mattsh

I made this rig for a friend of mine from work. He's a big guy. The belt is 78 inches. So the challenge with this one was making everything in proportion so it didn't look odd. The belt is 78 inches long and 4 inches wide. The billet and chape are 2 inches wide. If anyone knows of somewhere to get a center bar buckle that is for a 2 inch chape I would like to know. I did some searching on the internet and didn't find what I was looking for. (Didn't realize that 2" belts were not common, hence no buckles) The only buckle I could find was a 2 inch roller buckle. It looks ok but I really wanted to get a rectangular center bar buckle. The belt is double split 4oz do it is very soft and flexible and makes for a very comfortable wear. The gun is a Ruger Vaquero (old style) which is the same frame size as the New Model Blackhawk, its in 45 Colt. There are 36 loops and a lot of thread going around the belt. The holster, billet, chape, keeper and loops are dyed with Eco Flo Range Tan. I like the color and the contrast that it had with the chocolate brown belt. Thanks for looking. Again, the pics are not the best as they are taken with my cell phone.

My brother bought a knife from a custom maker and needed a knife sheath so he asked if I could make one for him. The knife is by A.D. Sharpe (how ironic) out of North Carolina. Let me just say that this knife is wicked sharp and built like a tank. When I first saw the knife I asked my brother what he has used it for so far and he said "chopping small tree's" whoa! But after handling it I can see why. This thing is a beast. Kudos to the maker. An interesting thing about it (that you can't see) is that as I was putting this sheath together the blade is so sharp and heavy that if you didnt put the blade into the sheath with extra care it was cutting the welt all to shreds. When you are out in the woods or on a hunt you are not exactly focused on being "careful" putting your blade away. So I got to thinking about what I could do to help alleviate some of this "shredding" that was taking place. Years ago I had read some articles about Cuir-bouilli. It's a process used to make leather armor. It makes the leather extremely hard, but yet brittle. So I thought about it and decided that I would take a sponge and wet just the inside edge of the welt and then using a solder iron I would scorch the wet edge and essentially make a hard surface for the blade edge to run against. Think of it as differential heat treating of a knife blade, making the edge hard so it will hold an edge yet leaving the spine tempered so the blade does not become brittle. I was quite pleased with the results and that hard edge is holding up very well, the knife blade just "scates" along it and slides right into the sheath instead of trying to shred the welt all to pieces and yet the rest of the welt is pliable without making the whole thing brittle. I am interested in hearing if anyone else has ever done this. So here's the sheath. And here's the knife that belongs to it. Pics are not the best from my cell phone, as I still need to get a digital camera...ugghh....on of the many "toys" (as my wife would say) that are needed.

I second what abram said that is way cool!

Pretty darn good for your first complete holster. All the feedback above is good on the stitching. It's hard to tell from the pics, but the edges look not quite slick. If they are then you can ignore this, but here it goes. The edges, like the stitching, takes time and attention. I personally use a wood file to rough shape the edges, then go to 220 sandpaper, then 320 sandpaper, dye and burnish. Then after the holster is formed (molded) I check the edges again and if needed I touch up with 600 grit sandpaper, redye and burnish again. This makes for some pretty hard edges and makes them very slick. I also then finish the edges with beeswax. My .02 Again, Good Job on your first complete holster. I am pretty certain mine was no where near anything as accomplished as that.

Good Job. They look good!

Looks good! Nice work.

Good job on those. The inlay looks good.

Denster - looks like a good solid design to me.

Shooter that is on awesome looking paddle holster.

Those look really nice. Good job!

SWEET!

Wow, that's really impressive. Great job!

Looks like you did good.

Great job! Those look great. I like the frog trim.

Nice work, cool contrasts.

Nice Job Denster

Typically a gun belt for carry is two strips of 7-8oz for a total of 14-16oz.

Very nice Lobo.

Eagle - this is the perfect forum. If you feel so inclined I think I speak for many of us here that we would love for you to post pictures right here.

Eaglestroker - have you posted pics of these Roy Baker works of art?

Very nice. Good job.

Very nice work. I hope to learn to tool like that some day.

Eaglestroker - I wish I could answer your questions with certainty, but I can't. I should have prefaced the picture with the statement that the belt was not made by me. It is a very nice belt, it was made by a man in Colorado. I was able to buy it cheaper than I could make one, so I did. The thread looks to be 207 or 138, hard to say since I have never seen those sizes, but I know it is smaller than 277. The lining would appear to be almost like a chrome tanned leather it is so soft, but like I said, not entirely sure. Sorry.