renegadelizard

Hey All. I have kinda become obsessed with making my own whip...i know, i need to sell more holsters and and quit goofing off, but once an idea gets in my head it just wont leave...so ive been studying and studying, and the plaiting i got down, somewhat, ...the knots, again somewhat, the method of construction that i will use is fairly simply..braided core, 2 plaited bellies, and the overlay...ill be using flax waxed nylon wrapped around the core and each belly instead of a bolster... im fairly confident i can pull this off, and i am excited to begin, its also a great excuse to buy more tools and enlist my machinist buddy to design a few along the way....the one issue that is giving me fits is what leather to use... Dave Morgan uses roo hide for the whole thing, in and out.. Terry Jacka uses roo on the overlay, but oily chrome tan cow on the inside... A few other folks are using veg tanned latigo one of the sales reps at the tannery i use said veg tanned latigo wouldnt work well for whips, and that i needed a chrome tan for the whip... it seems everyone has a different opinion and its got me quite confused... Any help here on what materials to use would be great...i think sheridan has roo hides, but they are 170+ for 6-8 ft...any other places less expensive?...

thanks Buck...i was i mite confused there..

try burnishing the edges with the dye still wet...i do this and it is amazing...i used to wet and burnish, but using the dye to wet the leather for burnishing gives better results for me...i dont know why, maybe its the denatured alcohol that i cut the dye with...

now im real confused..you guys are hitting the knot to tighen it up?...im talking about something like a 4x5 turks head or a spanish ring knot on a bracelet...

okay, i got few knots figured out now...is there an easy way to dress a knot?...it takes me twice as long to dress a knot as to tie it....

thanks guys...these knots are crazy

Thats the one i think is probably true...

Hey all, I have decided to adventure into braiding after my last western holster, and to say that im a complete idiot when it comes to this is an understatement...ive looked al over the net trying to find tutorials, and other than learning to tie a 4 bight round braid, a terminal knot, and a wall knot, ive come up empty as it applies to leather braiding....there is a gazillion tutorials on paracord however...im guessing its kind of the same...one of the things i noticed is that they all use a permalok needle...do you leather braiders use one as well?...if so, what size...SLC has regular, jumbo, and i think extra jumbo...the lace i have right now is flat 3mm lace....and help with this or any help at all would be awesome....im currently trying to find Bruce Grant’s Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding at a reasonable price, so i know until i get that i wont go anywhaere fast unless its maybe nowhere, but i still like to tinker...

Got to love all the different urban myths behind the water tower...

No worries...i try to keep ostrich, shark and elephant stocked...let me know if your plans fall through...

Hey, i think i have some brown and black laying around...the light brown can probably be dyed?..let me know and you can stop by and pick it up one evening..im just right down the road from you..

Hey Dwight, any particular reason why you did a reverse fold over on these? Was it just for the fun of it or do you get better retention in the trigger guard area?

adjustable cant belt clip

thats a new one to me....i'd say it was proprietory to that holster manufacturer...you may be able to get one as a "replacement" from the company..

Very nice, as always George...you've got a real knack for making leather "glow"...what are you finishing with?

mop n glo works, i just dont like the sheen it gives...the angelus is about the same as mop n glo but has a bit higher sheen to it..not sure about carnuba creme, i have used it on shark but not elephant yet..

i use angelul 600 on all of my elephant holsters...and i burnish the edges just like i would with cow hide..sand, dye, burnish, wax

this is what i use...lowes had them for 10 bucks or so...

I burnish and finish all edges before glueing and sewing, with the exception of the holster mouth...any time i have a reinforcement piece i leave the edge of that piece that matches up with the mouth of the holster unburnished and un dyed....after ive got all my sewing done, then i round over the rest of the outside of the holster except the outside stitch line seams, and burnish all of those, treating the top of the reinforcement piece and the mouth of the holster as one piece of leather...once i fold, glue, and stitch the holster closed, i finish those last stitch line seams and burnish those...it sounds much more complicated than it is, just got to get all of your steps lined out and do them a few hundred times...then your on autopilot...i made an edge burnishe similar to the ones weaver sells for little to nothing...got the 1725 rpm motor from friend, turned a mandrel to fit it on his metal lathe, fitted a wooden dowel over it, turned some grooves, glued on some canvas on the end, and its an all in one burnishing machine...saves years of time...

Same here, 3-4 weeks...i can usually get it done earlier, but i have 4 kids and a needy wife, so i have to build some extra time in...i can usually go from scratch to wet molding in 3-4 hours, thats designing the holster as well, but i save alot of time on pre-dyed leather...ive drawn up 150 or so patterns, so it doesnt take that long anymore to figure things out...once you have the pattern making down, everything else just sort of flows...not always, but usually...i had to cut apart a holster just last night because i forgot to add hardware between some layers on a gunfighter rig...in regards to drying, i stick mine in front of a fan after a short bake....it speeds things up considerably...good luck

I think my biggest challenge in tooling is just the patience part...i need an auto tooler..lol...kind of like a super industrial tattoo gun thingy or a small jackhamer...

Good looking work Jack, they all turned out really nice...love the tooling on that last one...

4-5 ounce leather is too light for any holster, even the baby autos...the will not last very long at all and will lose their shape and rigidity, and collapse when you dont want them too...

As always Josh, impeccable work...I love your tooling...i wish i could tool like that..

pm'ed you some pics...let me know which one you want and send me your mailing address..