Jordan

Thats the Good Witch right?

Hardwood dowels are probably what you want, the home centers carry some but stay away from the closet pole type as they are usually soft wood like pine or douglas fir. Oak or rock maple would be good but to get any larger than 1/2" dia. you will probably need to go to a real lumber yard.

You can get by with some pretty basic tools, a razor knife, a good pair of scissors, a hole punch, a stylus to transfer a pattern to the leather, needles and thread, stitching pony, leather glue and a few other items. You did not specify what type of holsters, there are two basic types, western revolver and modern automatic pistols. The How to make holsters book by Stohlman is good for revolver basics and there may be some good ones for autos but I can't think of any right now. This forum has a lot of good info. I am sure others will chime in and there are some other threads on the site with lists of tools and such to get started. Have fun and expect to do a lot of experimenting. Here are a couple of examples

With the season upon us earlier every year I was thinking of christmas' past and was reminded of a time as new parents our brothers and sisters would always seem to get our kids toys that had millions of small sharp objects which of course we would end up stepping on in the dark in bare feet, or things that shot little things that we would find for years! So when they became parents I thought payback is a beotch, so I got them all N scale electric train sets. They never again got our kids stuff that shot little things or had anything remotely related to small sharp parts! Ahh tis the season!

Forgot a photo here it is

Silly me, built another one proper size but made the classic mistake of rushing and this morning I went into the shop looked at it and realized I made a lefty. Third times the charm as they say.

The crass commercialism of the holidays sucks. I think the retailers have figured out how to implant a broken record in everyones heads "spend your money spend your money" playing over and over! It is really sad that the true reason for the holiday seems to have been lost in all the noise, after all the birth of Christ was a pretty important event in the grand scheme of things.

Babies are adept at putting anything in their mouths even their feet. I don't think it would be a huge problem, as mom's, especially new ones, are extremely hyper vigilant. Have you thought of mini gourds? when they are dried they rattle and you could maybe cover them with moc material.

Try a search for Bota Bag. At least thats what they called them in my hippie-dippy days.

Thanks so much for the pattern, I will eventually print it out and practice a very cool design. This site is so cool, that artisans are so willing to share ideas and talent.

Jeez, I guess I should just pack it in, I don't think I will ever get that good at decorating leather.

While I am no expert, it looks to me like it was done with a meander border roller. Which is a thick bronze or some type of other metal tube with the design carved or machined into it. Tandy and others like Tippman, Zack White etc. sell the rolls and and machines which are hand or motor operated. You could do it with stamps also, either way you would probably have to have it made, to match the design exactly.

Protects the mattress and box spring.......oops wrong section Very nice work on the design and implementation of the holster. It should be a rocket for sales.

My suspicion was right I was off by 1/4 to 1/2 inch in the opening and cylinder area. The Ruger 44 mag was thicker in the cylinder area and wider between the sight and the trigger guard than I originally figured. Sooo.... I made a new pattern and paid extra close attention this time. I think the 1st one will fit another smaller cal. revolver just fine and the experience was worth it. Practice practice practice makes better. LOL. I'll get it right even if I to eat steak the rest of my days!

This is a holster for a Ruger revolver that I have put together over the past three days. It is a practice one because I have a sneaking suspicion I measured wrong and it has ended up too small in the width, for the customers pistol. I will find out today when he brings it back for a test fit. I think it turned out well and if it is the wrong size it was good practice as I have not made this style before. It started out as a pattern for a law dog by Will Ghormley, I still need to incorporate a retention strap to hold it against the bib and a thumb strap for the hammer. If it works then it is time to start the cartridge belt of the set.

Ingenious looking machine, he must have gone to engineering school in Germany, put that in a bimmer and double the fuel mileage and play DVD's at the same time

Interesting... I just watched a PBS show about the Germans that settled in OH. and MO. areas of the US. (would that be the mideast rather than the midwest,lol). Interesting in the fact that they developed a dialect all their own which as far as I could tell is a mix of high and low german and english. There are apparently not that many people left that can speak or read and write it. Looks like quite a find, hope you can find someone who can translate it.

There is always the block of wood with a 2" hollow, a 2 and 1/4" metal disc and your trusty Ball-Peen Hammer, although a catalog or auto recyclers would be a lot easier. I got to get some replacement logo buttons for my bmw wheels one of these days, dang carwash blasted the old ones down the drain.

I figured the universe was still hanging in there because the Vikings are doing what they always seem to do. Seems they took lessons from the Rams when they were in LA. I'm glad I don't bet on football.

Interesting take on Dr. Strangelove theme, It's not only the flowers that don't sag Your work is very impressive, I like the way your tooling really stands out. Do you swivel cut extra deep or lift the edges to get that much relief ?

Just got a flier today from tandy and it lists as a new offering the belt spring clips in black, have not seen one yet but they are probably the same styles as the chrome ones they carry.

Tandy store near me offers a 4H stamp sold only to 4H leaders I think, maybe they offer leather course material also. Just a thought.

On the News hour show an interview this evening with some talking head in DC let it slip that the bill was not really a bill, just a 3 page memo outlining the bush bailout. You can be garun-freakin-teed that there will be no oversight, accountability or taxpayer protection in anything that gets passed. Chalk another one up for the powers that be. I am expecting my 55 gal. barrel of KY any day now delivered COD of course.

May I suggest hand carving the X and using craftool star stamps and cova colors to finish it.

Found this on the Fine Woodworking web site. There is a free video showing the bench being built. It looks real simple to make and very stable. It is a Pdf file.Hope it can come in handy for someone on this forum.Oops wrong pdf edited with right one. GSIW_workbench.pdf GSIW_workbench.pdf