mlapaglia

That looks like a Tyler T-Grip. As far as I know Tyler is out of business but you can still buy the T-Grip online in some stores. E-bay has two on there at the moment.

Has anyone tried Fiebing's Dure Edge? The Manufacturer says no burnishing involved. Sounds like snake oil to me. Fiebing's Dura Edge Fiebing’s Dura Edge is a flexible and highly durable finish that will result in a professional edge every time. No need for burnishing, buffing or other labor intensive processes to get the edge you always desired. Fiebing’s Dura Edge dries bright, hard and will not rub off. The convenient wool dauber attached to the cap allows for easy application with minimal mess. Available in Black and Brown.

Lobo, I did exactly that. I laid out two parallel lines 1 3/4 inches apart, its for a 1.5 inch belt. Then drew the slots so that they fit across the the lines. I found that in a post on this forum. I've done a LOT of reading the last few days. Denster, I agree about the corners and they were rounded about an hour after I posted the photo. It looks much better. I agree about lining it. I have some 2-3oz or some 3-4oz I can use to line it. The good thing is this is just a practice piece. I am hoping it comes out nice but if I totally mess it up it all I'm out is the leather and the experience I gain will be worth the cost of the leather. Thanks to everyone who commented. I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge that I have been able to tap into. One more question, I plan to saddle stich this. I have some waxed thread from Tandy, Item #11207-01, and some artificial sinew. If we ignore the color issue for the moment is one better than the other?

Very nice work. Looks great to me. What model is the rifle?

This is my second attempt at my first holster pattern. This will be my first holster I build once the leather is here later this week. I spent a good portion of this weekend looking at the site and reading about pancake holsters. That research and the comments made to my post in the pattern forum lead me to make some changes to the original design. I am still not sure about the clearance between the rear of the holster and the butt of the gun. I may have to change that on the fly. I also need to fix all the pointed corners with curves. Its for a HK USP 9. I have a Airsoft Duplicate to use as a mold. I have a single shoulder on order 6-7oz leather. Im not sure if I will line it yet or not. Please feel free to make comments, suggestions, etc. The stitch lines are on the pattern. They will be slightly revised for the edge stitching before I actually put them in. The third photo is of the original pattern I made. Comments and critiques welcome. (and yes, as a retired design engineer I tend to over think all my projects. )

Ok, this is pretty close to the final unless someone has more suggestions. I set the stich line per TwinOak's and particle's suggestions. With the pattern on cardboard the distance between the grip and the top of the holster seems ok. When I make it the first time with scrap I will be able to see if it is enough or needs to be moved. Thanks for the help. Anyone else got any suggestions before I cut the scrap leather and try it?

Thanks Mike, From your comments I decided to move the rear slot out to help it hold closer. Ill hold off and see if anyone else has some commens before I clean it up and make a new template. The leather wont be here for a few days anyway. Any opinions on lining it? Ive got so Pig skin lining but Im not sure how well it would stretch during the molding?

The example looks like carp because my AutoCad died and I had to fake it with a drawing and a scanner instead of the normal way I draw stuff, on the computer. Anyway, this is my first try at a pancake holster pattern. Id like any comments, questions, suggestions etc, on how to make it better. The dashed lines are the current stich lines. They need to be fixed. I have a single shoulder, 6-7oz, coming in this week for it and I have a full side of 3-4 oz if I need it. Please feel free to make any suggestions. This is going to be for an HK USP-9. I have an Airsoft copy to mold with. Thanks. Michael

You might not get a reply.

I have made one sheath from scratch first and then one from a tandy kit. In the picture the Tandy sheath is the larger one. I now want to make a new sheath for my Air force Pilots knife. The Tandy kit had the top piece of leather slightly wider, 1/4 ", than the lower piece so when it was stitched together it bowed slightly and made an opening in the sheath for the knife to slide in. This was a pain to stitch since it did not line up and I could not figure out how to get it in the stitching pony. I had to hold the leather together in order to force the holes to line up so it could be saddle stitched. Id like to avoid that with the next one so I am asking if it would make sense to place a piece of leather about 1/2 inch wide and the shape of the outer edge of the leather. To make a welt (kinda) to give me the spacing between the top and bottom. If that is not a good idea is there a way to make it easier to stitch the top and bottom when the top is intentionally wider by about 1/4 inches I know I can just use the same size top and bottom and mold space for the blade but I am trying to figure out other ways to solve the problem. thanks for any suggestions or help.

Becasue I was told by a person that does this for a living that it was the way to do it. Maybe deglaze was the wrong word. It was to clean it prior to applying the finish. The conditioner was supposed to replace the oils that the cleaning removed. When you don't know a lot you tend to listen and follow what people tell you to do. At least until you learn enough to make your own decisions. At the end of the "Deglazing/cleaning" the burnishing was still there. It was only afterwards when the 4 way was applied that it vanished.

I bought some Eco-flo Easy Carve and gave it a try. Cased a knife sheath let it set in the fridge for 48 hours. Transferred the pattern to the leather and carved and tooled it. I had the best burnishing I have ever had. At one point the swivel knife needed to be stropped and the last cut before I stropped it was starting to burnish as it cut. As a newbie I was amazed at the entire project. Best burnishing I had ever done. I then cleaned with denatured alcohol and put some Fiebings 4 way care leather conditioner, I tried to buy Lexol conditioner but this was all Tandy had and the guy there said it was the same, I applied one coat, let it soak in and then wiped it off. ALL MY AMAZING BURNISHING WAS GONE!!!! I almost cried. I tried an experiment with the same stamping done twice on a peice of 3-4 oz scrap. I did not clean just applied the 4 way to one half of the leather. As you can see in the picture, the burnishing below the red line went away,. Prior to the 4 way they two sides looked the same. Was it something I did or is the Fiebings 4 way care leather conditioner removing my burnishing???? I understand now that it is not the same as a conditioner only but should it remove burnishing? (edit to change "Deglaze" to "cleaned")

It states on the table of contents that it is copyright 1997 Tandy Leather Company. This is still a valid copyright and you can buy it for $5.99 from Tandy #61906. I am new here so I don't know the policy on making copyrighted material available. I bought one. It is worth owning it. Lots of good information. Michael