DoogMeister

Thanks for the tip. I'll check them out.

Made this as a project for myself. The Factory case is severely worn, and no longer provides adequate protection. I got he pattern in a Tandy holster pack, and had to adapt the shape for the 1911 (shorter and wider). First time using a gusset and a zipper, so that along with a pattern error cased some extra work. The pattern shows both ends of the gusset as a radius the same width as the gusset. However, the 'notch' in the body at the grip end is quite narrow, maybe 1/2". I did temp stitch the gusset in place (after installing the zipper) and found this out, so made a pattern that reflected the true shape and a 2nd gusset. Needed some practice doing zippers anyway. LOL Had some 1/2" hi-density foam that I used for padding, and some suede laying around from another project for the liner. Used some leather protector spray on the suede, so hopefully that will help. Drew a center line on the body, and another guide line for the side with the basket weave and stamped to that line. The visual that the basket weave is not straight puzzles me. It has its share of imperfections, but IMO is a pretty decent case.

I have a light with a magnifying lens that mounts to my bench. It has a swivel arm so it can be moved around. Wouldn't be without it. Most on the market these days have an LED light. check out Hobby Lobby stores or Harbor freight. the big box stores - such as Lowe's, Home Depot, and Menards will have something similar as well.

A successful event last night. The knife brought $120.00 for the local 4H. I was happy about that. Several other items did quite well. A hand made corn hole game decorated with a stars and stripes theme bought over $200.

Thank you. Blade is 3", and the knife is 7 1/2" total. Fits my hand well.

Thank you. I made a knife/sheath for last year's event, and it sold far beyond what I had hoped.

The daughter of a friend of ours is involved in the local 4H. The hold a spaghetti dinner and silent auction fund raiser annually. I made this knife and sheath to donate for this year's event. I buy the blades - I have neither time, space, or funds to get into forging. The scales are purpleheart with curly maple liners, finished with several coats of hand-rubbed oil-base polyurethane. The sheath is 7 oz, lined with some deerskin that is left from a vest I had made many years ago. Feibing's Pro Saddle tan and Spanish Brown on the edges. Stitched with 0.8mm Ritza tiger thread. I wet molded the sheath and let it dry a couple of days before finishing with Feibing's Leather sheen. All applied with an airbrush.

Tandy has a series of books on making knife sheaths. Vol II outlines a process for making a sheath with a top and bottom, with a welt. I've found the first two an invaluable asset and great source of knowledge. https://tandyleather.com/collections/books/products/making-leather-knife-sheaths

very nice

on my computer in the red box it has white lettering that says "Get Pattern". Click that and proceed to the free download.

I've been using Feibing's Leather sheen applied with an air brush. Resolene thinned 50-50 with water and air brushed works well also, but the leather sheen has less gloss, which I prefer.

Looks nice. Mule deer antler shed?

I don't thin the dye for the airbrush, but to lighten the effect. You are correct, it is already thin enough to spray. It takes more coats to develop a darker finish, giving me more time to decide what I want the item to look like. One can always add another coat, but removing too much dye is another story. I like the fact that with the airbrush I can easily do multi-color finishes, fade the color to darker on the edges, and dye the tooling one color and the background another.

I've used Feibing's leathercraft cement. Looks like white glue. Apply to the filligree side and press together until set, let dry overnight before using.

I use Feibing's Pro dyes, usually thinned with 91% alcohol, almost always applied with an airbrush. Saddle soap to clean any hand oils, etc after tooling, and let dry overnight. Apply Feibing's leather care, and let dry overnight again. I've used Feibing's leather sheen, resolene, tan-kote, and occasionally neutral shoe polish as finishes. Leather shene and neutral shoe polish seem to be my favorites. I've seen some leather that didn't dye evenly. I resorted to a wipe with 91% alcohol after the usual above treatment to get an even dye job.