TomLine

Zack White has Lift-The-Dot snaps.

I put dots on paper where the curve should go then draw an arc back and forth, erase the edges, draw it again, erase the edges again and again until it looks good. Trick is a big eraser and tough paper. Sometimes I use a quarter to get a round corner.

Color is absolutely beautiful. How'd you color/finish?

Mechanically, it looks beautiful. I have to be honest. We've been friends a long time, and I am no fashion horse, and I don't know your brother, but I think the colors are really really wierd.

I like where you're going with the snake skin on the little 1911 holster. It's nice to see something with more character than the plain jane pancake holsters everybody's doing. Have you actually shot the little micro-revolver? I have, and I CANNOT finger the darn trigger!! I have a retired policeman friend who is a probation officer now. He's made good use of his pressed against the necks of some nasty people.

If he's got time to re-enact, he's probably just lonely and wants somebody to talk to. How about calling him before he calls you. If he can't decide, maybe he needs to be led a bit.

Put like 20% ammonia in water for your final moulding. It will dry HARD. Surprised nobody chimed in with this.

I just lower the top edge of the pattern so the high part of the rear sight doesn't go into the leather.

A friend gave me a press and it sat around. After hammering holes with a saddle maker's punch I finally figured to put the punch in the press and it works GREAT!! The wood block makes the surface grip a bit, and keeps the bit from bashing into the metal plate.

Just knocked out a cowboy field holster holster for an old Security Six. I used Tandy leather, and tanned it in the sun with a coat of pure neatsfoot oil before cutting it.

I've tried drilling holes. A saddle maker's punch works better. The holes seem big, but they close-up on their own. I wore myself punching by hand with a hammer, so I took a press a friend gave me, and put the saddle maker's punch in it. It works GREAT!!

I've been burnishing the holster edge before the final wetting/fitting. This reduces the tendency of the leather swelling on the edges which makes the thread get swallowed up. I wrap denim strips (old jeans) around a drill bit. I sit the drill in a vice and press bees wax into the denim bit. I rub beeswax into the holster edge, then run it slowly back and forth against the drill bit. Watch using denim or a piece of blue material can stick in the edge. John Bianchi cuts discs out of pure wool scraps and punches a center hole in them. Then he slides them over a bolt and screws washer and nuts tight to compress it. You don't want to use synthetic materials because they will melt.

I designed this one.

NRA had a gun calendar one year of presidential guns. Harry Truman had a home made gun case that looked like it was carefully handmade / homemade, and was carefully and lovingly lined with an an old wool shirt. Anyway it looked awesome.

I think I need some kind of jig to mould the cover of a pistol magazine pouch. I have in my head that it's "U" shaped and I can press a magazine or block into it to get the shape right.

Will the vinegaroon method work with other dyes? I mean instead of dissolving iron (rust) in vinegar, could one dissolve commercial dyes and achive better staying results? Or would it be a mess? Heck, I think I'll try it. I'm going to dissolve dye in vinegar and see what happens. Then rinse in water to neutralize. I hate rubbing on oil, and having color come off the leather. vinegaroon

Ammonia works. I've used up to 25% ammonia and luke warm water to dip holsters in. When dry, it's extra stiff. When you get a whiff of the stuff you mix-up you gotta figure it's melting the underlying structure of the leather. Vinegar is acidic. I would be concerned that reisidual acid would rust a knife or gun left in the leather. Ammonia is an ingredient in gun cleaners and while it will dissolve soft metals like lead and copper it's pretty safe on blued and bare steel.