Dwight

For a while I used the same post for both sides, . . . the flat piece that normally goes with the male end. Then it dawned on my that one day I'm gonna wind up with a bunch of shiny, pretty, caps, . . . that I cannot use, . . . so now, . . . I put em together like they would normally go, . . . you don't see em anyway, . . . and the bulk has never been a bother. I'm not sure I'd take a chance on a rivet piece for a snap, . . . can be lots of torque applied on a snap, . . . rivet post may pull through. May God bless, Dwight

Looking good SLP, . . . I'd wear this one too, . . . (but I like your Dad's better ). Anyway, . . . just one "kinda" criticism, . . . the snap up on top. I bury my snaps on the "thumb snaps" so that all you see are the male and female parts. The other sides are not shown. On both this and your Dad's, . . . the cap on the female part will be allowed to rub up against the person carrying it. In time, sweat will work on that piece of metal, . . . and eventually a shirt will be ruined if the wearer sweats very much at all. I have not been successful in finding any snaps that hold up like I would like to have them do in a sweaty environment. The finish wears off, . . . and the rusting begins on the steel ones, . . . the brass ones will turn a shirt green, . . . make it look like you're starting a little garden there or something. Either one is a stain that will make the little woman doing the washing very much unhappy with the wearer. Anyway, . . . like I said, . . . just a "kinda" criticism, . . . nothing harsh. May God bless, Dwight

I bought a couple of pieces from Tandy, . . . like maybe 12 x 24, . . . for something like 20 bucks, . . . figured I'd play with it doing some things. Looked at other holsters, . . . they used what has to be a close cousin to kydex, . . . so I tried it out on some stuff, . . . this is the first one exactly like this. I tried to pull the triangles apart, . . . nothing happening there. And the holes came right out with a punch, . . . were kinda ragged, . . . had to dress them with a sharp pointed knife. Edges dress out real quick on a belt sander. AND it is DIRTY when using a belt sander. I'd have to have a separate sander and location if I really did a big bunch of that. Have fun, . . . invent, . . . that is part of the lure to me of leather work. Thanks for the good words, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Tom, . . . open the main forum page, . . upper left hand corner (presently) two black seats, . . . one fully one third profanity. There's no room for that trash on this site. Adult section can do what it wants, . . . but on the main forum page that any new person or child might find by accident??? No, . . . I do not think so. I also believe since it was taken down once before, . . . someone is just showing their asinine behavior by re-posting it again. May God bless, Dwight

I only use them sparingly, but I do use them. In almost every case they are first riveted through the hole in the bottom of the stem to a piece of leather prepared just for that purpose. It has a slot in the upper end that the clip goes through, . . . as well as an opening for the spur on the bottom to catch on the belt. Then the leather piece is sewn onto the holster, pouch, or other leather goods, . . . and it makes a clean inside surface for whatever is in there. Most of the time when I use them, . . . there's a gun inside. This one would be an LCP. May God bless, Dwight

I think it is about time someone stood up and took a stand against the encroaching trash that is becoming daily fare on here. First we have to put up with a full page, . . . left to right, . . . assortment of various iterations of skulls that do absolutely nothing to enhance the image of leather working in general or leather working in practice. It is nothing more than death bed pornography. Then we open the site up and some trash minded individual thinks it's funny to plaster the "F" bomb word all over. It gets taken down once, . . . and it is back up again. Can we get some kind of consensus among the members on here, . . . especially those of us who have been here for a while, . . . who contribute sensibly vs. pornographically, . . . that we do not need, do not want, and are fed up with this trash? Thank you, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Just a couple of questions: How does it secure to the belt?? What are you using to hold the pieces together?? One looks like it is riveted, . . . but the other has all open holes. Just curious, . . . I have a Springfield Micro in .45 that I love, . . . just wish I could shoot it as good as I do my other 1911's. May God bless, Dwight

You get 15 points for creativity, . . . and willingness to try something "different" . . . new. Just a quick couple of things I personally consider as no-no's: First - the weapon either needs to be farther down in the holster and leather coming up around the trigger guard, . . . or, . . .something like a thumb break or suicide strap put on it to keep it in place. These old plow handle single actions have a ton of metal out there in that handle and it wiggles back and forth if not tied down somehow, That wiggling back and forth will in short order loosen up the holster and it will become more of a bag holding a gun than a holster. Second - your belt slots should be a whole lot more parallel. if you turn the holster so the leading edge slot is straight up, . . . the trailing edge is about a 40 degree angle. Pardon the word I'm using here, . . . but that is just sloppy construction. I had the same request a few years back, . . . the enclosed picture was the holster after it dried after wet forming. It got the thumb break treatment. But now the good news, . . . creativity and willingness to "go at it" is a wonderful trait, . . . you have it, . . . be glad, . . . use it. Just stop and give your project a tad more thought, . . . they'll work out better. May God bless, Dwight

Actually it is a lot of work, . . . not only the leather work, . . . but the kydex fittings also are hand made. I couldn't find any supplier, . . . so I up and bought a sheet of the stuff, . . . found out it is not THAT hard to manipulate if you take your time. The pieces where the shoulder straps slide through and all the keepers are black kydex. The owner also had not given any thought to extra ammo, . . . did a zip strip on the off side with 6 rounds. He really liked that. I'm thinking there will be one of these in my future for my little Springfield .45 Micro 3 inch barrel. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Double Daddy, . . . it's a compilation of several different designs, . . . took some of my ideas, . . . added some others to them, . . . made this for a local guy who really loves his little SP101. I'm a 1911 guy, . . . I was real happy the way it all turned out. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . Electrathon has the "professional" view, . . . and it is a good one, . . . no questions asked. Your wife has the "practical" view. I subscribe to both, . . . depending on the circumstances. On this one, . . . Electrathon gets the nod, . . . but I have put back one that had a flaw I could not eradicate one way or another, . . . my customer was happy with his purchase, . . . I got my money back, . . . all is well. About the time I got into middle school, . . . things were being sold in the "seconds" stores that popped up like warts on a frog with poison ivy, . . . and they have been in the mainstream market all over. Leather work included as far as I am concerned. My rule is "if I can fix it, . . . I fix it", . . . but if I cannot, . . . it gets discounted and most of them went to happy customers. I still have a few. May god bless, Dwight

Been a while since I did one of these, . . . was kind of a fun project when it was all said and done. For ammo, . . . pouch on the off side holds a speed strip. May God bless, Dwight

Quite honestly, . . . I did not see the error(s), . . . but then again 71 year old eyes sometimes forgive things that others don't. I am interested in the color though, . . . the upper picture looks black, . . . the bottom picture looks like a Hershey Chocolate brown on my monitor. If it is indeed the brown, . . . I'd be tempted to stamp HERSHEY on it and wear it. But then again, . . . I'm a confessed chocoholic. Don't beat yourself up on this one YinTx, . . . I like it. May God bless, Dwight

That's exactly what I do Stu, . . . put it in the bag, turn on the pump, . . . pull it down, . . . do the molding with it still on, . . . works really good for me. I pulled a holster down for a 1911, . . . when it dried, . . . shoved the gun in it, . . . for a while I seriously considered cutting the gun out. Finally worked it free. I had a press, . . . it worked, . . . but with the upsurge in plastic fantastic firearms, . . . I knew it was just a matter of time until something "gave" under the pressure. That is when I went to the bag, . . . it is my "way" so to speak. May God bless, Dwight

Let me get in here, . . . I'd like to know too............. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not always successful, . . . but when I start a gun belt, . . . the only thing (if possible) that is not from the same hide, . . . will be the loops for the bullets. I try to do everything else out of the same hide. And of course, . . . we've already discussed the reason. May God bless, Dwight

Personally I like the two layers of 4/5 or 5/6, . . . bigger guns get heavier leather, . . . smaller guns get lighter stuff. My reasoning is simple, . . . two different thicknesses came from two different animals, . . . and will almost never dye the same. I dip dye, . . . so there is a better chance it will turn out, . . . but I just don't want to take that chance. Also, . . . earlier on I tried the "one heavy / one light" idea, . . . always seemed to be running out of one or the other. This way I don't. Just my way of doing things. May God bless, Dwight

For the pump, . . . this is what I use...........http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html May God bless, Dwight

No, . . . no vacuum box, . . . got a vacuum bag, . . . and it works wonderfully. Sometimes it works too good. I'm a "one at a time" guy, . . . prefer that to production, . . . did production in the factory for 30 years, . . . done with it. Pitch the food bagger, . . . it's made for food, . . . not for leather. See the other posts above, . . . no wrinkles, . . . no problems, . . . just a really good mold every time. Takes a bit of "thinking" sometimes to get it to come out the way you want it to, . . . but all in all I prefer it over a press, . . . actually dismantled my leather press, . . . sold some of the stuff off it, . . . never use one again. May God bless, Dwight

Red, . . . the material itself is .0012 thick, . . . I contact cemented a strip about 2 inches wide all the way around the 18 by 26 bag. The seal is made by two pieces of plastic pipe, . . . one has the bag wrapped around it, . . . the outside part is slotted to slide over the bag and the inside piece, . . . makes a good seal. I use the little white cutting board behind flat backed holsters, . . . keeping them from getting folded up. This has always served me well. In fact, I made a reverse fold (sewing goes down the sight track) holster for a 1911, . . . made the mistake of shoving the gun down into the holster when it dried, . . . thought for a few minutes I would cut the thing off. It was one of the first ones I did, . . . made a believer out of me. May God bless, Dwight

Go to Joann Fabrics, . . . look at their clear vinyl, . . . that is what mine is made out of, . . I'll see if I can get some dimensions, . . . etc for you. But if you are doing kydex, . . . you DO NOT need a vac box, . . . just get it droopy hot, . . . lay it on the gun, . . . drop a cold wet wash cloth on the kydex, . . . it's molded. Trim and go.................. May God bless, Dwight

Sold, pending funds, . . . Thanks to everyone for looking. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . had this on here for 10 days, . . . nobody seems to want the books, . . . I'll drop the price to $120, . . . with free shipping, . . . If they don't sell in a few days, . . . off to Ebay they go. May God bless, Dwight

I once wanted to build my own saddle, as well as getting into the saddle business. Time, age, and circumstance has changed that idea. I have the Stohlman Encyclopedia of saddle making, volumes 1 and 2, as well as "The new book of Saddlery & Tack" (Carolyn Henderson, consulting editor), that I thought I would offer here before I took them to Ebay. I checked the retail price of all three books, and the retail price of all three books is in the $220.00 range. I'll take $165.00 for all three together, and that will include shipping. Just PM me if you are interested in the books. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

Definitely a good job, . . . May God bless, Dwight