KcKenny

Boy, that's a great looking shoulder holster. I might have to attempt a design like that for carrying my New Vaquero while were out in the woods. Kenny

Interesting order for LaCygne. Must have come from Lawrence!

Thanks Tina. I hope someone posts a pic.

Got mine today, looks great! Can't wait to give it a whirl.

this might be a silly question, but do you have to mold both sides of the gun? It seems a lot of the holsters I'm seeing on here are a front molded panel stitched to a back flat panel (or just slightly molded). I've seen guys do metal casting using fine wet sand. You would take a wooden box filled with the moist sand, put your gun into it (probably wrapped in something very thin unless you have a Glock which can live through anything), smash the sand in tight around it, then extract it. Then you poor your metal into the cast. You would get a good impression, with a flat back side. The materials and setup for this might be cheaper than doing resin casting. I have no idea if it would work or be applicable, but I'm just spit balling. Maybe there are some casters/smiths in here who have some experience. Either way, sometimes it's much more expensive to get into something like this vs. buying the blur gun unless you're doing a bunch of them.

I won't be much help because I don't know a thing about horse gear, but it looks very nice. The stitching looks good. And your horse is pretty, if that helps at all.

Did I understand you right that you tooled the leather AFTER the saddle was constructed for you? So did you do your own dying and finishing too? That's pretty amazing if this is the case, I would think it would be hard to tool something post-construction.

I'm working out making one of these tool holders as well. A buddy of mine warned about the chemicals in the wood taking the finish off my tools over time. Anyone have any experience with this? He suggested sealing the wood with something after I drilled all of the holes. Dustin, you might look at Woodweld for attaching your leather to the stropping board. It's cheap at Lowes or Home Depot, and states on the label it works on leather.

That's exactly what I did, forgot about the leather thickness and the excess used up in bends. I did the box as one piece to minimize the amount of stitching/lacing, and just to see if i could do it. If I do another one, I think I'll do it with the side flaps as separates and stitch them in with a box stitch. I never even thought about the fact that I was wasting. Shame on me. As for the feet, I considered putting some studs on, but I'm really ok with this thing getting some good wear and tear for character. Thanks for the input. I'm thinking about doing one of these for my brother as a present and I should have some of the kinks worked out now.

Have a look at Leatheroo's posts, she's a fantastic mask maker

From one newbie to another, welcome! I see you're in Ft. Collins. Beautiful country up there, had a girlfriend move there a while back and I'd go visit a few times a year. It should provide you with plenty of inspiration for your work. ~Kenny

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I'm hoping to get some more time with leather now, I'm looking forward to improving and trying some new stuff I've picked up on the forums.

That's incredible how much attention he pays to the smallest details. On his stuff, each seam meets so perfectly. Goes to show that you can spend time on the smallest details, and they add up to a stunning final piece. Please tell him thank you for answering my lacing question. And thanks for posting here for him, we all appreciate that you help to get his stuff out here for us to see and learn from. ~Kenny

Stohlman does one of these in his case making books. He recommends skiving the front and back panels just beyond the stitch line of the spine piece. Then the liner lies smoothly on the inside and the scalloped edge still stands out on the front and back. Bob also does a beautiful version of this with finely burnished edges on the scallop. Love the look of it. ~Kenny