DoubleAdobe

Ohh, that is really really nice. Great work there.

Very, very nice work. Nothing at all wrong with those. Great job, amigo. Where did you get the shark?

I went through this recently, was (still mid-project) making a double holster gun rig for a SAA clone. I couldn't find any blue guns, asp red guns or anything else to buy as a training gun type replica. Finally found a loaner locally, but I really wanted one of my own, I too am interested if others have found one. What all my buddies have is Blackhawks and old Vaqueros, which are just not gonna work.

Holy Mackerel, great job, simply just a great job, very creative.

Jarret That is a really fine job, especially like the mixed belt. Classic style. You're comment about being an Ag major and making ends meet reminded me of myself many years ago. Filigree, buckstitched belts were in high fashion at the time,(mid-70's), and I was a struggling Ag major, never finished school, LOL, but I did continue my mostly self taught education in leather work. In an aside, I have always struggled with how much to charge for my work. It's an ongoing thing with me. Again, super good job.

Interesting subject. I have been in and around the cow business most of my life and have a few observations. I worked as a Livestock Officer, otherwise known as a brand inspector for many years here in Arizona. It was state law and still is for range livestock to be branded with a fire brand. Occasionally, there was some push back from the slaughter industry trying to convince the ranchers that they would receive more money for their cattle if they wouldn't mar the cattle with brands. Trust me when I tell you that the price received on the hoof is not appreciably more for cattle that are not branded. In theory it should work, but in the West, every one has to brand, with the exception of calves still on their mothers, unweaned, and certain exemptions for dairy cattle that aren't turned out to graze. Anyway, this "you guys are killing my profit margin" deal that was coming from the slaughter industry was a pain in the neck to us.. From my knowledge of the cattle industry, the amount that the average hide brings, of a slaughter steer, mature cow, or even bull is a pretty negliglble amount when penciled out. I can't recall the exact amounts, but in the early 90's, there was a place in Phoenix, not a half mile south of the capitlol building, that processed hides from all over the state, and if IIRC California as well. SouthWest Hide or something, may well be in business but I doubt it.Dirty, noisy, filthy and hot. I went and watched some of there process there for a while one morning. They evidently didn't do the tanning there but prepared the hides for the tanning process and bought hides from all over, ran them through some kind of process then put them on pallets and sent them somewhere.

That's a real good looking ankle rig.

Wow, pretty, pretty, work. Outstanding.

This is a lttle bit of an old thread but I was also taught to stay away from olive oil on something that would reside in your saddle room because of rats and mice. I have used it with decent success on items that were more human used in nature, such as holsters, knife sheaths, notebooks, briefcases and etc. Old lessons die hard and the old fellas taught me or it seems that I remember maybe disproportionately maybe, to not use food based oils on tack items. As I think about it now, it is probably just so much hooey, does a hungry mouse really care if it is neatsfoot compound, neatsfoot oil, or olive oil slathered on the saddle skirt he's looking at? Like a previous poster said, it may well be the salt from the sweat. Things you hear from guys you admire coming up in this leather fascination thing tend to stick in your mind. One thing I have been using for many years, and don't see much about on this or other boards, is jojoba oil. A guy who used to braid a lot of rawhide got me a quart of it maybe 15 years ago, he was working at the time on a starve-out ranch in the Gila Bend, AZ area. That is where these things grow wild, and some people have also taken to semi-farming them also for the oil. The neat thing about jojoba oil is it doesn't ever get rancid, a lttle goes a long ways, but it is quite expensive. I wouldn't bother putting it on new items necessarily, but for rejuvenating old saddle leather, it is the best thing I have found. I bought another quart about three years ago and still have about half of that. It can be mixed with neatsfoot oil too to stretch it if need be. I use very light coats and sometimes use a hair dryer on low to speed up the soak-in. Like I say, just sitting in the shop, the three year old shop still smells fresh, you could fry an egg in it and be happy about eating it. Of course, the vermin probably like it too. LOL

That is a very good looking holster. Very, very, nice.

That is a really good idea. Just switch 'em out. Great innovation!

Thanks BarryS, unfortunately that is bonded also, I guess that is all that is being made now. Thanks again. The old leather buck stitch lace used ot be everywhere, hard to believe it's gone.

Nope, just the 3/16 Florentine lace. They have it in white, but it's not the old buckstich lace . Maybe gone forever. Thanks for answering though.

I know western buckstitch is hopelessly out of fashion, way too old school to be cool, but I am out of it for the first time, I guess since the 70's and much to my amazement, nobody seems to carry it anymore. I see some 3/16 inch Florentine lace, and they say they have it in white. I have used this stuff in brown and black and it is a way different tannage than the old 5/32 buck stitch. I stil have requests for belts and wallets and occasionally to relace a saddle or something and can't hardly believe something as prevalent as this once was is gone. I guess my age is showing again, you guys know where to buy some or is it really extinct? Oh, I just can't make myself use the plastic coated-bonded stuff, either, sorry for the griping.

I have tried to use a headknife on many occasions also, mainly just use it for longer straight cuts. An old saddlemaker that showed me a lot of different stuff used the sheepsfoot blade on an ordinary stockman pattern pocket knife. Carbon steel works better for me, get it sharp, and strop it often. It's about all I use from saddles to holsters and in between. Straight stuff, like belts I do use the headknife in a kind of rolling motion. Probably not conventional, but I've been doing it a long time and it's comfortable.

That is a fine looking rig there. Bill. And I know how much work went in to it as well. You did good, that deputy will get you some more business no doubt.