Bolt Vanderhuge

Not sure if it is as easy as just letting the dye dry completely or the type of dye making the difference but I do not have issues using crème aka off white thread in black, brown, cordovan etc dyed leather. I use oil dye at full strength and it does not seem to matter if I dip dye long enough to soak the dye into the entire thickness of leather, just brushing on and everything in between. This example is cordovan dyed elephant on top of 3 layers of black dyed, by me not drum dyed at the tannery, veg tan. The color of this thread is called crème.

I can't answer your question. But I have to say I really like the way the leather looks. I really like the entire holster.

Most are for show? That is funny. I carry 3-4 days a week. I cant carry at work but I do when off work. Mine get used is what I am getting at. Anyways, if you look at the pic.of the 1911s that you posted you can see that the stitch line follows the trigger guard. This is what prevents the gun from going any further no matter how soft the leather gets over time.

Nice artwork.

Very nice work.

That is some great work. Those costumes look awesome.

Looks very good Matt. The saying happy wife, happy life tends to be true..

Very good job. Dragonflies are my girlfriends favorite insect as well. I had a custom set of grips made for her with a dragonfly on them.

Like mutt, I have not had issues with them on any of my small qty of orders. When they offer them, their Hippo and Elephant are top notch and cheaper the the other sellers.

Very nice work.

Very nice belt.

It wasn't just when dipping. Even when using a dauber. It would blacken the dauber and if that went on the other parts of the holster there would be transfer. I had to either do the front and back then the edges later. Or do the edges and throw out that dauber and use a new one for the rest of the holsters. These were with 4 different acrylic finishes. Other types of finishes may not have the same results. All I know is this does not happen with Pro Oil black dye so I am sticking with that. We gotta use what works for us, right?

I tried edge coat for a bit then went back to dye. It is easy to work with and as you show, the results can be very nice. But what I did not like was that when I went to apply my finish the edge coat would soften back up and sometimes endup on the front or back of the holsters. When I was trying dip finish the bucket of finish would have black swirls on the top of the liquid right after pulling the holster out.

I have been wearing one almost every single day since 2014. I am wearing it right now here at work. I cannot carry at work but when I am off I carry 1911s much of the time. I did not build this one though so I cannot comment on type of glue used. But it is a 3 layer belt with elephant hide on top of two layers of cow. Unlike a holster, a belt does not have anything pushing the outer and inner layers apart.

Very nice. You put a lot of work into that setup and it shows.

Sorry I have no clue what woould be a good choice for the top layer.

I was saying use strips of foam . Stitching only thru leather that is glued together. That way the needle has only one hole to go thru instead of having to feel for the hole in the second piece of leather that is on the other side of foam. So basically your alternate suggestion was what I was trying to say.