TwinOaks

hmm old adage time? "A man griped because he had no shoes until he met a man who had no feet"

yeah, but it's a Kimber..... Just kidding, Crystal. Very nice and cleanly formed holster!

Rule #1: No dumb questions!!! no wait, that's #2...#1 is keep hands/fingers out of the cutting path. ahem... Some cases are molded around the phone- how much I can't really say because it depends on the leather being used. Some has more stretch than others. Other cases use a gusset for the sides, and have a single piece as the front, back, bottom and flap (if it has a flap). There's a pattern floating around here of a lateral phone case which is all a single piece of leather for the main case, with an additional piece for the belt loop. For the molded types, the easiest way to size the upper piece is to use some heavy stock paper ( I use cardboard sometimes) and wrap the phone with it, leaving enough for stitching. Then mark the material, flatten it out, and cut along your marks. You now have a stencil to transfer to the leather. I've also gone the route of measuring a phone's dimensions, laying out the lines and cutting the pattern. Assembly was.....interesting. Molding is much easier, especially if you can find a block of wood/plastic the same shape and size as the phone. Oooh! Idea! Ring's "blue-phones" for phone case makers!!!

Ditto Randy's comment on stitch lines. Also, you'll probably want smaller belt slots. The large slots are great for pushing a belt through, but tend to be counter productive at keeping the holster where you want it. It just moves around too much with that much slack in the holes. Very clean job with the saddle stitching, it looks great. Last thing: I know this is for a .22 plinker, but for more serious duty holsters really look into a sight channel. It keeps the front sight from peeling leather on the way out, or getting hung up in the holster. I once argued against them.....well, I use them now. One of my great moments of "open mouth, insert foot".

Hi and welcome to the forum, Kevin. Art, who is one of the moderators here, is also VERY knowledgeable about sewing machines and has been an incredible resource to this site. Be looking for his response to your question, I'm sure he'll be along before too long. Me? I'm still new to machines so I'm not much help on this subject, but I just wanted to extend a "welcome". When you get a chance, drop a post over in the member gallery; not everyone reads all the sub-forums, and it's a good location for your intro....More folks to meet! Glad to have you here with us, grab some coffee and hang out for a spell.

With all the flexibility of leather it's hard to keep it from stretching even a little bit. I suppose I could tape all the pieces, then cut, then spend additional time lining everything up....or just cut the dang thing out a little oversized and trim the edges once assembled. I've been thinking of a sander, too, but can't justify the expense right now.

One of the more popular steels for swordsmithing is 5160. It's also sometimes called OCS. That stands for Old Chevy Springs. Yep, 5160 can be commonly found in older model leaf springs, and is pretty forgiving for novice smiths. For somebody with some experience, it's even better.

Okay, now I see where you're at. Remember that nice long PM I sent you? That was me trying to encourage you. It appears that you also need some direction to go with the encouragement. So, here it is: If you sell your tools, which might not happen overnight, you'll probably recoup LESS than $600. Sell the hide....no telling what you'll get for that. Sell your bottle of cactus green for maybe $5. Total: Less than $1000. Will that $1000 change everything? Does that one time payment give you enough cash to totally clear ALL your debts? I'm thinkin' probably not. So, then you'll end up with less than $1000 to put toward your debts. Big deal. Everyone who has responded on this thread has given you solid advice- both on the open forum, and no telling how many have sent PMs to you- and offered encourgement and ideas on how to change your situation. We can't change it for you but we will help YOU change it......if you let us. ( I just know I'm gonna sound like Dave Ramsey, but here goes....) Budget your money. and SELL THE CAR. Get a $500 beater of a car that will get you from A to B. Right now, you shouldn't be trying to squeeze blood from the pennies. If you've got to ride the unemployment train, fine, I pay taxes just like everyone else here and I'm okay with folks needing a leg up. But you have to understand this: YOU WILL NOT GET OUT OF DEBT ON UNEMPLOYMENT. Your credit is taking a large hit no matter what you do...unless you happen to find a large sum of cash. (not likely). Knowing that you will have a credit issue is very relaxing. You stop fretting over whether something is a day or a week late. You take a little of the money and go buy some vinegar, some steel wool, a pack of Sharpie markers (the pack with multiple colors), and a bottle of olive oil. There, for under $25 you've got the makings of a custom colorization kit. If you need to color large pieces, include a bottle of alcohol to dilute the sharpies with. The vinegar and steel wool are for Vinegaroon- search the forum for instructions for the best "black" dye. The olive oil is for finishing the leather. A sharp knife, some spit and the leg of your jeans makes for a dandy edge slicker. Now, you have some tools and leather already, we've (collectively) given over 100 years worth of leather knowledge, go make something! Like I told you in the PM, there's opportunities where you least expect them....but you have to look for them and take advantage of them when you fine them. I understand that you're depressed because you lost your job. Lots of people have had that happen recently. Re-read Billy's post. It wasn't that he couldn't find a job, his doctor told him not to. And things got done. Back to your credit: It's gonna get dented No Matter What. Tell them your situation, ask them to work with you. What are they gonna do, sue you? You've got no real assets- hence YOU'RE FREE!!!! It's taken me almost 3 years to get my credit mess cleaned up....but it's finally cleaned up. Start making things instead of watching T.V. , but start making things. Is there anything you need to make key fobs? I'm betting that at the asking this incredible group of people would have grosses of split rings, rivets, etc. at your door inside of a week. What about snaps for phone cases? There's a pattern recently posted for a horizontal phone holster. What I'm getting at is this: The tools, materials, ideas, knowledge...all of it is right here for the taking! Reach out and grab it. Once you start selling a few things, you'll see some cash flow and that is a wonderful feeling....try it out, you might like it. Mike

Awesome work Casey! Just.....WOW!

Thank you Denise, thank you. I spent over an hour running through sections trying to find that thread!

If cost is an issue, you might try finding an ol' beat up used to death Keltec p3at. The LCP is virtually a clone of it externally (maybe internally too, but I don't know for sure) and if you can find a pawn shop shop princess for under $100, well, there ya go.

Welcome aboard Panhead!

Does Craigslist accept family members?.......

Weaver who? As the link was completing, I was going over a mental list of leatherworker.....and came up empty. Glad to know it was a sale and not an obit.

You might also try applying the dye while the leather is still damp. I've noticed that it sometimes helps the dye penetrate the leather. Also, once the dye is applied, are you buffing off the excess particles? That's a pretty important step as there will be some left on the surface of the leather.

Thank you very much! I know that one of these will be made very soon.

Hi Mark, Glad to see you here and Welcome to Leatherworker.net! Looks like you know your way around a cow hide, too. C'mon in pull up a chair and sit a spell.

If you haven't done so, check your PMs.

Nope, don't sell the tools. You say "my stuff isn't good enough to sell"...well, let's look at another member here, who also just started leatherworking. I'm talking about jbird, aka Josh. When he started he felt he was in the same boat with leather. Now, he's got customers who like his work well enough to PAY for it. Don't expect to just sit at a bench/table and turn out masterpieces like Peter Main or Billy 2-shews. It takes time. That said, belts, wallets, key fobs, etc. are the bread and butter of leatherworkers. Learn to do them well and they can provide a small but steady income. One last thing: Look up "severe blessing". Hang in there, Mike

I think the reference to "rusty" metal may have come from the requirement to use "rustable" metal...simply the need for an oxidizable iron based metal. ...which reminds me (and I don't remember which thread to look in) but didn't someone say they were going to try copper and aluminum and post results? I remember that walnuts were used to make a pretty nice brown, but I'm not sure about the other colors. Oh and if you use "too much" metal in the jar, you'll end up with some pitiful looking scraps in the bottom and your vinegaroon will be almost chemically neutral. I say almost because after several weeks, the acetic acid had stopped reacting with the metal and direct exposure to baking soda produced NO REACTION. So, rinse well with warm tap water and wet mold.

Excellent holster! After seeing it, I think I might need to try some of those Angelus dyes.

There's nearly as many answers to that as there are holstermakers!!! Among the most popular results: Resolene, tan-kote, bag-kote, neatsfoot oil, snowseal, montana pitch blend, BeeNatural RTC, SuperSheen/Satinsheen, TuffCoat, leatherbalm w/ atom wax, and the quickly disappearing Neat-lac. And we musn't forget vinegaroon (search that term for several pages worth of info) There's a ton of information on here about nearly all of them, and if you don't see it under "holsters....", check out the subforum for "dyes, stains, glues....finishes, waxes, and conditioners". Please also consider the method of application- airbrushing a finish has turned up some really nice results; so has dipping the entire holster and letting it drip dry. Personally, for black holsters I like the vinegaroon. For anything else, I like a good conditioner followed by sprayed on resolene.

Just a suggestion, but how about checking out the "braiding" section of the forum? There's lots of great info posted there already, and it would give you some insite as to what type of work which member does. Several of the braiders on here have links to their sites as well. Oh yeah, and reading the forum doesn't cost anything

No hijack intended.... Randy, that has happened before, in several places, with varying circumstances. In one article I read about it, the bad guys followed a couple home from the range and gang rushed them at their car. Took the guns, cash, and then forced the couple to open up the house and robbed it too. My rule for being at the range: Never, Never, NEVER leave with an empty weapon. On the bright side, another incident involved a two guys grabbing a third on the way to his car and after taking his keys, crammed him in the trunk, then stole the car. Upon reaching their destination, the two bad guys opened the trunk and fell to a hail of gunfire. The guy they carjacked was an off duty officer who'd stopped off at a store on the way from the range. He didn't leave with an empty weapon either.

You should have told the teacher that the ship was on tack.