Boriqua

I think you have everything you need. Definitely bring the stitches in closer to the gun. Everyone has their way but I measure the thickness of the gun then split the difference cheating in a scootch, which is immeasurable and done by eyeball, on either side. If I am using the same color thread as the body then I will usually dye after wet form but if I want to do contrasting stitching I will stain before stitching. If I am going to tool then I stain before stitching but antique after wetmold. It all depends. My process for a brown holster with brown thread is usually Cut out pattern Dye insides Apply glycerine and slick insides well ( I dont apply dye or glyserin to the areas that will be glued ) Glue (once I glue I put it under some books and weights and it sits over night.) Sand edges Stitch wetform Dye body After its good and dry I do a soft secondary sand to the eddges. ... Wet molding and bending and drying can move the edge around or swell it just enough to make burnishing a mess so although I already sanded I go in now and tighten it up. Dye edges Burnish Seal with sealer of choice I dont like edge coat much. Maybe I havent found the right brand. I have taken to applying a coat or two of Super sheen just to the edges as my final step. I usually use resolene 50/50 as the body sealer so the super sheen on the edge is a nice contrast. If you dont want to spend the money now for a belt punch you can always use a regular hole punch in the size you want, make the holes the distance apart you want and connect the two holes with a razor. Works wonderfully and its neat if not the most time efficient. You probably already have the hole punches. Your dye looks like you are applying with a dauber and doing it linearly. Dont be afraid to use the dye and when applying if you are using a dauber make circles but dont be stingy. After years of using those damned daubers I realized I get much better result using pieces of rag and started just using pieces of old tee shirts. Put on a glove .. wet the piece of rag really well and making circles rub it in to the leather. Makes for nice effects. but again be generous.

That is REALLY funny!! So true To the OP .. You kind of have to base it to some degree on the gun you are making the holster for. When I started I always used 9/10. Its really thick ... terrible to try and bone and breaking it in can be a bear. I then discovered that putting a sub in a 9/10 oz holster made the holster heavier than the gun. In general I use 8/9 oz for most of my pancake holsters for your most common 4-5 inch guns but I will go heavier or lighter depending on the gun I am making the holster for. I just finished a holster for an 8 inch ruger redhawk and I used 6/7 oz lined with 4/5 oz. I did a Rami and used 6/7 only. But like I said ..8/9 has been my go to for most unlined work for the last 3 years. 8/9 ounce for 1911 9/10 on the twins because of the extra length 6/7 for this little cz and 6/7 laminated to 4/5 for this beast. It was hard to hold up with one hand so I wanted it built ford tough

No problem .. that is Fiebings dye. I have never tried it with water based dyes. Alex

I find the dye takes a little longer to dry completely before it stops rubbing but I dye them all the time. I dont seem to get as nice and slick a burnish as veg tan but maybe when I finally spring for leather burnishers for my dremel I will get better results. But sure .... go and dye no worries.

LOL you hit the nail right on the head ... combine it with ... Oh no I told the guy it would be ready sunday and its friday and I need 5 more days!!

Sounds like you have all the answers you need but I will add one more. on the rare occasion that I have gotten some glue on the surface of a piece I just let it dry and then rub it off with my finger. I spray apply most of my dyes and I dont know if that makes a difference but I never noticed any discolouration. If glue is ozzing out of the edges when you attach the pieces then then the glue is going on to thick. I found a hair brush is far far and away better than the nylon acid brushes for applying glue. Lastly ... I like to use the brown craft paper on my bench. Wax paper will hold whatever liquid you spill on it in a puddle. The brown paper absorbs it and takes it away. If I get over spray on brown paper its dry and not going to damage anything in minutes. If I do the same on wax paper it will still be there waiting to ruin one of my projects 30 minutes later. The brown paper I buy at the dollar store. Its 30 inches wide by 15 feet for a buck.

It is a ruger redhawk with 8 in barrel in 44 mag. Its not for the limp wristed or infirmed!! Wish I could shoot it!

Its actually a 1/8 diameter steel rod in there. I did some experiments with some flat spring steel I have but it wasnt giving me the impression it would have enough rigidity for this heavy a gun. Gun weighs a ton.

I think its awesome! Its your personal Story Scroll. But you didn’t leave room to add on to it .. a disappointment in the making I am sure.

I guess I better stop for a moment and clean up before I start anything new. I swear I dont know how this mess all happened but it seems to have spread out to my shed where I do my grinding and dying too. Sigh .. I hate cleaning. All I needed was one little piece of 8/9 ounce

This was a challenge! Mess more pix here http://www.boriqualeather.com/Leather%20holster%20revolver%20w%20scope/

That is sweet? I am in the process of making one for myself right now. After seeing yours I will refrain from posting pics of it though!!!

Well as promised I am back to report. I have learned so much here I want to give back when I can in whatever small way. I landed up using a 1/8 inch steel rod. I picked it up at home depot and it said something like welding rod or such. It was in their bin of steel extrusions and if its important for anyone to know exactly I can certainly take a look the next time I go to see how they labeled it. It was tough stuff and tough to bend but a little hammering, a needle nose and a channel lock and I got it into shape readily. I tried Brass rod first but it was a bit soft and didn’t fill me with confidence. *Note! When you bend the rod to go around the front remember the whole ID and OD thing. My first piece I measured and bent off of my flat template and of course it was to short. Once you bend the leather around the curve it will eventually be the rod bend has to grow to accommodate it. I know better but just had a brain fart. I was sure to round the ends so they wouldnt want to poke through the leather or stitches. It is actually bent on the narrow side as it goes up the holster. My biggest fear when I took on the project was worrying what would happen if the strap came undone. With some designs I looked at it appeared the gun would just fall forward. Not so with this holster. The gun stays put as if it were a full holster with the strap on or unsnapped. It does make holstering at the moment a 2 handed affair but I imagine with the gun in the holster and some time it will work itself out. I used 6/7 ounce on the outside and 4/5 ounce as my liner and as the cover for the rod. Stitching around the rod was a bear and impacted how my stitching looks. What I did was curve my holster when I glued in the liner so I wouldn’t get wrinkles on the inside. I then sewed the entire inside of the rod cover. With the rod bent in shape I squeezed the holster tight and slipped the rod up from the bottom along both sides until it was seated. It was a challenge and I landed up having to tap it with a hammer and ice cream stick to get it seated in the last 1/2 inch. Once it was settled up into the top I sewed all along the outside edge of the rod cover with a couple of curved needles. One of the criteria for this piece was that it stay as narrow as possible. I added the welt to open the form and keep the holster rigid but I ended it about an inch from the bottom so you could kind of cantilever the gun in. I dont know .. I was thinking to hard! The gentleman I made this for is a big guy. 6'2 and probably about 300lbs. He told me that last year he missed out on an elk he could have taken with his handgun because the rig he had was so large and obtrusive he had left the hand gun home that day. He wanted something that would move with him when he went elk hunting this year. He told me part of his adventures involved getting on and off ATV's and into and out of trucks. I came up with this kind of drop rig with a "D" and tie down. The gun now moves freely along his leg with no binding and he can bend, ride and everything else without being impeded. I used all brass hardware and it has a pull the dot fastener on the strap. Anyway .. thought I would come back to post some of the issues and the final design in case anyone else wants to try it. I dont know that I made the be all and end all but if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I dont think I will be doing one of these again but I am glad I took it on. I hate saying no to a challenge! There are many more pix here. Hope it gives someone inspiration to make a better one! http://www.boriqualeather.com/Leather%20holster%20revolver%20w%20scope/

Those look GREAT! Love em. Where did you get the liner material. Nice choices. I would say my friend that you may have a knack for these so I wouldnt be so quick to give up on them.

Thank you everyone for looking but this is SOLD!

How simply brilliant!

I have an awl blade I think I like but want to pull it out of the handle and use it in another handle I have with a screw down collet. Its a siewa that is embedded in what appears to be soft pine. Can I just clamp the blade between ? and yank at the handle? Hate to ruin 15 bucks! Alex

I dont use a mordant in the mixture but I have found that resolene and wax keep the color fast. I have tried Eucalyptus, Coreopsis, blueberrry, coffee, cranberry and of course Vinegroove for black. I dont know what types of pieces you are working on but a beautiful durable finish that really brings up the color is mixing equal parts bees wax and neatsfoot oil by weight and melting into a paste. Then rub it into the finished naturally dyed pieces after you made your items. It gave the pieces a deep beautiful color. The blueberry and coreopsis especially were amazing after the wax. I had put up pix at some point but lost them. My wife is a gardener for the local botanical garden and is TOUGH on stuff. Between watering, sweat, grit, grim and just being under the sun all day she is my test subject. I dyed several 1.5 inch by 1.5 in pieces in the dye colors I mentioned above and treated them with the wax and she wore each around her neck for a week. I wanted to see if they rubbed on her cloths or faded. They remained unscathed. I have learned that if my wife cant break it it cant be broke. The resolene kept the pieces from fading but didnt add anything to the color. It was flat. Which is good to know since there may be times you dont want the color affected but the wax .. really jazzed it up.

The only way I have successfully gotten natural dyes darker is to leave them to soak in the solution for longer periods. If I do a blueberry or other natural dye I get a huge difference if I leave it for a few hours or if I leave it over night. Neatsfoot darkens it some but not much and sun could further bleech out the color.

Cash is king but I have done a fair share of barter and been happy. One friend had a 1911 I wanted and we agreed on a trade value in leather work. He came to me with holster needs for a variety of guns over the next 6 months .... I gave him his friend price and it was deducted from the agreed trade value. Now he was a friend which meant he paid the friend price but there was never any haggle. All along I got to own and enjoy that 1911 .. which I still own .. and I worked it off with holsters for his many other acquisitions. He thought he got a bargain and I got a new gun to play with. I had some tree service done for leather work as well with a person I met through craigslist and I thought it was a fair trade. I’m not into low ball but if its easy to come to a fair deal why not? Someone else’s services or goods have a monetary value and as long as everyone plays fairly I am a big proponent of trade.

I have the same tool for years and yea the blade goes up and down at will. I have managed to get good uses out of it though when making boxes and such. What I do is start with the blade down just a bit. hold to ruler and pass .. then lower it some more and pass again and do that until I have the depth I want. Not pleasant, not as it should be but I dont need it that often. but now you have me thinking about pulling it apart and making it actually work the way it should.

Well Got my awl haft yesterday and couldn’t be more pleased. You know .. you buy a lot of stuff and some makes you happy but some things ... they make you do the happy dance! This awl did that for me and for what I consider to be a bargain price. Hopefully he wont see that comment until I order another one.Took about 2 weeks and at $39.00 shipped ... whew. Here is what I love. Its really pretty. My cheap camera doesn’t do the colours justice. I have no idea what wood he used or if he stained it. I just told him I prefer darker woods and not maple like woods. I have been building and making things almost my entire life and having nice tools to use just makes the job that much more enjoyable. Here though is the best part. Imagine you were going to make a stabbing implement. so in the design of it you took a piece of dense clay and squeezed it as you would if you were stabbing. Then take where you dented it with your fingers and make it out of wood. I took pix of the awl laying in my open hand and you can see that your index finger just falls along the brass ferule and your second finger miraculously falls right into that swooped out patch between the ferrule and the egg. The bend in your thumb when you close your hand also falls naturally in that little swoop. Its perfect. I havent gotten to do alot with it yet but ran about 20 stitches just to get the feel for it and love it. I have small/medium sized hands and while I have mastered 2 needles and an awl with my other awls both of those I cut and sanded. This one makes the task so much easier. It came with two different sized clutches. Im sure they are called something else but .. the bits that hold the blade. One for larger blades and one for thinner. If you have 40 bucks burning a hole in your pocket ... do it! May be a little odd looking but it is AWESOME!

I have wetformed holsters before and after dying using Fiebings solvent based dyes and have had no problem with the boning and forming either way. It gets more complicated if you are using antiques and or using acrylics but just straight up Fiebings should be good either way. The highlighter and block you will have to do after forming.

This may be common knowledge but it wasnt to me so I am sharing. I have been buying glue in the quart size can for the longest because it is more economical than the small weldwood glue with the brush in the jar lid. Problem was as I learned back a long time ago was that opening and closing the can ... which requires a screwdriver .... was making my glue gooey before I finished the whole can so not very economical. I then started pouring the glue into several smaller jars when I got home and would work through one jar before starting a new one and no more wasted glue but cleaning and buying brushes was making me insane. For some reason it took my small brain until just a few months ago to search for a glue jar and I found one that works wonderfully. The brush can be loosened and slide up and down in the lid so that the brush is always in the glue but not the whole shaft. When the shaft is covered in glue it makes the whole thing a mess to work with. Just having the brush in the glue works great. It is sealed on either side of the lid with a rubber gasket. The brush itself is a nice horse hair which is far and away nicer and more precise than those nylon brushes that usually come in the small weldwood jars or the flux brushes some people like to use and the place I bought the jar from sells replacement brush heads! I waited to post about it to see how I liked it but I have been using it for about 3 months now and it is awesome. Been doing leatherwork since the early 90's and I just came to this now ... oh well better late than never. I dont know or owe this ebay seller anything so purchase at your own risk but I provided a link so you can see the product. That is where I bought mine. They come in different sizes and I think he sells plastic ones as well but I figured glass would be easier to clean when the time came. Just a nifty tool I hope helps someone out. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glass-Barge-Cement-Glue-Dispenser-W-Metal-Brush-3-5-8-16oz-Siline-Johnson-USA-/141144022629