TwinOaks
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Posts posted by TwinOaks
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The 4500 should be able to back stitch in the same holes, which is a very quick way to go. However, I saddle-backstitch 99% of my work. I like the ability to lock down the thread AND decide which side the thread ends wind up on. And since I was hand stitching before I got my Boss, I just trust the saddle stitch more. I'm sure there will be some that say it doesn't matter, and both are secure....but I like my saddle stitched ends.
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We have several members from Canada, and Welcome to Leatherworker.net.
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The dividers aren't all that great....it's a cheap case. But the idea works well, as I put larger items in the bottom, and keep individual tools in the pockets/slots to keep them from getting dinged up. strap cutter, ruler, hammer, mini-anvil....all that bigger stuff goes in the bottom.
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Welcome to Leatherworker.net!
Instead of a tackle box, I went with one of the aluminim 'briefcase' tool boxes. It has a divider in the bottom, and a panel with tool slots that attaches to the 'top'. I think I picked it up at harbor freight.
something like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/18-x-12-34-x-6-aluminum-case-69318.html
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The short answer is yes, you'll have plenty for the bags AND the straps, from one side.
I don't think you've quite grasped how big a side of leather is....the SLC site says 22-26 sq. ft. A sheet of plywood (8x4) is 32 sq. ft. If you look at a full sheet of plywood and reduce it to 8'x3' you'll be at 24 sq.ft. So, there's an estimate of how big it is - and cows don't come 'square' so there will be some wider and narrower places. Look at the pics of the sides on the website (SLC) for the shape of the side....and keep in mind that it's somewhere between 7 and 9 feet long across the back.
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Once you have the rivet pretty well set, flip the setter over and use the flat end to flatten the rivet.....you flip the setting 'anvil' over to the flat side too.
If you look at the right hand rivet in the last pic, you can see a little crescent where the setter wasn't quite centered over the rivet.
Same tools, different results.
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Two layers of leather (grain out looks best, IMO) should be plenty, unless you're putting a lot of pressure on it. Take a look at Katsass' holsters - those are usually two layers of 5oz leather, grain out. And two layers of leather, properly bonded, formed, and set can be pretty stiff. On IWBs with the mouth band, the band is the second layer. I think that the design is an effort to reduce the overall thickness of the hoslter by reducing the second layer to only the mouth of the holster.
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That premise fails to address how holsters like the one Jim Simmons made in the tutorial on here are able to retain the guns in them. That cowboy style holster has NO detail molding/boning, yet is able to hold the gun securely. Friction on the inside of a holster does not ONLY have to be in the form of a pinched location, such as the trigger guard. Additionally, leather stretches with use. If a holster is built to only utilize the ejection port and trigger guard, then long before it should, the holster will lose it's retentive abilities as the leather at the trigger guard stretches. Furthermore, the leather at the ejection can be damaged if the molding is too tight in that area - the forward edge of the ejection port acts like a dull skiver.
The total surface area of the leather inside the holster is what is providing the friction, not a pinched areas. Those areas are providing mechanical retention by blocking the path of the gun. The internal friction creates drag over the entire frame/slide.
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The shank of the blade goes into a collett in the handle.
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yes...do a little bit of everything. Whatever you enjoy doing the most is what you will do the best.
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My holsters draw just fine. I'm don't make holsters that rely on a belt for retention - that's the holster's job. If you have to cinch the belt down that tightly, I suggest getting some pants that fit.
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The construction of that should be pretty straight forward. Simply sew it together inside out (it's a long sleeve), then turn it outside-out.
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If the boots are made by a boot/shoe company and not the result of somebody playing around, there's a very good chance that the boots are made from an analine leather. ....aka chrome tanned. The leather is probably drum dyed, and the only way to change it is to use a dye. Darker over lighter should be easy enough, but I seriously doubt that you'll be able to significantly lighten the color.
Sealing the leather shouldn't be much of an issue as far as protecting the leather, but if you are worried about keeping your feet dry, get some commercially available waterproofing products and use that.
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Not really. Most of an IWB will never be seen by anyone. The parts that are above the waist band won't matter because there will be gun sitting in it...and unless you have grips that looks like a phone, it's kind of a moot point.
Your question brings up another important question, though: Why do we detail mold a holster?
Is it just for looks, or is there a functional reason? The answer is YES to both.
The kydex wonderholsters typically use some type of physical 'lock' to hold a pistol in place. Often times this is done by careful molding of the holster to 'lock' around the trigger guard. Since leather is so much more flexible, we can't really rely on trigger guard molding to hold up for very long. So...we have to use another physical factor; one that leather does better than kydex. That property is friction. The stitch lines of a holster ultimately define how well the holster will maintain its ability to keep the gun in the exact same place over the life of the holster. Where the detail molding/boning comes into play is that by closely molding the outside of the holster, we get more leather against the gun inside the holster. With holsters that utilize a thumb strap, it is less of an issue because the strap provides the retentive security. For an open top (strapless) holster, we mold tightly to the gun to make the internal friction of the holster provide the retentive security. The combination of close molding and tight stitch lines will provide a holster that will keep the weapon in the same spot (muscle memory training), and 'hold' the weapon so that there is less (bordering on NONE) chance that the gun will wiggle/walk/fall out of the holster. A gun may actually 'click' into place on a well boned holster, but over time, it's the friction of the leather that is keeping it in place.
So, contrary to the thought "I need a fast drawing holster for IWB", I actually mold my IWBs more closely than an OWB. It certainly isn't a 'speed draw', but if you're having to get past a cover garment anyway, your draw has already been slowed down. Instead of the 'fast draw', I build for discreet carry and a 'secure draw'.
A point I've made to customers who try to redesign my holsters is as follows: I stand in front of them with a blue gun, and have them put a blue gun loosely in their back pocket (or wherever) --uncovered--. Then I tell them to draw as fast as they can. Usually, about the time they get their hand to the blue gun I say "BANG!".
I do this to point out that very few people will EVER be fast enough to draw a gun faster than a finger can pull a trigger. It's just not going to happen.
The purpose of concealed carry is NOT for people to outdraw an attacker, but to allow them to discreetly have a weapon available-------for when they are able to perceive the attack before it happens, OR, to have the weapon available for when they are reacting to a threat once they have made some space for themselves (aka getting to cover).
I may be a little stringent in my opinion, but I try to make people understand that if they turn a corner and a robber is standing there with a drawn gun demaning money......they are going to be robbed. CC isn't going to prevent that. Situational Awareness can help, as can CQB/martial training. It's always a slap in the face to let them know that if they reach for their gun while facing a drawn weapon, they're likely to get hurt or worse.
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It is not padded.
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The general consensus is that Bob Douglas makes some of the best awl blades on the market. If you want an option for the awl handle, contact "Bearman" (a member here). He turns wood for tools and makes a haft that will accept the Douglas awl blades.
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I lost track of this thread, otherwise I would have chimed in sooner.
I spoke with Shtoink at length about the design process long before he started this thread and he sent me the first prototype (P1). I've done some test carving with it, but I don't claim to be a master carver. Here is the report I sent:
"Before I started the test, I sharpened and stropped the blades I would use. Blade 1 is a standard 1/2" square tip, blade 2 is a 1/4" angle. I used the Woody, and a standard swivel knife side by side, and swapped blades so that the blade wasn't a variable. Pattern is Tandy's Celtic Cross.....first time I've ever carved it. The carving session was straight through with no break except for the transition between knives and the blade swap. Leather is S. American from Springfield, and cased with tap water - no conditioners.
Results of the swivel knife 'test drive':
Obviously the Woody has a smoother action. I've already mentioned that aspect, and that was why I sharpened/stropped both blades.
Temperature in the house is high 60's because it got chilly last night and we've been pulling 'night air' in to keep the house cool.
There is a noticeable temp. difference to my hand between the two knives. Though the Woody never felt 'warm' (higher than ambient), it never felt cold. If I'd kept it in my hand instead of swapping, it may have felt warmer due to body temp. transfer to the wood.
The tandy knife felt cold every time I picked it up, and that definitely had an effect on comfort.
Knurling on the tandy knife is tactile, but not overly aggressive. However, it did effect how I had to move my fingers to adjust position. Woody is grippy, but not like a rough texture.
Regardless of which blade was in the tandy knife, I was stopping and flexing fingers as I moved from section to section. With the Woody, I just moved the leather, or twisted the knife and kept going. About halfway through, when I'd determined which blade was cutting better, I just put it in the Woody and finished the whole carving with it....no stopping...then went back and connected some of the cuts I'd stopped short.
Your expectations of the improved ergonomics of the wood barrel are right on spot.
Total carving time is about 45 minutes, with the majority of the cuts made with the Woody.
**Of particular note:**
When I transferred the pattern to the leather (make a copy, then trace the lines on the copy while overlaid on the leather) I WAS getting some minor cramping. The pen I used has a steel barrel and was at ambient temp. - same as the tandy knife. The wood barrel was comfortable for pretty constant use."
I'm an electrician, and work with my hands on a daily basis indoor and outdoor, warm or cold. Because of this and some injuries to my hands (voltage burns) I have arthritis already starting in a few joints/knuckles. If you have the beginnings of Arthur, you know how cold things effect your hands. With this knife, I was able to carve nearly nonstop for 2-3 times as long with far less fatigue.
Also important to note is that the knife is smooth enough to feel the problems I had with my blades....which I didn't know about because they were in standard knives. The standard knives just didn't transmit the feel of the cut the same way.
Regarding the yoke: I was a bit skeptical at first because it is so different from the standard yoke. I find it to be MORE comfortable than the standard yoke. The wood (as mentioned above) never feels 'cold', and even though it is thinner, it is rounded in two axis. That allows me to hang my finger in the yoke in a variety of positions without ever having an edge....very much like a saddle yoke. It is shallower but wider, than the saddle yokes like on the sk-3 knives.
Hm...what more to say about it? It feels good in the hand. I also have a BK knife, and it's very nice....but this design feels better, and hence works better.
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You just need to do a lot types of items and discover what appeals to you and what you like to do the best. If you like doing it, you'll get better at that particular aspect...at least it'll show more detail/effort. I found my niche doing some 'thank you' work for a friend. It doesn't cover its own costs very well, so I do a good bit of gun leather and belts to help the hobby pay for itself.
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You've kind of limited yourself on what you can do because you've started the dyeing process around the floral section.
I see some possibilities, though. First, make a border around the dyed section to make a nice visual 'end' it. Then, just seal the rest of it and leave it natural. That's probably the easiest and quickest way to go.
The other thing I could see for this is to use a small brush and apply a sealer to everything in the initials...at least twice to make sure you have a good coat on it (and to use it as a resist) then dye over the rest of the piece.
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Those leaves aren't stamped, they're carved. Transfer the pattern to the leather and use the swivel knife to make your cuts. Then use a beveler for the outlines, and possibly an undercut modeling tool to lift the edges a little.
If you have a checkered beveler, you could use that too. The lines on the inside of the leaf should be done with the swivel knife and are known as decorative cuts.
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Before you take it to someone else, it's pretty easy to make sure that your add-ons are compatible with your current version of your browser. I had some add-ons stop working a long while back and was getting pretty peaved before I realized that FF had updated itself and the add-ons didn't work with the new version. It was a simple visit to the add-on page to get the most recent iteration of the app, and everything was back to normal.
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Fine looking holster there. Extraordinary job on the edges.
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I draw all of my designs by hand.
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Here in the U.S., it's Thanksgiving day.
Traditionally, this is a day of giving thanks for those things in our lives that have made us better people, encouraged us, or helped us out. I'm starting this topic in the hopes that others will join in and share the things in their lives.
I am thankful for friends and family that have encouraged me to keep pursuing this craft, who have helped me out with ideas and suggestions, and have unabashedly told me where I needed to improve. I'm thankful for opportunities that have presented themselves, from leather to machinery; from large jobs to small; for all the little things that turn out to be big ones.
And I'd like to express special Thanks to Johanna who has selflessly given herself to create and maintain this site (even to the point of dealing with advertisers) so that we all have a place to visit, learn, and to share our experiences, triumphs, and failures. This community of like minded people is, for me, just as much "family" as any of my blood relatives (and more so than some!).
Today is also typically the day that we absolutely gorge ourselves.....so, what's on your menu?
We're having the long held tradition of Turkey and homemade dressing, with butter beans, purple hulled peas, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry salad, homemade yeast rolls, and gravy (which really does deserve to be in its own food group).
What are some of the Traditions you celebrate with your family?
Wishing you and yours a happy and safe Thanksgiving,
Mike
I'm Having An Affair
in Leather Sewing Machines
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Yes, that is exactly what I'm talking about. I typically saddle stitch 2.5 or 3.5 stitches.....the 'point five' is me keeping the ends on the same side (usually the back) of the leather.
It takes a few minutes longer, but I'm not a production shop, so it's only my time I'm wasting.