leatherjunkie

yes swivel knife body is not most important part of the knife. the blade is the most important. The body will aid in comfort in your hand to use. Top of line blade for retaining sharpness is leather wranglers swivel knife. You will pay about 200 bucks for one of his knives. But you wont need to sharpen it out of box. just need to strop it. Barry King also has decent blades. His swivel knife body is also comfortable to hold and use. I use my Ed Labarre bear maul swivel knife the most. It just fits my hand and easy to use. Chuck Smith old smoothy swivel knife and Henley swivel knives are good too. The key is find one that fits you and blade retains sharpness. Don't worry about brand name so much. Jim Linnell said you can sharpen a straight screwdriver to do swivel knife work.

when i apply black dye i usually dip dye the piece. then i use a blue paper towel(blue paper towel seams to leave no lint and holds up better) and buff the excess black dye off while still damp from the dip dye. i do this to buff out and spread the dye to an area that might of not taken dye right away. only do this for a few mins. then just let dry for a day or two, then just add some bee natural saddle oil. then apply finish and no rub off of black

Pounder, if at all possible do not wait to get Chuck's video. Its one of the best produced videos and most informative one i have seen on holster making. i still watch it to refresh and spark my mind into action.

After taking Paul Zalesak's class on sharpening, I am able to sharpen my swivel knife now without fear of ruining the blade.

geez, KT.... i thought you finally gone and done a plain jane rig..... theres nothing plain about this rig,... beautiful as always...

looks good. you can use a piece of antler to burnish the edges also. not sure about this but it was suggested to me not to use suede as a lining for holsters as it can trap dirt and debris thus scratching the handgun as you use the holster. i havent used suede to line anything yet as i always just use veg tan leather cause i usually dip dye my stuff.

everyone gave you some great information. but wondering why no one mentioned evoo(extra virgin olive oil) as a finish oil? also there are natural dyes you can make for dying your projects. for example you can use used coffee grounds, walnut hulls and rusty water for old time dyes. the vinger black dye may not work for you due to the smell of vinger. i also have great results using leather balm with atom wax as a finish. you can get it from tandy. Wyosheen is the new name of Neat Lac since tandy does not carry it any more. it has a very harsh smell but it works real good as a finish. the following link is to cas city that has a lot of information on making old time dyes in your house: http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,11991.0.html

atom wax is a finish not a hardener. when you go to wet form the holster do it without any finish on it. this way the water will leave the leather uniformley. as the leather dries from wet forming it will naturally harden to some degree. if you want it to be rock hard then there is more to do. i dont get my holsters to be rock hard because i dont think they need to be that hard.

was a great show for me. had to leave for home today due to work sat morning. Chan as always a great teacher for the classes i was able to attend. sheridan pattern layout and lacing.

Aaron already here waiting on you

I am the other way. I have the book but could not figure out how to lace looking at the pictures. the video worked for me. One thing that does help when doing 2 tone lace is to use lace that is have one lace shorter than the other about 8 to 10 inches. this way when you need to splice in more lace you are not having to splice in both at same time and cause a big bump in the project.

i have the barry king beader blade in my al stolhman swivel knife(tandy leather brand). works great and stays sharp as long as you strop it first.

go to tandy leather website and pay the 10 bucks to view all videos. they have a video on how to 2 tone lace double loop. the only hard part is remembering how to finish it. its real easy once you see it done.

yep and it has strange writting on it toooo. nice job on the sleeve...

aw beat me to it. was just gonna say belt sander..... use a can or something that is a circle to the size you want lay on leather or paper for tracing then cut then use belt sander to finalize shape