AndyN

My mom grew up on a farm, and this whip was among her things when she moved and had me dispose of clutter. I thought it was too interesting a bit of family history to get rid of. As you can hopefully see from the image, the end is coming unraveled and one of the strips is broken a few inches back from the tip. What would be the proper way to braid the end to keep it from unraveling? I assume I'd need to cut the unbroken strips back to about the length of the broken one. Also, what do folks usually treat whips with to keep them from drying out? Thanks in advance for any advice!

It's not just an ATF issue. Laws vary from state to state as well. For example, I live in PA and my understanding of state law is that a private individual who isn't in the business of selling firearms can sell, loan or give away a long gun without any kind of transfer paperwork, but any transfer of a handgun must be done through an FFL. If you have a local gun store with employees you trust, they might be able to tell you how the law feels about a non-FFL holding onto someone else's gun for a few days. I think the only way you're going to get a real solid legal answer though would be to pay a lawyer for advice.

I'm working on a double layer belt and hadn't planned to dye the liner. I'm finishing the face with Fiebing's oil dye and had planned to seal it with resolene. Is there any reason to seal the undyed liner? If I don't seal it with resolene when I seal the face, is there something else I should treat it with?

This is my first attempt at leatherworking since Cub Scouts nearly 40 years ago. I'm looking at my first two attempts more as mistakes from which I can learn than as actual holsters - I knew early on they weren't going to come out well, but worked through the entire process to see where all I was going to have problems. There are some obvious problems that I can identify myself and think I know how to not repeat, but I'm hoping the more experienced hands can tell me what less obvious mistakes I'm not noticing. Things I know I screwed up: - Don't try to cut belt slots freehand. I'm going to pick up a punch for the ends and have a 1.25" wood chisel for the straight lines. - I didn't make the template for the Ruger wide enough, which didn't leave me enough room for belt slots, which exacerbated problem #1. - I should have sanded the edges before I used the edge groover, which I think would have helped me keep a smoother line with the groover. - I need to get my stitch line tighter to the gun. - I need to sand the edges more thoroughly. I didn't put a lot of effort into burnishing because once I started I noticed that I had high and low spots along the edges and wasn't going to get a nice smooth finish regardless. Thanks in advance for any advice.