doubleh

Nice. I have soft spot for wolves since I don't own livestock plus they aren't indigenous to this area.

I am not sure how long I have used it but had it has to have been 50+ years. It wasn't used continuously during that time but it has struck many a lick during it's life. On the last belt I tooled it started shedding rawhide particles like it had a super dooper case of dandruff. I Was close to S&D Trading Company yester day so I replaced it. Garland is cutting corners it seems like a lot of companies. The last one had a nice shaped handle that fit my hand well. This one has a handle that is little more than a round stick. I will never come close to wearing this one out.

I don't any fancy words to describe them so I will just say they look great.

+ 1

Nice holster, nice grips.

I don't do a lot of leather work anymore but recently my interest revived somewhat. I have been using the same supplier for a long, long time and ever one of the products he sells is topnotch. I am close enough to take a day out and go pick what I want but when I do order online I know it will right and good. He is a one man operation and I stopped in last week when I was in his city for another reason and picked up a belt blank and a couple of other small items. He said that unlike past years he has a supply problem and delivery of most thing is 3 or more times as long as it used to be. I expect every retailer in the leather goods business is suffering the same.

They aren't something I would want but you did excellent work.

I have never paid any attention to leather armor but yours certainly looks good. I can understand the hours involved.

Nice find and it brings back memories. Long, long ago I worked Saturdays for a boot maker/shoe repairman that also rebuilt saddles and tack. I spent a lot of time sitting on one of those as I got to hand sew a lot of tack. He passed on and his youngest son took over the shop and now he is gone. I wonder what happened to all the equipment in the shop including that horse. It was in pretty good shape the last time I saw it. He also sold tooled western belts and I was the maker but I did those at home. I sometimes wonder just how many belts I made as they were very popular back then. I wish I had kept count as it was a bunch.

I use a small vise to hold the blade and a diamond hone with a coarse side and a fine side to sharpen with. The coarse side removes metal in a hurry and it doesn't take long to smooth it down with the fine side, then strop. I use this same hone for swivel knife blades and my regular knives.

Classic is the only thing that interests me. Sheridan style is much too busy and stamped borders or basketweave hold no interest at all. I will admit it takes skill to do each but that is for someone else.

If you don't mind a dull, draggy blade they do. Awl blades need to be sharpened and stropped just like swivel knife blades IMO. Get the blade good and sharp and then polished up and hand stitching bevome relatively easy. It will probably need some shaping to true the angles up fresh out of the box.

No, the artwork or pattern is Al Stolman's for a single action army in his "How to Make Holsters" book. Thanks to both of you for your compliments.

I have been doing floral carving for many a year and the angled blade for tight cuts is a necessity for me. I can do them with a regular blade but the angled one makes things much easier. I prefer ceramic blades as they need less sharping or stropping than steel. Sharpening a ceramic blade is basically the same as a steel one. I use a diamond hone to get the edge close, switch to a ceramic , then strop, and that's it. If you get it right the blade should just glide through the leather.

I just made one a few weeks ago and used Al Stholman's single six pattern from his "How To Make Holsters book". I changed a few lines to get what I wanted and then transplanted his pattern from the holster from the single action army because I liked it better than the single six pattern. This is the result. I intended it to be light tan but Fiebing's definition of light tan is much darker than mine.

I haven't worried about it at all. It was just something I wanted to try-----and did. I dream up and make all kinds of things. Leather work is just one of several hobbies I indulge in. I got the blade made yesterday and let's say it is time intensive. I think one is enough to satisfy me. It did turn out well I think and certainly cuts well. Sharpening took some time. Event though it is hard it strops well too. In all honesty I prefer ceramic blades over steel ones. It didn't cost one cent in material including the holder I made to hold it while I rough ground and then finished milled the blade except for the very little oxygen and acetylene I used for annealing the chisel stub and then the heating the heating to harden it. It takes almost no time at all to heat something that small to orange heat.

I ran across a broken 3/8" cold chisel this afternoon and the idea to make a blade popped into my mind and I think I have already dreamed up a way to do it. I think a hard blade will cut down a lot on the sharpening and stropping and I have the equipment to make one so why not? I know someone sells one that is made from D2 steel (forget who) but where is the fun in just buying one? For some one that is always dreaming up things to make there isn't any. I intend to harden it and leave it hard. If it will get as had as a file that would be ideal. The blades you buy are fairly soft and easy to sharpen which makes them quick to dull. I heat treated four purchased blade this afternoon trying to get them as hard a possible. One was fairly new and was easily filed after heating to orange color and quenching it. I am pretty sure it's steel content is Chinesium. The other three have been here a long time and they turned out pretty hard so maybe they are at least 1080 steel. A file will still cut them but not easily. I want something that a file just skids on.

I recently dug out my tools after about a 20 years layoff and have some 8-9 oz. Herman' Oak from the same time period. Some of it is large pieces and also some belt blanks. It's slightly less stiff than a board. What I did was mix up some Carve Ezz and completely wet down a belt blank. After it dried I did it again. Then one more wetting to case it. It was a little more difficult to carve than new Herman's but took the tooling just about the same as if new. I have since made one more belt and a pistol holster using the same method and having the same result. I used an entire bottle of Carve EZZ doing the three projects but that is much cheaper than buying new leather.

I agree that it is an attention getter. Very nice work.

Looks good. I make a lot of my tools also. I decided to make a nice swivel knife a few weeks ago and now I have four. Two with brass bodies and two with aluminum bodies. No more blade changing for me, just grab another knife. I have made several specialized small knives and a set of tiny wood carving chisels using 1095 steel. Most of the time I use oak dowel for the handles but grab a dead mesquite limb out of the pasture now and then. Mesquite is harder and prettier than oak.

I made this earlier this year for #2. Just a simple concho belt that I took a picture of the middle of. Herman's Oak with antiquing. While I had my tools out I made one for great grand daughter #1. Again, Herman's Oak and antiquing. This is the first work I have done in about 20 years and it shows my skills to be seriously rusty.

They are clear coated so no blackening of fingers. I haven't used them yet but just by feel alone I have decided I prefer the thin saddle. I am going to do another belt shortly and will make up my mind then. The thick one was just an experiment. I did the knurling and everything. The only way to adjust one would be to make a longer shaft or turn some off the barrel and drill deeper. I knew the length I like and made them to fit. Thanks for the attaboys, everyone.

I took a long break from leatherwork except for browsing this website but decided to make a few things a couple of months ago. I started with a couple of belts for my two oldest great rrand daughters and then made the oldest an old style floral carved name belt for her birthday as she has decided she likes to play cowgirl. The latest was a floral carved holster and while working on it I decided I wanted a really nice swivel knife. Metal working being another of my hobbies I made one from brass and liked it so well I made a couple more using aluminum as I had used up my supply of brass rod. I finished my knife project this afternoon and decided to post a picture of my efforts. All three rotate very smoothly.

First off, nice work. Just keep at it as it's a learning process like most things are and you will get better as you go.