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Haven't posted in a while, so figured I'd share a few holsters I recently shipped out. I do have a question - can someone please post a workflow to removing the stain from the steel contacting the leather and causing the black spots? I've seen Oxalic acid suggested, but I must not have done it right because it didn't remove the stain. Tooled 4.25" pancake and 5" avenger for a 1911, with a matching belt. 5" 1911 Pancake holster. 4.25" 1911 Pancake with Frog accent. Sig P238 Pancake

Looks great!

Great looking belt! Can you explain why you use thinner leather for more ornate tooling patterns instead of thicker leather?

This was my experiment with it... http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19888

Right-click on the photo, and tell your browser to open the link in a new tab. It should shrink to fit the browser window (mine does in Google Chrome). And Clay - I agree about stopping the tooling short of the fold. If you were to fold the tooled leather that severely, it would probably flatten out the tooling (in addition to being structurally weakened by the swivel knife cuts). Looks much better to stop the tooling short like you did.

LOL - Yeah, yeah. I used to wear gloves, but then I ran out and haven't bought any more...

I agree - it's interesting to hear different preferences for finishes. Same for dying - last time I dip-dyed a holster, it took several days to completely dry (hanging in my garage, with a fan circulating air through the garage 24x7). When I finally was able to sew it together, there was so much pigment in the leather, that it transferred to my thread, and turned my hands orange when I went to form the holster. Nasty mess.

Early on, I built a couple holsters, then posted photos on a couple message boards. Pretty soon, I had people sending me PM's asking if I'd build them a holster. Once I sent a few out, those people showed their friends and also posted photos of their holsters on the message boards, and I'd get a few new orders. Fortunately, this happens nearly every time I send out a batch of holsters. I also try to monitor a few different message boards. Place a link to your website in your signature. Provide valuable input as often as you can to various threads. Interested in a certain type of handgun? Look for a dedicated forum and participate there. Like to camp? Look for an outdoors oriented forum. For example, if someone searches for "creekside cabin broken bow", you'll find my parent's vacation rental cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. They'll also find this post on this message board, and see my links in my signature... I get a lot of traffic from a video I posted on YouTube a while back. I have a Facebook page, but it's still growing - not many 'friends' yet. I also have a Twitter account, but it's still pretty small too. Admittedly, I don't use either of them with much frequency, so that's part of the problem.

Blackey Cole - you might check out http://layersmagazine.com/category/photoshop for some good tutorials. Also, in the past I was very pleased with the Photoshop WOW! series of tutorial books. Also, look for the Photoshop Creative publication at your local book store. What file format does Grey Ghost need to cut your templates?

Very nice! I would also like to hear a little more about the assembly method.

Looks great! Can you show/give a little more detail about the snap attachment method? Why does the back have two different looking attachment methods - what is the round topped piece of hardware on the back?

Agreed - looks really good! Nicely detailed.

Very nice work Kevin. Laid out flat, it looks beautiful. It's a very sweet execution of the scene. Folded up - it's equally beautiful. The thread colors, hide colors, shapes - they all play very nicely together in a meandering trail that entices you to want to keep turning it over to see what lay ahead.

Can't provide a link, but I ordered some from Weaver a few months back.

Are you putting any type of sealer on the leather prior to antiquing? I apply two coats of sealer, but I still get a little edge where you can tell a difference in the non-antiqued area (like when protecting that white stitching). I can't remember what it's called right now, but you might try brushing on a liquid mask (frisket) on a small test piece (that also includes stitching) to see if that helps. You can apply it over the non-tooled leather, right up to the edge of the tooling. http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-colorless-art-masking-fluid/

I'm no expert, but I believe that's a strap cutter, and not an actual splitter/skiver. You'd use it for cutting belt blanks, etc., not for actually thinning down the thickness of a piece of leather.

To some extent, yes. But, an airbrush will not give you the mottled, rustic look that the sponge technique will produce.

Looks great! nice save with the sweat shield.

Thanks for the compliments everyone - I guess as the creator we can tend to be overly critical of the finished product. I've had a few occasions where I've gotten a little black dye on the faces of the holster accidentally, either by splattering or dye that transferred to my finger tips. Every time, I've taken a photo of the holster and sent it to the customer to see if they wanted me to remake it - all were perfectly happy with it as-is.

Here's a holster I finally made for the little Sig P238. I'm very happy with the way the holster came out, but not at all happy with the black edging at the muzzle opening and around the sweat shield - I wish I would have left those particular edges natural, as it's too hard to get a nice sharp line over that small of an area. The more I tried to clean up the line, the wider it got and encroached too far onto each face of the leather. The more I hold the little Sig P238, the more I love it. It's a great little pistol!

I use Photoshop extensively at work (and have since the late 90's), and Illustrator equally as long, but considerably less. I also was a CAD operator for nearly 10 years, and only recently was able to migrate into more of a design role moving me away from CAD. All that being said, I find it much more efficient to do my initial leather designs by hand, then scan my drawings and save them to PDF files so they maintain their scale. If I need to edit them, I usually do the edits in Photoshop, but Illustrator would be more appropriate (I don't have Illustrator at home). Sometimes technology can get in the way of creativity. I downloaded Gimp a few months back... Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, but it was totally foreign and awkward for me. But again, I've used Photoshop "forever", so anything else is frustrating to no-end. YMMV If you're not aware, Adobe has recently come out with a subscription option. Photoshop is $49 per month - renew as needed, if/when needed. Illustrator is $45 per month. Sign up for one year, and those monthly prices are considerably less.

Well, I think you did a fantastic job - looks great! Bags are one area I'm dying to get into. Well, messenger bags...

Looks pretty good to me - my only comment at this point would be to add a little length to the end at the muzzle. A holster that's a little too long can be curved inward at the end to help protect the crown and reinforce the muzzle opening. A holster that's too short just looks like jeans that are too short... Once you're comfortable with the stitch line placement and the way it comes out once it's boned, you can trim off the exact right amount from your pattern because you have a finished product to reference and measure to adjust your pattern.

Way to go Lobo - good for you!

Looks pretty good from where I'm sitting! At what point are you burnishing the area between the front flap and the reinforcement piece? Do you wait until the holster is formed and dried? Or do you do any burnishing prior to that? If not, I would suggest you wet your holster for forming, then take it straight over to your burnishing station (mine is a drill press with a wooden dowel) and put your initial burnish on it. What you're really trying to do at this early stage is pre-round the edges - nothing more. It's much easier to round the edges prior to the drying process.