MADMAX22

Nicely done. How do you like those clips?

I think Go2Tex hit the nail on the head. Take some of the exact same leather and without doing anything to it dye it and see if it comes out really blotchy. If it comes out looking good then you know it is somewhere in the handling process between when you start and dye. When you are doing your wetmolding depending on how dry/wet the leather is you can basically burnish the leather. If you find that the leather dyes really nicely before you are boning it try dying the leather before you bone it. There are several holster makers that do this. Its worth a shot to see how it comes out.

Ahh ok that makes sense then. Once again great looking stuff.

Sorry I cant help ya with any info but would love to see some pictures of the rig and gun if you dont mind posting. It may help some of the other members as well.

Just the fact that you got that finished in 6.5 hrs is amazing in itself IMHO. Looks great Ed, wish my last minute gifts looked that good. By the way what size thread do you use?

They all look very good. Great edges and I really like the two tone effect you get with the stamping. The only thing I noticed that I would watch out for is on a couple of them the stitch lines are a little far away from the molded area. Over time this can allow the leather to get pretty loose on the sheath. Unless your glue holds up.

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.