TexasJack

In Chuck Burrows' video on sheathmaking, he points out that he keeps an empty glue can with a brush and uses that one, not the one that sits in a full can. That keeps the glue from getting up on the stem of the brush and dripping.

I like it! The tooling works well with the shape and the gun. If I were to change one thing, it would be the rivets.

Amazon.com has them: .45 dummy bullets

Nice looking leatherwork!

A neighbor let his dogs out to do their business and they started barking. He went out to see what was going on and they had cornered a skunk. Just as he went to get the dogs, the skunk sprayed them and the dogs ran past him and into the house. They rolled on the carpet, the couch, and every pillow they could find to try to get the skunk spray off of themselves. He had to get a professional cleaner to come in and decontaminate the place.

Sounds like you bought Will Ghormley's 1911 pack. It is the VERY best! Will has posted advice and how-to's on here a number of times and is a terrific gentleman!

Very nice!

I have to admit that there have been some posts where I wanted to reply, "I don't think you know what 'innovative' means." Guns have been holstered for a couple of hundred years now and chances are pretty good somebody's done the same thing - maybe not to the same extent or maybe not as well, but still the same 'innovation'. IMHO, the mark of a great holster is when it meets these 5 basic criteria: 1. It works well for the particular application, 2. It fits well, 3. It's comfortable, 4. It's well constructed and made to last, and 5. It's attractive to the eye.

If anyone has patience and a good sense of humor, it's Chuck. I'm sure he got a laugh out of that. Anyone who could take the time to give me help and not give me up as hopeless has to have a good sense of humor.

Really?! I blame this squarely on you, Chuck; you haven't been posting nearly enough pics on here. BTW, Sylvia, I'm glad to hear Chuck does make holsters, otherwise my purchase of his "Frontier Holsters with Chuck Burrows" DVD would have been a waste of my money.

In order to make things out of it, you have to be able to cut it and grind it into shape. Depending on the blade and on what you want to make, that may be a bit of work. Grinding steel heats it up and too much heat will ruin the steel for use as a blade. It can be annealed and then quenched when you're done, but that takes some knowledge of what the particular steel is. In addition, drilling holes in it to affix a handle can be tough - most drill bits won't survive. People do make some things out of old blades. I finished out a knife made from a very wide bandsaw blade and made a sheath for the finished knife for a friend. Her father had started it years earlier but died before he could finish. I remember it being a lot of work and I wouldn't have taken it on except that it meant a lot to a friend. Other than making some sort of knife blade, I'm not really sure what tools you envision making.

There are worse smells! Vinegar is an acid (acetic acid), so it can react with alkaline chemicals. Baking soda would be an obvious and easy choice.

Somebody posted a pic what they use for backing: a piece of wax wrapped in heavy copper wire. (If I wasn't LOOKING for that thread, I'd find it.) I didn't wrap it in wire, but I've used beeswax (the little disk you get from Tandy) and it works pretty good. I don't think it's possible for an awl to be too sharp. When I start having trouble pushing it through leather, it's sharpening time.

Needs to be repeated!

Shooter, you did an amazing job with those pictures!

They look very nice. Could I make a suggestion on the IWB ("tuckable")? It would be more comfortable if the side against the body was flat.

Looks great!

I see what you mean about the corners, but overall it's a really nice job on a very different piece.

I've found that Chuck's advice is usually worth it's weight in gold. I bought a spool of Barbour's linen and found that it was a lot easier to work with than the junk I was using before.

Picture leather as a sponge. Now picture what it would take to make a sponge waterproof.

Bienvenue!

I made a similar one, but with a snap on the front. And I added a hole in the bottom big enough for my finger to go in - that way I can push the phone up enough to get it out easily.

Fortunately, your local hardware store probably carries several types of gloves. Chemical-resistant gloves are made with different kinds of rubber: natural, butyl, neoprene, nitrile and fluorocarbon (viton); or various kinds of plastic: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene. Nitrile gloves are very good for chlorinated solvents, alcohols, and oils, but are not particularly good around aromatic solvents, ketones, or acetates. Here's an MSDS for Fiebing's dye: MSDS

Chuck is about as knowledgeable as it gets on this subject, but let me add one thing. People safely handle very toxic chemicals every day without getting sick or dying. If you show a proper amount of respect for the chemicals you are handling, you can do the same. Generally, ingestion is the most dangerous, followed by inhalation, then skin absorption. Use gloves - better yet, make sure to use the right gloves - and proper ventilation with additional respiratory protection if necessary. Every chemical sold has a Material Safety Data Sheet, or MSDS that is publicly available. The easiest way to get one is by googling the product or by looking for MSDS on the company's web site. While MSDSs aren't particularly consistent, they do list the proper protective equipment (PPE) and the potential hazards associated with the chemicals in the product.