LawrenceR

I built this thing for myself awhile back - used a traditional hammer thong of latigo saddle spring for period correctness. It allows carry in Condition 1 or 3. Secure enough but not real fast. Another way to go might be a safety strap with a Sam Browne type button stud. I'm just not a fan of snaps on western type rigs. bottom line, make it to your customer's spec.s and don't sell anything you'd hesitate to put your maker's mark on.

Here are a few gun rigs I made over the winter. Note the Original Dirty Harry is based on the Bucheimer model used in the movies, with the spring/clamp on the inside of the holster body. I patterned it by scaling numerous photos in Photoshop. I finally got a few of the 'real' holsters off of Ebay after starting this prototype, and was surprised at how accurate the pattern was. .

Years back, I was told by a Tandy dealer to use nail polish remover (acetone?) - he said it's basically the same thing as the Feibing's deglazer. I've had good results with this, as well as with hardware store acetone and rubbing alcohol.

I've worked in law enforcement, wildlife management and air traffic control. Took ten years off from that and had a home based business making custom gear for action figure collectors - lots of leather items, etc. Currently I am full time correction officer and part time armed guard for an armored truck co. i don't like to think I work for anybody...I just show up and do stuff for them and in turn, they give me free money. It's a good arrangement.

Hi TInkerTailor...well I am a BC import so it all seems pretty flattish, even up here west of P.A. in the treeline, but nice mild winter so cant complain too much.

Hi Folks: I've been snooping around here for awhile now, so thought I should finally join up and get aquainted. I've been doing leatherwork since I was a kid, and enjoy all forms of the craft including holster making and restoration, saddlery, and had a side business years back making scale miniature saddles and horse tack. My idea of a perfect day is riding a saddle I worked on, carrying my rifle in the scabbard I built, and scooping pipe tobacco out of the pouch I made. Oh, and not knowing where I'm going 'till I get there. I'm looking forward to all the learning and helping that seems to go on here. Here's a picture of one of my latest projects. I hope I've attached it correctly.

I have used the narrow steel strapping from bundles of 2X4s with good results. It's easy enough to cut with tin snips then file into shape and is easy to drill for snap and rivet holes. Lumber yards are always glad to get rid of these. Unless you're intent on using metal for the thumb break, I actually prefer the method used on old Buchiemer holsters. I have a few of these and they use a one and a half inch strip of leather riveted into place (to the back side of the thumb break) on both it's ends with the snap located centrally. I have been using one of these for about thirty years with no complaints.

For a few years I fought an on-going battle with a box full of belts, holsters and the like as well as a few saddles, all with various stages of mildew and mold from storage in humid areas. Through lots of trial and error as well as taking some advice from some old timers, I found that a mixture of Borax and vinigar has yielded great results. First off, I carefully brushed off as much visible mold from the surfaces as possible. Then using a horse spray bottle with the Borax/vinigar solution, I sprayed it liberally onto the pieces, virtually soaking them on the finished side, flesh side, and edges, then allowed them to dry while exposed to indirect sunlight. The sunlight will kill most forms of the mold, and apparently the Borax crystalizes and adheres to the fungus, thereby neutralizing it. (learned this with a google search). Once dried, I reconditioned the pieces and the saddles with pure olive oil. This was also advised by the old timers. As the olive oil is not protien based as are many other leather oils, it will not promote molding, nor will it attract hungry leather-chewing critters such as squirrels and the like to your tack room. So far, I've had about 95% success with some mold returning to a few pieces, which I will give the full treatment again in the spring. To put that 95% into perspective, I saved a collection of over forty holsters that otherwise would have...I don't even want to think about 'otherwise'. Good luck and let me know how this works for you.