St8LineGunsmith

LOL ya I would not want to use a second hand one

I use wax toilet bowl ring for waxing thread cheap and lasts forever.

the absolute best cutting mat you can get IMHO is a hobbico cutting mat I have the 24"X36" on my work bench. goes really easy on knife blades, unlike poly boards they are more forgiving on knife edges you can purchase from tower hobbies for cheaphttp://www3.towerhob...0001p?&I=LXL451 if you are punching holes use a piece of heavy veg tan leather scrap so you don't punch holes in your cutting mat

ya sometimes skiving is necessary you will probably be better off using a skiving knife or a round knife if you have one. the post should protrude at least 1/64" with the snap in place to get a good lip around the snap 1/32 or more would be better but 1/64 will work fine. the leather will compress some when you hit it with the setter.

for thick leatheryou will need a long post and possibly may need to skive the leather down where the snap will be placed.

Colt for ten bucks shipped you cant beat it I am very pleased with the one I have.

Dwight I sent youa PM the file is too big to attach Via PM.

that albetta round knife didnt come very sharp but i now have it cutting thick leather like butter I used 150 and 300 grit sticky back sand paper stuck to the edge of my granite slab to hone down the edge then I used some 500 and 800 grit wet sanding paper on top of my granite slab sprayed down with soapy water to hone and polish the edge then I stroped the blade on a piece of heavy tooling leather and white rouge for that super scary sharp edge. these Albetta round knifes hold a sharper edge better than my osborne skiving knife.

instead of using card board glued to the back I use clear packing tape or that blue painters tape it comes off a lot easier than trying to peel off glued on card board and it does an excellent job at keeping the leather from stretching during tooling. I do this to all my leather projects that require tooling.

I see a lot of nice stamps that are discontinued that I would love to have. Nice find for sure!

go to leathercraft library and sign up for the video lessons George Hurst made a step by step video on making chaps.. PM me if you want the patterns I have them in PDF that you can take to your local office depot and have the full sizepatterns printed out for a couple of dollars.

I dont think I have ever seen any leather cutting knifes sharp enough out of the box to cut leather worth a flip seems any knife I get could stand a good sharpening session what I like about those blades is they put a handle on them so they can be sharpened easy, that draw gauge will make lace good as long as the blade is razor sharp

ya BTW Good score on the tools 18 bucks for both hammers is a good deal especially for good vintage.models and that blade in the draw gauge is probably a piece of German Soligen steel that will hold a good sharp edge justlike all edged tools keep it stroped and it will keep a razor sharp edge.

cobblers hammers are good for shaping and forming thick leather without leaving marks in the leather excellent tool for forming and shaping saddle parts .and a good tool to use for forming holsters a magnetic tack hammer is another good hammer to have around.

seems to me a piece like that would comprise of multiple plates 8-10 oz veg tan bound to a suede garment I like the upper leg armour to go along with the breast plate and belt and would not be too very hard to make just a lot of sewing.

first you will need a basic understanding of leather work which you can learn by reading here in the forums a good place to start would be getting started section. you will need to know about casing leather and wet forming leather you will need to have the design of leather armour you want to make you will need a good sharp utility knife you will need set of hole punches straight edge and other measuring tools this is the kind of leather you will need to use http://springfieldleather.com/29975/Sole-Bends%2CSuper-Thick/ you will also need setting tools for the type of fasteners you use as you can see in this pic that making leather armour can be a complex undertaking

looks to me like it is 6-7 Oz

I ((((ECHO)))) Al Stohlmans books The art of hand sewing leather, Leathercraft Tools and leatherwork Manual some other of my picks would be craft tool tech tips, how to carve leather and how to buckstitch Sthohlman Encyclopedia of saddle making Vol 1 and Vol 2 these books cover all the key components of educating your self about the technical and mechanical aspects of leatherwork Valerie Michael leatherworking handbook is a good book for more modern design ideas where as some of Als design books like the art of making leather cases would be somewhat out dated due to the the type of applications they were designed for however the methods of making hand made leather goods has changed very little over the last 150 years the rest is imagination.

I dont see a diffrence between UK and US Al Stholman Is one of the foremost accomplished leather craftsman who ever existed. the methods and procedures he taught are tried and true methods that are the standard in the leathercraft world wide Actually Al Stohlmans book the art of hand sewing leather is well illustrated on how to make a proper saddle stitch and how to use the awl and needles practically identical to how Nige shows how it is done in his videos. the appearance of the stitch is more dependent on whether the awl hole is angled and how the stitch is applied rather than whether or not there is a stitch groove. the stitch angle is also dependent on whether a angled diamond awl is used at the proper 45 degree angle or whether a round hole is made into the leather. Long before there were stitching groovers made by crafttool there were scratch compass made by CS Osborne and other companys used to make the groove western saddle and Tack makers have been using stitch grooves for a very long time for the sole practical purpose to eleminate thread wear it originally had nothing to do with cosmetic appearance. a good old scratch compass is a much better option because it can be used for other applications. I can get the angled stitch with or without a groove as long as my awl holes are correctly inserted and I follow the correct stitching procedure. I really dont think there are any descrepencies between UK and US in how a proper stitch is applied there are however descrepencies on what an individual preceives as the proper stitching procedure. I do however agree the stitch groove don't need to be used on every application such as thin leather.

just to throw in my two cents about the sewing machine I would like to have if it ever becomes a requirement is a Cobra Class 4 I have a professional holster maker friend who swears by them and has allowed me to demonstrate his and it does run sweet either at the speed of a snail or the sped of a pro mod dragster it operate smooth as silk I think it will sew together two pieces of 3 oz as nice as a thick piece up to 7/7" thick which will pretty much cover anything I make from saddle bags biker wallets, tooled purses, journals, computer, tablet, smart phone cases, belt bags, belts holsters, knife sheathes' I have heard a lot of upholstrey guys who swears by the Cobra sewing machines also and it has a really good price point I also looked at the cowboy leather Stitcher and the tech sew 5100 which are also good machines, looks like these three are identical machines so if I can find any one of them used at a SWEET steal of a deal I would probably try to buy it. but as far as buying one out right new I would probably get a Cobra Clsaa 4 from Cobra Steve because I have actually been able to operate my friends which he bought his from Cobra Steve and he swears by Cobra Steve that he stands behind his machines 100% I promise I am not trying to put a plug in here for Cobra Steve

Hello I am in Rossville welcome to the forum go to Tandy and look at their printed gator shoulders they look very real and would work nice for upholstery I bought some I am going to use for inlay for pocket books tablet phone and computer cases and a couple of holsters and maybe a belt or two several of us meet at Tandy on Saturdays at 10:00 AM for free leather classes They fired the old manager who was the instructor and he was great! I don't understand why they fired him he was very knowledgeable about leather and leather working... Their loss IMO anyway no one is sure what the new manager has in mind for the leather class we will find out this Saturday I guess there is a lot of good information here in the forum

what stands out most to me is the stitching. instead of making square corners in the stitching make the stitch lines flow with the curvature of the gun. layout the perimeter of the holster stitch line with a wing divider 3/16" from the edge and use a stitching groover and overstitch wheel to use as a prep for your stitching line and holes will help make your stitching look real nice punch your holes with a diamond awl at a 45degree angle will add contrast to your stitching I use the waxed artifical sinew for sewing just about everything I make only fall back is you have to twist it up before stitching but really makes nice looking stitching when making your lines use a straight edge

bump for the build

and you dont even have to spend a lot of money on a decent round knife as long as you know how to hone and maintain an edge My round knife is one of those 10 dollar Abetta round knives from Amazon that would not cut chese until I put a scary sharp edge on it and I guarantee it is as sharp as any al stohlman or Osborne round knife I always strop the blade before and after use to keep the edge sharp