chiefjason

One of the best things I have done for my leather working was ditch the razor knife and buy round knives. I have a round knife, head knife, and a straight blade skiver. All Osbourne's. The round knife is the #70 and is used for most of my cutting work. The Head knife is the #71. It has thinner "ears" that let me cut tighter curves more easily than the round knife. The straight skiver is a 67-1, about 1 3/4" wide. I use it to skive belts and cut belt slots and some general trimming work. If you don't know how to sharpen a knife well, you need to learn. The key is keeping them absurdly sharp. When I have folks in the shop I always demonstrate how sharp they are so they don't mess with them. Watching me push a knife through scrap leather like it's nothing is enough to get their attention.

It does not get that cold around here. But if there is an extended time of sub freezing temps, I bring some of my liquids inside. Might be worth bringing the leather and dye up to inside temps before dying. Pores open and close, doubt it. But physics is physics and everything expands and contracts with the temp and humidity. I could see some issues with extreme temps, even if it's a combination of leather and dye problems.

Personally, I love Teatro. But it's not really country. Fantastic music though, IMO. Honeysuckle Rose is full of some of his best songs. City of New Orleans has a few big ones on it. Don't forget the Highwaymen stuff. Or just grab a greatest hits type album. Half Nelson has some great duets too. In case you don't know the Highwaymen; Willie, Waylon, Cash, and Kristofferson. Doing a good Willie and Waylon song.

Check on ebay. I got one from MM pretty fast over there a while back. Ordered the VP9 before Rings made it. I chucked a dremel cutting tool in my drill press and went to work on the ejection port, trigger guard, and trimmed the sight channel down some. Works well.

Love Tedeschi Trucks too. Throw this one in the mix, Lori McKenna- Salt. I love singer/songwriters, great obscure artists, and a good story. Also a sucker for a great female voice. I need to look more into her work, this song is fantastic though.

I know, she kills me every time she opens her mouth. I spent 2 hours on youtube listening after I posted that. FYI, check out "I want you Back" on the Boston Sidewalk. Live, open air, and they absolutely KILL IT! Open the video in another window, copy the address out of the internet address bar, paste it here. I always preview the post to make sure it comes up.

I'm usually running one of three Pandora stations; Amos Lee, Avett Brothers, or Lake Street Dive. With that it will bring up a huge swath of artists. Dan Tyminski, Bob Dylan, Mumford & Son, Willie Nelson, John Prine, The Band, Jack Johnson, some old blues, R&B, or Jazz. If I'm listening to a radio station I usually stream Martha's Vineyard Radio. Pretty much get most of the above there too. In case you have not had the pleasure, this is Lake Street Dive. This video is one take.

If you want a non acrylic finish try neatsfoot oil and beeswax mixed 50-50 by weight. Melt that together and let cool. Rub paste on leather and heat with a heat gun until it absorbs. I use 2-3 coats. I made the mistake of waxing something the other week that I need to wet and bend. It bent, but it did not wet. lol

I make my welt about twice as wide as my stitch groover. That gives you some wiggle room for trimming the edges if you get a bit off while glueing. And plenty of protection for the thread. I use 8-9, but usually the thinner spots that I don't use for holsters. So maybe more toward 7-8. To get my pattern I trace out the part of the knife that will be in the sheath. Then add the welt thickness to that pattern and adjust if needed. If the knife does not have much of a bolster you could cover the handle about half way up. You don't get a full grip, but you do away with the snap and strap. You may need to add another partial welt to accommodate the handle thickness.

It does not appear that you are using a stitch groover. That can actually clean up some of the problem by giving the thread somewhere to lay. If you have access to a drill press you can chuck the awl blade in the press and keep it more vertical than you can do by hand. I punch all my holes on the press, then hand stitch.

For hand stitching, saddle stitch, 2 layers of 8-9 oz I multiply the stitch length times 6 and have never come up short and normally don't waste a lot either.

Mop & Glo cut 50/50 with water. Cheap, easy to find, works. You're welcome.

No, not this one. Next one I'll try to get a pic.

Been pretty busy lately but nothing of note to post really. Finished up a run of sheaths for some local knife makers and thought I would post some pics. Picked up 2 more blades when I delivered these. Pretty basic stuff on this one. Left side carry, blade forward. Crossdraw and attached fire steel. Picked up the idea for welting the fire steel loop here a week or so ago. Great idea and looks so much cleaner. Another cross draw with less cover and a snap.

See if Duncan's has one. I think they do, but can't get the inventory page to load. If you email them they will send you their current inventory. I bought a S&W X frame from them and it's a solid mold. http://duncansoutdoor.com

Hybrid holsters. Leather and kydex, nothing fancy. The bridle keeps me from having to dye it and the pressed back looks nicer than the normal flesh side. And the stuff I get is struck through so no touching up the edges either. I deal with black exclusively so that color likely hides what looks like scratches. But I get the wrinkles near the belly and the fat wrinkles. Some are better than others. If I get a bad one that gives me a lot of waste I usually request a cleaner one the next go around.

I work with bridle a lot. It's generally oiled, waxed, and pressed. So it's shinier to begin with on the finished side, and sometimes the pressed side looks as good as the grain side. I would not consider mine stiff or dry though. Could the stiffness come from the weight of the leather? Also, if it's pressed (smooth) on the back that might firm up the side a bit. Here is what I see. Pic 1 and 2 look like range marks. Cows have a rough life. Anyone that wants real leather and no blemishes is going to have a hard time finding it or pay dearly for it. Pic 3 looks like a soft/thin spot in the leather. If I'm assuming correctly the edge in the pic is the belly edge. Belly leather is soft, and either comes pre wrinkled or wrinkles easily. It's mostly waste. Pic 4 looks kind of like fat wrinkles or stretch marks in the hide. Not saying you have to be happy with it. To be honest, pic 4 looks a bit excessive. I occasionally get sides like that and I don't really care for them. But it does not hurt the finished product I'm making. But if you are unhappy with it talk to the seller.

Start by looking in the same line; i.e. Glock, XD, M&P, Kahr, and Taurus all have some like this. You will find that the OD does not change with the caliber. Some companies do this with their products. Blue guns being able to fit guns from other companies are a bit more unusually, but it does happen. If I can get the dedicated blue gun, I go that route. But sometimes I can cross fit something. I did that with the Sig 2022 for a while, it was a dead ringer for an XD. Finally just picked up the blue gun. Best bet is spend some time on Google when you have a question. If I can find solid evidence it will work, I'll go for it. If not, I turn the customer down.

Look at it this way. Gun companies like to be able to save money where they can too. And tooling is one of those places. The 19/23/32 use the same frame and slide with differences internally. M&P's and XD's are built the same way too. Lots of companies streamline their production that way. Take the XDs for example. The .45 and 9mm are the same size externally. But the 9mm weighs more because the barrel is thicker. The barrel is thicker so it will fill up the .45 size hole in the end of the slide.

I use line 24 snaps. I started to use pull the dot, but the reality is you want it to break somewhat easier than a PTD snap. I use the metal stiffeners now, but have made my own out of kydex too. I also use a plastic snap in protector between the inside snap and the pistol. You don't want metal on metal contact. Most places that carry holster materials should have all those. I got mine from Blue gun store and/or Springfield leather.

IMO, the strap should not interfere with the combat grip. That one does. How are you going to grip and draw the gun with the strap there? Flip side is that the slide is kind of tapered forward which might make things a bit more tricky. But I would still work the strap over the slide. I vote odd ball on that holster.

There might be other ways, but for basic that's the way to go. I've used it before. If you want something more stable but not much larger look at the avenger style holsters. They use a tunnel loop on the back and a belt slot in the ear at the trigger. You get 2 attachments without much more bulk in the holster.

I've got 4 knife sheaths in process. Another ready to glue up. I have hooked up with a couple local makers that are just starting out. From what I hear there are 4-5 more waiting when these are done. I really like how you incorporated the fire steel loop into the welt. In a word, brilliant. I may need that for the one that is ready to glue up, he wants a fire steel loop too and because it's a cross draw with a hanging loop I was running out of real estate on the edges.

Carnac the Magnificent says, "This holster is for a Ruger P95." Go to Springfield leather. Check out the Gold Club Advantage program. Price is $25.99 for 3/4" letters. Ask me why I know all this. lol I'm going to mark those off of my must have tools list now. lol

The studs would work. They are very secure if you can figure out how to mount them under a loop and pass the tag end of the leather through the loop and over the stud. I have a buddy that makes belts that use that instead of a buckle and they are rock solid. But that would likely add too much bulk to the system. If I were looking for simple and secure I would just work with the pull the dots. My concern with the stud would be if you mounted it on the back it might get enough pressure to release from daily wear. The direction of pull on the back would likely be trying to pull the strap away from the case and off the stud. You might could solve that by wrapping the strap around to the front where the stress would pull the strap down on the stud. If you can mount the stud so the pressure pulls the strap down on the stud instead of trying to lift the strap off the stud it might work.