chuck123wapati

That's a nice design for sure, does it work as well with smaller pistols? I made an iwb for a G3C, and it didn't feel right to me, the barrel seemed too short to stay under my belt.

you should fit right in, you sound like many of us. There is a ton of stuff you can search on just about any leather topic. on tooling and stamps some styles, for example Sheridan style tooling uses stamps designed for that style; others are similar but not the same. What i did was study one style of tooling at a time, which was Stohlman first. most of the patterns tell you what stamps the pattern takes, so you can buy them one pattern at a time and have some luck in reproducing the intended pattern accurately, as well as learning how they work together and learning the style. AS for taking your time, that's the hard part to learn lol you just have to quit when you get in a bind and think about it. come back the next day with a new outlook. And tooling always looks better after it's finished, so don't give up until you have it stained, sealed, and buffed out It will surprise you. My old driller used to say I worked faster than I could think, lol, he would tell me to go get a cup of coffee and think about it, then come back and finish. Worked every time !! Life is good!!

I throw on a denim long-tailed shirt over my daily wear, much like yours, when I go to town; it covers about any holster I could think of, including my waist holster. I don't live in Texas, however, so heat isn't a problem lol. A pocket holster is a good choice, but you need to find pants with good-sized pockets and a pistol small enough. Either of those weapons, if they are reliable, you mentioned, should be a decent fit.

just my opinion, but you won't get as nice-looking stitches with round holes due to the angle of the chisel or awl slots makes for the appearance that folks are used to seeing. Plus, the slots will seal back up and hold the stitch tighter, drilling holes loses some leather in the process, whereas slots don't. To make sewing easier, as you pass the needle through the slot, wiggle it/them up, down, and sideways rather hard to enlarge the slot, making it a simple process to pull through, it will shrink back down, then lightly set the stitch with a hammer when you are done sewing.

1 way punch your holes on the front of the sheath only, or with the welt glued onto the front piece punch both, glue up the sheath with the welt in place, then use an awl to push through the back side and sew it up. 2. if you punch all three pieces separately, use small nails or brads to align the pieces for glue up, usually one in the top hole, a couple along the middle, then the last hole at the bottom of the sheath. Remember if you use stitching chisels to be sure and punch from the same side when folded as in the front is punched from the front side or outside of the sheath and the back of the sheath is punched from the inside of the sheath, or the angled slots will be reversed and won't line up they will make an x shaped hole. i also use a round awl for the top and bottom holes to help with a nice alignment and clean finished look, always starting my chisels from the same end of the piece, top or bottom. Another thing that makes your stitching wonky is crossing your stitches as you sew, always one needle, either the left or right, depending on the slot angles, goes in the front. I sew toward myself, so i place the left needle in the slot farthest from me and the right needle closest to me.

A good solid reliable design and nice looking work!! gotta love that 1911🤩

I think most families have paid that price for living in the US, and could say about the same thing, I hear you, but the gubment or any company you copy and sell patterns or logos from may not feel the same way. Unfortunately or not, copyright infringement is illegal. So I felt the need to mention it as a reminder on this public forum, as so many folks can now copy and paste other people's designs and hard work to a laser printer without regard to their rights. I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong by any means, just putting out information for the good of the forum. I didn't dive in to deep into these, but you can probably pay for the permission to use them. My state also has registered logos, it's easier and cheaper to pay for the permissions than pay the lawyers and fines, and I can sell without fear of breaking a law, no matter how I feel about it personally. In fact, I use it as a selling point. Officially licensed lol!!!! Life is good !!! God bless you Pastor.

That is cool!! Hmmm, IWB belt wallet next😄

You did nice work.

Be careful, my friend, I don't know if this applies, but just posting the info. https://www.defense.gov/Resources/Branding-and-Trademarks/DOD-Trademark-Licensing-Guide/

Oh yea now i remember lol.

I love this truck

you can smooth out some of the imperfections by running the beveling tool back and forth over your work with just hand pressure.

and it comes much sooner than you think lol.

i would start by searching this forum for a few days virtually everything you need to know is in this knowledge base.

You will be surprised at what you will make in the future. if you take one thing from "Sheridan Style Carving" It should be the last paragraph on page 98 under helpful hints.

I use the nerdiest headband type I could find with my 2x readers underneath and wear it like a badge of honor.. Have some fun in life heck yea...

Your file pouch idea would be a needed and excellent addition for sure if you can figure out how to add it on to your existing sheathes. I bought cheapo 5 dollar machetes and have one stuck in about everything that leaves the road. lol same with cheap knives. I'm going to grind a new blade out of 1095 and temper it to the point it bends instead of breaking and put on a nice handle then maybe a new sheath as well. Always wanted to do justice to a blade so plain but so purpose-built and functional.

I'll add some stamps don't need to be top quality to work well while others do need to be very precise to get a good effect.

those look great!! I use a cut-off machete with about 15 blade" for pack-ins instead of a hatchet. Lighter and just plain better for choppin small stuff.

thats the ticket!!! cartridges are expensive and rimless ones don't play fair and is added assurance on the off chance the person actually rides a horse with it on.

I haven't tried corn, but it reminded me of an old story I read where an old cowboy bought a pair of boots that were too tight. So, he packed them with dry corn, filled them with water, and the following day the corn expanded and they were stretched way too big seems ripped and unusable. I used bbs and some plastic beads I recovered out of a kid's store-bought bean bag for the one below I made but it didn't take overnight to form them so corn would work IMO without causing bumps depending on leather thickness very thin leather might show bumps, A guy might try rice, air soft pellets, or any source of small plastic or glass beads or dried grain. I would avoid sand unless you feel you can clean it out well enough. oh and pack it hard in from the bottom up don't fill it then try and pack it won't stretch the leather .

mark the piece that will show mark the starting hole of the other piece glue them up then use an awl.

yea that's why a guy still needs the books and why they are so expensive. IMO but the web is only half a**ed at best. As i see it the basics of most styles are so the artist can be faster and easier. the the tools fit the size of the pattern the patterns fit the work. Sheridan for example starts out with circles indicating the area for the flower everything flows around the flower basic flower and leaf tapouts are used then the stems and leaves are added all flowing around the original circle pattern. Then the tooling is done in a very specific way but all repeatable and becomes muscle memory for the artist to the point most is free hand drawn onto the leather itself. some sheridan saddles have dozens of these repeated images the flowers are rotated so they appear different but are in fact the same image. All done with just a few specific stamps and edgers. Sheridan also uses bar grounders specifacllyfor background

well maybe I can help a lacing chisel is what you need for punching lacing holes they come in different widths to match your lace. I glue it up before lacing i'm sure someone will follow up with their own methods also as leatherwork is not written in stone lol.