Dwight

Just a quick suggestion, . . . as I do this quite a bit. Get a 40 or 50% off coupon off the internet for Joann's Fabric. Go to the rear of the store where they have their canvas and vinyl, . . . some of their vinyl runs just shy of 20 bucks a yard, . . . you get a piece 36 inches wide and 45 inches long for 10 or 12 bucks. You can pattern a whole bunch of stuff, . . . and see how it works out, . . . without cutting leather, . . . and not having to put up with paper or manila folders. I did that especially for a couple sets of chaps, . . . paid off just the other day, . . . lady wanted to see a couple samples of my work, . . . I showed her my vinyl samples, . . . she came within an inch of wanting vinyl chaps, . . . but her buddy talked her out of it. I was hoping she would. Anyway, . . . that's how I would start out. May God bless, Dwight

Good looking first attempt, Tony, . . . Like you, . . . i'd be interested to know too, as the ones I build are pretty much only for show, . . . personal wear, . . . etc. They don't get much bush time. I also really like that old saddle picture you have on there, . . . is that an old Jumbo? My Jumbo looks a lot like it. May God bless, Dwight

Jimbob, . . . how about buying a really good, professionally made, commercial case, . . . then covering the outside with your hand done carvings and stampings? It would save you a lot of time, . . . it would give him a seriously sturdy case (i play music, . . . this IS important), . . . and would allow you to concentrate on the designs, . . . scenes, . . . etc that would bring a real smile to his face. Just a suggestion, . . . but it is what I would do, . . . and in fact, will probably do next winter for my guitar. My 30+ year old case is really good on the inside, . . . but a few too many nicks and dings in the outside, . . . therefore it gets a new skin. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, guys, for the kudos, . . . as for the belt loop, . . . I do it John Bianchi's way, . . . would probably quit rivets altogether if I could find something that would fully take their place in the stuff I do. May God bless, Dwight

Harley45, . . . that rig is finished, . . . off the table, . . . I started a new thread with it. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks for the good words, guys, . . . in answer to your question, Red, . . . the thumb break just simply was easier to do by hand than to try to crank it around on my Boss's table. Also, . . . when I start out my Western belts, . . . i have the underside keeper in place, . . . but no thread in the machine, . . . I make the holes with the machine, so that they are perpendicular, evenly spaced, etc. About the 3rd hole after the keeper, . . . I put thread in it, . . . and start "Bossing" my way around the belt, . . . in this case it was about a total of about 500 stitches on the belt itself. When I get back to the bottom side of the keeper, . . . I pull out about 16 inches of thread, . . . then hand sew that bottom side of the keeper, . . . and end my sewing on that lower corner of the belt. About 24 stitches in the thumb break and another dozen in the keeper, . . . ala teaching of Mr. John Bianchi, . . . for which I am seriously grateful. May God bless, Dwight

I just finished this one for a customer who is going to wear it horseback riding in Oklahoma. I don't often get to do "fun" ones, . . . this was definitely one of those. I put it on after I got it done, . . . fit like it should have been mine. This is a double layer, . . . glued together, . . . Katsass/Dwight type holster, . . . belt is the same. Have to admit that I did cheat a little bit though, . . . there were only 36 or so hand stitches in the whole rig, . . . rest were done on the old machine. May God bless, Dwight

It will depend on the machine. Some will allow you to do it, . . . some won't because of the "table" arrangement. As you can see in this picture, my machine allows a flat object to go through and just run out on the table, . . . I intended for that to happen, especially for belts. The little box looking thing to the left of the machine is held on with one screw. Remove it. . . . I've got a saddle stitcher that allows me to put any shaped piece in there, . . . including a pre-formed holster. I had to remove the box for this holster, . . . as it would have made the stitches come out not perpendicular to the holster. Again, . . . when I designed the shop, . . . I had that in mind. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, most of my CCW holsters are molded first. I'll sew down the sight track edge on my Cactus and pancake designs, . . . wet mold, . . . allow to dry, . . . then do the glue/cut/sand/gouge/edge/sew trick with the holster basically molded and boned. I'll sometimes touch up the boning or molding, . . . but only if it needs it. AND, . . . those are holsters made from one layer of 6 to 9 oz leather, . . . uhh, . . . mostly. My cowboy holsters and large revolver holsters all get pretty much sewed up then molded, . . . just the way I do it. May God bless, Dwight

Being a pastor, . . . the one on the far right would be my choice. My only comment would be if I were doing them, . . . I would have changed the overall outline, shape, etc. a bit more than you did. Not that what you did was bad, but it looks like you only have one pattern and one barrel length. Trade out the loop around the holster for a belt and a buckle on one, . . . make one for an 8 inch barrel, . . . make one left handed, . . . make one that is definitely only for cross draw, . . . make the skirt square on one, . . . sink the whole weapon down in one, . . . and have the trigger guard fully exposed on another. Cowboys of old, . . . and today's cowboys are both a discriminating bunch, . . . and a particular bunch, . . . that from my point of observation, . . . want to be different. They don't all have to be John Wayne the hero, . . . but Billy don't want to look like Bobbie Joe, . . . who don't want to look like Chester, . . . etc. Give them some real differenciation, . . . they'll reward you for it. May God bless, Dwight

Well, actually, Harley, . . . the pictures you saw are of the completed holster, . . . needing only the final assembly of the parts after the final finish goes on. Construction wise, . . . it is done. The walls were made of two layers of.109 thick (7oz) leather, . . . and the bottom seam including the welt, . . . came out at .550 inches thick. That seam had 5 layers of leather there, . . . 4 coats of Weldwood contact cement holding it all together while I stitched it. Molding, i do after I dye the holster and let it dry. I then soak it good again, . . . and go to town on the molding, . . . boning a holster of that type is just simply out of the question. I've laughed and kidded Mike about this process as it just about makes another weapon out of the holster itself, . . . it becomes so hard. As far as sewing, . . . all the stitches you see there are done on my Tippmann Boss, . . . including the .550 seam. That seam took me all of probably 2 minutes to gouge and sew with waxed 346 thread. The only part of the whole holster that was hand sewn was the outside portion of the thumb break. This holster is for a pretty good sized man, . . . and he has an old fashioned (40 year old) stainless steel Colt .357 with a 6 inch barrel he'll be toting in it. He also got a matching belt with 24 cartridge loops. The thumb break is for his horseback riding jaunts, . . . If I didn't have my machine, . . . I'd probably find some other use for my leather shop. May God bless, Dwight

Here is a couple of examples of Katsass technique (curing overnight with a weight) and my way of doing it (lightly skiving the inside piece for about an inch or so at the bend). The flap area and the barrel area at the sight plane were both skived, . . . Weldwooded, . . . put together, . . . laid under a marble weight for about 12 hours, . . . then magically turned into a big brown holster for a big stainless .357. I'm usually in too much of a hurry to wait, . . . but this time, I had the time, . . . so I added the "grumpy" effect, . . . and as it is plainly evident, . . . grumpy or not, . . . it works. AND, . . . it ain't got no wrankels, . . . rinkels, . . . or wrinkles. May God bless, Dwight

Like pickles on a cheeseburger, . . . some like em, . . . some don't. With a big revolver like that, . . . my preference would be to have one on there in case I decided to use it. For a 1911 or smaller, . . . I don't use them, . . . but then again, . . . I've seen and made them both ways. May God bless, Dwight

I had to paint black letters on a white background, . . . and just could not get the paint to run only to the edge of the stamp, . . . it always wanted to run a "little bit more" (I stamped the letters, . . . then painted the inside of them). I wound up outlining it in black (using a very fine point Sharpie) and then painting up to the inside of the line formed by the Sharpie. I didn't realize I could paint so beautifully when I got done,..................... May God bless, Dwight

Finishing the interior of a holster is kinda like pickles on a cheeseburger, . . . some do, . . . some don't. It's all personal choice of the maker (or end user). I personally only use pro oil stains, . . . and generally finish with Resolene, . . . but there are at least a dozen other ways. Unless a customer is adamant about not doing anything to the inside, . . . the whole thing gets the same treatment, . . . inside and out. My resolene finish protects the leather from the oils and stuff that accumulate on guns, . . . along with the unburned powder, residue, carbon, etc. All that junk if it gets into a holster which has soaked up some oil, . . . will become just like rubbing compound, . . . and WILL mess up the finish on a fine gun. OTOH, . . . most folks today are buying the plastic fantastics, . . . no stainless or blued steel, . . . so the finish is a moot point. May God bless, Dwight

First off, . . . I don't do many shows, . . . and not a lot on Ebay or Gunbroker or other sites. But when I do, . . . I keep it simple both for me and for my customers. Internet sales always have the statement in there: Free Shipping or Shipping, Handling, & Insurance included in price. I like to buy that way, . . . others do too, . . . so I use it as an inducement to buy my product as opposed to the other guy's where those are additional charges. At shows, . . . it is an "all inclusive" price, . . . high enough that I can go home and figure out how much to set aside for sales tax and still make a profit, . . . as well as high enough to also offer the free shipping for mail order customers who want to order something at the show, . . . and yet I keep my prices at even dollar amounts. Why do I do this? I'm lazy, . . . admittedly, . . . and I'm not carrying a bunch of change and making change for tax, shipping, etc. My customers are intelligent discriminating adults, . . . I treat them that way. May God bless, Dwight

Exceptional.....!!! May God bless, Dwight

The suggestion to use a torch on the conduit is a VERY bad idea, . . . conduit (galvanized metal) has a zinc type coating, . . . heating it very hot will expel nasty fumes, . . . you will gag, choke, puke, and mention some otherwise "not nice" words if you happen to get a lung full of those fumes. Secondarily, . . . there is not much temper in conduit, . . . but there is some, . . . so when sanding it sharp, . . . take your time, . . . don't get it very hot. This picture shows some of the punches I've made for various things I do, . . . the belt slot punch is the one on the far right hand side. Plus, . . . none of them have anything on their tops, . . . except the sanded and smoothed end of the conduit. If you keep it fairly sharp with a round file and/or sandpaper, . . . you will not hurt your maul or mallet. May God bless, Dwight

My bag punch was made from a piece of electrical conduit, . . . sharpened on a belt sander, . . . and pounded down to a flattened 5/16 by 1 1/2 inch oblong hole. I make the 1 1/2 inch hole, . . . then place the heel of the punch about 3/16 from one end, . . . ease the rest of the punch down into the hole already made, . . . then gently tap, tap, tap, until I get the other 3/16 or so cut out. My total cost for the punch was something in the neighborhood of maybe 1/3 of a cent for the electric to sharpen the conduit and the lights to watch myself do it. Now I've only punched a couple hundred holes with this punch, . . . so it may not hold up in the long run, . . . but that's OK, . . . I can make another in all of about 5 minutes. May God bless, Dwight

I have used the drill press in the past, . . . it, in my opinion, is a bad choice. Why? Because on the bottom of the project, . . . there are always little leather goobers dangling from the holes. If you are going to use a drill press, . . . put an awl blade in it, . . . unplug the machine, . . . and simply use it to make the holes, . . . WITHOUT turning it on. Your holes will be MUCH prettier, . . . and your stitching will also reflect that. The only time you can get really nice ROUND holes with a drill press is when you use a piece of metal tubing, . . . sharpened so it looks like a punch, . . . then you simply bore the tubing through the leather with the machine running, . . . it makes wonderful little holes. A regular drill bit was made for wood or metal, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I don't know what is available to you, . . . but one of the things I have to do occasionally is hand stitching (boo, . . . hiss, . . . ugh). When I do, . . . I run it through my Boss sewing machine first, . . . without thread, . . . to make the holes, . . . make them perfectly perpendicular, . . . evenly spaced, . . . and it makes hand stitching go sooooooooooooooooooo much faster. May God bless, Dwight

It's definitely pretty work, . . . something that sometimes needs a "while" to pick up on. You may want to keep the 1911 holster and wear it seriously every day for a couple of months. By then you will see that it has loosened up considerably as your stitch line is seriously too far away from the frame of the weapon itself.. I also seriously suspect that the item you used to form the sight tunnel was overly large, . . . which again will allow a lot of slack into the holster's chamber. The fact that it is an IWB will help it retain it's usefulness, . . . but if it were an OWB, . . . the weapon would be falling out of it fairly soon unless the owner was very careful with it, . . . which most folks just are not. Other than that, . . . looks pretty good. May God bless, Dwight

I use 3 Arrow staples, . . . and a pair of long nosed pliers. May God bless, Dwight

Take a look at this, . . . it is pretty much what you want to do, . . . but for a holster. May God bless, Dwight

Freehand cut everything, . . . drywall knife, . . . and I cut it on the line. All of my patterns are pretty much "on the money" so I don't have to cut extra or anything like that. The only thing I do not freehand is straps, . . . got a strap cutter for that, . . . everything else is freehand, . . . assembled, . . . sanded, . . . beveled, . . . gouged, . . . and Boss stitched. May God bless, Dwight