snubbyfan

That's what people keep calling me, I just had to look it up.

I always use Loc-Tite, screws always seem to have a way of working themselves loose. About rivets, your hardware looks more substantial than the stuff I use.

Looks good, I personally prefer hand stitching or chicago screws over rivets. Rivets can deform and loosen over time.

From Wikipedia: An artisan (from French: artisan, Italian: artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates things by hand that may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative arts, sculptures, clothing, jewellery, household items and tools or even mechanical mechanisms such as the handmade clockwork movement of a watchmaker. Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artist.

Monica makes a good point. After I made my first molded pouch from that $20 hunk of leather with my first set of "tools," I took it to work to show people. To my surprise and delight, people started throwing money at me to make something similar for their multi-tools. Now I cringe at that stitch line.

It's nicely done and finished. Maybe I'm just an ignorant ol' Injun but it looks like the guns in the holster backwards to me. When I make a fold over holster, the trigger generally goes on the side with the seam. Maybe it's made that way for hammer clearance?

I'd say to start with the basics. You probably have many of the skills already, making and following a pattern, cutting the material, dying, stitching and finishing. Personally, I needed a holster so I got myself a scratch awl, sturdy scissors, some blind cord, a snap set and a $20 hunk of leather. That was many years ago and now, my last restocking order was over $300, and I forgot to order some 1/4" Chicago screws.

Nice, I like that sheath stitched to it for a smaller knife.

That's beautiful, looks like Wayne's gonna have a good Christmas.

Also; http://www.crazycrow.com/latigo-leather

That's pretty nice for your first leatherwork. As Rohn said, that is some nice hand stitchin'. Also like thegafer and Halitech brought up a little skiving, some extra burnishing and topcoating may be something to keep in mind for your next project.

Not so much a collector as an accumulator. I usta make custom furniture so I've got a garage full of woodworking tools. My wife asked me once,"How many power tools do you need?" I answered,"All of them." Thanks to a peripheral motor nerve condition, I no longer trust my hands with power tools so I started leather work. Now my wife asks me how many leatherworking tools do I need? One thing that sucks but'll help me from accumulating too much is that my poor gimpy hand can't work a swivel knife. Right now I'm sittin' here collectin' dust, waiting for a customers favorite buckle to arrive so I can start on his gun belt.

That some mighty good work Kemosabe. Istoyi!

Good advice from Splash, I usually just kinda "eyeball" my patterns. I lucked into a free ream of construction paper. If I need larger than a sheet a little masking tape helps. My own personal holster has friction retention. No need for a thumb break.

It is a craft that's learned over time but with places like this forum you can learn some real techniques from people that have been there. I use a roller knife only on lighter or milled leather. My main leather cuttin' tools is one of these things; Just make sure it's sharp and stropped.

Second leather project? I'm lookin' forward to the third. That's very nice. I used to be a maintenance tech. at the Rubbermaid factory in Winchester and I'm familiar with how things get beat up.

I like those straps. Sometimes my travels take me through the fascist republic of Maryland and their archaic anti-gun laws. I havta put my snubby in a lock box. That'd make taking the holster off a lot easier. I try to stay in West Virginia or Virginia but sometimes I need to travel either through MD or go somewhere in MD.

Looks good to me, nice edge work.

After staring at the knife for a while, I make a mock up of the sheath out of construction paper. Including the welt. After the customer approves the design, then the fun starts. I use 8 to 9 ounce vegetable tanned leather. If there are any stitches on the inside of the sheath, like for a belt loop, be sure to use your stitch groover and recess the stitches so they don't get caught and possibly cut by the knife. The welt serves to protect the perimeter stitches. These are stacked leather sheaths ordered by a Cherokee customer that wanted me to "Indian them up" a little. This one's a fold over for a Bowie knife. Backside showing how the belt loop's stitched. Lookin' forward to seein' what ya come up with.

How's about some Muddy Waters?

Blues, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, James Cotton, Elmore James, etc.

Lookin' forward to seein' what ya come up with.

I use construction paper when making a pattern. making sure to take into consideration the thickness of the leather and stapling along the stitch line. Sometimes I'll cut away bits of paper, sometimes I'll tape bits of paper back on and sometimes I'll throw it all away and start all over. Once I'm happy with how it looks, I'll start cutting leather. I'll use Blue Guns when I don't have access to the actual firearm. But if I have access to the actual firearm, I'll go ahead and use that.

I'll hold the pricking iron as straight as possible, give it a good whack with a mallet then push my awl through. I make sure my awl blade's polished and stropped. That's the technique I used on this holster and belt; I still seem to get one or two holes off. But in my defense, it was through 3 layers of 9 ounce.