AzShooter

Excellent work. I'm still not good enough to show any of my tooling. I have a long way to go. You can be proud of your work there. Nice and clean.

Nicely done. Love the laser engraving.

I normally go to the local Tandy and have had excellent service. I had to replace a chisel that bent and the manager did give me a little story on how she'd do it but don't tell anyone. I know Tandy's return policy better than her after working for them for 10 years. She finally just gave me the new chisel. That's the only complaint I have had. When ordering on line I don't mind the $12.00 shipping fee if under $150. Most of my orders are more than that and if need it fast I just go to the store. I also like having a salesman around that can answer my questions when I get stumped. Give Tandy a chance to make things right. If the person you talked to doesn't help you may just want to ask for the District Manager's phone number. It's amazing how well that works to get what you want. '

My first attempt at a pancake holster for a revolver. Any critique is welcome. The customer wanted no tooling or stamping except my Maker's Stamp. I used one of my guns to help mold it and lucked out. Their pistol fits perfectly. I did use edge coat but it doesn't seem to show on the bottom of the holster. I guess I took the picture before the edge coating. I normally use tan yye on all my work but the young lady requested all black. It covered easier than I thought it would. Any ideas for improvement?

Awesome. I like this design and you did an excellent job. Wife should be very happy.

Excellent work. I too like your use of maker's stamp. Black seems so hard to get right, mine always bleed even with a few coats of Resolene. Your die job looks fantastic.

Thanks. From what I've read I'll stay with hand stitching until I can afford a good machine.

I just found a video on this machine, $100 Leather Sewing Machine. I do all my stitching by hand and was wondering if this machine is worth anything? Has anyone tried it as a beginner machine. I primarily make holster of 2 thicknesses of 8 - 9 ounce leather. The machine says it's good for 5 mm which to my calculations should work with about 1 mm to spare. I could be wrong. Would this be $100 thrown away or does anyone think it's worth trying?

I like it but how do you mount it to a belt?

Thanks for the ideas. Now I need to figure out what I want it to say.

I'm finally making enough leather that I'd like to get a logo stamp made. Any suggestions on where is a good place to start?

Instead of a mallet get yourself a rubber or plastic maul. I got a 1 pounder from Tandy and then added a 2.5 pound leather maul. The heavier one is great for stamping.

I use the same procedure as the OP. One thing I can say is to make sure your leather is dry before you start using the chisel. I also use a rubber mat to dampen the blows from the chisel. I use a 2 pound maul and it easily goes through my 2 layers of 8-9 ounce leather with about 2 hits. I do stamping, then dying and then the chisel. I sand the edges before making my grove line and then once I put my holsters together I sand again and then burnish the edges. My system works for me. I may be doing it wrong.

Most excellent. Thanks for sharing your work.

Very nice work.

Beautiful work in every aspect. You are a master at your art. Funny how a simple belt can get you interested and keep your attention. It was a good thing for you to find and your work shows it.

Very nice design and execution, Good tooling and lacing. You should be proud to show it off.

I needed to make a new holster for my competition gun since I added a part for my thumb to rest on. I had to make a special channel so that the rest wouldn't interfere with the back side of the holster, it would have to be another inch thicker had I not cut out this piece. Any critique or suggestions for the next one are welcome.

I made a few from the Tandy Leathercraft Library. Simple and I've sold 3. I don't normally make things for sale but when asked I comply. The Tandy Tote has video instructions. Can be laced or stitch and can have a pocket or not. My lacing needs a lot of work so I've stitched them. It's an easy pattern and if you are starting I would download it. It's free.

What a wonderful idea. This I've got to try. I keep all my paper templates but sure would like something permanent. I'm going to try Michaels tomorrow.

I like this one a lot. Good combination of color and I like lined holsters. Good work.

I normally used a Stanley Knife but lucked into buying a Head Knife from Tandy. I know, there are better Head Knives but I wanted to test the waters first. Most important is to keep it sharp. Stropping is the key but a good set of stones also helps. The reason for the Head Knife is that I can cut curves very easily compared to a straight knife. I'm still learning how to use it and what platform to cut on. Self Healing matts work but the knife will get stuck sometimes. A hard plastic cutting board works but when I'm doing a large cut the head knife is the key.

The carry angle is adjustable by changing the hole pattern on the belt loop. This one drops the way I like it. I use the same design for the three holes but change the patter on the loop pad. I could do it all at once but I wanted to finish this holster. I like using the T-Nuts and the one for the loop. The leather on the belt loop is so thick that it prevents the holster form any movement during running events. I want the gun as secure as possible. There are probably better ways so I am open for suggestions.

I took my time on this holster and took a few practice ones to get it right. The sight produced a unique problem. I had to design the holster to fit not only the sight but some added on equipment that required it to be cut down a long way. Since there is so little leather wrapped around the gun I used two tension screws to make sure the gun will not fall out when walking around. The holster is made of one layer of 8 ounce lather with a pig skin lining. There are three T-Nuts inserted under the pig skin to be able to support the belt loop. The back of the holster, the belt loop, is made of two layers of 8 ounce leather and a stiffener so that the holster will not bend or flop around. The loop itself is held on with only one screw. It is totally secure. After initially cutting the holster and then sanding it to shape I stamped the basket weave and my initials. I stained it with Light Tan , Resolene, then antiquing and another coat of Resolene. I was lucky enough to have a chisel long enough to go threw the two layers, and everything is stitched by hand. Any critiquing is welcome. Thanks for looking.

That's a beautiful holster.