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That looks very nice, but I have to ask... Do you not need a license from "smith and wesson,glock,ruger,colt" etc. to use their logo on your products for commercial gain?

That's great! Very clever, and nicely executed. Merry Christmas to you as well! Is that tooled in leather, then painted?

Tons of users here have ordered from them and almost everyone has very high satisfaction with their products and support. I've never even heard of WOT. Where do they poll customers?

That is too cool! Good looking kiddo - looks like he's put a lot of mileage on those boots! That's neat to see. My kids are only interested in the Lightning McQueen sneakers that have lights in them. My wife and I went to Fort Worth to stay in a nice hotel for the night to celebrate my birthday. We walked around Sundance Square and swung by M.L. Leddy's to look for some Christmas gifts. While none of their stuff was in our price range, it was really fun looking at all the boots and saddles. We were hoping they might give us a tour of their workshop, but they didn't offer when we inquired about it. I remember wearing the heck out of my blue Houston Oilers cowboy boots when I was a little guy. Boots and shorts everywhere I went (lived in Houston at the time). I don't know much about saddles, but that looks really nice!

Nice looking holster!

I also like the stirrup plate and never remove mine. I found when sewing avengers that the stirrup plate helped keep the holster flat to avoid the wrapped piece of leather tilting the piece up. The edge of the reinforcement rides along the edge of the plate and nothing binds up, provided you allow enough clearance between it and the stitch line at the bottom of the slide.

Thanks ABN. I wish I knew where to buy the unique stamps Sojourner had. They're unlike any other! They'd mentioned maybe putting together a tutorial showing their process, but I guess they never did. I can't find any information showing what they sold their covers for. Seems like the going rate is around $40 on the internet, but you can't include a $20 Moleskine for that price. Anyone have any suggestion for what to charge for something like I've posted here?

I assume you're referring to Katsass' post saying he uses 4/5 or 5/6. Note that he is building lined holsters, so he's still working with 1/8" & 1/4" thick leather once it's glued up.

You might try, as an alternative to rubbing the back with a polished piece of wood, wetting the back with a sponge and then tapping the stitch line with a smooth-faced hammer. This will not only remove the pucker, but also close up the stitch holes. It will still never look as good as the front, but it will look much better. Here is a photo showing the front and back of one of mine sewn on the Boss where I hammered the backside of the stitches. For comparison, here is a holster I made a long time ago that I simply smoothed with my bone folder. You can still see the puckering.

Yes. At least I have a problem with it. I have the presser foot loose enough to not mark the leather too much, but it also allows the piece to slip backwards a bit because of the thread tension. I've found if you gently push the item towards the machine you can minimize the slipping.

Don't underestimate coasters... Small, don't waste a lot of leather, easy to cut, quick to tool, easy to test finishes, etc. Christmas ornaments are great too! Here is some I made when I first started out.

Thanks Bob!

I ordered the Rings mag dummies and was disappointed to see they did not have a round cast into the dummy. I ordered a mag dummy from Duncans, and it did have a round in it. But, unless it's a really obscure and expensive magazine, I just buy the real thing and load a few rounds into it prior to forming. Katsass - how do you get your initial dimensions for cutting your wood mag dummies? Can you post an example photo of one of your dummies? I'm curious how much detail you put into your blocks, as I've thought about doing this too.

I have an old Badger 150 that I've had since the mid-90's. I use a basic Craftsman compressor with a regulator, set at about 45psi - when I press the trigger on my airbrush, the pressure drops to about 35 psi which I think is ideal. The general rule is anything thinner in consistency than milk should spray just fine. What you thin with depends on what you're spraying. Water-based stuff is thinned with water, while everything else should state on the label what to thin it with (denatured alcohol, paint thinner, etc.). The dilution ratio should equal whatever it takes to get the liquid equal to or thinner than milk. My airbrush only has the basic needle/tip that came with it, so i can't help you there, but unless you're doing very fine detail stuff, this shouldn't really be a big deal for most people - whatever the brush comes with should be fine.

You'll find differing opinions on the use of oil on gun holsters. As we all know, Bianchi is well known in the holster industry and has a fantastic tutorial DVD. In his video, he instructs you to apply multiple coats of neetsfoot oil to the holster he's teaching the viewer to build. For what it's worth, his holster is lined, so there is a barrier of contact cement between the two layers of leather, so the flesh sides are not exposed and do not directly receive the oil. He oils the inside and outside of the holster several times until it's thoroughly absorbed. He says the oil acts to seal the pores, making it more water resistant if memory serves me. I believe he also mentions the oil does not penetrate very deep because the oil essentially seals the leather. He does not specifically say this is only advisable for western style holsters (as opposed to tightly formed concealed carry rigs). I would love to know if he stands by this oil method on his concealed carry rigs, or if it only applies to his western rigs. If you drop by Brigade Gunleather's website, they have photos giving an overview of their process. They also apply liberal amounts of oil to their holsters - concealed carry rigs included. Then there's the crowd that strongly advises against the use of any sort of oil or heat applied to the leather. The majority of makers here seem to lean towards a single coat of oil applied after forming/baking is a good thing, and too much oil results in a limp holster in short order. That's the method I currently subscribe too.

Boma - your belt looks incredible! Sorry to hear it came out too thick, but it looks spectacular!! Can I ask how you did the lettering on the back of this belt? It looks great!

Thanks! And feel free to mimic the design for your friend's bible cover. Originally, I intended to make it look a little different (much more simple). But, I made a few mistakes along the way and had to cover them up - the final design evolved out of those mistakes. Not sure if I like the final version better than my original design... Here is another photo that shows the color a little better.

Here is another one I just finished last night. Back to holsters now! The first one I posted was cut from 5-6 oz Herman Oak. The other two (this one included) was from one of the cheap hides Tandy had on sale recently - it's 4-5 oz. I normally airbrush everything I do. But, for these I wanted a little more mottled effect. I got a lot of inspiration from SojournerLeather, but sadly, they seem to no longer be in business since I can't find any current presence on the internet for them. I believe they use the block dyeing method to color their journals (so the tooling will remain light). I didn't have a block handy, so I experimented with other methods. I suck at applying dye with any method other than an airbrush - lack of experience I guess. All three journals in this thread were colored the same way. I took a piece of canvas about 6" square, folded it up, then dipped one end in Fiebing's Pro Oil dye - Light Brown. Then, I applied it in a circular motion for the first coat. The second coat was applied left to right, and the third up & down. Honestly, I probably put too much dye on this way, but at the time it didn't seem like there was much dye on the canvas I was using. Once that was done, I took the same piece of canvas and dipped it in Dark Brown (Fiebing's Pro Oil), blotted it on a paper towel, then dabbed it on randomly around the edges and fold locations. I followed this with a coat of Neetsfoot oil. I'm not sure if it was the leather, or the application method, but I had a LOT of color rub off - so much that it discolored the thread considerably. But, in the end I think it added to the character of the finished piece.

I oil after forming/baking. You might try the block dyeing method. Take a wood block, wrap a tshirt around the edge, drizzle the dye on the edge, blot the excess on a paper towel, then drag it over the surface multiple times until you get your desired intensity, but remember it will darken after oiling. You only want to use a single coat of neetsfoot oil on holsters.

What kind of leather are you using? I'm currently using Wickett & Craig. How are you applying the dye? Here is a Light Brown holster with Dark Brown accents around the edges. I apply the dye with an airbrush (4 coats). I also cut, dye, assemble, wet, form, bake, oil, seal - in that order (with a few other misc. steps tossed in). I only use Fiebing's Pro Oil dyes, and I never dilute them. For what it's worth, here is another comparison. The first journal cover is cut from 5-6oz Herman Oak that I pulled from my scrap bin. For this, I used a folded piece of canvas dipped in Light Brown Pro Oil, then applied it in a circular motion first, then from left to right, then up and down - 3 coats. I then followed that up with a blotted piece of canvas (very little dye left) and dabbed on Dark Brown for a mottled effect. Then I oiled the whole piece. I dampened it to fold and hammer down the stitches - no darkening of the color (except for when I oiled it). Here is a journal I made last night with the same colors, applied the same way. But, this time I used a cheap piece of 4-5oz that I bought on sale from Tandy a couple weeks ago. It came out MUCH darker and looked horrible until I put a finish on it, but it's still way too dark for what I intended (I wanted it more like the one above).

Thanks - all sewn on my Boss.

Here is my first and second attempts at a journal cover. The first came out a tad small (won't close completely on its own), so I made some adjustments and built another. What do you think? I need to take better pictures so the colors show more accurately, but this is all I have to share at the moment. This one came out much darker than I planned, but I'm overall pretty happy with it.

Beautiful coloring!

Thanks Bob - the leather looked a little thicker than normal, but I don't mind it at all. I'm about to make a bunch of journal covers for Christmas gifts using a bunch of my scrap 8-10oz leather. I don't want to buy a bunch of new leather for them, but can't split them down either so I may just use them as-is. Haven't decided yet. Anyway, yours looked thick and all I have laying around is thick stuff so I thought I'd ask. Looks like it worked out well for you. Take care, Eric

Very nice! Can I ask what thickness leather you used?