HandyDave

Beautiful work. Is it made from a pattern or your own design? I allways make all my own designs but i would love to make me a lap top bag like this for my last boxer Cujo and my new girl bull/boxer Lucie.

Great job. Its nice to be able to return a little of the unconditional love that a dog gives us.

Anytime you add another machine into the mix i think it takes away a little more of the handmade to the point its mass produced. But if you have certain patterns that you do alot of a clicker press and dies are a great time saver. As for pricing i never compare or try to compete witg etsy prices you will allmost allways loose. I see stuff on there that doesnt look like bad work but the prices are so low i dont see how they cover material cost. If im making something newer to me that im not sure of how to price i look around online at real leathershop websites at similar items to get a ball park. But your allways gonna get the people wanting your stuff for the extra cheap price that they seen online somewhere. I hate to loose a sell but i will not go but so low period even if i keep the piece for awhile. This is if im set up somewhere showing and selling with hodge podge of stuff. If im doin custom orders which is mainly the work i do its money up front or atleast half so materials and a little time is covered. Also one thing ive figured out with real handmade stuff is your not gonna have the same profit margin on everything. Some of the big labor intensive items are gonna take alot more time and there is a cap on how much you can expect to get for said item. But then you have your smaller regular made items that you csn knock out quick which will make up alot of the difference on the bigger items where profits are smaller.

One mistake i made i hate to say several times but it was several times when i was first starting out was beveling my edges and i ran down the whole inside edge where it was to be glued to another piece. This will leave a pretty good vally that is hard to sand out speacially if you keep stitch line close to edge.

I allways use the right anvil and setter sized for the snaps or rivets thats being used with no problems. Most everything has allready been said. And i 100% agree that 99% of the time a snap or rivet sets crooked is because the stem is to long sticking threw the leather. I dont buy tons of different length stems though. I buy the longest of each size then cut them down with dremel or bench grinder if needed so they stick threw only about 1/8" on the leather im working with. And like has also been said gently roll the setter while you gently tap to slowly roll the stem down then a good tap to finish. This is just my 2 cents.

If your beveling your edges on front and back of straps then it doesnt really matter how to apply dyes or edge paints. Once you bevel the back side edge it becomes part of the edge instead of the back if that makes since. If you dont want that dye rollover to the backside dont bevel the back edge only do the front. When i have to tape i use the green frog tape its like the blue painters but has better paint and dye blocking then regular blue painters tape. But you also have to think on the rough side the tape isnt truly gonna be smooth flat so thats gonna allow bleed threw. Collars and belts i allways line with smooth leather never suede. I actually cant think of anything ive ever lined with suede unless a customer just had to have it. I see so many holsters with suede liners and it breaks my heart to know those poor guns are loosing there finish because somebody thought putting sandpaper suede in there holster was a good idea. This is just my opinion of course i dont want to piss off any suede users.

I do this all the time with alot of materials. I have 5 younger sisters so i allways take there old bags and such as well as picking up good deals i find at thrift shops and yardsales. Ive got boxes of salvaged parts and pieces i repurpose into my crafts. I especially look out for old buckles and fastners that will give me a great one of a kind look.

Id buff the hell out of the pieces and that should help even everything out a little. And sometimes on the cheaper hides youll have alot of that scarring and marks. Even if you cant see any defects or if there very faint marks before you dye and finish they will allways show up big time once dyed. Only way to not have the scars and such is to buy better hides. Depending on whats being made the cheaper scarred leather can give a great rustic finish.

Beautiful work. How many times did you have to step away and let the eyes refocus. I look forward to seeing finished product.

Simple clean sturdy with a classic look what else could anyone want. Great job brother.

I like my tab end at 4 1/4" before the holes start. With 7 holes set at 1" on center. Hole size depends on prong of buckle. I use a more oval shape rounder end on my belts. I made a pattern that i liked as JLSleather said with a piece of paper folded then i made that into a wood template so i can use it over and over.

Beautiful start. Im with these other guys antique finish and then you could come back in with some lite touches of paint just to highlight key areas to really make it pop. When im painting small details i advise a very good selection of very small brushes. Along with several different tools to magnify the piece so i can see what the hell im doin.

Yeah if piece is to be personalized its deffently 100% payment up front. If im doing custom order work that isnt personalized i usually on ask for half up front so materials are coverd regardless. I usually dont have much trouble selling stuff i get stuck with. But its alot harder if not impossible to resale something with someones logo or name on it. But one thing i do with holsters and such thats personalized and i still get stuck with occasionally is ill reconfigure them or overlay with exotics over personalized area then its good for resale.

This hopefully will be a great thing. Like etsy was at the beginning. Now 90% of the crap on there is mass produced. Ill deffently be keeping my eye on progress and maybe have to sign up myself. Thanks for the link and info.

My favorite is when a potential customer contacts me wanting a custom made to order holster for there 2000 dollar pistol. They want all the bells and whistles super strict design ideas that they think will look good. Then when you give them a fair ball park price they start telling you about all the great stuff they've looked at online for 1/2 or less then my price. And ask can you give them a 150 160 dollar holster for the 50 like they seen others for online. I laugh and tell them no thanks and if there happy with the cheaper items online go for it. And before i cut the first piece of leather for custom orders i get half payment upfront so atleast if customer backs out after work is started my materials are payed for.

When i do have to clamp something and leave it for a time. I put some scrap strips of leather between my clamps and my finished piece. And i also have seen similar clamps that look rubber coated that might work better without the problem. The scrap leather under clamps also helps spread out the load enough to not indent if leather is a little wetterthen it needs to be.

And if your doing belts stay away from very much belly area leather. Its naturally more stretchy and alot of times has more flaws. I allways stay up on the back for my belts. Ill usually get about 6 to 10 good 1 1/2" belts from a side depending on side. Then i have plenty left for a few holsters or knife sheaths. I got a little sister who likes taking all my small scraps and pieces that i cant use or dont want to use and makes earrings and bracelets and other smaller such like that. I also seem to end up doing alot of belts for the bigger guys. Average waist size i make belts for is 42" to 48" so the sides allow me to get those longer straps easier. I done a padded folded belt for a ladies father that total length of belt was 76".

Looks alot better then mt first belt as well. And it has allready been said but it is much cheaper in long run to buy bigger pieces of leather and cut your own straps if your doing several. I started off buying precut belt blanks and didnt take long to see the money i was throwing away buying the precuts. And just like most things the bigger pieces you buy or the more you buy the cheaper it works out in the end.

Thank you. I really like doing the more western style gun gear cause i get to play around with designs more. Most of the edc stuff is allways just blacks or browns meant to be more low key. Its nice to do something different occasionally.

Thank you sir for the info and the link. Im deffently gonna get me a set of those grips.

I like the holsters. And im a big fan of the naa mini revolvers. It is my favorite firearm i own. Where did you get the grips on the mini? I have the folding grip/clip on mine and it helps hold it but its a big ugly hunk of plastic on such a clean beautiful little revolver. Also the engraving on the mini. Is that factory? I see the spider web so im thinking blackwidow model?

Great looking holster love the sting ray but have only worked with embossed stingray so far. I hear that the real stingray skin is tough to cut and stab. Any pointers you could give as to how it is to work with compared to cow or other such mammel hides? And i see you said you work with alot of just paper tracings of the firearms? I always try to get a prop of pistol im building for but some models just aint made or easy to find. So with the semi auto's since there mostly more of a standard squarer shape i have gotten customers to send me a close tracing as well as look around online for dimensions of said pistol. Or get customer to take a few measurements and right them on tracing. And ive made several props from 2x lumber or have even done a couple with lamented stacked cardboard. These rough props want give you a boned in tight molded holster but can take some guess work out and works fine for regular fitted holsters. Thought i would mention that maybe it will help it has helped me several times. This is how i do my mag props as well if possible i get customer to send me a mag and make wood props that work just fine and i dont have to buy a bunch of mag props for 20 to 30 dollars each.

Thanks for the kind words. I have several good customers that tell me what they need and let me do what i want with design. Of course most of my holster work is plain blacks and browns so i really enjoy when i get freedom to roam around on a piece. The pic is with my 4 3/4" ruger wrangler in holster. But customer just got himself the new heritage 6 3/4" 9 shot with the 22lr and 22mag cylinders.

Ive posted many times and never had any trouble sizing pics to fit on here but these just didnt want to work. Here it is finally. And thank you guys for tge assist.

Just finished this holster for one of my favorite customers. He just got a new heritage 9shot and told me to make him something badass. I hope my leather worker family here likes it as much as customer did. Hes one of my favorite customers because he never has his on plan for projects he allways just tells me to do what i want as long as its cool. He is yet to be disappointed. I cant get pics to come up no matter what i do it says there to big. I usually dont have any trouble. Ok after some help from you guys i got pic to show up on down a couple posts. Sorry