PastorBob

When I say it was rushed, it was just not letting the dye dry for several hours to a day. I did not short cut any of the other processes. I allowed ample time for Barge's to setup before tacking pieces together and did my normal saddle stitch by hand. It is home drying now (over night) from the wet mold. When I get home from my day job, i will apply water proofing compound and rub in before shipment. Just wasn't sure of the dye dry time being shortened before gluing and stitching. There were no other compromises. Great point Tugadude. Like stated above, my main concern was with the dye. All other steps were done as usual. Not even when his buddy Lazarus was sick. Agreed.

Well, I got an order for one of my holsters. i thought I had it made and sitting in inventory. Told the customer I would ship out next day. With me having a full-time job and doing leather as I can, next day orders only happen when i have inventory. Guess what, didn't have it in inventory. So last night around 5pm, I started on the avenger holster. At 7:30, I had it complete (up to wet mold). I cut it, dyed it, glued it, stitched it, burnished it (using dye as burnishing agent as someone on here suggested) and wet molded. That was the first time I have done one that quickly. For a lot of it, the dye was still damp. It looks okay, but did I rush through it and is there the possibility of future quality issues by doing this so quickly? Thanks for your candid feedback.

I don't attach my patterns to the leather. i will make it out of paper, then will transfer it to a manila folder by tracing it. Or i have some very thin (.03125) plastic sheeting I will transfer it to. I will then place this on the leather and hold while tracing. If it is a large piece I will use a weight to hold it in place as well. Here lately, I have been flipping the leather and placing the pattern upside down on the flesh side so I can trace with a pen for better marking than using a pencil or scratch awl on the top surface of the leather. May not be the best way, but seems to work well for me.

I like it. I wish i had scrap pieces that big. can you post more pics? Would like to see how you did the bottom and inside. Thanks!

I ordered some custom stamps from Ray not to long ago. He also sent me several holster patterns as well. Great guy to deal with and quick turn around on custom work as well.

Very nice. I have not tried sewing a round case like that. Well done.

I have bought blanks from SLC as well. I got some with snaps installed and the bend area pre-skived. Some of the snaps were defective. When I visited the next time, they told me they are mass setting the snaps on a machine and sometimes they are not set properly. But the leather was beautiful. I did call ahead to place my order for shipment and told them some of the belt would not be tooled, and it needed to be pretty clean. And it was. You can also pick your leather thickness when you call as well, should you want it thicker than what they list on their site. Good luck.

I cut both pieces, then glue them together. I then will even up all the edges, either by cutting away or sanding. Then I start bending it where the fold will be, slowly, and I continue to work it open and closed. Apply glue. I will then fold it over so that the front facing side is slightly within the outer edge of the back side and hammer it down. Then I trim edges again. I have had one that wrinkled slightly, but the client was fine with that. Said he would rather have a slight wrinkle vs. having the gun against the raw flesh side of the leather.

lovely designs. Great work. How refreshing it is to see someone learn a new skill, then put it into practice. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice. I have been doing the Avenger style for a bit now, using Slick Bald's patterns. Have you received any comments on the holster being unlined? All of mine are made with two 5-6 oz. pieces glued together, flesh to flesh, so they are smooth inside and out. If you haven't, I may switch to a single layer with the wrap around part. What thickness leather are you using? Again - Beautiful!!

If I use the cheap import leather, I definitely get blotching. When I use Hermann Oak leather, it is soo much better. I spoke with the team at Springfield leather. They say that the import leather adds chemicals to their veg tan process to speed it up. This can cause issues with dyeing the leather. According to them, as I am not an expert, the only difference with the PRO and regular Feibing's dyes are the PRO has an oil additive to help with flow of the dye. Again, not an expert, just passing on some hearsay.

love it. would hate to be their tattoo artist. LOL.

WOW!!!!!!! What craftswomanship! Maybe one day, i will be that good. Thanks for sharing.

Plenty of great ideas and information here. I have learned a bunch. Also, there are numerous videos on YouTube specific to different styles / techniques. Look for Don Gonzalez for tooling and dyeing, Weaver Leathercraft for the same plus different types of projects, and Joe Meling for more. These are just to name a few...there are many. Good luck and thank you for your service.

Welcome to the forum. Lots of knowledgeable folks here.

You know that guy that puts a screen door in the bottom of his boat coated with some sort of plastic spray?? That comes in white now, I believe. That may hold up and be less expensive than Line-X. You can buy it at big box home improvement stores.

Very nice work. nice detail and lines look smooth

Very nice. Haven't played D&D in many years. Would have been nice to have an official handmade dice cup.

made a similar design for a local knife maker that competed on Forged in Fire.

Even if its not marketable, I am sure you had as much fun designing it as making it. Sometimes the "figgering" is as much a challenge as actually doing the creating. Nice job on letting your creative juices flow.

Nicely done.

That looks like a fun project. Worthy group of individuals to create for. The undyed one definitely looks more symmetrical as far as the exterior. Not sure how you are creating your pattern, but one thing I do to keep patterns symmetrical is create half of the outline on half a piece of paper, then fold it over and cut it out. Similar to cutting paper snowflakes. That way, if there is any deviations, it is on both halves of the pattern. Imagine folding the image in half horizontally. Something else to consider is rounding the corners of the rectangular cut outs. That way you can use a round hole punch to create openings with which you can cut straight lines between the circles. It gives the corners a cleaner look and prevents over travel from the knife as you approach the edge of the cutout. On the dyed one, it doesn't appear that you beveled the banner where it over laps at the end. This would really help give it some depth. Thanks for sharing your creation. Anxious to see what it looks like finished.

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I bought a set of brass punches of various sizes from Harbor freight. I have a couple in the leather shop. One is perfectly sized for the large tandy stamps to use as a handle.