K-Man

Signature receipt/confirmation is required if the customer paid with a credit card. Read the fine print of the VISA, Mastercard, etc., requirements. Otherwise they can dispute the charge and will win every time. Not quite sure where/how you have your products shipped, but it's only $1.75 more to add the signature confirmation utilizing USPS as the shipping agency.

My experience with the ASP guns pretty much mirrors what Boomstick has experienced. In addition, every other custom holster maker that I have had the opportunity to talk with about the red guns, or have read their posted comments in a thread somewhere, mirrors that experience. You'll find an occasional red gun that does work for molding/holster-making purposes. And sometimes the end user of the holster may just be tolerant of the fit of their gun and not know any better with respect to a truly poor fit. The light bulb usually goes on though when they've had the opportunity to use a better quality, better fit, of holster.

Seeing UG's post here reminded me that I needed to give an update on my use of Titebond III glue and it's application on leather. It now being ~4 months since my assembly of a pocket holster for a Colt Government .380, I took the holster and was able to easily (for me) pull the holster apart where it had been glued together. The glued area was approximately 1" wide by 2.5" high. This further testing, beyond what my previous experiences had been with wood glues on leather, shows me that my earlier comments are substantiated. YMMV.

I have a bunch of the 3-d stamps. If I have that one in particular, you're welcome to borrow it for your project. Just would like to get it back to me. Let me go check and see if I've got it. Edit to add: Sorry, Rayban, just looked and saw that I did not have it. Good luck in your search.

Boning on the pocket holster has essentially the same importance as it does on an IWB/OWB style of holster. Jared - Since you make holsters, you understand how to achieve the right amount of retention to hold the gun in the holster securely yet allow it to be pulled with ease. The same theory applies to pocket holsters. Of course, everyone's different with respect to how tight they want that. That's just one of the factors to consider.

Here's my perspective. I've had the opportunity to make a great number of pocket holsters, so my comments are based on my experience, my knowledge, and my research of pocket holsters made by the top names in the business. The ideal ounce weight/thickness is 5.5 - 6. I have my leather split to 5.5 ounce thickness by Hermann Oak. They have a .5 oz variable on either side of that - meaning the leather is going to be 5-6 ounce in thickness ultimately. IMO, using a lighter weight leather than mentioned above lends to a much shorter lifetime of the holster, especially for the heavier pocket-sized guns. In other words, it's going to break down and ultimately become useless in short order. For example, let's say you buy a piece of H.O. advertised as 4/5 oz. You're actually getting a thickness ultimately that ranges from 3.5 - 5.5 oz. The thickness of 3.5 oz is, IMO, way too thin for a functional and durable holster. YMMV. With respect to boning or detailing the holster, that's where the retention is incorporated. By just sticking the gun into the holster without doing that lends to the opportunity for the gun to fall out of the holster itself and very possibly out of the pocket, if in a seated position. Most often, you'll only do the boning/detailing on the side of the holster that is up against the leg/thigh. The exterior/back side of the holster generally is not detailed. This gives you enough retention to hold the gun in the holster itself, and at the same time, give you a relatively smooth exterior surface and thus limiting the potential printing in that respect. Now, if you're in an environment where your clothing is pulled tightly across the leg, you're going to have printing no matter what. And if that's the case, you need to find another mode/style of carry.

Ian: PM sent.

Glad to hear you're happy with your source for clips. Good luck to you.

Never had that problem with the clips I've ordered from Albest. I've used/ordered approximately 500 of their clips on my holsters over the past few years.

I would think that depending on the overall size that you're going to affect the sound/tone of the guitar?

Awesome work, Ian. Congratulations.

Could you clarify your statement with respect to the quality?

Nice job on the maul, Ed. Am really enjoying the one's you made for me.

Everyone - I'm sorry to say that some unforseen issues have come up that will delay our being able to offer these at this time. I'll post a message when we're able to offer them again. Thanks for your understanding.

I use it every day. Payment for the shipping is tied to a debit card or credit card. Only real annoyance is you have to be spot on with the delivery address - spelling, number, zip - or it won't accept it and won't give you any real options to figure out what might be incorrect, save looking up a zip code. Nine times out of ten, it's the street number or street name that needs correcting. Other than that, it's an easy system to use and convenient. You can ship international through it as well.

Ed: We can make it for a spindle in that size in order to fit in a rotary tool. The price would be the same - $22.50/each. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Talking with the customer this morning, he mentioned that he had also been interviewed by a reporter from Russia. Not sure where that might go. He also mentioned the holster drew quite a bit of attention. They really liked the anaconda skin on it. Not knowing for certain, but I would suspect that there were some in the crowd who also carried a magazine in a pocket.

Had this show up yesterday: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,...=rss-nation-cnn That's one of my holsters in the picture. The customer has had it for approximately 2 years now. I'm trying to find out if the article is going to appear in their hard copy version of the magazine, or just online.

I guess the beauty of these purses is in the eye of the beholder. I recently had a customer send me a Louis Vitton purse, valued at $900, and wanted me to cut it up and put pieces of it on some holsters. I drug my feet a bit before doing it and questioned him probably 15-20 times, making sure he wanted me to do that. He did, and so we did. BTW, those LV purses have some really cheap internals and manufacturing....

Bree: The overall length of the burnishers, with shaft, is 3 1/8". I don't have the tools to measure the depth of the coves. I can say that it increases slightly in depth as you move up in width. iwannabeacowboy: The diameter of the shaft/spindle is 3/8"; the length is 1". rickeyfro: Send me a pm and we can get you in line for one or both, however you would like to do that. DanielSomerville: Send me a pm with your shipping address and I can provide you with a quote on the shipping. Shouldn't be too much, as the package weight is less than a pound. Shorts: No problem. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Haven't experienced that, Larry. I've been using my own personal ones for about 2 years now. I've used a combination of beeswax and paraffin wax (merged together) on the edges of the leather, and recently started using fiebing's saddle soap.

Ed: We'll be able to do the smaller diameter of spindle for them. However, we're going to have to use a different material to ensure durability of the spindle. The aluminum would most likely bend at that small of a diameter. That being said, there may be a price difference for making them in this way. I've put an inquiry in with the maker with respect to that, and should hear something back fairly soon. I'll post the results as soon as the info is available.

Kate: Yes, that is birdseye maple. We made those grips for that gun. To my knowledge, we've been the only ones able to make actual wood grips for it. We're in the process of making some for the same gun from some afzelia burl - very similar to the amboyna burl I had Ed/Bear Man make my mauls from. I'll send you a pm on the pricing for the edge slickers. (It is mentioned though in my original posting - $22.50/each plus shipping).

Right this very minute. Just kidding. Let me know whenever you're ready.

Ed: I'm pretty sure we can do that, but let me double-check on it for you.