Josh Ashman

Awesome stuff Billy! Thanks for sharing! Hope you had a great Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!

The pricing for those is with a 2-3/4" straight cartridge belt with 1-1/2" billet and tongue. I rarely get requests for buscadero belts but when I have it's coincided with me getting a new side and I've been able to cut the top of the belt straight with the drops going up to the backbone. That way I end up with a true straight cut on the rest of the hide and don't waste a lot of prime material. Sounds to me like $300 wouldn't be out of line for the rig your describing. Have a great day folks!

They all look really nice Devil Dog! I especially like the lefty full size 1911 holster. Simply fantastic! Great work!

Hey Oldnslow! I have 3 main levels of "western" rigs. The descriptions and pricing work out roughly like this; 1) plain = $150 includes an unlined 2-3/4" cartridge belt with 12 bullet loops, unlined "Threepersons" type holster (trigger can be covered or not, mostly in regards to how the belt loop is built), no tooling, dyed to color of choice, stainless or brass buckle, 10/11 HO leather throughout, except bullet loops which are 5/6 HO. 2) medium = $250 includes above except border tooled, unlined Mexican Loop or "Half-Breed" style holster and 18 bullet loops. 3) fancy = $350 includes above except full tooled/carved, spots, conchos. Most rigs fall somewhere in between these 3 main levels and I 'll average to where they fit best. I'm curious to hear what others have to say about this. I've tried to get my prices high enough to pay a little for my time, weed out those looking for a cheap buy and still provide a lot of value to my customers. I'd be interested to know if I'm in the same ballpark as others, or if I'm out by myself. Take care folks!

Hello Sioux! A few weeks ago there was a conversation about sling prices. If I did it right there should be a link to it below. As noted on it, I charge $30 or $40 for a plain simple single strap if I'm providing the sling swivels (+/- $10 depending on where you get them). For one that is lined, stitched and/or tooled l I'd tack on another $50 to $75 depending on how detailed and full it was tooled. This would put the total cost at somewhere between $80 and $105. The other commentator said he sold tooled his for $90 which included some tooling and fully stitched. So he and I are in the same ballpark. Good luck if you add them to your line up! Josh

Ron, That sounds like a great project! I have seen pictures of the old time pommel bags with a flap covered holster on one side and a pouch on the other. I know the book "Packing Iron" has quite a few different types shown. I haven't ever made anything like that, but I a replica set would be pretty fun to tackle! Are the ones you're designing more modern, or are you going for a replica look? Either way I think your strap idea is solid. Having a quick thumb release would be a lot handier then fussing with a buckle. Were you thinking of a "Sam Brown" stud, or a snap? All the best, Josh

I built those for my Dad a few years ago. As I recall the pouches finished to be about 3" deep. I usually don't do vegtan gussets like that, I like them to be chap leather with the front seam sewed under, but Dad likes them flat. Aside from a few little details and splitting the yoke piece I followed will's pattern to a "T". All the best! Josh

Hey Ron! it has holsters on the front of both pouches. It's actually a Will Ghormley pattern. Here are a few more pics.

I don't know why a person would put the top "billet" strap through a slot on the flap like that. I usually secure the bottom strap that has the buckle on it to the front of the bags so it doesn't flop down when you unbuckle it. Not that it's that big of a deal if it does flop down. Just personal preference I suppose. In my opinion the straps should rivet down wherever they are attached to. Could be the back side, the top flap, or wherever you wanted them to be. Here's some examples of how I do them. Good luck on your project, Josh

Nice job!

Those look great! Nice job!

Hello Cuda, For me pricing can be pretty tricky, given the lack of input on your post I'm guessing a lot of others feel the same. For a "plain jane" rifle sling I usually charge around $30 or $40 if I'm providing the sling swivels. For one that is heavily tooled like the one in your picture I'd tack on another $50 to $75 depending on how detailed and full they wanted the tooling to be. Someone else may have a completely different price point depending on what material they had on hand, how busy they were and how much they like "giving away" their tooling time. Pricing is a balancing point for me where I get some return on my time, cover my materials and feel happy about providing a quality item for a reasonable cost to my customer. That said I don't do leatherwork for a living, it's just a hobby that I enjoy. I imagine others pricing varies greatly depending on their circumstances. Good luck on your project! Josh

Your plan is solid, building the belt from a pre-cut stirrup leather will have it plenty stout for carrying the load you've described. If you think about it, the stirrup leather will carry half a riders weight when standing in the stirrups and a portion of their weight when sitting. The "onside" leather will take a riders full weight each time they mount or dismount. The few pounds of pistol, knife and ammo are no biggie by comparison. In my opinion, the suede liner won't add anything structurally so it doesn't much matter what thickness you use. 13/15 oz will be 3/16" to 1/4" thick so skiving it down where it'll fold around the buckle is a good idea. I'd also suggest making the fold when the leather is well cased. Good luck with your project! Josh

I believe Ray gave the perfect answer. I oil carry holsters similar to what he described above. I oil carry belts just a little more. "Western" gun belts get a little more still and saddles and tack items get quite a bit more. With all leather items there is a level that is too much. You don't want to saturate the leather and you don't want to soften it beyond what is acceptable for its intended use. A stiff holster with little flex is good, a soft and supple set of bridle reins is good, either one oiled to the level of the other isn't that good. As for application, I keep scraps of sheepskin for applying dye and oil. I keep my oil in a re-purposed 20 oz soda bottle with a hole poked through the lid. Squirt a little oil over a piece of sheepskin and rub it over the grain side of the leather and yo're all set. All the best, Josh

That's a very clean looking saddle. Great job!

Good job on the sheath! Apparently everyone has opinions on the keepers. I'll go ahead and share mine just for fun. I'm aware that they are worth exactly what they cost ! For a "wicked" sharp knife (really any knife) the down side I see to having the keeper up where you have it is that they seem easier to accidentally cut. I don't have any trouble un-snaping the keeper and drawing the knife with the flap going to the rear but I do always worry about cutting into the straps. As others have pointed out, the knife can also move out a little. Of course, for this to happen you'd have to be upside down, which would probably be much more concern than your knife coming out a little. I like straps that come from the back and wrap around the guard, like you have on the Bowie knife much better. However, on that Bowie I'd have put it around the front of the guard to keep from having to worry about cutting it. As for having 2 motions to get the knife un-snapped versus 1 swift motion, I've never had a reason to quick draw a sheath knife. I do however regularly walk through brush which could accidentally unsnap a keeper that was "pointing forward". I do pay attention to stuff like that, and I try not to let myself get turned upside down, so having it come unsnapped wouldn't be "catastrophic". It would just need to be snapped back up and the chances of the knife falling out would be fairly minimal, but if you point the keeper "back" it wouldn't catch and come unsnapped in the first place. Again, nice job on the sheath. The red and black with the buck stitching looks great and the shape of the sheath seems perfect to me. Solid work! Josh

Ingle, I've made several SS knock offs and haven't received any flak over them, although I don't post on many gun forums so I don't know that they have been seen very much. The summer Special is a highly copied holster style, it's not just you and I. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery you'd think the M-S crowd would be happy about that! BTW, I commented in the post you'd made, but I'm compelled to say again, great job on your version of the SS! It looked fantastic! Josh

Hey folks, thanks for your comments! This is by no means a CAS rig, just something my customer wanted to have. I'm not a CAS shooter myself so I'm not up on their rules, but I would think that thumb breaks aren't allowed. Maybe Red Cent will chime and and give a definitive answer on that. There's no disagreement from me that hammer thongs would have fit better, however I suppose that's the point of having something custom ordered. You can order what you want, assuming the maker is willing to build it, and I was Hope you all have a great day!

Nice job Plinker! I really like formed cases like that and your did a great job.

Really nice, clean work. Great job! Semper Fi!

Thanks guys! Chief, I make no claim to ever getting them right myself. I'd have probably put them lower but the holster was too tight to fit the strap down in there. I do like them a little higher tho. My nemesis with thumb breaks is extended thumb safeties on 1911's. I ALWAYS manage to get the snap dead center on top of it. I couldn't be any more 100% on this than if I was trying. Oh well... Double, I first tried M&G for 2 reasons, 1) it's cheaper than Resolene and 2) it's available at any store. I've been using it now for a number of years and in my experience, it works well so I've stayed with it. All the best, Josh

I asked the guy numerous times "are you sure you want thumb breaks on these", he was sure he did. I like them better then I thought I would, but hammer thongs would have seemed more like the right thing to me. Anyway, 8/9 HO with 5/6 HO for the liners and bullet loops on the cartridge belt and 8/9 HO all around for the holsters. Light brown Fiebings (still working may way through the stuff I have, although the light brown isn't as bad as the tan for going splotchy for me), couple coats of NF oil, top coat of 50/50 M&G and water and a little shine with saddle soap. Have a great Friday folks!

Thanks Plinker! I have thought a little about an IWB mag pouch and considered it for this project. However, I decided against it. I figured that for me the appeal of IWB is that the bottom of the holster is not visible if your cover garment rides up. Since a mag pouch doesn't really extend below the belt line, or even if it did wouldn't look like anything more than a pocketknife case I didn't see this as being an issue that needed fixing. I also decided that having the mag pouch IWB would be just one more thing stuffed inside a persons pants which are generally tight enough anyway (speaking of me more than my son, who hasn't been affected by growing out more than up yet). I also don't have any concerns with needing added retention on an IWB. Have a great Friday folks! Josh

thanks Bobby!

Thanks! I got it from Infinity Stamps, here's a link to their website https://www.infinitystamps.com/collections/leather-stamps I