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

Jim, . . . Resolene is an acrylic finish, . . . and it order to work properly, . . . demands a surface to which to attach (think white house paint). If the surface is not the item itself, . . . then it has to be something that will not "let go" of the item itself. Wax is not one of those surfaces. When the wax lets go of the belt, . . . the Resolene will come off with it. Additionally, . . . Resolene DOES alter the final color, . . . generally darkening it. Some people swear that the new water based dyes will not bleed, . . . I cannot say that, . . . just passing on what I have been told. I do know if you use Tandy's professional oil dyes, . . . and IF YOU BUFF it like there is no tomorrow, . . . you can get it to a place where dye will not come out of the item. Keep buffing with a terrycloth wash cloth, . . . until swiping it with a clean, white, paper towel, . . . gives you clean, white, paper towel. May God bless, Dwight

Look at this little drawing: the green and grey is called the male mold, the orange and blue is the female. It will make an item like a little dish with an edge. The male is made to the exact dimension you want of the depth of the dish, . . . and the diameter of the opening in the dish. The female is made to those same dimensions, . . . except the hole has to be increased in diameter by twice the thickness of the leather. If this were a 6 inch dish we are making, . . . 1/2 inch deep, . . . making it out of 8 oz leather, . . . the male mold would be 6 inches in diameter, . . . and 1/2 inch tall. The female circle/hole would be also 1/2 inch deep, . . . but would be 6 and 1/4 inches in diameter. Get the leather real good soppy wet, . . . lay it over the male mold, . . . force the female mold down around the leather covering the male, . . . clamp all four corners, . . . leave it for a couple of hours, . . . remove the clamps, . . . gently slip off the leather, . . . place it near a fan or in a drying oven, . . . when it is dry, . . . trim the outside edges to the size you wanted. Remember when you make a mold, . . . any imperfections in the mold will be transmitted to the leather, . . . so sand it good. I don't put any finish on my molds, . . . wanting the wood to leach out the water from the leather, . . . and that works really well. Have fun, may God bless, Dwight

They actually are very simple to make in most cases. My first one was for a .45 magazine carrier, . . . had it working in about 1/2 hour. PM me if you want, . . . with some "ideas" as to what you want to mold, . . . dimensions / description / etc. I'll give you an idea on a price for a mold if you don't want to make it yourself. May God bless, Dwight

Hands are for hamburgers, . . . machines are for sewing. I would probably drop down to key fobs and ankle bracelets if I had to go back to hand sewing. I traded off a stainless 1911 to get my Boss, . . . and, yeah, . . . there have been times when I questioned the move, . . . but my son can put it in the yard sale when I'm gone, . . . for now, I'm using it. May God bless, Dwight

My lined pancakes are 2 pieces, . . . flesh to flesh, . . . bonded and used as one piece of leather, . . . works fine, . . . no wrinkles, . . . no problems. My Western holsters are the same: 2 pieces, . . . bonded flesh to flesh, . . . then cut, folded, edged, gouged, sewn, laced, or whatever. Occasionally, I have seen small wrinkles in the underside of the bend where it forms the belt loop. Occasionally, I have seen small wrinkles down the inside of the holster in what would be the sight channel. Most of the time, . . . that is taken care of by first lightly skiving the INSIDE piece of leather, . . . about 1 inch or 1 1/4 inch wide. Then bond, . . . and use. Additionally, . . . when I do the bending in those areas, . . . I roll it over a round rod, . . . forming the bend as a roll instead of a flat out "bend" in the leather. And of course, . . . I've never had anyone ask one of my customers out on the trial, . . . "Would you mind letting me see if your Dwight's Gunleather holster has any wrinkles under the belt?" For an Avenger style holster, . . . I would follow the same above ideas, . . . FWIW, . . . my best results have come from using the same leather, . . . cut from the same hide, . . . as much as possible when I make this type of holster. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not sure I understood exactly what you wanted, . . . here is another recent conversation about cutting surfaces: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=56005&hl=coupon#entry359269 May God bless, Dwight

First guess: virgin beeswax and neatsfoot oil. I make mine using a 50/50 mix by weight, . . . blended together in a glass jar heated in hot water, . . . poured into muffin papers, . . . made into little cakes. Mine looks very similar to his, . . . hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

If you are not Doctor Joe, . . . you do not need patience, . . . or patients, . . . You just need to keep plodding on, . . . cut a little here, . . . carve a little there, . . . dye some of this, . . . Resolene on that, . . . The Good Book tells us that "tribulation worketh patience", . . . and if we look at the OP's ideas, . . . he must have a bunch of patience May God bless, Dwight

Actually, in today's leather goods market, . . . the propriety I place on the stitching, . . . is the look one wants to achieve. In years past, . . . not having some of the strong materials we have today, . . . size and strength sort of went hand in hand. Today, . . . some very small threads are as strong as yesteryear's large threads. I generally use 346 thread on all my holsters and belts, . . . even on one particular billfold application, . . . because of the "look" it gives. I tried 207 and 277 but was unhappy with the visual results, . . . although I am sure the physical strength was quite adequate. I even use some 415 occasionally, . . . as it is a bold look that adds to the "macho" flavor of some of the things I do. But again, . . . I really believe in today's market, . . . one could use most any size (relatively speaking) and if the pieces were properly bonded beforehand, . . . there should be no real fear in using whichever size looks the best. May God bless, Dwight