MADMAX22

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.

Hey all am looking for some advice. I am making one of Ed's style eyeglass case and I have made them before using the stitching method. Well decided to do a 2 loop edge braid and have gone around the opening at the top and now have to braid the edge to close up the case. The problem I am having is at the transition from the top open part to the edge where they are joined together. Here is the Ed case thread http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19620&st=0 thanks for any help.

Just limited experience working with horse not with holsters yet but with a few other smaller projects. What Rayban said was pretty much spot on. I have experienced all the same trials and errors. I think with horse since it is denser you can get away with a little thinner leather then you would with cow but its not like you really get much of a choice in thickness with horsehide. I think horse wears very nicely. It burnishes up and seems to handle the elements pretty darn well. I personally have really liked how it looks after it has been used for a while. Like Rayban said get a couple or one of the $10 dollar butts and you will have plenty of good usable leather to try out.

Well Ill throw in my limited experience with saddle stitching as i have only been doing it for a few years. If you use the regular method without the fullblown knot for each stitch you will still have a very good holding stitch. Like if you want to take the item apart you will still have to cut each and every stitch just about to get it apart. If you have not tried taking something apart that has been saddle stitched even with just the regular back and forth give it a shot. It is over all a amazing stitch. I dont do the knoit thing on every stitch as showed above because to me it is time consuming and on thinner leathers you cant hide the knot very well. However what I do is when I stitch I on your right hand side I bring the thread that just went thru and loop it under back and over the needle coming thru on the right hand side. On the left hand side which would be the back you do something similer, I think it is under over and back towards yourself. Its not a full blown knot, just a one side over one way, the other side over the other way. This pushes the thread either up or down depending on which side which usually lines up with the slant of your awl stabbings and will cause the thread to lay in the direction of the awl blade cut on both sides. Atleast it seems to work for me. EDIT: I think I realized I just gave ya the same advice your video you posted gave you so it was kind of a pointless post.

I generally trim my edges and use the edger. Then I dye the edges. I take my cocobo edger I made and go over it till its nice and smooth and real shiny. Then apply my edging wax which is a 50 50 of parafin and bees wax. Then I take my canvas piece and burnish till the wax melts into the edges. Works good for me and last a long time.

It does stay pliable and I have not had any issues with my awls. It does take longer to dry at colder temps so I just have my heater nearby when I am glueing stuff. Ofcourse I dont have much to compare it to. I had tried the tandy stuff and was not impressed. The old barge worked well. I have heard that masters is pretty good as well. I am to tired right now but if you try searching up a couple of the old threads about this stuff a few people did some pretty good research into the area.

I got some of the harness leather from wickett and craig that was on special. It has a really nice mellow sheen to it as is. Seems like really good leather as well. Ive been enjoying working with it so far. Just an idea.

I dont do alot of holsters but everything I make including sheaths, belts, and what not I have gone with the natural wax finishes. Primarily because if anyone cares enough they can clean there leather properly and reapply as necessary and have a nice long lasting good looking piece of leather work. I use primarily sno-seal. Others similar are montana pitch blend, I think skidmores is similar but have not used that. I also occasionally use my own mix of bees wax, parafin wax, neatsfoot oil. Its just a little harder to apply but protects very well.

Looks super great IMHO. Cant find anything wrong with them. The HO is a great choice. Its either that or WandC for me. Your design looks great, coloring great, construction great. I like my edges more rounded myself but thats just a personal preference.

I have used several different things but once I ordered some unwaxed linen thread and learned to coat it properly I have really very much enjoyed it. Ive only got a few projects that are a few years old but are holding up very well. I use a rosin bees wax mix and wax the thread myself. It holds really well when threading. I cant imagine linen thread breaking unless it was very thin or something was wrong with it. The stuff I got which is 6 cord is very strong. Its not the only thing to use but I like it and will keep using it more then likely.

From what I remember barge changed there recipe a little while back. There was alot of discussion about it here on the forums. Several of us myself included have been using weld wood cement. It works really well atleast for me and I can get it at the hardware store which is a plus.

Just getting water stained I imagine. The tan is a really light dye so any stains will really show up as compared to the dark brown or something similar. I think since it sounds like you have not oiled or sealed anything yet that if you wet the entire piece and let it dry that it may go away.

I just use the denatured alcohol. Works fine. I actually use that in all the dyes that you mentioned.

I can see why you carry that one, very nicely done. I like those rivets/conchos with the black leather and black shades of the gator.

Some pictures of this would help. I know that from time to time wetting leather seems to expose certain imperfections that were there but not scene before. Could be exposing bug bites or some scarring that wasnt aparent initially.