doubleh

Nice work on the knives, Mr. Johnson. I have never warmed up to using a round knife for some reason. Color me weird I suppose as it seems to be a favorite of many.

Nice work on both items.

I use ordinary Johnson's paste wax . It is no longer available but Min-Wax has about the same thing. One little tub will last for many years as long as you keep it sealed when not in use. If I use the knife regularly I use nothing, the benefit of residing in a low humidity area.

Looks uncomfortable to me.

From long personal experience paste wax is superior to oil for rust protection. Oil works but doesn't last as long as wax does. Wax also neutralizes fingerprints which oil doesn't.

Glad to hear it's Ok. A knife or other tempered tool can be saved by grinding away past the color. If using power tools you do have to be careful and not get in a hurry or you will just make it worse. Go slow and cool a lot. I do it bare handed to feel how hot the metal is getting. Something most people today forget about is this can be done with hand tools. A sharp file will cut most knife steel and there is no danger of overheating. file to shape, then sharpen, and you are good to go.

If the metal doesn't have a yellow to blue tint you are probably OK. If it does the temper is compromised from a little to completely gone if it is blue. .

I am a real dummy with computers but put my pictures on imgur and then post them with no problem on any forum including this one. Just choose the photo, chose the size of thumbnail, click copy and it's ready to go. Anything more difficult and I couldn't post pictures. Imgur is free.

Very nice.

Volume made does not translate into custom made. Personally I would return them and look for a true custom bootmaker. I don't know what custom bootmakers do today but the one I worked with many years ago measured your foot right there in his shop and fitted a last to each foot. They fit first time and he had customers come quite a distance to get a pair of boots made by him. Now it seems most things are made just to get them out the door as quickly as possible and to heck with the customer.

Sometimes using it as a learning experience and making another that will fit is the least frustrating solution. I recently made my first border stamped slim jim holster. The border stamping turned out good but the slim part was too sim. When I wet it to form fit it the gun wouldn't go all the way in. I finally got it soaking wet and it still wouldn't and I didn't give up easily. Hard to do but in the trash can it went. My main trouble with the whole thing was dealing with my mistake. I have been doing leatherwork for many, many years and it really bothered me to make such a boo-boo.

It is straight from Al Stholman's "How To Make Holsters' book".

Thanks for the compliments. The holster works exactly like it is supposed to. It's just that every time I look at that stitch line I can't help gritting my teeth.

Around 1970 I made a wallet for my dad's birthday. It got little wear and tear as he was farmer and only carried it when going to town and it rode in a shirt pocket. I have never liked tooling thin leather and really disliked lacing one of these so I made very few. While looking through boxes for another item earlier this week I ran across a newer project. This was from around 20 years ago and my essential tremors had barely begun. It's 8-9 oz. Herman's Oak, lined, and fits a Ruger BlackHawk. I was surprised that the leather was a little soft along the stitch line when I sewed it together and consider it a major flaw in my work.

Nice. A design that has stood the test of time.