MADMAX22

Clear lac (old school neat lac) provide pretty good water protection. What I do for my more natural looking projects that I want a mellow sheen on is after dying use a thin coat of neats foot oil, then after that drys I have been using sno-seal which requires occasional reapplying but does pretty darn good to repel water. Others that are similer in style to sno-seal are montanas pitch blend, bees natural, picards leather dressing .... and some more I have forgotten about. These all seem to work really well. I have also made my own with bees wax, parafin wax, and neats foot oil. It makes a whitish paste similer to very hard butter in consistency but when you rub it in it goes clear and soaks in pretty good. This seems to provide pretty good protection. It will feel kind of waxy for a little bit so putting it somewhere warm helps. If you use these in light coats they dont soften the leather much if any after they are dry. The thing I like about them is they offer protection but keeps a natural feel and look to the leather and can be reapplied when necessary without having to strip the finish off or anything. Oh and its easy to apply without worrying about streaking or anything.

I agree looks great. With a holster like that I dont think that you really need a hammer thong on it. Kind of a question on that, werent hammer thongs more of a modern day addition to this style holster? I think I remember reading that they were not widely used back then but I cant remember.

Nice design on the knife I like it. The sheath goes very well with it so I would say your good to go with that.

Turned out looking good. Did you use acrylics?

Looks great man, hopefully it will pull in some more business for ya.

WOW those came out really nice. I bet she loves em.

In the most basic sense yes that's it. Al Stohlmans book on hand stitching goes over it and I am sure a few other books do as well. I will explain how I do mine from what I have picked up here on the forums and thru reading. With natural linen style thread. Take both ends and use a dull knife or such and rub against the thread on a flat surface for about the last two inches, you'll get some of the thread to come off which basically thins out the end of the threads. Now take your block of wax or wax mix and run the thread over it with enough pressure to build up some heat and the wax will transfer over to the thread. Take the ends that you have thinned down and twist them (same direction as the thread twist) and they should come out to a nice thin point that is easy to thread on the needle. Now as far as the wax mix. The best thing you can use IMHO and what I was shown on the forum here is a mix of bees wax, rosin, and a little oil. I put about 50-60% rosin in a tin and heated that till it was melted, then added the bees wax and a couple of table spoons of neats foot oil. Once it is all melted together start pouring it into cool water and needing it into gold ball size balls. I do this because thats a good size useful amount at one time. Let them cool. I then throw them in ziplock bags and have one out at a time till I need a new one. The rosin makes it really tacky and keeps the stitches locked in place. Another nice side effect is it also gets on the fingers a little bit and really helps you grip the needle while stitching. Here is a good thread on waxing thread http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16552

Well you lasted about a week and 6 days longer then I probably would have. You going with neoprene or using one of your inner tubes?

Turned out really nice. Your finishes look good and your edges also. Next step, lining and stitching them

HAHAHA nice seat dude.

Great looking stuff, that last seat is gonna be killer when your all finished.

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

I agree with Tac, myself I am in the military so guns are just a way of life both at work and off work. I find it sad that the general public in areas are like this. Guns are neither good nor bad, they are a inanimate object. Now people can be good, bad, and ugly or a combination of the three. In my personal experience anyone who finds out that I do leather work (usually when they see something I made) the first response is wow you made that, which is generally followed by can you make me this ...... . Half the time it is a holster they ask about as soon as they find out I make them occasionally. If I could make them as good as you do Shorts I probably wouldnt get to do anything else lol.

That bike goes with the seat perfectly. Great job David.

Well got around to making a holster for my mp40 to match the belt I made for myself a little bit ago. The back is around 8oz I think, front is crazyhorse leather about 8oz backed by about 5oz. Made a few mistakes with the stitching and for the first time in a very very long time my head knife slipped while cutting out the belt slots. Luckily it just cut the top layer of leather and it didnt go clean thru so since this ones for me I went ahead and glued the cut closed. It wont affect the life of the holster any just looked bad. Anyways comments appreciated,

Hey Lobo on those first two designs for the IWB did you like wearing those by chance or have you gotten good feed back on them? It looks like a good design and I am interested in how it works out. Ive gotta make a couple for my personal use and am looking for ideas. That looks like it shortens up the holster without adding much thickness to under the belt area.

IMHO the only way to go for standard dyes are feibings oil dyes and angelus dyes. Other then that there are many natural ways to dye leather or darken it considerably with various shades of browns and blacks. Try reading thru some of the threads in the dying section.The dying portion of projects is very tricky at first.

Looks great, I need something to carry a twelve pack in on my bike. I am stuck carrying two sixers in my saddle bags.