jackd942

My former boss, the Assistant Police Chief of my local PD, just retired after 34 1/2 years on the job. I started on the PD in 1991 after returning from Desert Storm and he was a Captain at that time. I left at the end of 1998, but we have kept in touch through the years. He was probably the person I respected the most in the department and in general. A truly great man and the department will not be the same without him. I know he will enjoy his retirement, so I decided to make him a holster as a retirement gift. He has a .38 Chiefs Special that he dearly loves, so I made him this pancake with his initials on it. We'll see how he likes it tomorrow... I've really got to do something about the lighting for my photo box:)

Love it...very nice!

Very nice!

From my experience as an officer on a small dept, the majority of the officers were not gun savvy. We had about 20 officers plus reserves and only about 5 or 6 were enthusiasts. The rest only had basic instruction in the academy and qualified twice per year.

Gorgeous

Very nice! Beautiful job...

Sometimes you have to dye before molding...like if you're going to use dark dye and white thread. I'm pretty new to all this, but all the holsters and mag pouches I've made so far have been done this way and I think they turned out really good. I've been using Fiebing's spirit dye. Not sure if there's a difference between using a water based dye vs a spirit dye or not, but if Dwight or anyone else have any opinions, they may want to weigh in here. Jack

That makes sense... It's exactly how I've made a few pancakes and it does do a good job of keeping the mouth open. I just couldn't tell it the first time I saw the pic. After I looked at it again, I thought that might be the case. Anyway, it looks good.

Just curious cornbread, does the front of the stiffener wrap over the slide?

Looks good, but I have to agree on the stiffener.

Nice thread here...lots if different styles/opinions. Guess it comes down to trial and error and what works for you.

Nice!

Very nice!

PM sent on the J Frame

Very nice Dwight! Thanks

Me too Dwight..love to see a pic. What size conduit did you use?

Yeah, I totally agree Ralph. There are definitely rotten apples that give them all a bad name...even the good ones. Wow what a difference what part of the country you live in makes...a police officer starting out in rural Missouri probably averages around 25k. I think even the state boys only start out around 50k. Of course I'm sure cost of living in MO is a lot different than CA.

I understand the feeling Ralph. I was a police officer in a small town for 8 years before I figured out I couldn't raise a family on the salary. I come from a line of law enforcement and the chief deputy I sold to started some 25 years ago under my dad as sheriff. So I've known him for a long time. Luckily the local departments in my area are still pretty good, but it's kind of disheartening when I hear some of the stories of departments in other areas of the country. It seems like there are way too many areas where the departments attitude is "us vs them".

Very nice...love it!

Love it!

Very nice...and unique.

I made this set for the Chief Deputy of my county Sheriff's Dept. He picked them up today and seemed to be very pleased with them. He had seen one of my first holsters with the floral carving and really liked them, but wanted his initials on the stiffener. I added the star concho on my own and he wasn't expecting it, but loved it. Hopefully it will turn into more orders from his department and other local police departments. The color in the photos isn't very good as I used my iPhone 4S instead of my DSLR. Looks more purple than the burgundy that it is. Any comments or critiques are welcome.

Very nice, and thanks for the detail...now I just need to buy an M4 so I can make a bag for it...

Absolutely stunning work!

Here are my first two completed holsters and a single mag pouch. As you can probably tell, I really liked Eric's holsters at Adams Leatherworks, so that is where I got my inspiration. The carving patterns were free-handed on paper and transferred over. I have a lot of room for improvement on the carving, but I think they turned out pretty good for my first. One is for a Springfield Armory XDm .40 and the other is for a Taurus PT140 Millennium Pro. Thanks for looking and any comments or critiques are welcome. Jack