snubbyfan

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.

Umm, order a Blue Gun and make the pattern yourself?

Nice belt. I'm lookin' forward to seein' the holster finished and get a pic of the backside. It kinda, sorta, if you squint your eyes and turn you head reminds me of an avenger style holster I usta carry my snubby in. Personally, I like my holsters to cover the muzzle. I'd like to see that stitch line a little closer to the gun. With use the leather may loosen up.

Really nice. I keep sayin' that I'm gonna make an Indian war bonnet one day.

If it's a double layer belt like a gun belt, I'll go ahead and glue the two pieces together prior to tooling.

Very nice, I like that strap system. Personally, I prefer making stacked leather sheaths like that. However, it seems as if most of my customers prefer fold over style sheaths.

Do you have a picture of the knife sheath?

I prefer pricking irons myself. Since I usually work in heavier leathers, I give 'em a good whack, then finish the hole with a sharp, stropped, polished diamond stitching awl. I don't often use a groover but when I do it's on 9 ounce otherwise I'll crease the stitch line or just mark it with dividers and off I go. Edges, I'll sand, bevel, wet the edges with water, burnish and let dry, then gum trag. and burnish and let dry, sometimes gum trag. again, burnish again and let dry. Finally a coat or two of Tan Kote and burnish again.

I used to work at a factory that made high end blinds. When I first started in leatherwork I had a scratch awl, some craft needles I got from WalMart, utility scissors a $20 hunk of leather, a snap set and rejected blind cord. Some of the first things I made were a holster and a multi-tool pouch. I showed the pouch to a fellow at work and he paid me to make one for him. Some people asked for holsters, knife sheaths and pouches. As my confidence increased, I invested in more tools and stuff. I made up a list of everything I eventually wanted to get. The only problem is the list keeps growing.

That's my shotgun and the only time it's had a sling was when it was modeling something I made for a customer. One of these days I'm going to make one of my own.