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

Well, here it is, my first post. I just started dabbling in leather again after more than a year off. I've only made a few things total, so I'm still rough. I got a .22 Henry Golden Boy for my birthday and thought it would be nice to have something western styled to carry my bulk ammo to the range in. I bought a book on braiding and did a round braid with a single piece of lace for each of the front corners and another for the back and flap, it was a lot of fun. Please give all of the critique you can, I'm here to learn. Notice how I used the same radius object (a vase) to do the outlines for my border tool on the front flap. After seeing how that creates a whider gap in the center than at the edges I thought, Duh! I should have known better. Maybe I need a wing divider. Also, any advice on how you space your lacing holes from the edge without running a line on the leather? It's not extremely obvious, but I notice it. Next time I would also v gouge the back flap a little higher on the back pannel, as the top sits funny against the back of the side flaps. I could also have rounded the back corner of the side flap to ease the top over it. Side note: the box pattern I designed and layed out on paper myself. Then last week I got Stohlman's case making books for my next project and WHAM, it looks like I copied it right out of the book. Flattered me a little though, apparently we came to the same idea.

I really like your bass project, great job. If you want a critique, I'd say cutting a ring of leather and box stitching it to the top of the coozie would be a simple addition that would hide the blue coozie a bit, maybe giving it a more finished look. Really nice work though.

Not sure how you'd make one, I'm not that handy. But you could purchase one and make your own seat. http://www.rei.com/product/765283

That's incredible. I spent some time on his site the other day and was just blown away. Do you know if the lacing is dyed before it's laced, or prushed or something after it's on. His lacing always looks so incorporated, as if it's just the edge of the belt. I assume hr burnished the lacing once it's on the belt?

I know I'm a bit late on this thread, but that copper/black sure would look great on a western style holster and belt.

I was just goig to say what King did. I'm pretty sure you're pulling a fast one and putting a roller skate wheel on a pretty handle. Hope that thing has tough bearings. Love the custom look though, I just bought one of those cheap 20 oz Urethane mallets for woodworking today. Beats the yellow plastic Tandy one I was learning on.

Looks great, kind of a red Darth Vader look. I was very inspired by all of your maskmaking and bought a face casting kit a few months back. I read the instructions and pictured all of the ways my wife could accidentally kill me while doing it, so it's still in the closet

That looks great, a really "finished" product!

Well, I took some advice this weekend. I drilled out my Osbourne haft and reinserted my blade with a little epoxy. I noticed the blade was marred and almost blackish in some areas, YUCK! I bought a buffing wheel and some polishing compound for my bench grinder. The epoxy should be at full strength tonight, at which point I'll take to cleaning up that blade.

I like it. Very classy, great braiding. I'm always impressed by the guys (and gals) who do these seats and post on this site.