Craig44

I don't do linings as I don't particularly care for them. Pig skin would be my choice but it tends to wear out before the rest of the holster. I completely dye, burnish and finish my flesh sides as seen here. They're almost as smooth as the hair side.

Beautiful work, very well done!

If you don't have a smaller awl, you can always penetrate the plug with "just the tip" of your regular awl. Rather than pushing it all the way through.

My preferences mimic yours. Here's how I do a sewn toe plug, learning from Ghormley. I also set my stitch groove about 3/16" from the edge (on the holster). I pre-punch the holes in the toe at the same 7 stitches per inch spacing, before gluing/stitching the mainseam but I do it at a 45° angle. I make my plugs out of doubled 8-9oz with the flesh sides glued together. I make them a rough shape and then final shape them on the belt sander. Then cut my stitch groove closer to the edge than the rest of my work. I then glue the plug into the toe. I then carefully punch my holes with a smaller awl because the holes will be closer together than the outside. I still stitch with the same thread but use a smaller needle. I sometimes even work it out so that I stitch the mainseam and the toe plug with one continuous thread. I come around the toe and then backstitch four stitches up the mainseam.

Thanks! It's a double whip stitch. Rather than the double needle method of saddle stitching, you start at one end with one needle and a looooooong section of thread. Rather than looping your stitch from hole to hole on the same side, you loop over the edge of the seam from front to back. When you get to the end, you just stitch back in the opposite direction to form the cross. You may see in the pics where I ran out of thread.....twice. Did a poor job of estimating thread length, takes at least twice as much as saddle stitching. Done on something soft like deerskin or wet rawhide, it kinda puckers the edges up tight for an interesting look.

Thanks! It is tedious work. Now I know why Chuck charged so much for beadwork. The beadwork was completed on the deerskin cuff first, using a running or applique stitch. The cuff was glued and stitched to the body of the sheath later in several stages, with the lower dangles attached as I stitched along the bottom of the cuff. It's a complicated build process.

From the very beginning, this was the kind of work I wanted to learn how to do. So this, my first beaded knife sheath, is about three years in the making. I've drawn up patterns three times, started two other beaded panels and put it off several times. Until now. I drew up the pattern, cut it out, cleaned it up and started the beadwork months ago and just worked on it as I found time. Couple weeks ago I decided to get serious and finish it. While Chuck Burrows' videos helped me immensely with making holsters and knife sheaths, a lot of this I had to figure out on my own. There are books and videos on beadwork and knife sheaths but nobody shows you how to actually put a beaded knife sheath together. I've put more time into this sheath than full belt and holster rigs. After many hours of toil, it is finally finished. The body of the sheath is 8-9oz vegetable tanned cowhide from the most flea-bitten, scar covered hide I've ever seen, carved in a crosshatch/quilted pattern. The metal spots are antique brass. The cuff is deerskin. The stitching was all done with artificial sinew. The smaller pound beads are modern Czech made. The larger beads are a mixture of modern trade beads, crow beads and antique red padre beads. The tin cones were antiqued with muriatic acid and peroxide. The bone hair pipes were also antiqued. The fringe and tin cones are decorated with black horse hair. No less than four colors of both water and alcohol based dyes were used on the various components. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good. Beadwork detail. Fringe detail. Stitching detail. The knife in question is a 5" clip point from ML Knives.

Sorry for the late response. I don't get here much and only found it by accident. If it's purple, it's too much of the dark mahogany. What you'd need to do is add more of the range tan and experiment on scrap until you get the color you want. Range tan is a very light color so there's no need to add water. You might end up with as much as 70-80% to get the desired result. I never measured and had to make adjustments every time I changed hides. I've since switched to the professional waterstain and alcohol/oil dyes from Fiebings.

Not for long. Our illustrious president has signed an executive order banning the domestic ivory trade. Unless something is done to stop it, it will become effective in June.

I thought it was funny but you're the only one that would've gotten it.

I'm actually the customer and that was a tongue-in-cheek jab at Rob. Because it actually was for an ivory gripped pistol. Sorry about that, bad joke I reckon.

What kind of heartless idiot wears elephant hide these days? Probably has ivory grips on whatever death machine that he carries in it too!

Good lookin' rig!

Waxed nylon from Tandy. If it has too much wax on it, you can take it off by running it over your thumbnail just as easily as you can wax your own, which will probably never get as deep as the pre-waxed thread. I tried linen and didn't care for it.

That is some beautiful work!

I hand stitch but am not trying to make a living at it. I could easily buy a machine but I doubt I ever will, although I admit and agree that it would be very difficult to be profitable without one. Stitching is actually one of the things I enjoy most about making a holster and I can easily turn out several a week while still working a full time job. I'll have completed three border-stamped holsters and a heavy gunbelt by tomorrow already.

I have Bianchi's DVD set and his reasoning was that calfskin is less likely to stretch.

Does nobody use gum trag for burnishing edges any more? Here's what mine look like.I glue, then stitch the mainseam, then dress the mainseam on a bench sander and bevel the edges. Then I dye and wet mold the holster, let it dry, then apply gum trag to the whole thing and burnish my edges with the wood slicker from Tandy. It usually comes out looking like one solid piece of leather. Then I apply my final finish.

Gorgeous work and wonderful photography!

Thank you all very much for the kind words, it is very encouraging. The 1860 holster with the concho was kind of an experiment. I used Tandy's dark brown gel antique in copious amounts to color the whole thing. I used a lot of it to get the color I wanted and I still didn't get enough penetration. Everything else was done in a 50/50 mix of EcoFlo Dark Mahogany and Range Tan. The sheath was done with cheap chrome tanned remnant bag leather, the rest with 8-9oz veg tanned. I made the patterns for the Slim Jims (per Chuck Burrows' video) but now have several from Will Ghormley and am really itching to put them to use.

These are my first several leather projects. Been trying to find the time to do them over the last year or so. Only really got anything finished in the last six months. Helpful hints and criticism welcome. I've also done some stuff not pictured, including a fringed elk skin book pouch, a belt pouch for loose .22's and a blackpowder hunting pouch. Both turning out rather well I think. My first serious project was the knife sheath, then the Slim Jim crossdraw for the 3rd Model Dragoon. Left to right, the newest holster, this time for a Remington 1858 and border stamped. The Dragoon in the center and another for the Colt 1860 with metal spots and an antique pewter concho. To the right is the knife sheath, done back in the fall. The belt is the latest project (still unfinished), which has stamping, spots and conchos. All are far from perfect but I do think each finished work is better than the last.

Beautiful work! I may have to get a Schofield or #3 Russian just to make a holster for it.

Super Redhawks aren't really as heavy as they look. They're about the same as a standard Redhawk, with the lack of a full grip frame making up for the frame extension. They're only slightly heavier than a 7½" Super Blackhawk or Bisley. My .480SRH is only four ounces heavier than a standard bull barrel (no underlug) 6" S&W model 29. They handle very differently but on the hip, not much of a difference. A good holster and belt make the weight a non-issue.

I think a half inch dowel is probably a tad too big too. A .45Colt, which is probably the largest pistol cartridge you'd typically make loops for has a diameter of .480" and the rim is only .512". So it wouldn't take too much for it to work its way out of a half inch loop. If you're doing .44Spl/Mag, .38-40, .44-40 or anything smaller, it's definitely too big.

As an individual, I don't mind paying a little extra to cover PayPal costs, as it is a convenience to both the buyer and the seller. Not to mention shipping quicker. If you're a professional or semi-professional maker, your costs should be factored in. Once you figure in the difference between getting your money instantly, directly deposited into your bank account versus driving to the bank, filling out deposit slips and waiting for checks to clear, that 3% will probably seem like a bargain. At my previous residence, I had to drive 25miles to the bank each way in a truck that gets 12mpg. At current gas prices, that's $14 just in gas.