MADMAX22

As mentioned the above works, Kevin is a great guy to work with. I personally get my leather from wickett and craig. The vegtan they have on special (although the price went up alot) is still really good leather and great to carve and stamp. I think one side is $97 so if you can afford that then you will have plenty to work with for a little while. They will split it down to 5oz or however thick you want for your projects. The nice thing about the above places is you can get shoulders and smaller cuts. Up to you. In my experience I have always been happy with every hide I have gotten from WandC.

I think it depends on the project, if you are antiquing then it will collect that stuff which will transfer to your tools when your stitching.

Thanks a ton for all the good advice everyone. That is some really good pointers all around. Yes he is local (work with him actually) so its all good. I am looking forward to having someone who carries all the time outside of work be able to give me some feedback on my work as well. I personally dont see how you could carry this beast around even if it is a really light gun. You put 6 rounds of 44 in there and its not light no more lol. I am getting close to being finished with the other one, Ill post that when I am done. Once again thanks for all the great input.

Grab one of those gomph or rose round knives that Bruce has, those things are wonderful knives. I love mind. Bruce really cleans up the knives and puts a great edge on them. Highly recommended. They are more pricey then say the tandy stohlman ones but well worth it.

Not sure Rayban, I think it was a mistake of mine actually. I told him I had both horse and cow. I guess that the one place he was looking at charged a hefty sum for horse hide so that correlates to better for most people. I dont mind either way and explained that one is not better then the other overall. The main reason he is having me make him one is the front site is a after market site that they dont generally make holsters to accommodate so I told him I would make him one for a small fee but that it wouldnt be quiet as nice as some of what you guys make. Dirtclod yeah I am not overly impressed with the grip. Its a pretty nice revolver for what it is but I think I would definitely change it out. The thing is super light though atleast without ammo in it. I imagine it kicks like a mule though.

Hey everyone, been a while since Ive done a holster and have only done a few to begin with. Doing this holster for a buddy at work and wanted a little input as to how its progressing. The final one will be done in horse hide as he wanted. Pretty much the overall design is what he wanted for the most part. The only thing I have changed since this one is right where the rear site is the top layer of leather I trimmed back a little bit because when I was drawing the gun the rear site would catch on that top piece of leather. Anyways let me know what you all think.

I have had good luck with burnishing softer leathers when they are backed with vegtan. Including suede splits, ostrich knee, even snake although that is a little tougher to get a good edge joining area. The hardest one I think you will find to do this on is going to be stingray. Those little beads you basically have to take a dremel to or somthing similar to get them to smooth out. There is no real burnishing on those guys. If you take a look in my gallery there is a ostrich knee overlay on one of my knife sheaths that shows the burnished edges pretty good I think.

I would recommend getting some of this stuff in which ever thickness you want. Great thread the barbours linen. http://campbell-bosworth.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=linen You can then use your leather dye or which ever dye you want and dye it to whatever color you like. Ofcourse you will have to wax the thread yourself which is not that hard. I like it much better this way because you can control how much you put on there. Another recommendation is get adventurous get some rosin, bees wax, and paraffin wax and make a mix by melting them all down together. I think some oil also into the mix. This will make a nice grabby thread that will be a bear to take apart and really enjoyable to stitch with. That is what I do anyways.

I agree, that is a nice looking dye finish you have going on there. Looks great man.

HAHA thats not what I heard . Yeah the burnishers I picked up off ya are working out great. Sure cuts down on the time to get a nice edge. Thing with forum names is remembering whos who can be a real pain lol.

Yeah you can soften the wax a touch to get it to stick a little better then burnish it really well. I usually take the leather and dye the edges then when it is still damp from dying run it thru the cocobo burnisher, it should be nice and shiny after your done. You can also use a little water and saddle soap or what ever other combo you find works for you. Once that is done I usually put some wax on it then burnish it with a piece of canvas that gets nice and warm and makes the wax soak into the leather. Another thing I find that works just as good instead of the standard wax I use either sno seal, or a bees wax/paraffin wax/ neatsfoot oil mix that has the consistancy of room temp butter. Rub a little of that on there then burnish. I picked up a drill press, its a cheaper craftsman one that has the belt adjust speed so you can use it to burnish at around 1100-1700 rpm and if I need to use it as a drill I can also do that. Here is a link to the burnishers I got. I think he is a member here if I recall correctly. http://www.leatherburnishers.com/ Forgot to add I picked up one for my dremel and I also got the holster makers special for the drill. It works very well.

Those edges in the pics you posted look to me like they used just bees wax, maybe very soft to put it on. Then they are burnished with something similar to the fantastic edge burnisher but it looks like they were done at to fast of a speed or to much pressure. It basically is the same look when you start burning the edges a bit. The bees wax does look like it soaked into the edges just a bit so it deffinetaly got pretty darn hot. Probably does this without wetting the edge much since it is thinner leather. As stated above Bob Parks instructions are a great basis for great edges. You can modify them a bit to suit your needs and what not but they work wonderfully. I use to burnish all my edges by hand but have since gotten a drill press. With the drill press I bought one of those cocobo wood burnishers which helps a ton to speed things up. With the drill press you can also get a threaded chuck and put some layers of heavy felt inbetween some washers and you have basically the fantastic edge burnisher.

Thanks Bob.

Hey guys I didnt seem to find much info on these guys. Was wondering what they are capable of stitching leather wise and weather or not they are good for the jobs they can handle if any as far as leather work goes. I am still trying to learn about sewing machines. Saw one of these for $140 with the table and all so the price seemed right just not sure if it is worth spending the cash and the long drive to go and get it. Thanks for the info.

I agree vinegaroon needs to be brushed on or actually dip the leather in the solution for a little bit (not to long). Once that is done give the leather a quick rinse in a baking soda and water then thoroughly rinse the leather. The baking soda rinse is just really quick, dont let it soak in that solution to long. Once it is out and drying oil the leather. I usually oil the leather just before actual drying. One thing about vinegaroon is that with every batch of leather you can get slightly different results, shades, colors, and amount of penetration. Personally I think that it still looks good and when you get that black/brown color it gives it that old world feel to it but this doesnt help if you want a black seat. You can also use things like walnut shells that are boiled and boiled. Sift out the shells then give the leather a dunk in this before you do the vinegaroon bath. This increases the tannins in the leather which is what the vinegaroon reacts with. You can also use coffee I believe.

Yeah once you get them down they are a wonderful tool. Ive got 5 assorted sizes and shapes right now, each one gets used for something different.

Excellent looking stuff as always, very cool carving. Thanks for showing us the in progress shots.

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.

really really nice looking rig, love the gun too.

I would have to look at my letter stamps but the outline portion your looking at is the pressed in portion from the stamp correct? If it is you can easily dye the letter itself then use white antique to fill in the outline. There are some other color antiques that will work but not entirely sure of how verse the antique color palett is.

Well been a while since I posted anything and finally gotten around to finishing a project. Had to get this together in one night before a little trip we were going on. The fiancee had just gotten a kindle so figured I would make something to protect it a little. Horse hide, dyed light brown pro oil dye, oiled, sno-seal, and a coat or two of conditioner (horse tends to be a little dry). It is lined with brown suede split. I really like horse so far, it tends to take on a older look almost right away, it burnishes real nicely as well. Also with time it wears really well also developing a nice shine in the worn spots and a mellow one in areas not usually rubbed while in use. Also the water spots were something that was spilled on it in the truck before I could get pictures. Guess it did its job on its first day of duty.

Also try adding a little more iron to the mix for a while. It should not smell to terribly bad for the most part. Ofcourse every piece of leather seems to react differently and smell differently.

Thanks a bunch for the help, ill try it out in the morning.

Sorry for the late response. Here are a couple of photos.