Brokenolmarine

Getting close, the order is due Wednesday, via Fedex.

Yup, they do that a lot here as the temps get into triple digits. I've watched a lot of his stuff over the years. Excellent instructor, even via you tube where you can't ask questions.

Still waiting for materials. I'm chomping at the bit to get started.

I have been making holsters, sheathes, pouches, belts, etc. My daughter came up for Christmas, and dropped a new project on my bench. One of her friends has an old saddle she loves, and her fenders are badly worn. "See if you can redo the fenders," my daughter said, "the attached stirrup leathers should be fine." The fenders were tooled in a basket weave pattern. "Nope, she'd actually rather lose the basket weave, it's been eating up her legs for years. A border would be okay." This will be a new experience. Break down the existing pieces, saving the parts that are still good, and the hardware. I ordered the saddle skirting weight from Makers, and the heavy rivets/burrs plus the setter I'd need. Looking forward to the challenge. The owner knows I've never done this work, but has seen my tooled belts and sheaths. I have my wife and daughter to advise me. Both have years of equine experience. Waiting on UPS. Wish me luck.

I really like this one the best. Clean, neat, great color and excellent tooling and stitching. Something I would carry myself.

Nice work on the sheath, and I can understand replacing the scales on the knife if they had gotten beaten up over the years. I have had the same knife for more than 40 years. I received it as a gift while stationed in Hawaii, after helping a friend out for several weeks... Nice little knife and was a workhorse for me for years. I keep it now because it was a gift. Good knives. I ought to make a new sheath for mine as well, just to kill time.

Graceful curves, clean crisp tooling. Very nice.

I bought molar extraction pliers on amazon to use for removing rivets in leather if I messed them up, or had a belt or holster in need of repair. The pliers work great to hold the edge of chicago screws for removal or installation as well. https://www.ebay.com/itm/305751247935

Most constitutional (permitless) carry states also offer permits if you go thru the permiting process. The advantage there is reciprocity. My home state permit allows concealed carry in nearly forty of the fifty states. We just won't travel in the others. I use a J frame Smith 357 in a pocket holster during warmer months, and a SIG 45 in a shoulder holster in cooler weather. Injuries make a belt uncomfortable these days. The truth is, nearly everyone I know who carries concealed, has "the box" in a closet. It holds all the holsters that were going to be perfect. The longer you have been carrying, the larger the box/collection. Maybe you'll find a friend and they'll let you try some of the holsters in their box. 😉

I started leather work, for the same reason I started making knives. My daughter asked me to. She wanted me to make her a knife. I told her I didn't know how. "YouTube," she said. I bought the knife kit from Woodcraft, and watched a few videos and made the first knife, years ago. She still uses it daily. A month after I sent the knife she called and wanted a sheath. I don't do leather work... "Youtube... Duh." Got the basics from Tandy and got started.... made the sheath. Later she wanted a tooled sheath. I didn't even call her, just fired up YouTube and got started. What I found is that to improve, I saved off cuts and scraps, and practiced tooling, and sewing on scraps. Youtube has hundreds of videos on tooling techniques and stitching. Watch a lot, pick out the ones that work for you. Practice them on scraps. Toss the bad ones and save the improvements for reference. I STILL practice when I'm bored, and try new things often. I have severe arthritis... my Hands tell me when I have had enough time in the shop... sometimes an hour, sometimes Ninety Minutes. STOP then. I can do two or three sessions a day, sometimes ONE. Don't push it. Trying to work in pain is a call for failure. I learned the hard way. It's a hobby, not a job, enjoy it. Between practice, and time, you'll see improvement as you move forward. Everything I have accomplished, I learned from YouTube. There are some great videos out there, and some patient teachers in the videos. Others, not that good, you'll find them. Once you get better and have more confidence, move to better leather. I finally did, makes a big difference. Good luck.

I won't go into all the details, but one of the changes was I put a strip of kevlar blended rubber on the lower end of the welt and trimmed it to follow the profile once the contact cement cured. That would stop the push through. I also saddle stitched twice around the stitch line. I like the thicker look, plus with the belt loop and the welt and sheath edges contact cemented, it all should hold up well. I won't go into a build along thread, I drilled through the welt when I glued it to the single side, then again when I folded over the sheath and cemented it in place, to insure the holes were straight through. My stitch lines on the back are becoming more uniform like those on the front, learning from practice and tips from the forum and youtube. Touched up the stitch lines with the Light Brown Dye, burnished the edges and added a second coat of red dye to the initials. Sheen for the finish coat and two coats of bees wax buffed out. Looked pretty good. I think he'll like it. I don't sell my work, I present it to family and friends or donate it for auction. Paying things forward these days.

I made a sheath for a friend after Christmas. He had gotten a custom knife as a gift, and I posted the sheath here. He loved it, but had wanted a minimal sheath, as thin as possible. No welt to make it tight against his belt... I made it angled as well, as he had asked. The knife was incredibly sharp, so I cautioned him to not push too deep. Last week he came by and said he had gotten a little overzealous with the insertion and stuck the knife out the bottom of the sheath. Could I redo the stitching? I told him I'd make another sheath, using this one as a pattern, and see what I could do to protect against future errors. I deconstructed the one above, and laid out a pattern, with some changes.

Once a Marine, Always a Marine. I don't make and sell items with the emblem, but I did buy a couple embossing stamps to use as part of my maker's mark, "Brokenolmarine." Thirty surgeries later, I earned the title, and the use of the emblem. I give away my work, dont make money on it. The guidelines seem more focused on those planning to use the emblem for self promotion or business use. I think they would have a hard time telling all the military folks, "Okay, you left active duty, sorry but that tattoo belongs to the Federal Government. This won't hurt... Much." I mainly put it on holsters, belts, sheaths, etc that Miss Tina and I use. The guidelines aren't clear about personal use for individual veterans, but the exchange sells a LOT of those patches and decals for our use. A contridiction, I'd say.

The leather came in. It's very nice. When I finish the knife I have on my bench I'll tool a sheath, we'll see how the new leather tools, burnishes, and finishes. I'll keep yah posted.

Here is the Build Along for the Display case (If you are intersted.) https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/120263-knife-display-case-wip/