Treed

Great looking holster

Fantastic and what a great customer

Great job really like the layout

love them, great attention to detail

Local feed stores are a great place to pick up free sheets of heavy cardboard from. They get them from orders of sacked items that come in on pallets, the cardboard is used to cover the wood so that the sacks don't get ripped. Large sheets, heavy, last for ever and free. Bobby

Great job, If I could offer a comment try beveling around your letters to give more depth. Try it they will stand out more

I was having much of the same problem as you. I found that the tools were not the best that you can get, but the biggest problem was me. I bought some more expensive tools with much the same outcome. I then did more research and found that I was not using the tools right and that there were other ways of getting the same outcome that were more productive. There are some great video tutorials on Tandy's site (the cost lest than 10.00 for a full month of viewing) that were great and worth every penny, some great videos on u-tube and for sale videos by some of the greatest artists in leather. The biggest thing I learned was that Old Dogs can learn new tricks.

My eyes are seeing a right hand rig in the first picture and left in the next two.

I like the black as I think it shows off my holsters better at shows. I don't like taking real guns to shows as they are heavy to transport in numbers and a large chance of theft. I bought most of the guns in blue before I found that they made them in black. I just ran the blue ones through a tub of black pro leather dye and dyed them black, and it worked great. If some of it wears off with molding holsters then I just redye them. Using black guns has improved my sales of holsters.

I like to use a patch of sheep skin with the wool trimmed down. Gives me more control when applying, as I can control the amount of oil on the wool better.

I have made a few. I have been trying to get in touch with some of the competitors as I have found with SASS what the rule books say and what they want are two different things. There seem to be a couple styles from the Hollywood style to belts and drop holsters. From what I can ascertain the belts and drop holsters are more prevalent.

Everything is going great. Hamleys of Pendleton OR. is reintroducing gun belts and holsters to it's leather line and I will be making them. My son went to his first college rodeo last weekend and won the bareback riding. I have a couple big shows coming up so I had better get into the shop

Fantastic, love the old designs and you do a great job with them.

Great looking holsters, I have made the M7 military type chest holsters. The chest holster is the only way to fly for long periods of wearing large frame hand gun outdoors. Great job

Great combination, love it

very nice, very useable holster. Keep up the good work

I have produced many items of tack and leather for years covering the US Cavalry from the Civil War through World War II. This has taken many years of study and gathering of information such as regulations, ordinance reports, thousands of pictures and viewing originals. I am no expert but have found this is a very confusing subject because of the influence of Hollywood. To add to the confusion is that not may pictures were taken or survived from this time period. Below is the information from the Ordnance reports that I have from 1872 and then from 1898. The 1872 talks about boots above the swell of the calf of the leg and of shoes being issued. I have studied many pictures of the era and issue items must have been difficult to get. Many of the troops filled in with a wide variety of civilian items both uniform and horse tack. A wide variety of foot ware was used; boots with trousers over, shoes with and with out leggins, Jumping to the 1898 Spanish American war many pictures show most enlisted men wearing the shoes with brown canvas duck tops and leggins. The pictures look like high-top boots but are not. I have been confused about the 1880's in many aspects of what was used and what to make for leather goods. REGULATIONS FOR THE UNIFORM AND DRESS OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES JULY, 1872 BOOTS AND SHOES. For all Officers: Shall be of black leather and come above the ankle. For Enlisted Men of Cavalry and Light Artillery: Boots, to come above the swell of the calf of the leg; shoes, Jefferson rights and lefts, according to pattern. For Enlisted Men of Artillery, Infantry, Engineers, and Ordnance, and all other Enlisted Men: Jefferson rights and lefts, according to pattern. Top-boots may be worn by mounted men. UNIFORM AND DRESS OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES Compiled in the Office of the Quartermaster General, U.S.A. Second Edition, June 20, 1898 TOP BOOTS 22. ALL MOUNTED OFFICERS - According to pattern in the office of the Quartermaster General, to be worn on all mounted duty; provided, however, that all mounted officers, except those of cavalry and mounted artillery, may, on all occasions, when not otherwise directed by the post commander or other superior authority, exercise their discretion as to the duty on which the boots are to be worn. BOOTS AND SHOES 37. The Quartermaster's Department manufactures the boots and shoes for the Army of the best materials and patterns possible. No particular pattern is adopted as uniform. BARRACK SHOES 38. For all enlisted men, according to pattern in the office of the Quartermaster General. Uppers to be of brown cotton duck. LEGGINGS 40. ALL TROOPS - Of brown cotton duck, according to patterns in the office of the Quartermaster General, to be worn on marches and campaigns, will be charged to the enlisted men, but do not form part of the annual money allowance for clothing. (1187, A. R.) I have a couple more books and places to look, but don't have them at hand right know. Sorry this doesn't help with a pattern or a picture of what they actually wore. Bobby R

On these it is a leg tie down. On a lot of holsters I do tie the holster to the skirt, more for decoration than anything else, it adds a little contrast and polish to the holster. Thanks for the great comments Bobby R

Thanks for the great comments, and the encouragement. Each time I do one I try to keep taking steps forward and pushing myself. Sometimes its fun to see the finished product Thanks Bobby R

Both Hollywood type rigs made of Herman Oak 9/10 oz. The finishes were of neatsfoot oil and tan kote. The darker rig just received more neatsfoot oil.

First is a more traditional money belt and holster. Belt is Herman oak 4/5 oz with 9/10 oz holster. The second rig is a double Hollywood rig of Herman Oak. This is the first time I have tried to do a full rig Sheridan design my self and what a challenge it was. This is the first rig from that design. Any changes or adjustments would be very welcome.

I don't know which model McClellan you are working on. The 1861 manual gives 1.375 width, cut to 56" with an overall finish length of 53". The 1912 ordnance manual gives the leathers as being made of light harness leather of 1 3/8" wide with an overall finished length of 56.5". Holes are punched with a #12 oblong punch at 11 1/4" apart. Bobby

Most depends on the customer and what they are actually doing with the hostler. Most SASS shooters I build metal lined holster for are wanting the metal to more position the butt of the gun for the draw. This type are usually only metal starting as the bottom of the cylinder up through the flap. This controls the placement of the gun handle to the shooters draw. Other customers only want the mouth of the holster and the cylinder area opened up so that it is easier to re-holster. If they are into fast draw then they want just about the whole holster lined with metal. The back to position the gun butt, the cylinder area so that they can cock the gun as they draw (room for the cylinder to spin in the holster as it is being drawn) and metal deflector shield at the bottom in case of misfire as the are drawing ( fast draw uses wax bullets). Bobby

The biggest problem isn't if the style that you have works......... but is it the style that the winners are swearing by. I find this a lot with the cowboy action shooters that they want what the guy that is winning with has. I have watched many a competition and boy if only a person could draw a little faster it would cure all the other problems and make them a winner........but only if they can buy it for less than what the leather costs. Bobby

I go over to the local feed store and pick up the pallet covers. They are cardboard and the size of the pallet to protect the bags of feed from getting ripped open. The best thing over the great size is free Bobby R