camano ridge

There are various methods, what size do you intnd to make? You can use a compass to draw the circle then cut the circle, yu canhave die made, or use a Arch punch depending on size. My set goes up to 3 1/2". You can buy them individualy to get only the size you need. http://www.csosborne.com/NO149.HTM

Thank, you all for the comments, much appriciated. Red this was gator belly or for the most part throat not back it was about 3oz. The gator by itself is not stiff enough for a holster, so it was glued to flesh side of about 6oz horse butt. The back was closer to 7oz horse and was plenty stiff. It holds it's form just fine for reholstering when used IWB.

Customer wanted and IWB/OWB convertible for a Browning High Power and he wanted it in gator. I used horse for both front and back, gator is on front only. This is what I came up with.

Talk to studio-N or Blackriverlaser.com There is another one on here that I see from time to tiem, can't remember for sure but I think it is Embossing and Die company or something like that seems their prices were reasonable also.

"The Detective Special is by design a shortened and somewhat streamlined Colt Police Positive Special, sharing that revolver's slim 'D' size frame and six round capacity. The DS uses a slightly smaller frame than the Colt Official Police or Smith & Wesson 'K' Frame revolvers, but is larger than the compact 'J' frame used in Smith & Wesson five-shot revolvers" (wikpedia)

After dye has dried rub the holster with a cloth to get excess pigment off. Rub on Nieats Foot oil let sit (I let it sit overnight), then rub again until you are not seeing rub off. If you use Resolene I reccomend cut 50/50 with water and build up your coats. I don't get excited about acrylics, I personaly like the more natural finishes like you bees wax mix, Skidmores, Montans Pitch blend etc. They all work just fine on black.

How did you get a hold of Bob? I want to buy a tool from him, I have emailed him more then 6 times in the last 6 weeks and have not gotten a response the one phone number I found for him just rings no answer or voice mail.

The Ruger SP101 is 1.349, the lady smith is 1.47. I don't think you are going to find an exact match, I know over all frame size is smaller then the L frame.

Red, I do not believe that detail molding is a sign of a good holster. I think it some waht tends to be a marketing ploy and to compete with Kydex. With kydex you mold the thermal plastic around the gun and the lines show when pressed. There is a little bit of a cool factor when you can more or less see the pistol through the leather so to speak. How ever I have seen some very detail molded holsters that I would not give two cents for. Those holster were made of 5-6 oz leather so they could get very detailed lines showing through. That light of leather is not going to hold up for the long haul. On the other hand look at the holsters Katsass (Mike) makes, two layers 5oz laminated together. No detail molding on the outside However they are quality holsters with plenty of retention. I make my holsters similar to his. However If a customer requests the detail molding I will do it and use 7 - 8 oz leather and tell the customer that I am using lighter leather to give them what they request. Any properly made holster can be properly molded to give adaquate retention without detail molding. On my holster when I mold them you may not see the detailed lines on the outside, however you can look inside and see the lines of the gun impressd into the holster. That is where the retention is. I have seen some holsters over molded, they did everything they could to get those wondeful detailed lines only to realize that it was very dificult to get the gun out of the holste. Really the detailed boningand molding is the advent of the last few years. There have been many good quality holsters with retention made prior to the detailed molding and boning craze. Any one that says you don't have proper retention with out the detail molding and boning does not know what makes a quality holster. Just my opinion.

Have your cstomer measur across his cylinder and compare. I said close not necassarily exact.

The Taurus 617 is a compact frame which is larger then J and smaller then K. So you can go loose for a J or tight for a K and actuallly it is pretty close to a Ruger SP101.

Ok, don't take offense at this I am goin to ask two questions. Are you sure it is a Taurus 617 4" Are you sure it is a 4" barrel? The reason I ask is because as far as I know the Taurus 617 is a 357 2" compact. Bascialy a little hand cannon.

I get straps from Springfield leather they are HO andI have not had any problem with them.

If you get it let us know, we will see if we can help out. Should have the model right on the gun. Taurus is like everyone else lots of variations to try to keep up with or out do the others.

It would be easier to answer your question if we new what model Taurus and 6 or 7 shot. Taurus 85, 605, 850 are supposed to be J frame sized Taurus 82, 65, 66 are suposed to be K fram Taurus 627 Traker is closer to l Frame Taurus 608 N Frame. Just to give you some idea. Again give us the model number and we can be more precise.

I agree with pawpaw, you may be putting on to much at one time. Use light coats, with the Neatsfoot compound you would have to use aan applicator like a sponge etc. as the MSDS and the can say that it can be a skin irratant. However with 100% Neatsfoot Oil I use finger tip application this allows plenty of control as to the amount and where I am applying it. As pawpaw pointed out exposure to sunlight will darken the leather, however exposure to any light that emits UV will also darken leather. Attached is a thickness conversion chart you might find helpful.

Red, don't throw it out. It does get a different color after a while. Before you throw it out stick a piece of scrap leather in it and see if it turns black. If it works like it's supposed to but is a little thicker then you want thin it out with water or a little vinegar. If it turns but not like you like it throw in some fresh vinegar to thin it out. If it still does not turn it as black as you want throw in a little steel wool. Sometimes it's like the sour dough starter and needs a little feeding. I think it was Tallbald over on cascity that just went through this. If you look for his thread i think it was a week or two ago.

Here is a little demo I did for you after my last post.Again I use 100% Pure Neatsfoot Oil. When I was first learning leather back in the early 70's I was told by an experienced leatherworker to never use the compound as it was a petroleum product and not good for leather. I do know if it will hurt the leather or if it will darken the leather more or less then 100% Pure Neatsfoot Oil. I just know I have never used the compound and I am usually happy with the results of using the Pure Neatsfoot. The first picture is of a piece of scrap leather as I got it out of my scrap box. The second picture is the same piece imeaditely after a finger tip aplication of 100% Pure Neatsfoot oil, the third picture is the same piece 4 hours after the application of the 100% Neatsfoot oil. You can see that it has returned almost to the same color it was before the oil was applied. I do a lot of western holsters and belts and many are left natural or are suntanned after the appliction of Neatsfoot oil, but they all get 100% Neatsfoot oil and I do not usually have a problem with them being to dark. Having said that I do notice when I use horse that the oil will darken itmore. What type of leather are you using?

Actually I use 100% Neatsfoot oil all the time. Neatsfoot compound is hydrotreated heavy naphthenic distillate (a petroleum product) and is not necassariy good for some leathers. 100% is now made primarily from lard. Neatsfoot will soften the leather some and the more you put on it the more it will soften. The important thing is that all of the action of Neatsfoot oil is not immediate, you need to give the oil time to migrate through the leather. Neats foot will initially darken the leather then as it is absorbed through the leather the lieather lightens again in most cases almost to the natural color. You will see more absorbtion around stitch holes and raw edges because there are open fiber to more readily grab te oil. However again given time the color will even out in these area also.

THis person just listed some . He is in Canada so not sure what shipping would be and they are not cheap but look to begood quality. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=57219#entry367641

Are you looking for something like this?

balckriverlaser.com has a template for doing the gunfighter stitch. They have a set for hand stitching and a set for machine stitching. Their prices are cheaper on their ebay site. Before I got there templates I used a paper plate I laid plate on the belt and adjusted it to the arc that I liked then put marks on each side of the plate where the plate reached the edge of the belt. See Picture below. I would use an over stitch wheel and follow the edge of the plate marking my stitch line I would move the plate down the belt repeating until I peached the end of the belt I would then go down the other side of the belt repeating the process. Here is the link to balckriverlaser ebay listing http://www.ebay.com/itm/GUNSLINGER-BELT-STITCH-PATTERN-TEMPLATES-LASER-CUT-ACRYLIC-3-BELT-SIZES-GBST-/130953970411 1st picture is the paper plate method, second plate is a belt using the paper plate template.

Do a search on these forums. I will see if I can find it someone on here was making a die for making CR s with copper wire. Here is contact info for the guy that makes a die for different sized copper rivets with wire. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=55482&hl=%2Bcopper+%2Brivet+%2Bdie

Are you sauing that you dyed the glazed shoulder you posted the link to. If so that is your big problem. Glazed means that it has been sealed it will be hard to get it to take a dye fully. If you deglazed it you would have better luck. What dye are you using?

Chicago Air Brush shows the same compressor for $261.00 on sale and that is without shipping or import fees. So yes it sounds like a good deal.