saxxin

Thanks. I would have uploaded more pics but one was all I could post and stay in the limit. Not that computer savvy, so I guess I'm gonna have to find out how to make my picture files smaller.

Thank you guys so much for the input. I've pretty much finished this one. For the final coat, am planning on trying a 50/50 mixture of neatsfoot oil and beeswax. The leather I was using was 6-7 oz which was the stuff on sale at Tandy. It had all sorts of scratches in it - like it had been thrown down in the parking lot a few times or something. I first soaked the leather and slicked it - mostly to see if I could minimize the road rash it look like it had. A couple of things that I've noticed right off the bat was that the stitch lines around the trigger guard have a funky angle to them. I'll correct that on my next pattern. I think I'll probably shorten the length of the pattern on the next one too because the muzzle just seems to be sitting up in there a little too far. The belt loops look stinkin bad - I think this is because I put a belt blank in while wet molding and formed the holster to how I thought it would sit on my hip. The plan is to get a punch made to make these uniform, so maybe that will help in the future. I'm not made of glass and am here to learn, so please don't be gentle with me.

I'm using Tandy single shoulders right now. Am hoping to get some 7-8 oz Hermann Oaks ordered within the next week or so. Anyway, there are so many scratches and whatnot in this Tandy stuff that if I didn't slick the leather - the finished product would look horrible as far as trying to get a nice finish. I'm really having a time in getting the brown dyes to take evenly. On this last attempt, I used Febrings Deglazer and everything, but I don't think the entire piece was uniformly dry before I applied the oil dye and it showed with this little sweat stain looking mark in that same area. Anyway, I'm hoping that the Hermann Oaks will be in much better shape starting out than this Tandy stuff is. From what I've read on the forums, it seems to make a significant difference in the end product. I'm thinking that you may be on to something here. LOL. Do you slick your holster leather?

Maybe I'm saying it incorrectly. The first thing I've been doing is totally submerging the leather in water to soak it all the way through. As soon as I'm finished with that, I put it on a smooth flat surface, and slick the rough side in all directions with a 1/2" glass slicker then turn it over to the flesh side and repeat the process. I may have misunderstood, but was under the impression that this was supposed to make the leather more uniform and reduce stretching down the road. On my last holster I went ahead and transferred the pattern and cut it just after slicking. I'm pretty sure that the leather shrunk up during the drying process. Anyway, after finishing with the handstitching, I wet the leather enough to mold it. I really could be doing the process so wrong that it's not funny. If so, don't hesitate to correct me. Thanks in advance.

Greetings all. I'm as new as I can be and have several questions that I'd appreciate your expertise on. I've been dabbling in making some holsters - I've made six or seven with varying levels of success. As I have had such wildly different results I would appreciate it greatly if you guys could share the order in which you do things. For example, I have been casing the leather and then slicking it with a plate glass slicker before cutting out the pattern. At what point should I transfer the pattern and cut the leather? If I do it just after slicking it, while the leather is still very wet, do the pieces shrink up or should I wait until the leather is completely dry before cutting it? As for hand stitching - it really seems much much easier to sew the leather while its still in that clammy stage after casing. Is that OK or does the leather shrink up again as it dries? Thanks in advance for any advice. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.