mlapaglia

Nice work. Did you put a welt in there to protect the stiches or just go with 2 layers of leather? The stamping and carving is very nice. Michael

I saw this on ebay the other day 15 lb maul and thought that was really heavy for leather work. This got me to wondering what is a good weight range for a maul to be used for tooling leather with occasional use for a punch? Michael

Mike, Thanks for your comments. I believe the plastic look may be a result of camera processing. The leather only has lexol and Leather balm with Atom wax on it. It does not look that shiny in real life. I have included a photo with all the processing of the camera turned off. It is closer to the actual look of the leather. Please let me know if it solves the plastic look. I agree with the stitch line comments but am not sure how to solve it. Due to a sill math error on my point the stitch like was only 15mm from the gun. This is 1/2 gun width plus the leather thickness. I think the problem is that I didnt get the gun pushed down far enough. Had it gone in a little farther it would be closer to the stitch line around the trigger guard. Its a learning process. I now know to make sure the gun does in deep enough. Your comments about it made me look and I see what you are referring to and think I know how ti solve it now. I over molded this one. In fact originally it took two of us to get the gun out of the holster. I had molded the rail too well and it was holding the gun in place. I will definitely lighten it up on the next one. I have to admit that I like the ejection port well defined but that is a personal preference. I found that I can define it well and then push it back out from the inside and still maintain the appearance of a tightly molded port. Thanks for the encouragement on this one. I will take your suggestions to heart on the next one. Here is the new photo I mentioned at the first part of this post.

In my case, no reason other than style. Something to make it a little different than the others. I abandoned it in the final version. Thanks for asking. Michael

Mike, I agree with the shine comment, all it has on it is Lexol and then a coat of leather balm with atom wax. This piece of leather was real shiny from the start. I think I will try to make it more of a semi gloss with a little alcohol and then more lexol. Ill try it on the back first to see how it looks. You are the second person to suggest that its a little tight at the back of the holster near the gun butt. I have a lot of room to grab the gun but I may trim the curve a little anyway on the next one. It couldn't hurt to have a little more room. Thanks for the comments.

Thanks for the suggestions and the comments. It really is 8/9 oz leather. I checked it with a caliper before I started to make sure I had grabbed the correct shoulder. What made you think it was too wet when molded? I did have to mold it twice as the first time it was so tight it took two of us to get the model gun out of the holster. I understand what you meant about the stitching around the trigger guard. Ill watch that next time. Thanks again for the comments. Michael

Pancake Holster for a S&W M&P 9mm 8/9 oz leather. Pattern changed to remove the angles that bothered everyone. Let me know what you think about the pattern. Stiching on the front side is pretty good, Back side I had a really bad day while working on this one. Good thing its for me. All in all for a second try I'm happy with it but I need more practice. Hopefully the next one will be better still. FYI the line down the middle of the back side is an example of how bad a dayI was having when I started this one. I should have walked away and restarted the next day. Feel free to point things out so I learn. If you see anything you like feel free to mention that too. Michael

I got lucky on that part. I agree its still a little tight but I have fat fingers and I can draw the gun without the top of the holster getting in the way so its close but ok.

It still does not condone the sellers attitude. Customer Service is important no matter who is right.

Once I can afford it I need to get one from Bob Douglass. Thanks. That was the thought that made me question sharpening the edges. Thanks for the info. Great story. Id love to be able to "Sit at the feet" of someone who has done this for years. You were really lucky to have that chance.

And the winner is!!!!!!!! While there was no tearing on the inside the slots on the rail were the problem. I could hear them click as I inserted the gun. I dampened that area and did a little smoothing on the rail slots and BINGO it slides out like a dream but still holds well when upside down. Katass, It must be the flash because there is no finish on the leather yet. All its seen so far is water. The shine could also be a result on the molding. Thanks for the suggestion on the washcloth. It let me smooth the rail slots without having to case the whole area. Thanks to everyone else that volunteered advice, Lobo, Shooter McGavin and Big O. I appreciate it. Now to get this holster completed so I can post it and let you guys tell me what I still need to work on. HINT, I made more mistakes on this one than the first time but I did get rid of the angles that bothered everyone.

I use a 45mm rotary blade knife like the quilters use for all my straight lines and rough cuts. I lay a straight edge on the leather and use it as a guide to cut. With cased leather it takes one cut. For tight curves I use a utility knife with a stropped blade. One thing nice about the rotary knife is I can use it to trim down the edge of one piece of leather using the other edge as a guide. Even for gentle curves. Mine is a Fiskars 9521 You can get them at hobby lobby and other craft stores. They go for about $15.00 and a pack of 5 replacement blades is about $10.00. TLF has one for 19.99 that is not as good as the Fiskars model. Give it a try. It wont do everything but for most cuts it does a great job.

Re: the sight channel, yes I did remember. I have a dowel with a slot cut in it for the front site. I tape it to the gun and use that as my mold point. I agree about the ejection port as well. It looks like it could be loosened up some too. Ill recase it and see if I can loosen it up. I never thought it could be too tight. That's why I'm still learning. Thanks Michael

I did a pancake today for a S&W M&P 9mm. I may have done too good a job on the molding around the trigger guard. I can not pull the holster out. Its that tight. Takes 2 of us to get it separated. While this makes for a safe way to carry a gun it makes it impossible to draw the weapon. The pack side has a gouge line down the middle of the modeled area. That was a mistake but I kept going as this is a practice piece. It looks like a split but is not. Should I try to spread the tight parts out a little with it dry or should I re-wet those areas and loosen it up some? I posted a few pictures. I have not done the edges or finish yet.

I have the Tandy Diamond Awl that goes into the handle with the metal chuck. I need to sharpen it and want to know if I should just sharpen the first 1/4", like it currently is or sharpen both sides all the way down. Any help or information is appreciated. Michael

Thank you for your response. Has there been any talk about making you the official tool historian? I really appreciate all the info you have given out all over this board. Michael.

I was given a Craftool F897. Can someone tell me what its purpose is? My thoughts are its a large shader but it would be nice to see its use on a design. Can someone show me its usage in a design? It is an old one with the Craftool Co USA on the shaft. Any information on what its used for would be great. Thanks. Michael

FYI I get 91% not 99%

Rob, I used my kids 10 year old Airsoft USP-9 It is great. Its the spring model. He put a lot of use on it and its still in great shape. Maybe the newer ones are not as good. There are a few different companies that make them for Airsoft. The one we have weighs 1 lb 5.9 oz. There is a lot of metal in this one. It is stamped HF P8. All I can go on is what I have experienced. tntsl, I hope I didn't steer you wrong. Michael

The picture on the auction page you used looks like a double shoulder. It sounds like you got a single shoulder. I agree that you should go after this person but I also know the feeling of just wanting to be done with it.

I use 99% isopropyl alcohol. You can find it at a pharmacy. Normal rubbing alcohol is 70% isopropyl alcohol. I do it on naked leather before I apply the finish. It helps exactly the way you are thinking, it cleans fingerprints and normal work related oils and grease from the leather. Make sure you condition the leather after dyeing it as the deglazer strips the oils out of the leather. EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), Lexol or neetsfoot oil all work. Lexol and neetsfoot oil both darken the leather somewhat. Neetsfoot oil darkens it more than Lexol or EVOO. If you are using a light dye or a natural finish stick to the EVOO. Try it on a piece of scrap that you handle a bunch first. Maybe do a test carving to simulate the condition leather gets to when you work on it. I believe you will like the results. It wont solve all the problems but it does help a lot.

Mike, That's a good enough answer. I am familiar with tapering the end of the thread. I had to do it last night to get some Tandy 5 cord into the eye of a #0. Al Stohlman's book on the Art of Hand Sewing leather talks about doing that. Right now I have 3 strand and 5 strand but both are nylon. I'm new I'm allowed to make silly errors . Now I know what to get for linen thread and I'm set. I have the holster book on my list to pickup. Thanks to you, and TwinOaks for help on this. Michael

Mike, What size waxed linen thread do you use with your #1 harness needle? I picked up some #000 and #0 needles and have size 1,3,4 on the way. Im trying to figure out which size needle to use with a 136 and 207 size linen thread. I did some research and found out that nylon will deteriorate with prolonged exposure to sunlight (UV) and strrech 26%. I now understand why its a good idea to use linen instead of nylon. Thanks Michael.

I have one of these Airsoft spring guns. Mine isnt the clear one its older, It really is a 1:1 copy of the USP 9mm. You can Get them for less than 25 dollars shipped if you look around. If you ger one of the newer ones with the orange type on the barrel you can cut it off flush. Michael

Ok I have my answers. I also have some new needles Ill post the diameter of the needles I have now in case someone else wondered. 000 Harness needle is 1.70 mm at its thickest part 0 Harness needle is 1.13mm at its thickest part Tandy's extra large eye needle is 1.33 mm at the thickest part of the shaft but 1.98 mm the widest part of the eye. Thanks to those that commented everyone was helpful. Im going to try the 0 harness needle first. Michael.