Frank

I've always put the front of the skirts to the butt of the sheepskin. The butt is heavier leather and more dense in fleece. You want this on the withers of the horse where it will see the most wear. Frank

Will Ghormley has a good, easy to follow pattern pack for cartridge belts. You can get them at Tandy or via his website. Frank

Thanks Lobo! The way I see it besides what I stated before, is that seconds are still great items. They are not perfect but still great. Everyone started out making stuff that looks like it came out of the south end of a northbound steer and we all sold that to get started. Seconds are nothing compared to that. If I had my druthers, I'd take back the first 20-30 items I ever made!!! Frank

I can see and understand everyone's point of view on the subject. I as well have a few "seconds" and I do sell them at a discounted price and I advertise them as such. The reason being: there are people out there that do not have the extra cash for a full price holster. Those are the ones buying the cheaper mass production gun leather. If you introduce them to custom leather...even "seconds", they'll start saving their pennies for only custom leather. It also gets them in the door to buy a matching belt later on down the road. I have had them come back a year or two later wanting a belt for a holster they purchased from me...after they saved up enough money. Frank

If you search for round knife or leather working on youtube, it will pop up a few short videos that might come in handy for you. Frank

See this post. It was started the other day. Belt Post Frank

Definitely not a problem Bill. I've never had any of these methods cause any problems in the heat and it gets terribly humid here in the Summer months. The only fallback to the leather balm is eventually with stress it tends to crack but it is very easy to apply another coat and cover up any of the stress marks. Frank

Bill, There are a couple different methods I use if I'm not lining the belt. I use either a couple coats of leather balm with atom wax applied directly with a foam brush and buffed out after each coat dries or a couple coats of Gum Tranc. applied with a small cloth and rubbed briskly into the flesh until a nice smooth finish is achieved. Frank

I get that as well when I log in but I used to get an email notification (sent to my personal email address) letting me know when I had a personal message from someone. That way I didn't have to log in 5-6 times a day just to check and see if I might have personal messages, especially when I have items up for sale. This option has disappeared from my notifications options list and I do not know why.

Hey all, Has anyone else lost the ability to have personal conversations (messages) sent to you via email? I have had 3 or 4 messages in the last week and not known it because I do not get an email notification. I attempted to change my settings but the check boxes will not allow me to check them in order to have emails sent to me whenever I have messages. I'm not sure what is going on or if anyone else is having issues. It seems that this has popped up since I made the $100 donation but cannot be certain of that. Any insight or help would be greatly appreciated. I still get emails when people post to any of my topics though, just not the personal messages. Thanks in advance. Frank

Both dummy guns have been sold.

Hey There, For some reason I have lost the ability to be notified when someone messages me or starts a personal conversation. It shows up on the site but I do not get an email notification. I tried checking the boxes so it will alert me but it will not allow me to do that. Is there something else that I need to do or is it on your end? Thanks in advance. Frank Name: Frank UserName: Frank IP Address: 76.199.175.24 Email Address: frank@rockingksaddlery.com

One sold with one left!

Mike, I don't dye many of my items. When I do dye though, I oil the leather about 24 hrs in advance and let it settle. This will open up the pores and get it ready for any dying that you need to do. It should help you even out the dye a bit better. Frank

Hey All, I bought a lot of 6 old aluminum dummy guns recently. I ended up with a couple extra since they were in a lot. Both of them are in good shape and they are for a Colt Single Action Army in 4 5/8" bbl. I am asking $35.00 a piece, shipping included. PM me if you have any interest. Thanks. Frank

You can antique (patina) brass with regular white ammonia. Be sure to do this outside!! Put ammonia in an open topped container, bucket, etc. and hang whatever you want antiqued over the inside side of the container. DO NOT submerse it in the ammonia, just let the fumes do the work. Let them hang about 3-4 inches above the ammonia. Check on them every 20-30 minutes until you reach the desired patina.

I have used this design before. I have an Uncle who only has one arm due to a hunting accident a few years ago and he's never without a knife. He didn't want to carry a straight blade since the one arm is useless and he has a heck of a time catching himself if he falls. It's a pretty nice design if done correctly and for the right reasons. The blade actually doesn't touch the metal rivet. The rivet runs through a nylon spacer and that is what the blade hits and opens up on. It keeps it from dulling and scratching. Frank

Ken, Tha Bag Kote is very durable. It might "stress" to a lighter color on the spine of a wallet but should not crack. If it stresses, just wipe the spine down again with bag kote while it's stressed and it should work just fine. I add 2 coats to each holster. One prior to folding and stitching and one after to seal up the stress marks. I doubt that it would be any good as a resist since it is water based. Frank

Bag Kote is essentially a water based finish. It can be thinned out with distilled water. I use it almost exclusively because to me it's a little easier to work with. I also use Tan Kote once in a great while. It's a resin based finish that has to be thinned with denatured alcohol. The Tan Kote is a bit harder to work with as it gets tacky very fast. If applying Bag Kote, I use a piece of sheepskin and rub on and rub off the excess. It will dry in just a few minutes time. The Tan Kote I apply and wipe off with a rag because it has a tendency to pull any fibers from the sheepskin and make it a permanent fixture of the leather. It also takes a bit longer to dry. What I use depends on the color the customer wants. The Bag Kote tends to produce darker tones than the Tan Kote. Bag Kote also has a mellower finish to it than Tan Kote. Hopefully that helped a bit without being too confusing. Frank

I bought a 10' length of steel shelving channel ( U-shaped that gets screwed to the wall and brackets placed on to create instant shelves) for about $2.50 at any hardware store. The U-shape makes it very easy to press down and scribe a line without it sliding on the leather.

I think the saddle is just getting old...you know, the wrinkles! Seriously though, I think Bob is on the right track here and it is flanky leather from the looks of it. Almost as if the grain side has begun to separate from the flesh side which can happen with flanky leather. Frank

There are no blue guns of this model that I know of but if you have a tax ID, you can get wholesale rates at Collectors Armoury They have the replicas and you can buy them for about a blue gun rate. I use them extensively. The only gun that is a bit off is the Schofield. It is a 7.5" bbl when the original is only a 7" model. It plays hell with a sewn toe holster...lol PM me your address and I will send you a paper pattern or two for the 1860. Frank

I believe Wickett & Craig offers the use of paypal. At least they advertise it on their website.

Hey All, I guess this is my little rant for a lifetime....maybe! I know there was a discussion about Weaver's price hike when it came to shipping. Well, this happened to me from another good tool supplier. I fail to mention names as not to upset anyone associated with this business. I ordered a bunch of hand tools and was charged just over $20.00 for shipping. When the package arrived not only was I missing 2 tools, one was on back-order and another one that was paid for and never made it in the box but they all came in a small flat rate box. If I'm not mistaken, the shipping for those boxes are under $5.00. What is going on here? I fired off an email about the missing tool (because they were ordered as a full set) but never mentioned the excessive shipping charges. I received an email back that this matter would be taken care of and that was Tuesday of last week and I still have not heard back from the business or received my tool. Is customer service really going down the tubes? What do you all consider excessive shipping charges? I know I insure every package that goes out my door. No one pays any more than $1.00-$1.50 more than what the actual shipping charges are. I order free boxes from USPS and also recycle a lot of boxes. Those stupid little flyers that come in the mail twice a week end up being the packing material. Am I charging less than what I should? I highly doubt it. Why are people so dead set on making good money on shipping charges? Thanks for letting me go off a bit. Of all things, this gets me going the most.