Boriqua

Im not entirely sure I know what you mean by a textured vs non textured indentation. I know you said you didnt want to invest in a stamp but I would be remiss if I didnt mention that "studio-n" does stamps on nylon that are pretty inexpensive. He is a member here and here is his site http://www.lasered-stamps.com/

I dont know that I did anything amazing with this but the leather is a show stealer. Sometimes you get lucky and this last roll has some great striations running through it that I like alot. Give it up for happy accidents!!

Very very nice! If that is a new to you stamp I wonder what your stamping will look like with some more time because it looks flawless.

Sorry about that guys ... I regressed momentarily and worried I would sound like an idiot. I was once the Director of Creative Services at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. As any smart manager does I tried to hire people better at building and smarter than I, and I did. They had very precise well thought out ways of making things and knew math and such and I kind of always made things a little more free wheeling and intuitively which in turn made them insane! If you give me 4 rocks a ball of string and some paper I can probably make something cool ... but I cant necessarily tell you how I got there. We built some wonderful childrens exhibits in our small shop but we definitely had different ways of getting there.

That is EXACTLY what I was going to put out there but I thought there most be a more machinist method to it and not my hookey one. Since I leave my back piece a scootch over size I mark my 4 corners through the front and back panel with my round awl. Since I will be using a round awl for those four corners anyway and not a diamond awl it doesnt hurt. If its a lined then I sew my top and bottom from hole to hole and I know they will line up when I sew the 2 halves together. If I wont be doing lined but am adding a body shield I like to sew around the body shield anyway. I just think it looks better. When I am ready to assemble I add my glue to the two halves and i have some really heavy needles that are slightly difficult to insert. I put them in the front piece either at the two top corners or all four and then since I had pierced my bottom I insert them there and then use them as guides and slide the top down onto the bottom. Then when I sew the front and back panels together it all looks seamless.

LOL ... oh hell no! I will refrain from setting myself up for open ridicule. I am so sure there is a better more accurate, expedient way than what I am doing that offering it up would set most new guys back years. Alex

Make no mistake .. I am the student and Jeff is the grand master! I only offer my experience. I have made to date maybe 150-200 holsters, small potatoes, and of those I really really liked 20. I follow Jeff's posts like the rest of you! Good Catch ... I forgot to mention sewing the entire perimeter. I have a weird way of lining up the stitching since the bottom and top have to be sewn prior to attaching the front and back.

If you are following Jeff's Pattern than you will be using the re-enforcement piece sewn to the front. You would be way fine using the 4/5 and a 3/4 for the liner. Even without the additional piece that would be more than enough. When you glue flesh to flesh you make the result stronger than a single piece of the same thickness. Its like plywood in that the glued pieces are what give it additional rigidity and strength. My own regular carry gun is a CZ p07. Similar in size and weight to the glock and my holster is 4/5 with 3/4 liner and it is as hard as wood. You can knock on it its so rigid and I use it daily. My gun pops in and out like it were kydex. Yea that 1/4 back sew line give me plenty of room to get a nice smooth edge and not having to be to anal about placement of the glued parts. Go ahead and dye your inside parts before you assemble. You dont need to burnish the inside if you are using a liner. Only suggest it if you leave the inside raw. In reality you dont NEED to at all but its a nice touch and a bunch of nice touches makes a wonderful final product. Sorry about that ... yes I meant Fiebing's dye. It and angulus are all I use so I assume everyone knows what I mean which is stupid. I dont see why the water based dyes from tandy wouldnt work as well for an undercoat but I dont know what would happen to them when you applied the antique. I think it will just smoosh around the undercolor but I never tried it. Glock guys love black holsters so if I were making it I would spray some thinned dye with your nifty new airbrush after its dry let it dry and then apply your antique. Maybe someone has a different suggestion but that is what I would do.

I do everything by hand .. dont have a clicker to cut out shapes or a host of other tools and equipment that would make things more expedient. Like a sewing machine .. If I pushed hard I might be able to make 1200.00 and change a month. That is not "living on wages" and its not guaranteed. However I am one of those crazy people who went to school and studied fine arts when everyone said what are you going to do with that. Now I turned it into a nice little career before I dropped out and never had illusions of being shown at the MET but before I launched my career I worked with some great artists on many public projects ... most of them my instructors who I had formed relationships with. The trick for them was diversifying. So one instructor in particular grossed around 100,000 a year. He won bids for public art at schools and city projects, so art for pay, he made his own art work and showed regularly and sold pieces and he taught classes at the School of Visual arts during the week and taught an adult education class at a community college one weekend day. So I think if someone was willing to mix it up they could find a way to make leather work a viable alternative. I think for anyone coming up it might be about embracing new styles, color schemes and all things hip that I am no longer privy to. In the end .. take it from a grandpa ... if you want him to take up leather work then he will most assuredly want to be a mason.

Well your off to a great start if you have one of Jeff's Patterns! So lets see if I can offer any potentially useful info. everyone has their own way and experiences so take mine with a grain and see if it works for you. I wouldnt attempt tooling on the first go around. Getting the tooling to look good on something you are going to dunk in water can be frustrating. I do it all the time but I have a little system that seems to work for me and when and if you want to here it just give me a shout. Be careful with how thin the pig skin is. If it is very thin it can wear through over time. the glocks have softened edges so it shouldnt be a problem but if I make a lined holster I usually go with 2 heavier pieces to make up my 8-9 oz. Say 2 pieces of 4/5 or 5/6 and 3. If the pig skin is sueded ... dont use it. Soft interiors here in AZ are deadly to gun finishes. If you want to use something thin in your 8/9 oz then hit up ebay and get some goat skin. Tough stuff and smooth. If you are using 8/9 and you have a 2 oz inner layer that is going to be one thick holster for a relatively small gun. Back in the day I used to use 9-10 for holsters and they took forever to break in and just looked clumsy. I wouldnt let my overall grow more than 8/9 Last thing about the liner .. Im sure you know already but sand where you will be gluing it together. Long ago I just glued it together and sewed it up and then when I wetmolded my layers shifted some. Not a huge deal but not a happy place. I am incapable of lining up the front and back piece when they are the same exact cut. Im not sure why since I have been building things forever but once I put glue on the two pieces I go completely spastic. So what I do is cut my face then use my face to trace around to cut my back. It makes it about 1/16-1/8 larger than the front. Then when I glue I have plenty of room and just grind the back to meet the front and it has the benefit of making a very nice edge. I like my sew line in about 1/4 inch I sand my edges to almost finish before I mark for my sew line. I sand them again lightly after sewing and I sand them one last time lightly after it has dried. I find undyed leather accepts the water better than dyed so when I can I wait to dye until the end. I know plenty of guys dye first and they make great holsters but if I take a sponge to the dyed portion the water kind of beads and if I take it to the undyed it instantly absorbs. Since you will be dunking .. may not matter but it is my habit to try and dye later ... unless I tooled or stamped. Try it both ways and see what you like best. If you are going to use an acrylic type antique think about throwing down some dye first. The acrylic can scratch and its nice to have a little color under there. If I were using an antique black I might first spray down some thinned black dye just so the leather has color. I like to slick/burnish the inside of the holster with a little water and glyceryn using a thick piece of glass. I let it dry which takes no time and then glue my pieces together. It makes the inside nice and smooth and makes inserting the mold slick and painless. When the holster is finished the inside looks beautiful too. You said your lining but if you dont it might be something to consider. Ok I have work I should be doing!!

Nope .. Sorry brother but Lichtenstein would have probably been right in your age frame. He was born in 1923 and served his time during WWII and had his art hey day in and around the early and mid 60's. You cant deny one of your periods art children LOL ... only teasing .. It is a great bit of work though on that strap and I do hope to see more of it. I love the graphic style though mine go a bit darker. Lichtenstein is one of my art heros and I have seen an exhibition of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC but I keep trying for something in leather that is more along the sensibility of Frank Miller. I have some pieces but nothing I am ready to share.

Ok .... the coloured threads are gone but the weaver white .. big fat spool for 16.00 shipped first class mail is still available. This is a heavy waxed thread on a virgin unused spool for hand sewing. Priority shipping is extra but I would certainly provide it if you are willing to pay actual shipping. I accept paypal. Thank you for looking Alex

Now for a technical question and if you want to keep it secret that is cool too. That paint is ultra smooth .. did you mask and use an airbrush?

I wanted to spend some time with it before I commented but... Martyn ... that made my clamp amazing! As I am going around a holster it has to be moved in the clamp a fair amount. So its so nice to just flip the cam, adjust the piece and flip it back. The large knob I had was an improvement over the wing nut I had been using but the cam clamp has made it a pure pleasure. I bought this one which has the same cam profile as yours but was a buck cheaper and it came with a 5/16 bolt which isnt long enough to use on my set up but I have more chance of using a 5/16 bolt in my future than the t bolt so at least its not a throw away piece. Of course I did have to give up the cool gold color though! http://www.amazon.com/CAM-ACTION-HOLD-DOWN-CLAMP/dp/B000KUVQOE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 Alex

That is WONDERFUL! the pressed dots give it that great Roy Lichtenstein effect. Outstanding!

Wanted to wait until I used the thread a bit more before I commented and I have since sewn 2 holsters with the Ebay thread and 3 with the twin eagle. Both are very nice smooth threads with a fine finish and very lightly waxed but the ebay thread is a good deal thinner in feeling than the twin eagle. The twin eagle is a great bargain. Cost about 30 bucks and I think I will have thread left to pass down to someone in my will! In my estimation the ebay thread is better suited for watch straps, inlays and other things requiring a thinner fine thread but the twin eagle is better suited for holsters and knife sheaths. I posted a pic of the two .. the top is the Ebay thread

Your a nice coach!! I played HS football ... truth is it is one of my fondest memories. Ah the glory days. I played both sides of the ball and played Half-back on offence so I got a lot of short passes and screens thrown at me. I had good hands but I will admit .. when that new ball came out all slick and hard as a brick ... well it was not my favorite practice but it did prepare me for game day. My wife bought me a football for Xmas ... now if I could just find someone in their 50's who would be willing to catch and throw it it would be awesome. Right now I just look at it longingly.

Ok now after watching three more times I have another question. WAAAYyyyyy back in the day I tried the paste and it was ... well ... paste. When you apply with the brush in your video it is far looser than I remember. Are you thinning it with something? I have already ordered a jar so I am excited to try again.

I still only know one perfect way to break in a football that has worked on almost every manner of football. Go out and play!! Being originally from NYC most of my football play came out on the street on asphalt and cement so once it hit the ground a couple of times and got abraded it was perfect! and yes doing a button hook between two parked cars is legal.

great video. I have always used the Fiebing's antique acrylic but you have me wanting to try the paste and see if the effect is different. I was surprised at the amount of lacquer you put at the end. I have used Lacquer from a spray can sparingly and while I love the super shiny finish on some things I have had it crack a couple of times on finished goods and have since never used it again. I would think it would be more prone to crack sitting on top of tan cote. Obviously you beat it so I must have been doing something wrong. Thanks for the vid Alex

Very Very Nice! Using the small conchos as flower centers is an outstanding touch!

Color came out great! did you cut it or is that out of the bottle. I find out of the bottle my color is a little darker toward brown and not that nice red you got.

A little bit of advice that will help you going forward .. be sure to strop the heck out of your new swivel knife before you use it even the first time. If you are new to carving using a dull blade can set you up right away with bad bad habits and a healthy dose of frustration. Using a good sharp knife will really bring out your creativity and pleasure and the answer to how deep will become almost immediate. I had to almost relearn how to use a swivel knife after I had used one for years after I had properly sharpened it. It was years and years ago but I rememeber. I taught myself to apply pressure incorrectly, grip the barrel to tight and a host of other bad things using the dull blade.

Looks like a 1911 to me and unless the hammer is cocked, the thumb safety is off and you have gripped the grip safety you can yank on the trigger all day without it firing. That holster is more than safe for that gun. Being a single action hammer fired even if you managed to accidentally grab the grip safety, flip off the safety and accidentally get your shirt in the trigger the hammer would fall on the retention strap. Smart to ask about it though if you are just embarking on holster making! Do the same with a glock of other striker fired gun without a safety and I would agree with you... probably a bad idea. Alex

Ordered! Thanks Martyn! The bolt I already have in my stitching pony is a 5/16 so I am good to go. Alex