Eaglestroker

Thought a few of you might like seeing this. Maverick had some nice chocolate colored shark at a good price so I scooped up a side hoping for a use. Here it's seen over Havana W&C skirting for a nice contrast. The belt is a plastic lined 1.75' with a brace of mag pouches to finish it off. Final finish is angelus acrylic. The customer is a semi-local LEO customer and got me in good graces with the sheriff for a few more orders. Critiques and comments welcome as always.

That is a really unique set up Josh. Great work!

A friend who also happens to be my brother-in-law comes in 2 nights a week and does 8 hours of edges. With belts especially it is a major help and I work production around it to utilize it the best of my abilities. I average 40 hours a week as a second job and my wife also helps from time to time. What's sleep?

I really like that revolver snap rig, and the high ride IWB design. Great work as expected!

Frank, I'm especially fond of your jockstrap rendition. Great work as always!

Josh, the depth you get out of your tooling just oozes through the screen. Great work as always!

I've ordered different needles from the Leather Machine Co, but had to call. Try to give them first crack at things. I sew primarily with 277 or 306 and a 23/24/25 needle, mostly 24. After you run the machine for a while you will notice small differences with each but right now you need to get the bulk set before you really dial in and fine tune it.

I pick up the phone, call Wickett & Craig, and tell them I need a side in X oz holstered/plated in Y color. It makes life so good. When I had dyed all I used were Feibings Pro cut with denatured alcohol in a dipping method. After a while you get used to the colors it 'throws' but there is a pretty good learning curve. I like dipping because it gives you the best dye penetration.

Thanks for the compliments all! I should clarify that Ray was kind enough to supply the pattern for the center piece, aka the butterfly shoulder support. The rest you just kind of have to figure out.

I'll play devil's advocate to Dwight, but it is only based off of my experience. When I first started leather working my grandfather loaned me his cast iron Boss. The machine runs well but requires constant attention to tension settings, and the softest breaking of wind would put mine in a world of hurt, heaven forbid you sneezed. I ran that machine for 2 years and got to the point where it took no time to keep it running efficiently. My two main griefs with the Boss were how the feed dogs marked the back side of your project, and tension maintenance. This period for me was priceless as it taught me how to run a machine without having a powered deal to add another variable. Fast forward to me buying a Cobra Class 4. I get cleaner stitching front and back, more production in the same amount of time, less maintenance, a wider throat for long holsters that require that feature, but the biggest incentive for me is the ability for both hands to be on the project. The only time my tension settings need to be adjusted is when there is a substantial change in thickness of leather and even then it is minimal tweaking. At first the power intimidated me but that proved to be unnecessary. Even ammo loops were quick/easy to sew - belt sewing times were cut in half, holsters by a third, and ammo loops also in half. Everyone is different and that is a key factor. The experience with the Tippmann allowed me to appreciate my Cobra that much more, and also gave me a great understanding of how a machine generally works. I wouldn't have skipped this step as the Boss didn't cost me anything other than maintenance. Buying a new machine something small than the Class 4 or equivalent wouldn't be on my radar.

Ray Cory, otherwise known as Lobo Gun Leather, was kind enough to provide me with the pattern for this ingenious shoulder piece sometime back after a discussion on the subject. Fast forward some two years and I finally had a chance to put it into use not long ago. The idea behind this rig is something to wear in the deer stand, on a four wheeler, horse, and otherwise just knocking around situations where I like to have a gun and prefer to have it off my belt. Certainly not a speed rig to deploy. Straps are two layers of 3 oz veg tan lined that need to be shortened by 8-10" OAL to minimize the bulk. The butterfly panel is 8oz with a 4oz back panel, sheath is a lined double 3oz back with 6oz welt and 8oz front, along with a double 10oz holster and 8oz ties/water loops all around. With all the individual pieces it totals out at 23 pieces of leather and another 24 pieces of hardware! The stitch lines on this holster need to be critiqued along with a bit of cant to offset a negative cant from how it sits on me - but otherwise a very serviceable rig. I've been wearing this a few days a week for around a month and it conceals well under a light jacked for me. May be another month before I get the harness to set just 'perfect' though :D

Very handsome work, as always, Paul!

Josh, you have a way with leather Great looking rig!

I consider up to a 50" center 'normal' and size my back at 60", leaving the neck for holsters or whatever else I'm working on. If someone needs a belt longer there is a surcharge attached, and I order another hide from the tannery. If they are lined belts you can size your lining hide shorter if you stop the lining at the fold for the buckle. While I've been able to put the scraps to use a lot of times I'd prefer to just not have it at all. My average belt is 40" so that still leaves a good bit of waste on every strap.

I've yet to master that, yours looks very nice!

Just wanted to say thanks! I've been wanting to try a wallet and this one fell together easily - it stitches great on my Cobra and is a 40 minute project start to finish. My only want ot change, is to make the cash slot about an eighth inch taller as the cards sit a little proud for me. It looks & works so much better than the last Chaylor & Fenelli interior that I covered.

I think the argument from a discerning customer would/could be that if you take the time to go through that process, it would imply that your work is detail oriented. Not everything is black & white as is evidence by the large variations in workers just on this page there is a ton of styles. Customers have more options for small job shops, hobbyists, and all the way to larger production based shops than ever before in the gun world so they are allowed to be picky. While you can try your best to educate the customer on what specific function particular things and try to guide in the best direction for them with a good majority you won't change his/her mind. If you are seeking confirmation for the direction you've chosen that's probably the wrong reason to ask, as your opinion is already made. My holsters don't/won't feature a detail boning outside of close friends gear. Don't like it, slows me down, and I'm just not that good at it. The latter would change with experience *but* I prefer to send them to folks that do that style of work rather than attempting to be everything to everybody. That was a tough lesson for me at first. Best advice I can give is do the best piece you can every time, don't be afraid to say no, and keep a reliable turn around. Do that and no matter what molding process you choose you'll have more work than you want.

Great work Paul! I never messed with one much, and when I did a mag pouch for one it was funny to me. Smallest accessory pouch I've made by a long shot

A 327 is an N-framed S&W in lightweight configuration, most likely with a slab sided barrel and some even have option rails. The N-frame is the second largest frame size S&W offers, the J frame is the smallest. To directly answer your question no way. a 24/25/27/28/29 or the like will get you in the right ball park but still lots of variables for a perfect fit - including cylinder length between the different models.