stu925

Replies to threads can be a little slow coming sometimes. Glad to hear it worked well for you. Seems like it would be a real time saver for anyone working on belts, you might consider drawing up plans and uploading them here. Stu

A shoulder holster is broken up into 3-4 parts depending on what you're making: you've got the holster itself which in your case will be the sheath, then the strap system which is pretty simple and finally the yoke which is the piece that rides on your back and all the straps connect to, lastly you'll have a magazine holder for the off side (optional). When I built my first shoulder holster the yoke was the part that I sturggled with. I ended up deciding not to reinvent the wheel and grabbed a binocular harness that I have here, I then based my yoke off of the binocular strap yoke modifying it as needed. I would presume that you're going to want the knives to sit vertically since a 7" blade with a 4-5" handle might stick out a bit too much horizontally. I'll happliy scan the yoke template that I made and e-mail it to you if you're interested. The sheath will have to be custom built and the straps are pretty simple to make. You'll need to decide whether or or not you want to make hold downs to tie the rig to the belt but they're pretty simple to make also. Shoot me a PM if you want that template, I'll be glad to send pics of the rig I made too so you can see how it all goes together. Stu

This is a popular little gun and I expect to be making more of these in the future. The first one is complete and I think it turned out well even if I'm still not thrilled with the belt slots. I need to get working on the oblong punch for that I guess. Anyway I figured I'd share some pictures. Stu

I agree with JLS I think it's more of a layout issue. Generally I try to keep my stiching lines about 3/8" from the outline of the gun that I draw during layout. This isn't always right and will depend on how thick the gun really is. An M&P Shield is very thin and 3/8" is a bit too much so I'd pull that stitch line in to 1/4" inch from the outline. A big N frame revolver may require a bit more space so adjust accorindly. Stu

So that the knife what? Stu

I don't have access to a welder so that rules out that option. I agree forge welding that thin steel will not be easy, I have a few blades though so I may give it a try anyway. The issue I see is there's a fine line between forge welding heat and burning that thin steel and ruining it. It's worth a try and we'll see what happens. I have some 1/4" rod that I can lock in the vice and make a bending jig so that's how I'll bend it to shape. Stu

This is not necessarily about easy way/hard way for me at this point. I like running the forge and any chance I get to do it is more experience for me. Bending a sawz-all blade to shape really won't be much of a trick as long as the blade is annealed before hand and then bent while red hot. It will get a bit thinner on the bend but that's just something to keep in mind when grinding the bevel. The real trick is the forge weld which I have not mastered yet. I've done a couple forge welds, some worked, some didn't so it's definitely something I need to practice. I can have the blade bent and forge welded in about and hour or so, grinding and hardening will take a bit of time but no real issue there. Also part of the draw on the sawz-all blade is I already have the stock. I haven't seen a bike shop around here in 30yrs other than the high end shop on the ride to work, they may have something but I haven't stopped in to check and I don't believe they do much in the way of repairs I'm fairly certain they are strictly sales. A scrap yard is another option but I don't get there much as it's not very convenient for me to get to, that's something I have to make a specific trip for. Honestly if I were to bill myself for my time it would be cheaper to just buy the punch but I'm stubborn and kind of thick skulled so I'll make it myself and probably end up buying it anyway before it's over with. Long way/short way this is really more about the journey at this stage of the game. The pipe idea was more to give me a tool I could get working right away, I didn't expect it to be a quality tool. I knew I would either be making something a bit higher quality or buying something eventually. As it stands right now, I'll have to keep using the punch and chisel routine for a while until I can build what I'm looking for. It works but I've never been particularly happy with the results and honestly feel that it's one of the few areas that really needs improvement in my holsters. As far as working hard being for the feeble minded, I don't mind working hard. Working hard is what built this country. For now I'll keep going at it the long, hard way because I kind of like that route. This is exactly what got me into leather work in the first place, I like doing things for myself, self reliance is a wonderful thing. I know you think I haven't been hearing what you're saying but I have, it's just not the route I'm headed in right now. I'm sorry if that bothers you, if I end up going that way you're more than welcome to say I told you so. Stu

Looks like it would work pretty well for stitching those belt layers together too. Nice job. Stu

Basically my issue here is that I would need to go find a frame. The iron pipe was readily available and fairly cheap. If I happen to come across a frame I may snatch it up and see how it goes. I do like the idea of using something that's round to begin with as it would certainly make the job easier. Generally I use a Poly cutting board for all my work. Almost all of my work is done at night after the kids are in bed, a log might be a bit inconvenient in my office and I'm pretty sure the wife wouldn't be too happy about it. Lately I've taken for doing all my punching on a scrap piece of leather on my marble slab. That helps deaden the noise a bit and it's a little more gentle on the tools than the poly board although I do need to be careful and make sure the tools can't reach the stone.

Ok so the black iron was an utter failure. Not because of the hardening issues, it actually hardened up pretty well with the Super Quench but more because of the fact that 1" pipe when forged down to size ends up 1 1/2" and 1 1/4" when forged down to 1 3/4" ends up with a slot almost 1/2" wide, to get a 1/4" wide slot it ends up 2" long. Also because of the thicknes of the wall of the pipe it needs to be heavily tapered or you really need to hammer it to get it through even one piece of 9oz leather, didn't even bother trying 2 layers. So it seems I'm back to the drawing board. I'm thinking I take a 10" sawz-all blade and bend it to shape and then forge weld it. Not exactly sure what I'll do for a handle yet but I'll figure that out after I get the blade bent around a jig. This may be a project for the weekend. The Super Quench worked as advertised and did harden the iron pipe although I wouldn't ask too much of it. On the other hand I have a Railroad spike knife I made that hardened up really well in the super quench, must have a bit more carbon than the iron pipe. If anyone here is running their own forge and looking to harden mild steel, super quench may be the way to go. Stu

Looks like I should expect a Rockwell hardness of somewhere between 40-45. Not super high but should be enough for what I need. If it gets me through 3 or 4 holster without needing to be sharpened I'd be happy. I'll be out at the forge tomorrow and hopefully have that tool completed by tomorrow evening or at least completed enough for a test run. I won't be tempering the tool and I'll only be hardening the cutting edge. Bought all the stuff for the Super Quench and the pipe today so we'll see how it goes. Stu

I think the plain leather looks just as nice as a basket weave or carving but then again I've been told I have simple tastes. Stu

Beautiful work as usual Rohn, it makes me want to practice my carving more. I only wish I had more time. Stu

Ok so further research into this has revealed that Super Quench will harden the black iron somewhat. It won't be as hard as say knife or chisel steel but should help maintain the edge at least a bit better than it would normally. I'm going to try it and see how it goes. Forging a piece of tool steel into a punch would be a great deal of work and may eventually be done as a more permanent solution, for now I'm going black iron and we'll see how that works. I'll update this thread when it's done and tested and let you guys know how it goes. Stu

Ok so I've boogered my last holster belt slot. I've been cutting my 1 3/4" belt slots with a 1/4" punch and a 1 1/2" chisel. Some slots come out ok and then there's the mess I made of one tonight when the chisel went in at an angle. Completely ruined the holster but luckily I cut the slot before I did any stitching. I did some research on a 1 3/4" oblong punch and am not too happy about the prices of them. I've decided to fire up my forge and see if I can make one. So my thought is to use a piece of 1 1/2" black iron pipe and forge it down. I'm sure someone here has made their own oblong punches so any advice I can get here would be appreciated. I can grind the bevel on a 1x30" belt sander and then finish the cutting edge with stones. My question is am I correct in my thinking of using 1 1/2" pipe or should I go smaller 1" or maybe 1 1/4". My next question is will I be able to harden the edge of that black iron? I suspect that it won't harden but I've never tried it. I do enough holsters that the punch will need to hold an edge as I don't want to have to repair the edge every time I use it. Is there a better material to use than black iron? Maybe if all this goes well and I can build it without a significant time investment I can offer them to members here for a reasonable price. Stu

Looks like the trigger itself is covered which is the most important part but Looks like the rearward portion of the triggerguard is exposed. I can see where it might be a concern for a piece going to a customer but for personal use as long as the trigger itself is covered I wouldn't sweat it too much and go ahead and use it. I'd be more concerned with retention as it doesn't appear to have a lot of molding and I'm wondering how well it will stay in it's holster. Stu

Both of those holsters look great, you guys do nice work. Stu

Thanks guys, that means a lot to me. I appreciate all the compliments. Stu

I'll second that a lot better than my first one. Stu

Had a request for a shoulder holster and since it's the first one I've done I spent quite a bit of time on it. Overall I'm quite pleased with the result even though I'm not particularly fond of shoulder holsters (customer is always right though). It seems comfortable enough and he loved it but I imagine he'll be back for some fine tuning. I intentionally left the straps a bit long so that I could make adjustments to it to fit him better. In any event the premise was a horizontal shoulder holster with a dual mag pouch. Straps are 1 1/4" wide at the shoulder and taper to 1" at the square rings. The holster and mag pouch are removable so if he decides to change out his carry gun he can just order a new holster and mag pouch from me and not have to bear the expense of a whole new rig. I already have an order for an identical rig from another guy at work, hopefully this one will be a bit easier now that I already have the templates. There's a lot of pictures of this one, it was a big job and I have a lot of hours in it. Stu

Very nice especially since it's made from scrap leather. I never have any pieces in my scrap box big enough to be useful for anything other than small pieces. Looks great, nice work. Stu

Beautiful holsters, makes me want to do something similar for my new (to me anyway) acquired Model 10. Now all I need to do is find some time for my own projects. Stu

Looks great, nice work. Stu

Tooling looks great Rohn, nice work. Stu

Nice work as usual Rohn. The black and red look very nice, would look great with a Nickled S&W. Stu