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I also would like the patterns - please send to me as well.

Bob - that looks fantastic! I love doing the hammered background effect too - always reminds me of hammered copper pots. I use the pear shader like you mentioned. What did you line it with?

I like how you added the stamping around the image. I think something along the line of a beveler with lines cut in it might help eliminate the overlaps you're getting over your printed image. That, or just have multiple sizes of camouflage stamps on hand to cover the different radius's you will encounter. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/department/Leather-Stamps/Beveler-Leather-Stamps/6893-00.aspx Is the dark brown area that covers the rest of the exterior dyed, or printed?

Wow - am I correct that is a single block of steel, milled to final shape/size, including the actual angle of the blade? That's cool. Question though - how hard will that be to sharpen? It looks like the base plate protrudes past the angle of the blade, meaning you can't place it on a stone to sharpen it. Am I seeing that correctly? Since it's being milled, it might be cool if the base plate was milled parallel to the angle of the blade so when you lay the punch on the sharpening stone, the base plate acts as a guide to sharpen at the correct angle.

Can you share a photo of the punch? I'd love to see it. My biggest complaint with my Texas Custom Dies punch is the thickness of the shoulders on the punch - if you don't dampen the leather prior to punching, it tears the grain of the leather. I wonder how sturdy 1/16" will prove to be over time. Probably less of an issue when used with a press.

I'm not really bothered by the printing - I think it's just another tool that can be used to create a particular end product. It may not be to everyone's liking, but that doesn't mean it's not worthy of exploration and/or display on this site. I've seen some work posted here by another maker that uses lasers quite a bit to add artwork to his pieces - I think it looks fantastic! There is also another guy that I stumbled across on Facebook that has printed some nice looking full-color stuff on his leather. I've really gotten into hand-drawn imagery on my journal covers, which I then color with artists markers. I'd love to be able to print, or laser burn the line-work then come back and color it with markers. For something with such a small (if any) profit margin, anything you can do to speed up the production process is a good thing. Now, I have to ask - how are you printing your artwork on the leather? Care to share the process?

LOL - dang iPhone autocorrect!

The holster itself looks great, but I'm confused by the belt clips being mounted upside down as well. It also looks to ride very high. Rotating the clips would allow it to ride much lower, allowing the pants to help pull the grip closer to the body. It seems any benefit of using a clip at all is totally erased if you can't simply slide the holster on and off like the clip was designed to allow.

Wow - thanks for the compliments everyone! Not sure how interesting I am, but I certainly have a tendency to put a lot of heart into everything I make. My wife would say I get carried away with everything I make. But we have different ideas of what an acceptable level of quality is. She keeps me grounded, provided I listen to her.... I learn seething every time I make something, and these journal covers are no exception! Wish I had the opportunity to make more of them.

Great question - the reason is because the product listing on Etsy had natural thread. The customer didn't specify otherwise in our communication prior to stating the order, so I just stuck with natural thread assuming the customer was happy with it. Once I got it finished and sent photos to the customer, she decided she wanted brown thread.

Here's another take on a journal cover I did a while back, but this time with more artwork. It's for a customer via Etsy that wanted it for a paper-backed book she has. It's surprisingly hard to photograph these things! The only thing left to do is remove the stitching and replace it with brown thread.

Hi Zacharyc - sorry that happened to you. I just thought I'd mention in case you didn't realize it yet, but the outer layer (where the hair pores would be located) is referred to as the "grain" side. In your case (assuming you're showing the front & back of the same piece of leather), this is the side that is consistently rough looking - the bottom photo - though the grain has been completely removed so you no longer have grain on yours. The other side is the "flesh" side - the side attached to the icky stuff. This is your top photo.

Okay - I haven't tried any of the other alternatives mentioned in this thread yet. But, I wanted to share my current experience with the Tandy EcoWeld Water Based Contact Adhesive. Bonding strength seems very good. My gut feeling is that it doesn't stiffen the leather quite as much as Barges does, but I can't prove that. It's easy to apply and spread - it brushes on the leather much easier than the Barges contact cement I was previously using. It doesn't take terribly long to dry, so application time is almost a good as the solvent-based cements, provided you don't brush it on too thick. Since it goes on thin, the product seems to last longer than an equal quantity of Barges. Now, here's the interesting part that I'm hoping some of our overseas friends can help with (apparently it's been in use for a while overseas and just recently made it to the US)... When I purchased the cement, I poured some of it into the plastic dispenser that Tandy sells that has the adjustable brush built into the screw-on lid. I kept this dispenser and the original container in my garage, right next to each other. My garage is insulated, so it hasn't gotten excessively hot - probably never above 95 degrees. After a couple weeks, the dispenser cement started smelling sour, while the original container smelled fine. About a month after initially pouring it into the dispenser, the dispenser cement smelled so bad I almost thew up... I ended up pouring about half a pint down the drain... The original container still smells fine. From now on, I'll only pour a tiny bit into the dispenser, then rinse it out when I'm done. I'm not sure what this stuff is made of, or what made it go sour. Interestingly, even though it stunk so badly, it still worked just fine - the goes almost entirely away once it dries. Does anyone know what would cause the stuff to go sour? Could it be a combination of the dispenser brush being in the humid/damp environment (from the water-based cement) that caused the brush to mildew, which introduced mold into the cement? I'm grasping for straws - if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear it.

Wow - I haven't gotten to watch the video yet, but the preview looks really cool! Thanks for sharing. I'll add it to my watch list.

Very nice!

Blue, without a doubt. My reason is this - my kids hang out in the garage with me all the time. The last thing I want is one of my kids grabbing a blue gun off the wall, running around playing with it (which I try to keep them from doing), and alarming the neighbors because they think my kids are running around with real guns (that don't have orange tips on the muzzle to alert them otherwise). Nor would I want a thief driving by and seeing a wall full of "guns". If you come across a bluegun that has the finish coat on it, simply pour some denatured alcohol in a dish, dip a toothbrush in the alcohol, then scrub the entire gun. The finish comes off very easily. Otherwise, order from bluegunstore.com or directly from blueguns.com if you prefer for some reason (but be sure to tell them you're using them for holsters and don't want the finish coat).

My only guess is if they're used for training simulators, they may prefer them in the "fire" position so the grip feels natural when "shooting". However, if they're used for training purposes, I have trouble seeing why on earth they need more than a small, medium and large size pistol in perhaps the standard issue handguns for LE, and perhaps a few sizes of revolvers typically carried on duty. It would be even better if they'd just go ahead and cast the gun with the safety in both position and offer two versions for sale. I mean, why make a Sig P238 and a Sig P938 for "training" - they're essentially the same size gun if all you're doing is training with it.

For those that might be interested, I was able to remove the thumb safety and reattach it in the cocked & locked position using a box cutter, chisel and super glue. http://www.adamsleatherworks.com/bluegun-thumb-safety/

Good idea - I might try that first!

Yeah, I think with the thickness of the slide, the grip thickness - there wouldn't be a whole lot of room for any tools to get in there without mangling the rest of the surrounding area. I think I'll just model up a new safety with the JB putty - probably the easiest approach. May try adhering a piece to the top while I'm at it for a molded sight channel. So far I've just been using plastic coat hangers cut to fit. Works, but would like to try something better & permanent so I don't have to tape a dowel to the top every time I form with it.

Have you removed one with a chisel and reinstalled the removed portion? I wasn't sure I could remove it in one piece without destroying it. Sees like it'd take multiple shaving passes instead of one slice at the base - at least my 1911 3" was that way because it was so wide. Can't remember how big the base of this P938 is. JB Weld putty is a great idea!

So, I received my new Sig P938 Bluegun dummy yesterday and was sad to see it was a non cocked & locked version. There were no photos posted of the dummy at the time I ordered it that I was aware of, so didn't think to verify before ordering. With my 3" 1911 dummy, I used a wood chisel to remove the disengaged safety, then purchased an extended safety from Midway and "installed" it myself on the dummy. Looking at the Midway site this morning, there isn't a part available for it yet. I suppose I could fabricate something out of wood temporarily, but was just curious if any of you creative folk have done something similar on another dummy and could share some tips and tricks with the rest of us.

I was debating the wooden blocks myself. How do you handle the radius'd leading edge of the magazine? Or do you just leave it squared off on the front and back edges since it has a squared non-directional bottom? Also - for the double stack mags - will you be tapering the bottom of the magazine down like some of the mags (don't have my mags in front of me to list specific models), or the same thickness top-to-bottom so it'll be more universal? I suppose adding a tension screw at the top might make it not matter so much if it was tapered or not. I obviously haven't worked with wooden blanks before, so not sure if I'm over-thinking it or not.

I assume you're not stitching the belt to a lining? Regardless, I dye the face prior to assembly. Then, I burnish the edge with water so I get a clean, rounded edge. Then, once the edge is completely dry, I dye the edge. Then, I burnish. If you dye the edge before doing any burnishing at all, it's very hard to control the dye for a clean edge and it soaks up a ton of dye, meaning you can only take very short strokes before you have to load your dauber again with more dye. All that starting and stopping makes it hard to get a rhythm going and maintain a clean edge.

I use 8oz and have never had a complaint. Well, I saw one person comment it was pretty thick, but the majority are happy with the thickness. Mike - Do you ever get comments about your mag pouch design having mags facing different directions? I assume not, because I know the design is pretty common, especially in the kydex realm. The reason I ask is because I've had two customers contact me saying I made the mag pouch facing the wrong direction. I've always felt the bullet should face forward, so you grab the mag with your palm facing your body. This way it's a natural swing to keep your palm facing upward, insert the mag, then drive it home with the palm of your hand. Anyway, since I've had a couple people directly contact me about it, I was just curious if anyone has ever had a similar comment about your design. Nice looking set, by the way! I wish I wasn't so anchored to the detail boned market. Perhaps it's time to add it as an alternative option...