Gregory B. Moody

"Stitching marker, overstitch wheel, whatever you want to call it:" Those are two different tools... and the Overstitch wheel is the better one because it will accomplish the distance marking for where to punch the holes...then after you have stitched you run it over the stitching and it makes it looks like it was machine stitched... but look for an old one with good scallops and wide blade... some of the newer ones won't cover normal hand stitching thread... Greg

Here is what I would do to get close to the effects on the guitar strap end shown above. Be sure to use a nice crosshatched shader. You want the antique to be picked up and kept in the shading but not so much that it takes away the contrast with the decorative cuts.... That will make the rim of the leaves and flowers the lightest, the depressed area made by the shader the next darkest and carved lines and stamped background the darkest. I love an 888 for background. I use two coats of Carnauba Cream applied in small circular motions with small pieces of sherling with the loose hair pulled out. Each coat must be dry before the next coat and it must be brushed soon after application so as to remove any excess left in cuts. Then allow at least 8 hours to dry after each coat. These two coats are for slowing down the penetration rate of the Fiebings Antique Paste so that you can remove it with old cotton sheets torn into pieces . Then Fiebings Antique is also applied with sherling pieces so as to quickly get it into all the depressions. I start removing it as soon as the entire project is covered. Have lots of pieces of the cotton sheets cut up into hand holding sizes ready because this is a one wipe process... each cotton wipe is discarded after going one direction. IE, no scrubbing. Wear gloves because the Antique will take a week to wear off your hands. Keep wiping and discarding until you only have Antique in the carved and stamped impressions..... Particularly check at the end of the process for streaks in the beveled areas along carved lines and wipe that out... pretty much wipe off all the antique you can WITHOUT using anything which would soak it out of depressions... old cotton sheets are ideal .... Since the example above is pretty dark I would use Dark Brown Antique..... but my standard finish is Medium Brown Antique... Allow the Antique to completely dry... then apply Nuetral Shoe polish from a can with you fingers ( for warmth ) in small circular motions... then lightly brush in all directions with a clean shoe brush. The beveler you use should also be crosshatched... and used after the background is installed to accent the main floral work.... to give a transition from the carved line to the background... this helps give the main floral design the appearance of standing above the background as compared to being immersed in it on the same plane. It is always good form to try a finish on a practice piece first.... If it is not as dark as you want just give it more time on the piece before wiping off... try in increments of 30 seconds.... This is also the safest finish that I know of... the only one I use.... I have examples made by my father which are 30 and 40 years old that look like new. Future care only requires applying Neutral Shoe polish and buffing... just like one would use on shoes for protection and warm glow. It is a flexible finish compared to Neat Lac so there is no chance it will craze or come off in bends or fog if applied at too cold a temperature or too high a humidity....and the health warnings on the Neat Lac cans are very serious and it should only be used outdoors unless you have a professional spray booth exhausted to the outdoors... For many years a big percentage of the samples in the Tandy and Leather Factory Catalog had this as the basic finish ( since my father made them )....

Well, I am famous for answering questions people did not ask....and sometimes did not want to know... but why stop now ? There are only two good edge treatments that I know of. A slicked edge like a belt usually gets....and the standard Double Cordovan Stitch. Other treatments either look cheap ( single loop ) or don't hide and finish the edge or take the risk of overpowering the piece....like Triple Cordovan ( which also uses an incredible amount of expensive lace to cover the same edge that the Double Cordovan will cover just fine. Tom Hall spent several days here at the house visiting with my father a while back... and in learing enough to help out at the braiding class he was giving at the local Tandy store I learned a couple of things I had not picked up before... One, serious braiding people skive the edges of the lace. There are little machines which can do this... but Tom used masking tape to secure a single edge razor blade to his hand while I walked backwards pulling the lace... amazing... when doing Turks heads and fancy stuff like that it really makes the piece look neat to not have the edges showing... Two, lubricate your lace before using... either white saddle soap ... or neutral shoe polish... the lace will be the first part of your project to dry out anyway.... and for braiding it allows you to pull it tight and then when it dries some be even tighter.... Warning.... you do NOT pull normal Double Cordovan lacing tight on billfolds, etc... you just ' lay it up' ... taking the space out.... but decidedly loose... then when you finish you take a mallet and gently flatten it by tapping in the same plane as the face of your project... The book by Tandy called " Lucky Seven photocarve patterns " which has 7 billford patterns has the standard Double Cordovan instruction on page 14 and 15. However, I always suggest the use of the " hook and eye" lacing needle ( just gently push the hook in with your hammer handle .. don't smash it... I have some over 10 years old ) ... And I suggest the alternate ending procedure shown in figure 15 on page 15 ... taking the end down between the pieces of leather... with very little practice no one will be able to see where you start and finish... Greg

I always suggest Al Stohlman's book " Belts Galore" as the best , cheapest , first book in anyone's leathercrafting library. It also has the advantage of showing how fo make a product which has a good chance of making money for the crafter... to help pay for more tools.... since most people need at least one belt... and when they are using it they are ' walking advertizements' for your craftiness... Greg

Wes, Your chances are 100 percent of being successful if you get a copy of the large format book by Al Stohlman named " How to make Holsters".... ( and study it ) Available from Amazon, Ebay, Tandy and most other leathercraft suppliers.. about $12 US.... It has many actual patterns...but more importantly teaches you how to do your own measuring and pattern making .... A shoulder holster is pretty critical as to construction if it is to be comfortable....( and the gun accessible fast ).... so take your time during fitting and be sure to wear the same clothes you will be wearing it with ... If you are in a business where you will be wearing it a lot you may want to have your tailor make a jacket taking into account the space needed for the holster and gun... While it probably won't be mentioned in the book.... if you make your harness half again as wide as normal and then use the cheap skiver which utilizes injectable razor blades... the one made from sheet metal bent over... you can easily taper the thickness down to nothing at the edges... which will help keep the harness from being as visible under your clothes... Greg