JSage

Great idea! And impressive work! I've found brass washers at Lowes and True Value Hardware.

The ever lasting question. I am from and in Wyoming, AKA the "Cowboy State". On almost any given day you can walk into a local restaurant in any small town, even our biggest ones here, and see one or more folks with their spurs on. You will also see there is a wide variation of the of the buckles and location. There is no right or wrong. It is a personal preference of the owner and also up to the design of the maker. Some are on the outside, some are on the inside. A lot of them are more on top, to one side or the other of the instep. Its up to you, as the maker where you want to accent the strap, (Put the Bling). Do you want to showoff your carving? Buckle on the inside. Do you want to use a sparkly big buckle? Then its on the outside. How about a fancy Concho and sparkly buckle? Inside or top. What ever you, or more importantly the customer wants. Unless is for a US Calvary soldier or reenactor. As per US Army regulations - "The strap will be fastened over the instep of the footgear in such a manner that the buckles face the outside of the boot."

Thanks Dwight! I'll wear that handle with pride. "An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -Col. Jeff Cooper

No, sorry OldNSlow, I didn't take one. And I don't know what I did with that "extension". It may have found the trash. "An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -Col. Jeff Cooper

Although Dwight's Solution would probably be stronger, I too didn't want to permanently alter my blue gun. So, took a chunk of hard wood and rough shaped it ( on the belt sander) then finish trimmed it with my pocket knife to final shape so that when placed on the front of the round guard, it mimicked the Squair guard on my son's pistol. I temporarily attached it with contact cement and used black tape to secure it. Worked for me. The tape and glue came off without much effort and a little rub down with peroxide cleaned up what little residue that was left. "An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -Col. Jeff Cooper

OH MY GOSH!!! Unbelievable! What, do you sleep with those carving tools????

I'm no expert by any stretch, but I can attest that you would be surprised in the difference in the quality of good leather, (read spendy), and many of the cheaper imports. Yes, it's worth the cost. Even Tandy has varying leather quality and pricing to match. I would agree with Dwight, stay away from the shoulder for now. You can buy small sections of quality side leather in differing weights from places like Weaver. Or even cheaper, pieces of decent practice leather from supply houses like Tandy in project packs like their coster rounds. I use all three of the discussed methods of casing the leather. The bath, mist spray and damp sponge. Depending on the project or stage Im at in the project I may use all three. Usually at least the bath and damp sponge method.

Looking really nice!! Please post more photos of it when you have it finished. Oh, and ditto what Dwight said.

Wow! Just beautiful.

Absolutely Outstanding! May I ask, what die and color did you use, and did you die the ( very clean ) edges with the same die? JS

HaHaHa, I understand, but I can mess up real bad too, and I dont need a drill to do it!

Ohhh, OK I gotcha now! Makes sense. I woulda never thought of that, might have ta try it myself. I've been wondering about the ways to make a dyed item thats stitched with various colored thread, (ie, black or dark brown holster with bright red or light blue thread). Thank you sir!

OK, Make the video! Please?

dougfergy, I'm trying to follow you, but how do you form or wet mold a sheath or holster before you stitch, or even glue?