Warren

Very cool! Warren

I hope my wife and my daughter don't see that or I will never get to work on my stuff again! Great job! Warren

John, if you can't find it or post it it's no big deal. I was more curious that anything and its made me wonder if I can make one myself. I'll post it if I figure it out. Tim and Fishguy, I know it would be easier and more historically accurate to make a dump pouch than put on .22 loops but several things are preventing me from going that route. First is the fact that I already have the belt put together except for the sewing. Second my brother really wants the loops and I don't want to disappoint him. Lastly is the fact that I'm just too stubborn or stupid to say that it's too hard for me to do. So I guess I'll just have to suffer through and get it finished. My hope is it won't be as bad as I think it will be. If it is then I can say been there done that and never do it again. Anyway thanks for all the input guys and listening to me whine, I really appreciate it. Warren

Not bad! Not bad at all. Keep it up! Warren

Very nice!! Can't wait to see the rest. Warren

Nice! I really like the it. I may try one now! Warren

Fishguy, those are great! Would love to see more if you have them. Warren

Hilly,when I sew I put the backside needle through first and pull it out of the awl hole. Then I put the frontside needle into the hole just enough so it won't fall out. On the top of my awl handle I have a small indention. I place this against the needle and use the awl handle to push the needle as far as possible through the leather, then grab it on the other side and pull it out. It's similar to using a sewing palm and I don't have to switch the needles from one hand to the other as much. It really sped up my sewing when I started doing it this way. Hope this helps. Warren

Froghunter, I'm with Luke on this one. Price and delivery schedule are the 2 very important pieces of info you forgot to post. Do you think you can have them here by tomorrow evening around six o'clock? That would be about the time my wife gets home and it would just make her Valentines day! All kidding aside those are great and I'm sure your wife will love them. I'm not going to let my wife see the pictures or I will never hear the end of it,LOL!

Hey LJ nice looking sheath! The inlay work looks really good. John I have to say that is a very innovative way to secure a knife in a sheath. Thanks for posting it. Warren

Looks like a pretty good start to me Jordan. Keep it up, Warren.

Sorry, I guess you answered my leather weight question while I was typing out my post. Thanks,Warren.

Gunfighter, I know your using 2 pieces of leather to make these, but I was wondering on the weight? My 17 y.o. son Benton, wants me to make him one similar to the top black one you posted. How wide do you normally make a CCW belt, or is there a normal? Very nice looking by the way and you have a fan in Benton and that says a lot. I got Kevin (King) to make him a wallet for Christmas so he is a little spoiled about his leather work,LOL. Anyway thanks for letting me pick your brain! Warren

John, love the work, very period! Warren

No Luke I haven't, but I'm pretty sure it's more than I want to put in it! I put cartridges in all the loops and hung a holster from it with my Blackhawk in it and that sucker is HEAVY! I wouldn't want to load it with coins to boot. Call me a wimp but I think those guys way back when were tougher than I am. It's no wonder they rode horses, who could walk carrying all that around and wearing high heeled boots no less, LOL! If you would care to send me 40 or 50 silver $$$ I would be glad to run a test and give you a count on that though! Warren

Kimber, nice tri-weave! I have problems with that stamp, especially keeping it straight and spaced right. When you do it right it sure looks good, Kinda like yours! Looks great, keep it up! Warren

Tempus, I agree with what has already been posted. On top of that I will give you my 2 cents worth, which is that right here is one of the best places to learn that I know of! Just by reading this forum I have personally learned a great deal. People will be honest in their assessments of your work if you ask. They will be happy to make suggestions on how you can make improvements. Most of all they will give you all the encouragement you need to keep on trying when things don't go right, and believe me that will happen sooner or later. I know for a fact that this forum has improved my skills, given me new ideas and helped me when I needed it. Warren

John, I forgot to ask about that jig you were talking about. I would be VERY interested in seeing something like that if at all possible. I realize the copyright laws preclude you from simply posting the article, but a diagram or desciption would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Warren

John, I really appreciate the compliments. I've seen pictures of the woven loops. There are some in "Packing Iron" which I consider to be the bible of authentic western gun leather and where I came up with the inspiration for this belt. I thought about doing it that way here, but after trying it using some scraps I just didn't like the way it looked. Also since I was doing 2 of these at the same time I wanted to do them both the same. The 2nd one is for my brother and is for his .22 Ruger Single Six. I just didn't see how the woven loops would work for .22 cartridges. I know a big cartridge belt like this for a .22 Isn't authentic, but he liked the idea so there you are. I have already made him a cheyenne style mexican loop holster for it, so this will make him a matched rig. It's ready to have all the sewing done on it. I just need to find the time and the motivation, LOL. When I get it done I'll post it for y'all to see. Warren

Thats a lot of braiding especially the hobbles. Great work! Warren

Hey Buff, how many times have you looked through that book? I've about looked the pictures off the pages in mine. They sure did some beautiful work back in those days. Not that a lot of people here don't do some good looking stuff themselves. Kind of like the holster at the top of this post. Man, that guy has it in spades! All kidding aside you did a great job. I really like your border stamp. Don't think I've ever seen that one before. Very nice! Warren

Pete, the belt is one peice of 5/6 weight folded over and sewnshut on the billet end and top. The buckle end is left open to form a pouch to put money in. there is a slot behind the buckle that the billet goes though to keep anyting from falling out. I've attached some picture that will explain it better. This was probably the most popular form of cartridge belt used in the old west. The loops are the same weight as the belt whick is one reason it was so hard to do them. This thing should outlast me and my kids, I hope! Luke, thanks. Coming from you thats high praise in my book! Warren

Well I have been working on this for about 2 months now. I was beginning to think I was never going to get it finished. It is by far the most difficult and time consuming project I have finished to date. I literally have about a weeks worth of 8 hour days in this, if all the time spent on it was added up. I now understand why all the big guys charge so much for cartridge belts. Sewing cartridge loops by hand is the most aggravating thing in the world. In order for me to be able to hold the loops in place where they needed to be sewn I couldn't put the belt in my stitching horse. I spent one whole day doing nothing but sewing on loops. The next day my hands hurt so bad I couldn't work on the belt. I'm glad its finished. The bad news is this one was a practice piece I'll keep. Now I have to do the other one thatscut out and laying on my bench waiting to be sewn together. Worse it's for my brother and it gets teeny tiny .22 cartridge loops. I hope it goes faster sewing them on than these did, LOL. Oh well if it was easy everyone would do it huh?Hope you guys like it. Warren

Bob Mernickle is a very well known gunleather maker. He sells to a lot of cowboy action shooters. His holsters have a very shiny finish on them to allow for a faster draw. As for losing the gun, if you make the holster deep enough and wet mold it to the gun, it shouldn't bounce out of the holster while riding. Several of mine will hold onto the gun when it is turned upside down and shaken, HARD! Be sure when you wet mold to mold a bevel in the throat of the holster to allow easier re-holstering of the gun. The bad thing about the pigskin liner is that it will attract dirt (ask me how I know this,LOL) unless you put some kind of finish on it, which kind of defeats your purpose for using the pigskin. On the holsters I have made using pigskin for a lining, I went back and put Tan Cote on the inside to seal it. Guess what, now they aren't as secure as before, so I had to add hammer thongs to them. Not the thing you want to try to deal with on the back of a galloping horse. Hope this helps. Warren

Gunfighter is right on the money. That is exactly the way I have done the last several holsters that I have made. Warren