Warren

Will, I would be interested in the rosette stamps and probably others as well. Oh, and "THANKS" for all the work you put in helping us learning leatherworkers. It's great to be able to have patterns that show how to do something at such an affordable price. Warren

Kaw that is probably the best bosal I have ever seen. Absolutely fantastic! I'm not saying the reins aren't great too, it's just that the bosal really knocks my socks off! Great work! Warren

It would depend on what you call inexpensive. I have seen non-firing replica guns for about 60-75 dollars. Warren

Will, very glad to have you on the forum! I have been a great admirer of yours for some time now. I have almost all of your holster pattern packs. I have made several holsters using your patterns or the general idea behind them. I look at your website on a fairly regular basis to make sure I don't miss any of your new stuff. I was glad to hear you got settled with the "Yuma" folks. Your work is wonderful and inspired me to try my own hand at it. Thanks for being willing to share your talents with the rest of us. I look forward to more patterns and inspiration in the future! Warren

Don, I had seen them before and enjoyed seeing them again! As a matter of fact I see them on a fairly regular basis, as I saved them to my computer before the crash and they are used as part of my screen-saver. I have over 100 pictures of authentic old west gun leather that make up my screen-saver. Your work is awesome and stands up to anyone else's I've seen. Always a pleasure to look at your work! Warren

Kevin, you pulled it off again! Great job on a truly unique take on a tool bag. Looks like it will go along perfectly with the bikes theme. Who needs a pattern when you can make that! Warren

Thanks for the info, really appreciate it! Warren

Big, when you say you used a regular hole punch what do you mean? Are you talking about a stitching awl? If you are sewing by hand it is the only way to go, in my opinion anyway. You can get a leather sewing kit from TLF. It will have a stitching awl, a over stitch tool, a stitching groover and the Al Stohlman "How to Sew Leather" book. The kit is a bargain. There are plans for building a stitching horse in the back of the book. You need a stitching pony or horse to sew by hand. Yes you can use a drill or press with a small drill bit in it, but in my opinion it is much slower than sewing by hand with an awl. There have been certain times when I have pre-drilled holes on some projects, but they are the exception, not the rule. Your holster is good, especially since you had no plan or experience. Keep it up, because I guarantee that the next one will be better than this one and like I said this one isn't bad! Warren

Very nice job! Warren

Looks very nice Jordan. I may try this pattern for one of my pistols. Thanks for sharing the info! Warren

That tutorial is on the website also or was . I downloaded it from there. You can also get it already printed out at the TLF if they have them. Every time I went in they were out so I got it from the site. Warren

There is a tutorial on how to make a stitching pony at the Wild Rose Trading Co. website. The URL is http://www.wrtcleather.com/1-ckd/tutorials...tchingpony.html I haven't made one of these but I'm thinking about it. I made the stitching quarterhorse in the back of the Stholman sewing book. I like it but sometimes its just to big or to time consuming to get out and set up. It would be nice to have something smaller to use when you needed to do something quick or for smaller projects. Hope this helps. Warren

All I can say about that is a great big WOW! Warren

Nice to know Bruce. I used to get all the dunnage from a plywood retailer here in town. I know the manager. Dunnage is the 1/4" luan plywood that they wrap the plywood in before they strap it for shipping, kind of like what your talking about. I have quite a few items made from that stuff, some of it is made out of several pieces laminated together to get the right thickness. When it's free you can do a lot with it. Unfortunately now they send it back to the manufacturer to be reused, so I can't get any more. I do go by Home Depot and Lowe's Home Center fairly regular and check out their pallet stacks. You would be surprised what they throw out and what you can make out of pallets. I've made ground blinds for hunting, free standing racks for yard tools and equipment, tables, and workbenches. Some of them are made from very good oak that you can use for other things if you pull or cut them apart for the lumber. I have one of the plastic pallets that I use for the front porch to my shop. It sits on the ground and since it's plastic it won't rot. I am going to glue a piece of outdoor carpet to it one of these days. Warren

Well you can't blame a guy for asking! I think I will try some when I get around to making holsters for a couple of my automatics. What exactly do you mean about it being different? Harder, easier, what? Thanks, Warren

Mike, that is cool! I love the two-tone effect. Very nicely done! I'm going to have to try my hand at a holster like these when I get caught up with everything thats on my bench now. So far all I've done so far are old west style and hunting bandolier style holsters. I have a couple of pistols I can use to experiment with, so I'll give it a try. Thanks, Warren

I understand what you mean Buff. Thats the way I am too. I rarely get the opportunity to make more than one of something and even when I do they are never exactly alike. Somebody sees something I've done and they want one, but they want to change this or add that so they all turn out different. Case in point is the cartridge belt I posted a couple of days ago. I cut the pieces out for 2 of them at the same time. That was where they stopped being the same. Different border stamp, cartridge size, length, dye color etc. etc. Every project I take on is different if for no other reason than I learn something from the one I did before. Warren

I like this thread, it's already given me some good ideas. I especially liked the one from Bruce about the printers blankets. We have several here in town I will have to hit up. I also want to know where he gets particle board free. Thanks. Warren

Hey Boomstick, where do you get horsehide thats not outrageously expensive? The leather shops here only have fairly small pieces of horses butt and its about double what Herman Oak veg tan is. One thing I do like about it is that the flesh side is very smooth compared to cowhide. I could see where you wouldn't need to line a holster made from it. Another plus would be the stiffness. Those pieces of horsehide in the store will almost stand up by themselves they're so stiff. I haven't taken the plunge and bought any of it to try so any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks, Warren

I'm with Boomstick! I learn more from reading what everybody posts than I could any other way I can think of. Put my name in the 1911 giveaway too! Keep it up guys, it's great! Warren

Guys, these were the only ones I had ever seen accept at the fabric store. Duh, I guess I'm just to dumb to think to look anywhere else. As for cutting thick leather, I had no problem cutting the 1/4" skirting that I got from Go2Tex. I was expecting it to work on the thinner leathers, but not the thick stuff. I was very impressed. I try not to shop at Wally World, but I will have to look around at other places and see what I can come up with. I'm not throwing away any of my other knives either. I believe you can't have too many tools. Warren

I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago at the TLF store here in town. It's listed in this month sales flier for $9.99. Regular price is $19.99 which makes this one sweet deal. When my mom was teaching me to use a sewing machine a couple of years ago was the first time I had ever seen one. I ask her where she got it and she said the fabric store. So I went to see how much they were because it made cutting patterns out so much easier. Well the fabric store wanted about $40.00 for one and I had to pass. When I saw these on sale I took moms to compare. Guess what they are the same brand as hers. I sure don't mind saving $30.00. I was skeptical about it cutting reallt heavy stuff, but it sailed right through some saddle skirting I had in the shop. I also found it was much easier to use to cut curves with as long as they aren't to tight. Best of all the blades are replacable. If you haven't tried one of these then you really should. I think you will be as pleased as I am.

I can't let my wife see these or I will have to stop doing my stuff to do hers,LOL. Nice job on both of those! Warren

Thanks John, I appreciate the info. I don't know how many cartridge belts I'll be doing, but your right about setting up templates if I'm doing very many. I'll let you know if I figure out anything earth shattering,LOL. Warren

Hey Scouter, thanks for the compliments! What do you mean by "belts that weren't straight when open"? Warren