TexasJack

As you say, ya gotta start somewhere. Seems like you have a pretty good idea of where you were wanting to go with this. I think if you look at the pictures you can see some stuff that can be improved. An easy one to spot is the uneven edge on the front. That's mostly something you accomplish by taking the time and care to do it carefully. Pig skin is pretty thin for a mag holder. If you decide to do another, you might want to look at something a bit thicker that will hold it's shape. Glue only works for so long. Picture leather as if it was a sponge. When you glue it, you're only getting the surface attached. Rivets, lacing, or stitching will give strength to pieces joined together. Listen, there are 3 very important keys to becoming good at doing just about anything, including leatherworking: 1. Try. If you don't actually try to do it, you'll never know what you can accomplish. Sounds simple, but you'd be amazed how many people never try to do something they always wanted to do. 2. Look at what you've done and what others have done so that you can learn and try to improve the next one. If you can't figure it out, find someone who knows and ask them. Again, you'd be amazed at how many people never ask a question. 3. Start back at #1.

Nice pair! But I think you meant "sheath" not "seat". It did get me to look - a seat with a knife in it would be interesting, but hopefully not painful to sit on!

Impressive, to say the least!

Cool video!

Still on dialup? That's like one step faster than smoke signals. It probably does get abused, but sometimes it's a good way to identify the post that you're referring to. People should also take into consideration that you can delete parts of the quote you attach. If there's only one part that you want to show, delete the rest.

Knut, something tells me that's not politically correct! It did make me laugh, though.

Nice job!

A .38 is .379 inches in diameter. With just the dimension, it would be pretty hard to get the loops right. Best thing is to use an actual cartridge. You don't actually need a live cartridge, you can use just the brass from a cartridge he's fired. Ask him for a couple of them as that will make your sizing easier. Spent .357's would be the best since they are slightly longer than the .38s.

This same issue comes up about once a week. Maybe there should be a comprehensive thread pinned so that people can just go to it. My thought on your problem, JD, is that black dye is actually a suspension. By dying the leather after you oiled it, some of the particles are still suspended instead of being down in the leather. 'Course, there are folks on here with a million times more experience than me, so it won't surprise me if someone corrects my observation.

I seldom end up in the middle of an argument, but I may be this time. In reading your post, it looks like both of you were "right". The guy asked you - fairly politely - if you'd be willing to donate a pattern. You responded - also politely - that you'd be willing to help, but not with a pattern. Yes, you disagreed, but openly and fairly. After that, things get a little strained, but still far less than I see on far too many threads. For some reason, there seems to be a lot of people who think they can make anything (and do it for nothing) if they just had that magic "pattern". It's like technique and effort have no part in the process! If you know how to make holsters (or substitute any leather goods you desire to make), then you could probably look at someone's creation and figure out how to do the same thing. If you don't know how to do it, the best pattern in the world won't help.

Nice!

My azaleas are blooming. I guess we can afford to send some warm weather north for the rest of y'all!

It is infectious!

I decided to give the "Weeping Heart" bikini holster a try. Of course I couldn't find the right size of leather. (How did that happen? I guess one of those times I said to myself that I need to order some leather, I should have gone ahead and done it.) But I did find some that was close enough and figured that was good enough to work out the kinks. It only has 2 short seams to sew, so it didn't take long at all to finish. Put it on and dropped in a 1911 and it worked GREAT! The package says it's for intermediate to advanced leatherworkers, and it would be generous to consider me "intermediate", but I had no problem knocking this one out.

Nice job!

Tandy Leather in north Houston. According to Will, they should be at any Tandy store or you may be able to order from them online.

I emailed Will Ghormley about his patterns for 1911 holsters and he wrote back to say that they should be hitting Tandy stores now. Called the local Tandy store and in a rare stroke of luck, they got a shipment in today that included the 1911 pack along with Will's Hand of God ("3:10 to Yuma") and Johnnie Ringo ("Tombstone") patterns. I made a point of swinging by to pick up that 1911 pack tonight. (My wife still can't understand how going 10 miles out of my way was a shortcut.) I know there are others on here that have discussed it, so I'm passing along the info.

Nice!

Yeah, 65F here today, but we've had some rain. I noticed today that the peach trees down the road are starting to bloom.

That would be the easiest way to do it.

Very nice!

Nice!

The kindle is VERY cool! Books are cheaper (a lot of old ones are free), you can buy and download them almost instantly, the screen is very similar to a printed page (it doesn't put out light like a computer screen - it uses reflected light like a book), and you can carry 3500 books in one. As for the case, it happens that I was in an office supply place yesterday and they wanted like $50 for a pretty sorry looking basic case. I'm thinking that I need to sit down and start working up one for myself. Nice job on yours, hjett1!

Fiebling's deglazer is a mixture of ethyl acetate and ethanol. Chuck is correct that denatured alcohol (which is generally ethanol plus a bit of methanol) will do the trick. Some folks on here have posted that they use acetone or rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol).