St8LineGunsmith

this is where I buy my foam open cell rebond foam is a good seat cushion foam there are a wide selection of foam to choose from

I recently bought a side of harness/bridle leather from SLC and it tools very well in fact I am planning on making some brazzos Jack shoulder rigs from it with tooling. I is my thoughts to resist the surface so just the tooled area would take the finish. the eco flo antiquing gel should work well for highlighting the tooling of the already finished Harness leather.

I have had an oppurtunity to use several of the pro stamps and I think they make very good impressions. they are made from stainless and not chrome plated so they will basically last forever pending a nuclear blast they are however a bit pricey so the level of use would dictate whether or notsomeone would need to buy the stamps. I also used the small pro swivel knife with the angled blade and I really love the feel and its precision.If I did leatherwork for a living I would love to have these tools however I do pretty well with the regular craft tools.

The whole rig is Very nice I especially like the paddle holster and the bullet holder.

I have found the best thing in the world for edge coatting without using wax and makes the edges slicker than owl shit and requires very little burnishing and is great for finishing of the whole project. I even use it for background inlay, truly an all purpose finish IMO you have to try the eco flo antiquing gel I use it religiously then apply a WBPU for a protective top coat FYI the ECO FLO Super Sheen is basically the same thing as Min wax Polycrylic that you can pick up a whole quart can at Walmart for the same price as a four OZ bottle of super sheen from Tandy.. Just thought some of you might like to know.

if you want to make a living in leather work go to work for a saddle shop

a pancake from start to finish, no tooling 4 to 5 hours but I hand stitch everything. give or take 8 hours for the wet molding to completely dry but that time is not added into the labor. someone with a sewing machine could probably cut my labor time in half. the more elaborate the design and stitching requires more time.

Looks Good Nice work.

Hello and welcome to the forum I am in Rossville, GA

that is good to know camo ridge I just now had them send me an invoice for an 1858 Remington new army mold gun really the only place I could find percussion cap mold guns

Hidepounder If i were to be able to have any shop in this thread I like your layout the most I would love to be able to have a 3'x8'x36" tall cutting table I like my little harbor freight hard wood work bench for carving and assembly but I would like to have a log cut the same height as my work bench by 12" in diameter with a slab of granite on top for carving kind of like the setup Nigel has. that would be the ideal work space for tooling just about any size project I would make not to mention it is perfect for installing hardware and other procedures plus it is somewhat a mobile work surface and I love how he has his tols right handy there where he needs them. I would love to upload some pics of my little shop and my projects but I lost the cord for my camera

Cheryl Thanks for that link I have been trying to find percussion cap revolver holster molds for some time now thanks to you I dont have to look any further.

I had a super RedHawk and You aren't just joking when you said behemoth hand cannon those things are all gun! and nice rig too BTW.

there are a lot of uses for the veiner I found two other stamps I like for basket weave pattern and border

I still have not figured out what border tool that is you used.

nice work there

this is a cool video I found so thought I might post it here.

Very nice! I made a holster recently using the tri weave basket stamp I really like that stamp

Ya you can say that again!

Here is a chart that may be benefical to the discussion at hand http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=45085 anyway I usually don't gauge the leather with an instrument i just eyeball it however I have been messing around with the stuff off and on for the past 38 years from building saddles to coin purses so I have a pretty good idea of what weight should be used with any particular type of project. I totally agree with everything Dickf and twin oaks has said which is sage advice for anyone looking to profit from their work. there is a general rule of thumb that should be followed when selecting the right weight and type of leather for any particular project just like you would not want to make holsters from a piece of 12 oz saddle skirting you would not want to make billfolds from thick leather either. Imapeopleperson I dont think anyone was trying to rake you over the coals or say your work looks like crap I just think they were trying to give constructive criticism so don't take it to heart the holsters look good for the style you were going for back years ago wet forming was seldom done on holsters however with the evolution of pancake and paddle holsters wet forming the holster to the gun has become common practice the thing about wet forming it is easy and can be done even if the finish has been applied to the outside of the holster as long as the flesh side remains unfinished or untreated with water repellent coatings however wet forming works best with an untreated or unfinished holster because it will take water and wil form much better. anytime wet forming is being applied it is very important that the leather is sealed afterwards so it will retain the shape of the pistol it was made for otherwise if the holster gets wet it can loose its form of the weapon. that is the whole deal with wet forming is that it securely holds the firearm firmly in the holster so it will not accidentally come out

It is sometimes difficult to judge by a picture but the leather does look to be thicker than 8-9 oz just judging by the pic. 12 oz leather measures aproximately 6 Mil or 1/4" IIRC and 8-9 oz is in the ballpark of 5/32" to 7/32" just under 3/16" 3/16" to 9/32" would be 10-11 oz leather IIRC

if it were a period accurate western holster the leather would actually be around 6-7 oz but I like to make all my holsters out of 8-9 oz leather and pancake and paddle holsters are 8-9 oz leather the holsters in the pics certainly look like they were made from 12 oz. heavier than I would use for those types of holsters however the OP might like using thicker leather for whatever reason. I would not go as far as to say the leather is too heavy for the application if it was for personal use and the thick stuff can be molded just as easy as the lighter weight leather just need to be soaked a few minutes longer however you don't see holsters on the market made from leather as thick as these. most holsters and belts I make are cut from the same thickness leather which is 8-9 oz I saddle stitch and lace my holsters and I sure would not want to stitch up leather that thick by hand. awfully difficult pushing an awl through 12 oz leather when it gets that thick it is time to bring out the drill press and a round awl blade to make the stitching holes. even when installing a welt i sometimes push my stitching holes through with a press

I would really like to get my hands on the pattern for this rig!

you need to buy a strap cutter, a round knife and you don't want to let this deal pass you by http://springfieldleather.com/34928/Sandy-Brown-Bridle-Leather/ you will need to invest in a stitching awl haft and a small and medium blade and harness needles and thread https://www.osborneleathertools.com/index.php

go to the special purchase section at SLC and click on the leather catigory there are really great deals on leather. as far as getting a discount on tools you can get some really good deals on e bay and amazon and the classified section here Hawkes Leather on e bay has a lot of good deals, I bought an ergo swivel knife for 27 bucks shipped i believe tandy sells them for 39.95 amazon has a round knife for $6.20 + $1.75 shipping I also buy tools from Osbourne