sideforce

Nice job on the whole rig - I'm impressed with the stitching!

Wow.....

Nice work!

Nicely done.

Great example of skill improvement!

Excellent! Great tips in the tutorial!

Steelhawk found the weak point of the holster design and Red Cent observed correctly the affect. First revolver holster, heck, it's only my third holster ever over the years of puttering with leather. The design worked in many ways, but I went with my past experience with semi-autos on where to place the belt slots.....and it didn't work out very well. So back to the drawing board. The Redhawk is a bit large for any hope of using a high ride holster. I am pleased with the balance of the work. Learned a few things on the stitching and after I posted the links to the photos, figured out how to post thumbnails. More later as I get the time for a second attempt. This time I'll use a design based on Stoleman's book on holsters.

Sweet looking rig!

First revolver holster, some different from making semi-auto holsters. Pattern making has never been a strong suite of mine, and this one needs some work to be right. The Redhawk, even with a 4" barrel, is a bit big for a pancake rig. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dcomfort/Leatherwork/DSC00812_zps9rdwnliv.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dcomfort/Leatherwork/DSC00813_zps0lyiemgi.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dcomfort/Leatherwork/DSC00814_zpsjoucgnem.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dcomfort/Leatherwork/DSC00815_zpsxisdkdq1.jpg

I'd learned from YouTube (is that a formal learning institution?) to measure the width of the pistol an divide by 2. That would establish your stitch line going out from the outline of the pistol. It worked for me. The holster was tight, but with wet forming the leather it fits well. I'll try and post up a picture later on of the results. Interested to see what you come up with for a speed loader pouch. Have to design and make something to hold the moon clips used with 45ACP for this pistol.

Nice job! I just made a pancake holster for my Ruger Redhawk 45ACP/45Colt. My pattern making skills are not as refined, and while the holster will work, there are changes I have to make to the pattern. Mainly my leather fails to cover the entire trigger area. It looked good on paper, but failed when the pistol was inserted. Oh well, live and learn, keep on trying.

Nicely done

Looks great to me!

As you pointed out, and I'm in the exact same boat, keep working on the tooling. Nice job with the construction, stitching and dye work. I lined up to attend a Leather working class at my local Tandy to get a brush up on the tooling. Haven't done any in years and wasn't that good when I did it.

Nice job!

Sweet!

I use pig or elk. Both are thin with excellent durability.

As I understand it, there is a bit of chromium salt left in the leather after tanning. If the leather gets wet I suppose it could cause some damage to the finish. I've use a lot of different holsters over the years, most recently carrying Kydex. All of them have caused some wear to the finish at friction points. I'm not to up on the newer firearm finishes, but there may be some that are harder or protective that could prevent wear and perhaps protect from chrome tanned leather.