countyholster

Hi folks! I'm a leather worker in Eugene, Oregon and have run across a problematic situation a couple of times with leather, making marks under or on the surface of fine steel blades. It's happened with a lower end production knife called 'The Seguaro Survival'. That time the rust was appearing before my eyes. It literally was like a viral growth and took considerable work to stop it before it did serious surface damage. I chalked that up to the quality of the blade. Lately I had another blemish appear on a blade. This one was a high end custom knife. The customer called after having the blade in the sheath for a month and said two small blemishes have shown up. He tried using a metal surface polisher to no avail. In this sheath, I cured the constructed sheath in a low heat oven for plenty of time. I'd hoped this would take the offending chemicals or interaction away. The sheath is lined with a 3-4 Hermann Oak. Outer is 7-8 HO. I used Eco Flo brown on the outer and on the lining. At this point I must assume the fault is with the Eco Flo. My mentor, Dave Shelgren suggested not dying sheaths and only Neetsfoot them. This would stop it, but would lend to a restricted product offering. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, John.

In my last Leather History post, I talked about Orvo (Arvo from Norway - or Finland?) Ojala - the fellow who worked leather for hollywood quick draw and coach to the western gunfighters in movies. Well his old shooting buddy is my mentor - Dave Shelgren. Dave is nearing 90 now and takes great pleasure in spending time teaching me more and more. Dave used to do all manner of leather work for all kinds of folks, from John Wayne to Jerry Lewis and hundreds more. Some of John Bianchi's designs are derived from Dave. He's had a hand in many present day holster designs and does some incredible work. Dave sold his business to Bret at Circle KB in Salmon Idaho some years back. As most of us in leather work, we take odd jobs to keep the leather habit in full swing. Dave, with a very interesting history, at one time was the go-to dog food guy for Joe Bonanno at his compound near Tucson. Bonanno (spelling?) would buy 1/2 ton of Purina at a time, and Dave would deliver to the double fenced property. He tells me the dogs would roam the in between fences area ready to catch an intruder. As he delivered the puppy chow, the goons would have Dave frisked. He'd tell me he could drop 3-4 of them before they even got near their hardware. Just like a prison, those guys who play rough, usually end up in a cage of some sort. As I have more interesting tidbits, I'll pass them on. I'll tell you how he helped the developing Monsanto while a farmer. Lots of history from this fellow.

Well Tor, now you have opened up the box...Orvo Ojala (the hollywood quick draw coach & super holster maker) was Norweigan. I'm supposing James Aurnes and he were aware of their heritage after a short talk or two. I'll bet money the folks in Norway who were glued to the TV knew the connection - giving Gunsmoke the 'double whammy' effect. Great post and thanks for updating me! John (by the way, I spent my childhood years in Denmark, Copenhagen - Something to add here: My father - Richard Schnase was the designing engineer in USCG that implemented the Loran system Long Range Aid to Navigation, in Europe. This is the predecessor to GPS).

This is a multi-faceted scenario. Sorry you had to go through this. I too had a similar event with a holster. First of all, I've found the low dollar spenders are the biggest pain - period! I've had a couple of minimal orders come back with reworks, and I've done them...for the same reason you did. The big spenders are always happy and send more customers - always! A fellow came into my shop last year wanting an Indiana Jones replica of a holster and the belt to match. I way undercharged him because I wanted the project to show my work. Well, he could not get the Taurus .357 revolver to me as it was his fathers and this was a Christmas gift. I did the best I could, but the holster was just too tight for the fathers hand to pull out the gun. As he had never shown me the gun, or his fathers hand, I was shooting in the dark. He ended up taking the belt, but left the holster at my shop in a huff. I called twice to let him know I had a refund, but no return call. I still have the refund check in my wallet and may be seeing this fellow at the Oregon Knife Collector Association show in April. I really don't want to give back the money, and no doubt he has already told his buddies what a poor job I did. I am on the fence on this. I could lose the cash and give it back and have it not make any difference in the end. Now I have work orders with instructions signed & initialed. Also 1/2 down if the customer does not leave his firearm with me. There are additional charges if the customer wants changes to a project mid-stream - so says my print at the bottom of the work order. That has worked out well and have not had issues since.

I've had similar situations with my holsters & belts. My belts are being sold at 4 of the 6 gun shops in and around Eugene, Oregon. I wholesale them at $25 for a double layer belt, roller buckle - for shooting. A couple of the stores resell them at $35, while another sells for $49.95. These shops also refer my holster work to gun buyers. I sell my belts through my leather shop to holster clients for $45 - and always tell them where they can buy them for less. They typically want to purchase directly from me at my price, as I made the holster. One sporting goods shop offered me an end aisle for my holsters, saying he was going to let me in on the ground floor. Problem was I sell my holsters for around $80 and would need that much from him so he could tack on his profit. This would set me so high he'd never sell a piece! Then there were other issues. I had a strong feeling one counter guy would never tell his customers about my products. I've also never rec'd a referral from them. All flags and I decided to not engage. I'd also learned about another maker who had around $800 worth of holsters in this shop and never really got anything going. Lots of inventory, no movement. This goes directly to your comment Ambassador of the shop needing to take ownership and interest in getting your things moving. To align with another of your tips, I was not as picky at first going into this. I should have looked over the stock and got an idea how long things had been sitting around. And finally, building inventory while having customers come into my shop is difficult. Plus I'm sure this guy really wanted to go consignment in the end anyway. Too many hassles and life is too short.

Hi mudslinger, I hope you can get dialed in on saddle making. I hear it is tough work, but very rewarding. Those things can go for thousands of dollars. The learning curve is steep and frustration quite deep, but once you have it, you are top of the pile. Good luck! John

Hi Stanly, I completely understand what you seek. You know, how about a TV dinner tray? At least you might get the surface area you want, then redesign the leg-folding action? Or, if the dinner tray has a nice leg concept, you may be able to get away with that until you come up with a different idea. You know, game players used to travel with boards that set up into a table to play chess. Perhaps something like that? How about checking into an antique store or 3? Hope you find your way grasshopper. John

You are right Wishful. The fellow who mentored me (Dave Shelgren) sold a bunch of his equipment before I met him. A fellow named Brett owns Circle KB in Salmon Idaho. He bought Daves business along with all the old-timey equipment. Still uses it and you can see him operate the old stitcher on a video at his web site. I've actually been given some stuff and hold on to it like it is gold.

Incredible work! I really like the step by step pics you showed. Really nice. John

Hi Wenny, my wife and I have been looking into this for a couple years and are just about ready to act on a shed. The one thing I use as criteria to a well-built shed is a 16" center on studs in the walls. Very important. A 24 inch is just too weak and the shed walls will begin warping in no time. Also, a good strong door with length hinges, not just 3 spot hinges. We've found the Well-built I think it is called seems to be the toughest. Home Depot carries them. I'd be leary of a Costco shed personally. Also, look over how the roof attaches to the walls. Brackets are best. If just nailed on...be suspect right away. I think the name of the brand we like may be Better Built. Look these guys up. You are probably going to drop $2400 into one, but well worth it. John