Eric51767

Looks great. I'm ready for a sewing machine too. Hand stitching a 53" belt is no fun!

It brought in $200. Not bad but I thought it would do better.

Those look awesome! Did you have a pattern?

WTF Custom Leather Works. It's below the chin.

I found the pattern from Dieselpunk Ro on line and thought it would make a great raffle item for a buddies ride coming up. It came out great.

So, after hours of meticulous work I have two problems with this holster. It was separating at the welt. I added a second stitch line, which fixed the problem and looks good on the front, but like shit on the back. It was an after thought, If it had been laid out in advance like the rest of the stitch lines it wouldn't look like that. This was just an experiment. There is no customer waiting on it. I wanted to see what the cross would look like and I was curious to see if I could keep white stitching white. They look good and other then that extra line I'm happy with the stitching. All stitched by hand. The thing that turns this into something I can't even give to one of my sons, is the last step. The snap on the retention strap. The longest snaps I have been able to find are Line 24 with a 5/16 post. Too short to pass thru an 7-9 oz shell and lining. There has to be snaps with a longer post????? I was soooo happy with this until about an hour ago.

That's a good idea, thanks

Nice work

The carving looks great initially. I assume your using at least a 7/8 oz leather. Less time in the water would help preserve the stamping when you form the holster. 15-17 seconds. If I need a little more, I just dip it back in. Blue Guns are fairly cheap and they generally come with a dowel for the sight channel. And you don't have to worry about your gun, or a customers gun getting wet. If you don't have a slot punch, a round punch at either end and an xacto knife the to remove the rest of the material will give you the right shape.

That is awesome work! I like what you did with the handle and the straps. I made one for my Grandsons Henry and the handle I attached turned out to be a nightmare to stitch.

My son wore it for the pictures. I adjusted it to him so it would fit snug. He said it was comfortable and there wasn't any restriction in his range of motion. I take you point, I wanted it stable and secure to keep the draw as smooth as possible.

That's nice work

That's nice work

Haha..... The customer was thinking more along the lines of Crocodile Dundee. I did tell him to go back and watch the movie because he draws the knife down and not up.

I'm sure I saw something somewhere that gave me the idea. Every good idea is usually a variation on someone else good idea. I wanted it to be stable and secure so there would no hindrance on the draw, I played with a couple of ideas, that seemed like the best one. Thanks

Sure, I'll help if I can. I've only been at this about a year.

Thanks Thank you

The customer wanted a sheath he could carry on his back and wanted to be able to draw it up over his shoulder. I wasn't thrilled with that since that puts the edge on his neck and isn't really concealable. I compromised with him and designed it so it could be turned around on the carrier I built so it could be drawn down which is better and safer. The sheath is calf skin lined (cuz I had the calf skin) and hand stitched. The lacing is decorative and at the request of the customer. There was a considerable amount of swearing involved with the lacing but in the end it looked really good. And yes the lacing goes through the welt to protect it from the edge. ( I have a friend that is a blade/blacksmith, He put a nasty edge on the knife). There are some things I would do differently. I would die everything at the same time. The harness is a little darker then the rest of it. I laid out the harness after the sheath and carrier was done. For my first complete custom design, I'm pretty happy with it.

I can, yes

Yes, neatsfoot oil, after applying Eco Flo Carnuba Creme as a sealer. Maybe not enough neatsfoo?, I don't want it get mushy. Maybe no sealer?

I've been teaching myself through books and youtube for a little over a year now. My work has been mostly holsters and sheaths, mostly off someone else's pattern but I do have some custom pieces out there. Now I've run into something that baffles me. A simple belt I sold for $35.00. The customer sent me pictures of it cracking.....everywhere. So I want to make this right, I made another one. The first one was a 1.5" strap purchased from Tandy Leather. The second one, pictured below I cut from a 9oz double shoulder that I bought to make a 4" Santa Belt last month. (no complaints from Santa.) Sure enough as you can see in the picture.....It cracked. That's not the buckle fold. That is approx the middle of the belt. I looped the belt back on is's self, pushed by hands together to create a gap and then snapped it shut. I have no idea what it would do that or how to be sure it wont do it again. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks