Josh Ashman

Nice job Mike!

Howdy Bill, I'm just up at the north of Stockton so we're almost neighbors. Anyway, I use Weaver for almost all of my hardware, tools and any other supplies I also get some leather from them. I'll stop by SLC or Tandy when i'm in the big city and have time to look around or if i just need a quick item. I do hand pick HO sides from SLC, their price is comparable to Weaver's and it's nice to be the one picking out the hide. I hope that helps out, if you find somewhere better let me know

Great job!

Nice work!

Thanks Kevin, you're exactly right on the skinner sheaths. I wondered how to get a nice clean looking sheath and still fit the big belly of the blade and I was happy with what I came up with and how they turned out. Forschner knives were used extensivly at a beef processing plan I worked at for a while, they are a great using knife. Thanks again!

Thanks Tony!

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are some pics of my first Avenger type holsters, one for my son in law and one for my dad since they both carry 4" 1911's. I also attached pics of some other recently finished stuff. Let me know what you all think. Happy New Year!

Those look great Bobby! thanks for posting them. I really like your floral work and the antique sure shows it off well. Best regards,

That's a nice sling, great job! Best regards, Josh

Thank Joel, I'm glad you like the scabbard. Those are copper rivets and I haven't done anything to try and keep them from "weathering". I use a lot of them in my tack and it seems like the stuff that gets a fair amount of use doesn't tend to turn green although they do discolor. Best regards, Josh

All three look very nice, great job! Best regards, Josh

Very nice! I'm not sold on the concept of carrying in the small of my back but you did a great job on both the design and construction. Best regards, Josh

Thank you all very much, I appreciate the kind words. Best regards, Josh

Thank you!

Very nice work! That's a dang busy weekend. Best regards, Josh

Here are a few I recently finished up. A plain jane scabbard & cartridge belt for a 338 Marlin and a fancy holster and belt for a 45LC 5-5/8 SAA. Let me know what you think & thanks for looking. Best regards, Josh

Very nice work Bobby, good job! Best regards, Josh

I haven't made a scabbard for a scoped rifle but the way I do them for carbines is similar to how you'd make a holster, it just takes a bigger piece of paper. Start with a length of butcher paper as long as the rifle, fold it in half, place the rifle on center and roll it to the side, trace around it, I add an 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" to the outside of the pattern for a rifle (I ususally use 3/4" for a pistol), from there it's pretty straight forward. My guess is that a scoped rifle would be similar, you'd cut a sloping curve from the front of the scope along the top of the barrel and a flap to come across the pistol grip area. Anyway, I'll bet somebody else has built them and can give more input. Good luck! Josh

Thanks Mike, that makes a lot of sense. As soon as time permits I'll give it a try. I worked for a survey company based out of Prescott Valley, AZ for years. I spent one summer going back and forth between projects in Bullhead City, AZ and Earp CA. I can understand why you don't need a special box to dry things out most of the year. Thanks again for the info, best regards. Josh

Bobby, Those are both great looking rigs. Your work is so nice I'm hesitant to offer much critical feedback but since there is always room for improvement and you asked, here goes... On the first rig, I think the mag pouch would look better if it had the same double cut border as the belt and holster. On the second, I like your floral pattern quite a bit but the backgrounder impressions are pretty distinct, I don't know if you could walk that tool a little more to blend them better or not. All in all they both look very well done, great job! Hopefully with winter coming on you'll have more time to post pictures, I'd like to see more of your work. Best regards, Josh

Mike, I usually make western style gun rigs however I do get the occasional concealed carry type order and I'm not familiar with heating to set the molding. I have heard it mentioned on here a few times and I'd like to give it a try but I'd rather not experiment too much. Would you be willing to go into a little more detail on this? Or, can you point me to a thread that goes over it in more depth? Thank you, Josh

Kcinnick, I hope you enjoy building your own leather projects, I know I do. By all means buy whatever you want but some of the time estimates for hand stiching may be a little overstated. Don't be afraid to hand stich a belt, with a little practice you'll be looking at a few hours, not days. I basically follow the method shown in the Stohlman book, although I do push all my holes before starting the actual stiching. I put one of those rubber pads over my cutting board, lay my work over that with the stich groove already gouged and the stich spacing already made with an over stich wheel. Then, I push the holes through with an awl one at a time pushing straight down. After that I sew using a saddle stich with two needles working from one end to the other. Most of the belts I make are single ply skirting so I don't have much of an estimated time on them but I do know that using this method I can sew the sheepskin on an average sized saddle skirt in an hour and a half of actual sewing time, not counting pushing the holes. Everybody's different and different types of work are suited for differnt methods but for the time I spend making a pattern, cutting, stamping, molding, edging and finishing a project the difference between a few hours and a half hour doesn't add up to the cost of a machine. Just my two cents, good luck and have fun. Josh

Dwight, that's a very fine "Duke" rig. I agree with you that everyone should have one and hope to make one for myself soon. Best regards, Josh

Thanks Matt. The belt is a 7-8 oz apron split I use for "mule hide" horn wraps and it's folded around a piece of 5 oz belly leather. The finished belt is 3/8 thick yet very flexible and feels like it'd be comfortable to wear. The laced bullet loops go through the 5 oz belly.

Frank, That's a heck of a rig yourself, "great job" back at ya. I'll bet the close up's helped a lot, I knew I had the top cut too high but I hadn't realized they were mostly open toe. I guess the stitch line I was seeing was the lining, learn something new everyday. Best regards, Josh