Shooter McGavin

The CCW badges make me LOL. I dont worry much about concealing most of the time. Luckily I live in an open carry state. Nice wallets though!

Well, not much in the way of penetration. However, it bonds very well to the leather. I actually scraped through some Fiebings Pro Oil dye easier than I got through this Watercolor stuff. No adverse reactions from the super sheen or satin sheen. Due to lack of penetration, it is indeed possible to tool through this.

Stopped at Tandy today for some supplies and noticed a new product on the rack. It is called Professional Waterstains and made by eco-flow. I've tried the other eco-flow dies and stains and was less than impressed. The Professional Waterstains state they are a water based solution/emulsion of soft waxes, synthetic resins, and antistatic agents. So the manage opens a bottle and rubs some on a scrap of leather. It looked very nice and had a great feel to it right away, similar to what I'm accustomed to with Bridle Leathers, so I grabbed an 8.5 ounce bottle of Black and headed home. Squirted some on a damp sponge and rubbed it on a piece of scrap Hermann Oak. It covered nicely and had a nice even color. I let it dry for 3 hours then decided to test it for rub off both wet and dry. Grabbed an old t-shirt and rubbed as hard as I could and got very little color transfer. I then wet it to the point that I would if I were wet molding a holster, and still no rub off. The water actually beaded up on the surface. I bent and rolled the leather while wet, no cracking or flaking. So far I'm pretty impressed. They have a lot of colors and even have a pearl additive. Also in the lineup is a gloss and a matte finish. I have a lot of stock of super sheen and satin sheen so tomorrow I will test compatibility but I'm really not expecting many surprises. Just wanted to share and see if anyone else has used this new product. I dont even see it on their website yet.

^^Im not at all happy with the backside of the leather I received a couple weeks ago from my first order with W&C. Would you mind posting a pic of what yours looks like? I ordered mine "holstered" and wonder what real effect that had on it.^^ Guy W: I typically dye the insides of my holsters before I glue them together. Get better coverage that way. Mahogany, Black, and Black Cherry holsters get Black interiors, Most of the browns get the same color both in and out. All holsters get Black edges, except saddle tan, which gets hit with a Dark Brown dye. I Gum Trag the interior after wet molding and before sealing.

Thank you to both of you that pointed me towards The Thread Exchange. BEARDOG: You nailed it. The holster trim has a piece of 3-4 oz behind it, and the mag carrier is put right onto the front piece of leather. It's sanded and burnished nicely with the veg-tan backing, not so much without it. But it's so thin and the piece on the mag carrier is so small it's barely noticeable. Shark and elephant both burnish rather nicely. I use power tools to speed the process though. jlaudio: I picked up the ostrich leg from Springfield Leather. It was originally cognac in color, but I dyed it black. katsass: I usually do contrasting colors as well, but thought that this would be better all black with the white stitching.

Thanks all for the compliments! A few days before the BBQ one of my buddies said since he doesnt have a BBQ gun he al teast wanted a nice holster for his Glock. Gave him some options, this was the net result. Glock 19 pancake in Black Cherry with skull and crossbones stamp on trim panel. He was very happy and put it on right away

Made it last week and actually wore it to an open carry BBQ today lol. 8/9oz Hermann Oak with Ostrich Leg trim on the holster, mag carrier is 5/6oz Hermann Oak with more ostrich Leg. Made it with the intent to sell it, but it looks so good with my Springfield Loaded Lightweight that I think I'll keep it. Got a lot of lookie loos and handed out a bunch of cards. Had some foot long hotdogs and some awesome brownies. Sun was shining in NE Ohio, it was a good day. As an aside, can anyone tell me where to find a good quality thread in size 277 or better. I've been using the Tippman thread that I ordered at the same time as my Boss and am a bit underwhelmed with it from time to time. Thanks!

Nice. The natural belt rocks!

Cool looking holster, what the cant on that though? Good luck with the post office. The biggest hurdle will be talking to a human who listens to your questions instead of reading from a script.

I used a #7 (?) oval punch for the holes. Also, I dampened around the holes on the back of the belt and indented each one with the end of my wood slicker tool. That helped a bit. I've alread shipped it off, and the guy says he loves it and doesnt have any problems with the thickness in the front. Sometimes I create problems where none exist I suppose. Heres the belt though.

So I took some of the feedback from this thread and proceeded on to the next project which was for a S&W 457. I'm not sure what you call this tooling style though. I wanted 2 different color dyes so I carved a "window", then thought it looked to plain so I stole the wifes camo stamp and put a border around the window. I used oil mahogany on the outer portion and the interior, and a couple coats of oil saddle tan inside the window. Finished with a few airbrushed coats of my sealant mixture. I had a difficult time taking the pics outside, but heres the best of the bunch anyway. Then I redid the Colt Lawman holster. I ended up making a sewed on belt loop because I couldnt get the flap fold in the right position. Finish is a mixture of neatsfoot oil, and mahogany, saddle tan, and light brown oil dyes, applied haphazardly with a wool dauber to leather that was wetter in some areas than others. I think it came out pretty cool, looks like it's been around awhile. I also decided to try carving his initials in there, you can see I need plenty of practice. I do see where I could have taken some leather away from the area behind the trigger guard. Will adjust this pattern for future reference. Again, pictures came out bad but I salvaged a few. Feedback, thought, opinions, yell at me, etc.. Thanks! Dan

I let it sit overnight then rinsed it the next day. Honestly I dont know if the quick rinse mattered.

t-nut, rubber grommet, finishing washer, and screw.

Nice, as usual. That frog panel is awesome. I've used lemon juice to remove the black spots. squirt straight lemon juice and let it sit awhile.

I need to do a white belt for someone. Thinking about buying the Fiebings and submerging the belt into the white dye. Dunno if thats wise or not though.

Every M&P holster I've ever done locks up tight on me after molding. Doesnt happen with any other gun. I dont mold nearly as tight as you did on the trigger guard. Put the holster on your belt and try the draw stroke. See what happens. Sometimes you have to do what Lobo suggested and put it in a plastic bag for a day or two.

I used an Xacto for the longest, then bought a round knife. Round knife is nice, but I spend as much time stropping as I do cutting. Last week I ordered a hammer die for my most popular model, and a leather specific backer board. What kind of surface are you cutting on? When you dremel sanded the edges, did you make sure that the leather was damp? That helps.

^^I'm going to give that a try next time myself.

Cool. I got one for my uncle I'm working on tonight. I just did a simple beveled line about 1/2" in from the edge, with some camo stamps along the line. I just know I'm going to lose them when the leather stretches for the gun though. When it's done I'll post pics in the thread I started for his wheelgun holster. Thanks for the info!

I posted a very similar thread not too long ago for a caimen tail holster I was building. I'm too lazy to search it but it shouldnt be more than a month or so old. The biggest challenge for me was stitching the exotic in between the 2 top layers of leather, and not running into the stitch line I planned to use to sew the front panel(s) to the back panel. Takes some planning to get it right. I did not get it right, but it still came out OK.

It lets the belt loop drop straight instead of at an angle. Not necessary but for the minimal expense and effort, why not?

I'm here all week. I'll try. Mark you bullet loop stitch lines on the belt and on the ammo loops. Make your first stitch to attach the loop strap to the belt. Fold the loop strap over, then stitch diagonally to the next line on the belt. Fold the loop strap back down, line up the lines, and stitch the loop strap to the belt, completing your first ammo loop. Fold the loop strap over again, stitch diagonally to the next line on the belt, fold the loop strap down, line up the lines, and stitch the loop strap to the belt, completing the second ammo loop. Repeat until finished. Ammo diameter + 2x leather thickness.

I've got a question. After the holster is stamped, how do you wet form it without distorting the stamping?

I've used EVOO only when I want to darken a piece in the sun. To restore oil to the leather I use neatsfoot. Does it matter? Dunno. I dilute the gum trag 50/50 with water and rub down the innards of the holster after the dye has soaked up. After the edges are sanded even and beveled, you can wipe them with a wet sponge and use this same mixture to burnish the edges. Use some burlap or a wood slicker. I like to wax them after that. My final finish is a 1:1:1 mix of super sheen, satin sheen, and water. Lately, applied through an 8 dollar Harbor Freight airbrush thingy. Before that, sponged on then "buffed" with a 4" wide soft bristle paintbrush to minimize streaks. I've not had good luck getting edge paints to adhere well.