camano ridge

Asking what is best is one of those ongoing discussions with everyone having an opinion. There are many out there Aussie Leather Cream, Dr. Jacksons Leather Rejuvenator, Montana pitch blend, Skidmores Leather cream. Some can also be used as finishes. My preference is Skidmores leather cream. It is all natural using bees wax and natural oils, no petroleum products.

What Jazzman said is correct depending on what the final finish was used. Some people oil before they dye, most that I know including myself oil after dying and before finishing. The dye tends to draw out some of the nutrients in the leather and leaves the leather stiffer. The oiling puts some of those nutrients back in the leather. The finish is designed to seal the leather to help protect it from moisture and staining. The finish/sealer will hinder the absorption of oil, especially acrylic finishes. However with use and exposure to elements etc. leather can dry out and should have an application of conditioner from time to time. it is a good idea to apply a leather conditioner from time to time.

Bruno, good looking rig.

When you say western style are you referring tooling pattern or are you referring to the overall 1800's looking shoulder holster. If you do a search on these forums I think there may be one or two shoulder holster and Doc holiday style holsters. I think there maybe one by Eightbits (Roys 29) and one by Brazos Jack (Jim Simmons. What gun will it before. Send me a PM with your email address, I think I can help you out with a pattern or two depending on what you want.

Looks like you have a few things going on there. Looks like maybe the leather was a little wet. Are you just wetting your leather or are you actually casing it. Casing is a process of wetting the leather then letting it dry till it has the right moisture content. Get your leather wet then let it dry until the color is mostly back to normal. There is a very good tutorial on casing leather by Hide Pounder http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19121%C2'> I would take some scrap leather cut and bevel some lines and practice beveling until you have learned to walk the beveler smoothly. Practice, Practice, Practice, and when your done with that practice some more. What kind of mallet or maul are you using? What type of surface are you tooling on? You need a good solid surface and work platform to tool on. If you do end up with chatter (the bumpy, wavy effect). Go back over lightly with your beveler to smooth it out or use the spoon end of a modeling tool to smooth your bevel out.

If you do a search on these forums for knife roll or chefs knife roll you will find some good examples. Also Google Knife rolls or Chefs Knife rolls for some ideas. Because of so many variations in knife blade size handle style etc. it is hard to make a cookie cutter pattern for a knife roll. Get a large piece of butcher paper or poster board. Lay out your knives and any other implements in the way you want them. Draw an out line of each knife or implement. I like this style as you can basically build a sheath with a welt for each knife. If you are doing this for a knife set someplace else in the country then you may have to make generic pockets for the knives. When you look at the examples you see what i mean. I am currently working on one for a set of custom Chef Knives that I made. I won't have it done for a while but will post pics when I am done. Here is one link, it has a video by Niegel Armitage on making a knife roll. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=47573&hl=%2Bchefs+%2Bknife+%2Broll

I believe this is what you are looking for, scroll down to the bottom of the page in the link. http://www.hardwareelf.com/elf/straps.jsp

Looks like that should work.

Thanks, but none of those give the right impression, they are designed to make pedals of a flower. The closest I have found is F990 or F991 with the bottom 2 pedal or what ever ground off.

Studio-N thanks for the try. I have 634 and 635, they do not come out quite the same.

He has the link in post #7. Here it is again. https://attendee.got...209043863817473

I am looking for a specific stamp. Has anyone seen one listed any place. It is not in the current craftool listings. It is very close if not exact to one used for a border on the holster on the cover of Packing Iron and again on Page 120 of Packing Iron. I know they are or were available from some body. I have a couple of [pictures of recently made holsters with the same border. it is the stamp used to create the border on the holster in the two pictures below. Any help would be appreciated.

My bad, I missed it. Thanks

It's actually about 2:22. I think he meant, similar coin purse.

You may get more response if you at least post your location. Shipping will be a big deal. You may get interest from people that are close to your location.

Very nice find.

I have found a couple of good places to get Black roller buckles. However it is hard to find Black Oxide center bar buckles. There is a company called Custom Metal crafters that does all of their buckles in a veriety of finishes including black oxide, however their minimum order is 200 pieces. http://www.custom-metal.com/index.html

The stitches are behind the piece with the belt slots. This picture should do a pretty good job of showing you how they are put together. Basically the front, sides bottom back (belt slots and flap are all one piece the dividers are a two piece insert. you would fold the sides and stitch them to the inserts. then fold the main body to form the bottom and the back (with slots) The inserts are then stitched to the back (see your picture to see the stitch line) forming the back between the front and belt slots. Hope this helps any other questions PM me.

Have to agree it looks like a bend.

It depends on what you are going to be doing the most of. I have a 16oz and 24oz. They take care of all my tooling needs. For setting rivets snaps etc i use a dead blow hammer.

Over all it looks pretty good, especially for the first one.

SASS is the parent organization. Under SASS - Single Action Shooting Society, is CAS Cowboy Action Shooting, SASS Wild Bunch and SASS Mounted Shooting. http://www.sassnet.com/

becbec, back to your original question. Are they going to be sending you completed project to tool (this might be difficult to do) or are they sending you the pieces to be tooled then assembled by them after tooling? I would have to agree with LVN in that I would not charge less then $25.00 per hour. More if you have to do any of the designing or layout. Are they going to do any dying antiquing etc.?

I could not find the most recent announcement for the up coming class. However here is an old thread that tells about a past class. PM Mike (immiketoo)and he will give you all the information. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=59377&hl=%2Bchan+%2Bgeer+%2Bclass

I will try to explain as clearly as I can. I don't have any pictures of a work in progress to give a visual. Although I will be doing one for a Stoger next week. I will try to take some pictures for future use. The way I do it (this is just my way) I take the molded piece and put it on the stock then take a pair of calipers or a stitch groover (what ever you use), mark your stitch line. Now remove the piece from the stock. Use an over stitch wheel or pricking irons to mark you stitch holes. Punch your holes through the molded piece, now glue the piece that wraps the stock to the inside of the molded piece. When glue has dried dry fit the cover to the stock make sure it is going to fit and lay the way you want it to. Once the glue has dried and you are satisfied with the fit , put your awl through the pre punched holes in the molded piece pushing through the second piece until you have punched all the holes through both pieces. Now saddle stitch the way you would any other piece. You will just have to move the needle around different angles inside the wrap to get it through the holes when stitching from inside the wrap. Hope this is semi clear. If not just let me know what you need clarified. One other thing to mention if you have not already burnished and finished the edge of the molded piece I would do that before gluing the two pieces together. Both of the pictured stock covers in my first post are hand stitched.