camano ridge

I have been impressed by your work since i first seen it. Now I am really impressed as I to thought the coins were real. What did you use to color the coins?

I would sugest experimenting with a piece of the leather you normally use so that you get a feel for how long the casing will last for your given circumstances. SOme one could tell you it will last 2 hours, however for your circumstnces that may not be accurate, it will depend on the temperature and humidity where you work on your project, the type and thickness of your leather.

It is going to depend on the temprature and humidity where you are at the time. If you start noticing your impressions are not as sharp or harder to make your leather is drying. If I am working a large piece I cover the area where I am not tooling with plastic wrap. As I tool more area I just roll back the plastic. If you are going to stop before you are done put the piece back in the ziploc.

THe style of holster you want is commonly refered to as an Avenger Style, Historical known as an Askins or Askins Avenger. If this is the first one. I sugest you save yourself some head aches and get a pattern from Adams Leatherworks. The patterns are clear and he has an excellent video on making an Avenger style holster. It's a good video and you would have free access to it. THe pattern is for with and without the mouth re enforcement piece. His patterns are around $9 or 9.95. Not a bad price considering the efort it will save you. You did not say what barrel length it was. Here is a link for his 1911 5" Avenger. Click on shop at the top of his page to see other patterns. THey down load in PDF and print out full size. http://www.adamsleatherworks.com/shop/leather-holster-pattern-avenger-1911-5/

It will depend on the type of rivet. I think in most cases you will have troublehaving a reusable piece once you get it off what ever it is on. Most rivets are designed so that when the female end or top piece (head) of the rivet is hammered down on to the male end or base of the rivet the male end or base expands inside the female end and in some cases mushrooms locking the two pieces together. You may be able to cut off the base freeing the rivet from the belt or what ever however getting the shaft out of the tube of the female end of the rivet may be difficult. Having said that I have found that even on commercialy made production items the rivets are not always set properly and you may be able to pull them apart using something to pry and or a couple pairs of pliers.

I just talked to a customer yesterday for a belt. He stated he wanted the belt 34" he said he was skinny and that was the size belt he needed. I told him I would not make the belt unless he measured the belt he was currently wearing. As I told him the fit of the belt is very important and that I can only be as accurate as the numbers that ia m given. He reluctanlty agreed to measure and call me back. When he called me back he said he was going to go on a diet as his belt measured from the hole he uses to the buckle measured 38". People dont consider the fact that you are wrapping the belt around the pants you are wearing, not just putting the belt against your skin.

Can you show us a pictureof your concern?

Good looking sheath, very nicely done.

You will find that there are many opiions. Here is mine. Using the waist size is not accurate even if you come up with a formula. When people give you their waist size they usually just give you there pant size. A 38" wait is not exactly 38" and I have found a variance between two pairs of the exact same brand bought at the same time. Also I know for a fact that I have some pants that were one size when I bought them but through stretching they are a bit bigger then their marked size. Having said that Jim Simmons (Brazos Jack) has developed a chart using pant waist size. It is supposed to be being pinned to one of these forums. You might contact him he is usually willing to share his information. I tell my customers they are responsible for providing accurate measurements and that hte accuracy of the belt size will only be as accurate as their measurement. I tell them not to use their pant size and to measure a belt they normally use. I tell them to measure from the end of the buckle to the hole they commonly use. That will end up being the location of the middle hole on the new belt. I also send them a picture as demonstration.You do need to take into consideration the type of buckle they are using no matter what formula they are using. There will be a difference in the measurement using a rodeo buckle as opposed to that of a roller buckle etc.

here is another one you might like https://svpply.com/item/3611419/Evil_Skull_Biker_Wallet_Chain_Connector

Here is a lion head and tiger head wallet chain connector http://www.primalbrass.com/category/malbrass-comcategoryhttpwww-primalbrass-comcategorymens-wallet-snaps-wallet-chain-connectors/

Here are some lion head conchos at with out the rings. At the bottom of the page is one you might be iterested in it is a skull concho with ring. http://www.aliexpress.com/cheap/cheap-screwback-conchos.html As to strong enough remember that ddrawer pulls are designed to be used to pull open drawers loaded with who knows what day after day.

Trust me I have made these and seen the ones you picture in person they are drawer pulls. they come in many sizes.

Believe it or not those are drawer pulls. You can get them at home depot, lowes etc. The hardware hut has amany different ones. The lion ones are different sizes and styles spread through ou the pages. http://www.thehardwarehut.com/type-ring_pull.php?psCat=424&search_type=310&ps=1&start_no=2

Go with one blade for now you can always get the thicker one later if you need to. You will find that technique can help you get different width cuts with the same blade. If you need to widen a cut use, the pointy tip of a modeling tool.

Josh, very nice sheaths. They compliment the knives very nicely.

Can't tell for sure did you add a welt? The stitch holes look pretty large but you may have punched them before you decided to stitch. other then that it looks like a good basic sheath.

I want to experiment with putting a piece of rawhide between the holster and the liner at the mouth. My question is do you wet the rawhide first then stitch it between the layers or do you sandwich it dry then wet mold as normal but possibly soaking a little longer to make sure the rawhide is wet as well? I am not looking for advice on wether or not I should do it just on how to do it. Thanks for your help.

Looks like a multi tool kit or travel tool kit, not for leather working. The funny looking doo hicky is the handle, looks like you have a hammer head, a saw blade, possibly a slot screwdriver blade, possibly an awl blade, a knife blade, a pair of pliers and not sure but one looks like it could be a file.

Ok, several thing could be the reason or reasons you are not getting the results you want. THe first one it is a Tandy knife, so did you sharpen and or hone the blade? I can almost quarantee it is not as sharp as it should be. If you don't have the eqipment ot the knowledge to sharpen the blade. Call your Tandy store speak with the manager and see if they will sharpen it for you since you just boght it. I know the manager at my local store will. Next are you casing your leather before your trying to cut or are you cutting dry? By casing i don't mean just quickly wiping a wet sponge over the face of the leather. What style of blade did you get? I think the tandy library has some tip sheets on using the swivel knife, you also should be able to find some tutorials on using the swivel knife. Practice, practice, practice, there is a learning curve with the swivel knife. Also post a picture of some of your cuts we may be able to give you soem help.

THis it what I used on mine and it works quite well. THe cork strip is self adhesieve and 1/16" thick it comes in widths I think up to 2". http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008OIUQE0/ref=twister_B008OIYMDG

Jim, Double K has a lot of your patterns and your book http://doublekleather.com/index.php/shop-online/educational/books/the-book-of-leatherwork-detail. I ran across somebody else on line that was selling your book I will have to look and see who that was.

thenrie, the chaps turned out well. Nice job on the buttons, they look like you stole them right off those chaps in the picture I posted above.

I agree, get a proper stamp made. Yes the melting point is 1700 degrees, that means it wil liquify at that temreture but damage will be done at lower temperatures. You will get discoloring and weakening of the metal long before you reach the 17oo degrees.