dougfergy

That is a stainless line 24 snap from Tandy with a Tandy thumb break stiffener.

Ahh, OK. I've used a Forstner bit to sink a hole in leather before.

I know it's a little silly to stamp a pattern on an IWB holster and the clip is almost as big as the gun in this case. But it is how he wanted it. Thanks!

An LCP holster for my brother-in-law. HO 7-8 oz with oxblood stain and briar brown antique. Fun little project!

Very nice! Love the medallion and am wondering how it is mounted too? Love it!

Fine work!

I would love to see photos of your test pieces and your results! I'm getting ready to do a holster for a lady who wants it Teal Green. I'll be playing with color mixing and diluting to try to find the right mix. I hope to see how you made out!

I've got a lady who wants a holster dyed Teal Green. Has anyone had any success mixing dyes to Teal Green? I have some very light colored leather that might dye without getting too dark...??

Normally I do use loops but this sheath is serving a particular purpose and I need to be able to clip and un-clip a lot when using it so that's why the clip and not the loop in this case. I don't carry it full time. It stays in my backpack and gets used when I have a deer or hog down. It gets clipped on whatever outer garment I am wearing at the time, gets un-clipped to move to a different garment as I shed layers while I am skinning and quartering an animal, clipped to my truck visor etc.

That is the trade off exactly. If you use one that is a little more liquid, like Eco-Flo hi-lite stain, it goes on with a dauber and I wipe it immediately with a folded paper towel and it highlights the impressions and stamping nicely. I also use it as a light stain sometimes. To me, it seems to be a little more permanent so you want to wipe it off quickly or the color will really set into the leather and darken your staining if you have some. I like the Briar Brown. On the last sheath I made I had stamped the front and stained it with an Oxblood stain, then did a quick wipe on and wipe off with the Eco-Flo and it colored the impressions nicely without darkening the rest very much. On the back the leather was smooth except for my maker's stamp. I wiped on the eco-flo and let it set for a couple minutes before wiping it off and it gave the leather a nice color that contrasted with the dark oxblood front and really darkened the maker's stamp to make it pop. Pick up a few different antiques and hi-lites and do some playing around with them. I think you will like using them and figure out what works best for you with some trial and error.

Thanks!

Thanks y'all!

Great progress in a short time! Way to go! Different leathers act different too, so I always try to trim a small piece off and test stamp some to see how it acts, how much water it needs etc. The last piece of Tandy leather I bought is hard as a rock and doesn't stamp very good. As someone else said, the leather makes a world of difference. Good leather is a dream to work. Springfield Leather is cool because you can order small pieces of most leathers to give you some less expensive trial work. I ordered as small as 1 sq ft of Hermann Oak my first time to try it. Dang good stuff!

That's fine country Josh! I've been up in that area a few times. Texas is great but I always feel like I'm home when we get back up there.

I've got to make me one of these! Every time I look at it I want one. Hey Josh, are you from around the Stockton Lake area? My hometown is Joplin. Been in Texas since high school but I still have lots of family all around those parts! Still a Cardinal fan to the bone, still love the big Missouri woods. Met a girl in Texas... you know the rest of the story.

Thanks Nick!

I agree totally. Thanks!

Thanks for the compliments and the critique. I noticed I smeared some antique over the front stitching in a couple places so it looks like some dark spots. It came off the waxed thread when I rubbed on it. It would be a long list if I told you all the mistakes I made and had to adapt to. Even though I drew it up and cut out a pattern, I still did a lot of designing on the fly. That's what makes leather work interesting. It's like hitting that one good shot out of 125 swings when learning how to play golf, it brings you back for another round.

Thank you! I've had that blade for almost 10 years and finally decided to finish it so I can work on some more practical knives I have blades for, for Christmas gifts. I'm glad to be done with it. I started off with some burled mesquite wood that I screwed up so I was forced to go with the laminate. The knife is too large for practicality unless you are Rambo or The Rock.

Thanks y'all. I actually started out with that wedge shape in mind but I talked myself out of it afraid I would screw up the holes with the transition. Who knew? Thank you! If I ever build another one that thick, I may try that. Might glue some layers of scrap together to see if I can master that. I did make a needle out of a brass pin that is very sharp and polished that will go in my drill press so that I can bore the holes and burnish the edges as it goes through but I haven't practiced with that either. I definitely want to learn how to pull this off and make it look good!

Just finished up this sheath and I swear to never make one like this again! It is a whole cow. Still can't seem to pull off stitching through this thick of material and get it looking presentable on the back. My awl isn't long enough to go through an inch of leather so I had to awl through each layer at a time and somehow it still got wonky on the back. Then the holes didn't line up when I went to stitching it so I'm stuck with it. Knife is a Texas Knifemaker Supply blade that I did all the scale and guard work on. I don't have the resources to forge a blade or I'd be doing that too. Plenty of flaws but it was a "fun" project. Knife is 15" long give or take a bit.

Before I started hand stitching with an awl a few months ago, I always had marked and drilled my holes, always used dark thread and typically, well, always used dark brown dye and dip dyed. I figured out the hard way that the waxed dk brown thread made the dye miss some of the raw leather from drilling the holes so I started stitching after dyeing. Finally branched out and bought some different colored dyes, some antiques, different finishes, and some white thread that was waxed. Knowing the waxed thread needed to go in last I'd still do everything before stitching. I started using the awl method after I discovered that I discolored the thread as I stitched through the pre-drilled holes that were full of dye and antique finish. I started developing many bad habits back before youtube existed. I'm always learning something new (old)! Still learning the awl method but I'm figuring out that I can make better stitches with the awl method instead of drilling. I hate drilling! It's like using a dremel to file my nails. I can mess it up real bad.

If it is a wrapped sheath or holster, I wet form with a vacuum sealer and then after that is dry I start the assembly, gluing in the sheath welt or the outside edges of a gun holster and once the glue is dry I'll trim the edges and sand them on a belt sander. Then I'll mark my holes for stitching, punch in the holes for the screws etc. I don't stitch until I have the leather stained unless I'm using dark thread, and even then I usually stitch after staining or dyeing. That's how I've been doing it, but I'm sure I'm doing a bunch of it wrong so definitely read how everyone else is doing it! I'm a hack at this to say the least.

I did a bunch of searching for plans and looking at gobs of photos of these several months ago and just to see what it felt like, I grabbed one of the $25 ones off of amazon. It is not the perfect solution for everything I've worked on, as none will be, but for the small outlay, it has been a God send. It is just tall enough to stick under my leg on the chair I'm sitting on and work comfortably. I wrapped the jaws in leather and have used the heck out of it. Because it can swivel 360 degrees it will hold most anything I'm working on in whatever position I need. The wood is pretty hard, not soft pine. The locking mechanism is pretty flimsy yet it is adjustable and works, and if it breaks I think I could come up with something better to replace it with. It has kept me working on leather projects instead of building a stitching horse project! (for now anyway)

Welcome aboard! I'm looking forward to seeing some of your wood work and your leather work. Knives are a lot of fun and my hobby as well, but not the forging part. Just never had the resources for that, but I buy the blanks and work them up, build sheaths and such. Very therapeutic for us old farts, kind of like basket weaving at the asylum!