splits, I thought you were talking about that "mission grain" stuff. I have used it a couple of times as glued-in lining for a notebook (it was for a school-age kid, so something that WIPES OFF ).