Ross

This holster was made for a Chief of Police. He will be using it for on duty and off duty use. It's lined, with the lining wet molded to the pistol. Not really my cup of tea, but the customer knows what he wants. Any feed back appreciated.

got better than half baked impressions. this holster holds *securely*. and i agree with ye on the second comment. the buttons i put in this holster do not touch the trigger, but i still wouldn't use them on a single action.

btw, i use red guns to mold the leather by hand. will the heated kydex melt the red gun?

when ye are making holsters with kydex, what do ye use to fasten the holster to the loop? i keep seeing screws. chicago screws or some other type? i've never used kydex before and i've got a couple of holsters i'll need to use it on. can i punch holes in the kydex and sew through? by hand of course. any help appreciated.

how did ye set the "nut" in the leather to screw into?

i've had good luck with polyurethane. too much looks like plastic, but just a little looks pretty good.

This holster was made for concealed carry with the holster itself inside the pants. The two straps loop around the belt and snap closed. The straps are sewn on the bottom to help the straps to lay flat and increase concealment. Wet molding helps to ensure the pistol stays in the holster till needed by holding it with friction. There are also two raised buttons just inside the trigger guard, one on each side, to keep the pistol secure. These two features are such that no retaining strap is needed, so the pistol is available with just a tug. This holster was created for the Sig P220. Does it conceal? It surely does. Wearing even a simple vest, the pistol shows no bulge on the outside yet is easily accessible. Sitting down however does show a slight bulge. This should present no problem as chair backs and sides would prevent the bulge from being visible. With the holster in my hand I can turn it upside down and shake real hard. The pistol does eventually come out, but it takes a lot of shaking. It won't fall out when worn though. Comments welcome.

I saw the vest tutorial beaverslayer did, and I liked it. I've never made clothing other than hats and never with chrome tanned leather. I've never made lace with chrome tanned leather either. Anyway, it occurred to me that I had a winter jacket with patches on it for my business but I really had nothing for the summer and a vest would be pretty much what the doctor ordered. The way beaverslayer had his tutorial arranged meant making a yoke with tooling leather but I didn't feel like that would be enough room for what I wanted to do. And I had no pattern. So I cut up an old t shirt that fit pretty good, cut it in half and adjusted the curves and angles using my calibrated eye. In other words, I winged it. Remember, I've not worked with chrome tanned leather other than one purse I made my wife. Boy is this different from veg tanned leather!!!! Making the vest took me 40 1/2 hours start to finish. The patch took about 2 hours to make and another couple of hours to sew on. This leather is slick folks and there was a learning curve for me. I was afraid that the patch would pull down on the chrome leather so I lined the vest with the same leather as the outside was made from. I didn't want to glue the patch on, so I marked center line in chalk and repositioned after every stitch. As ye can see, I got a bit of puckering. Not much and I'm not sure I could have prevented it. I haven't yet made the patches for the front. Those who've done this kind of work before are more than welcome to pitch in with comments and suggestions. A couple of side notes: *My wife was very glad when I finished this vest. She claims I got a bit testy. *I used acrylic paints for the bright colors on the patch so it would not fade. Of course that means chipping is possible down the road, so I sprayed polyurethane for the finish. I figured it was tough and would help hold the acrylic paint on. Time will tell, but it made the veg tanned leather a bit brittle. I don't think I'll do that again. *No way I could make and sell these with the amount of time it took to make this one. I'm assuming that with practice I would get faster. I hope. Again, any suggestions are appreciated.

I was making a game table. It needed to be antique. I marked, cut, dyed and carefully splattered dye across the board. It was time to seal the surface and go on to the antiquing. I grabbed my spray lac and depressed. Horror! It was not spray lac. It was a honey oak dye I'd used for some trim in our kitchen. Wait a minute.... That looks pretty darned good! So I sprayed the entire surface with the honey oak dye. I'm very pleased with it and more important the new owner is too. Needless to say, I will be checking a bit more carefully when grabbing a can of spray in the future.

the postman... haven't seen that movie in years. about do for another viewing i think. good movie.

yeah i did. wrapped a piece of leather around my head for basic fit and went from there. there were many hours in the lacing, but other than that it went quickly.

having no pressing projects at the moment, i decided to make myself a kepi. i've wanted one since i was a boy. (don't ask. let's just say more than a few decades ago.) anyway, this is my version of the kepi. i looked at historical construction and modified it to suit me. i've not decided yet if i want to add a chin strap like the originals had. this is a great hunting cap too. unlike modern baseball caps, the brim does not obstruct peripheral vision but still provides shade and rain protection. all in all, i'm pretty satisfied with it. sorry about the quality of the photo. it's from my cell phone.

i made my wife a purse for christmas. it's the first time i've tried a purse of this type. in the past they've all been tooled.

makes me want to grab a sword and begin mightily yelling something or other. very nice job.

one thing i've done in the past when there were many letters and very small is to compose it exactly the way i wanted it on the computer in the font i wanted, transfered it to the leather and then used the knife to cut only one line for each letter. after finishing the leather i went back with water proof ink and filled in the knife cut. if my pen slipped it erased easily since i had finished the project before filling in the letters. then one more finish to lock the ink in. i'm not explaining this very well, so here's a picture demonstrating that i did several years ago on the flap of a book cover for a lady. the picture is not too good i realize. i've gotten better at pictures since then i hope.

i never carry inventory. my business is web site based since i'm now working from my home and there is no room for storage of inventory. besides, i do my best work when i'm making it for a particular person. just making something to make something winds up with something that shouldn't have been made. for me anyway.

i had a piece like your tool roll fastened to my tooling bench. i only put the tools i was using in it, kept the bench surface clear. then i moved back to oklahoma and didn't have room for everything, including the bench. i'm getting my shop put together here and will do that again as soon as i get the chance. till them i'm stuck with the plastic tool holders from tandy for holding what i'm actually using. for storage i use the wooden blocks with a slot for each tool so as to not damage one by banging against another.

a page just of leatherworkers making items for sale would seem pretty good to me. each leatherworker post some example pictures with a blurb about the work they do and a link to their page. i personally would prefer people to go to my web site rather than having them buy from this site. by coming directly to my site i can present my work in the light i think best. i understand that some people don't have sites, but there are places that will host for free and really no reason not to have one. just my 2 cents...

that is some awesome tooling.

just curious, did you "groove" and wet form inside underneath the liner by the spine? it helps keep wrinkles from forming. your tooling looks great. i wouldn't worry too much about the weight. as you use it you will find it loosening up very nicely.

i vote for gussets. it puts less strain on the stitching when loaded imo.

i for one like it a lot! how much of it is hand work and how much done on a machine? inquiring minds and all that...

i'd say a minimum of $250, if you work for a little of nothing per hour. i know how much time i would have put in on it, and the hand sewing takes a while. i average 12-18 inches an hour. i figure $15 per hour, and that's cheap imo. look around, the prices for good gun rigs are not cheap. $150 is waaay to cheap i think. just emphasize the quality of your hand work compared to machine sewn.

if you watch without questions and pay attention you will learn a lot. and it will stick in your memory, unlike just having a question answered. i hate questions while i'm working. it distracts me and leads to mistakes.

there are lots of different types of sporran's. what kind are you wanting to make?