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Very nice! I always enjoy looking at your work. I'm just amazed at how much exotic work you do, and how many colors it comes in!! Would I be right in assuming you come up with the color palette on paper/computer, etc., then call around to see who has that particular color in stock, regardless of what animal it actually comes from? Also, if you don't mind my asking, what thickness thread do you use?

I stumbled across this video on YouTube and thought I'd share it. There's frequent discussion of homemade mixtures of beeswax and oils, and this is yet another formulation. The guy in the video tells you what to use, how much to use, demonstrates how to make it, shows how he applies it, then proves that it actually works. The end shows how he stores it for easy transport while camping, etc. Great video, but a little hard to hear at times. Worth a watch.

Hi Nigel - the video was great! Thank you for the slow motion portion where you showed your actual hand stitching method of wrapping the thread around the needle. Very informative. I have to admit, when you got to the portion where you were hand stitching the decorative stitching, my blood pressure rose - it was one of those "dang, still have more stitching to do!!!!" moments. LOL My hat's off to those of you that hand stitch all your work. You have much more patience than me. Can I ask where you get your wood boxes for your belt packaging? Or do you make them yourself?

I've lightly scraped the surface a few times with sandpaper, and even gotten a few scratches from sharp screws that attach the base plate on my sewing machine (they're now covered with painter's tape). You can take a dauber that's been dipped in the appropriate color of dye, then remove as much of the excess as you can - think of a marker that's practically dry and you're ready to throw it in the trash. Then, gently scrub the dauber over the scratch to color the lighter area. Once it's oiled and finished, it should be barely noticeable.

I've asked a couple people that seem to have mastered the technique, and neither were willing to share how it was done.

I actually have been butting my gun or magazine up to the platen - not using the paracord or mesh at this time.

I believe they use oil tanned leather for all their products and they don't apply sealers - just some type of leather care product they promote and sell.

This video might be of help for you - just ignore the pigskin lining part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKxHdNIiP4

Regarding your second question - make sure your needle is sharp so it's not tearing through the leather. Run your fingernail over the tip and see if it snags as it slides off the tip. If it snags, replace it. The lack of a lower feed dog is part of what contributes to the puckering. To fix it, I always dampen the leather, then hammer the stitching closed with a smooth faced hammer. Even though my Cobra Class 4 (I used to have a Boss) has a lower feed dog installed, I still get a little puckering, but the feed dog helps to smash the puckering flat. When I switch to the stirrup plate or holster plate (I no longer have the lower feed dog), the puckering is much worse. Just the nature of machine sewing. The smooth faced hammer is an easy way to minimize it after the fact. Regarding tension - I seem to remember reading somewhere to back the top adjustment screws all the way back to the point where they just start making contact with the spring. Then, tighten the primary 2 full turns, and the secondary 1.5 turns. Or 1.5 and 2 (reversed). That's the starting point from what I recall. Once I had those set, I adjusted the bobbin until my stitches were correct.

Looks great! I really like the color. Burnished edge looks nice. Regarding your question - I've gotten multiple customers specifically comment about my burnished edges being nicely done, and they always compare them to the big, major makers. I think there is an opportunity for different price levels. Some people just want a quick, cheap holster that's still well made - they may not care about the detail boning and burnished edges. Others will. Nothing wrong with offering a couple different pricing levels. The Leather Balm is bad about lifting color and staining thread. I wouldn't use it unless my thread was darker than my dye. It looks like you didn't pre-form your belt tunnel. Have you tried sliding a 1/4" thick gun belt through it?

Wow - attacking an air compressor is just flat out dangerous!

I think it looks great! Your lacing looks 10x better than anything I've ever laced. In general, on-camera flash makes stuff look bad. Try photographing with natural and/or ambient light - this helps show the depth of the tooling and eliminates the harsh reflections and shadows. Very good work - be proud of it!

When I use resolene, I always cut it 50/50 with water. I apply it with a damp 1" sponge paint brush. Doing something large like a journal cover, I usually get a little streaking, but it usually goes away when I apply a second coat. Your strokes look a bit like you kept working it too long after the sealer was already starting to dry. Before you try buffing it out, you might try applying a second coat, but be sure to keep a wet edge, and not go back over your work if at all possible.

Thanks for the compliments Matt - and I agree about the single belt loop on mag pouches causing binding issues. I'll let you know how the customer does with it. My hope is once the mag breaks in the carrier, it "should" be fine since there is nothing to snag on, unlike a holster where there's all sorts of pressure points to increase the binding problem. Brigade makes one sorta like this, but their strap is much wider, which may be the solution - I didn't want to copy them directly, but hopefully I didn't shoot myself in the foot. I just put the finish on it last night, and boxed it up before I went to bed so I didn't get a chance to try it on myself. http://brigadegunleather.com/m-20c.html The Tandy Pro Waterstain doesn't seem to bleed at all when wet'd for molding. I get no rub-off at all. The only time I've gotten a little rub-off is when applying Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax to a journal cover I made a while back. But, that stuff seems to make everything bleed, so I don't really use it unless I can apply it before stitching the item (journal covers and such).

Great looking stuff!! The lined, double-layered exotic in your first photo is particularly awesome. Nice job! My only critique would be the straight line on the ostrich over the mag carrier - everything else you've shown has such a nice, organic flow to the trim lines - the straight line doesn't seem to tie together with the holster as well as it could have with a more organic trim line. That's just a minor, one person's opinion though - fantastic looking gear!

Here's my first attempt at an IWB mag carrier. This was stained red with the Tandy Professional Waterstain, then airbrushed with black accents with Fiebing's Pro Oil dye. I'm really liking the Tandy Pro Waterstain - it's super easy to apply and goes on very evenly (provided you liberally apply it to make sure you get complete coverage). The only downside for holsters is it seems to block water absorption a good bit, which can result in subtle splotches in the coloring when it dries. You can see it a bit on the back photo of the mag pouch - obviously on the back, and also just to the right of the double stitching on the back. I need to tweak my stitch line under the dustcover. Would love to hear any positive or negative feedback. I'm still relatively new to the IWB scene and trying to iron out all the kinks.

If nothing works to remove it, you could always earmark that area of the hide for black holsters. I had a portion of a hide with my latest batch that had a black dot of some kind on the hide. I just made sure to position a black holster order over that spot.

Your lacing is superb! Products look great too!

Very classy! Nice job.

Hi Jon - I use gum trag on the interior just prior to applying my finish coat. Rub it on with a dauber, then slick it with a smoothing tool of some sort (I use a wooden tool for clay modeling I've had since the 90's) that I bought at an art supply store.

LOL!! That's awesome! Nice work, very clever.

Very nice! Looks very well made.

Your first one? Looks incredible! Did you make the pattern too?

Just to clarify - the original post said he stated the price to be between $40 and $60, depending on if it had a handle. And you later mentioned he's been doing this for quite a while and has made lots of punches. Is he saying he can't do it if it's heat treated with S7 steel? Or he just can't do it at all? I can't buy one either way at this time, but it seems there was a lot of people interested and I just wanted to clarify what your friend is saying he can't do - stainless steel or heat treated S7.

Thanks for the referral. To the original poster - click the link in my signature to go to my site. Look at the How's it Made page.