DwightT

That's really beautiful. I just may have to add something like this to my list of future projects. /dwight

Thanks. Between this pattern and Jeff's I should be able to come up something that will give me an idea as to how to make a holster. Should keep me off the streets for a couple weeks now. /dwight

I had an uncle that used to raise Percherons and I remember that he had some bell straps for them that had felt like that. On the other hand he was 102 when he finally passed away, and that was 20 years ago. So I guess his straps could probably be considered antiques. /dwight

Idaho is Open Carry (Constitutional Carry?), so I could pretty much carry it anywhere I want whenever I want unless the store or whatever posts a "No Guns" sign (which would probably send me somewhere else regardless of if I'm carrying or not). However I doubt if I will actually carry this one much at all. Right now I mostly just want to get some experience with making a holster, partly because I've had family and friends ask me when I can make one for them. The Taurus (and it is a 5-shot) isn't really an appropriate gun for me (trigger is too damn heavy) so I'll probably eventually sell it and get something else. I just think it might be a good one to practice on for a starter holster. @chuck123wapati your holster looks like about exactly what I was thinking of, so if you have the pattern in a digital for would you mind sharing it? Or I'll just go get Jeff's. It looks like it will do the job for me also. /dwight

Not really an answer to your query, but FWIW when I'm working with some "tricky" material like that instead of pushing the awl into my hand I use a wine or Champaign cork to push against, Tends to leave much less blood on my project. /dwight

I just finished off a project (guitar strap for my grandson - a first for me), so for my next project I'm thinking of taking on a making a holster. I haven't really done much with guns (just haven't taken the time yet) but I have a Taurus 85 Ultralight that my sister gave me a while back that could use a holster, if only for the learning experience. Any suggestions for a holster pattern? I know next to nothing about the different styles of holsters, but I'm thinking of a simple belt clip type with some tooling (so not wet-molded). I'm looking at the Bullseye Holster Pattern Pack from Tandy, but again since I know nothing about holsters I can't really tell if any of those would be appropriate or not for this gun. TIA for any suggestions. /dwight

Our local Tandy (20 minutes away for me) has been like that. Unfortunately they just lost my favorite employee - he decided to move on to other things. They have a new guy in there that I just haven't warmed up to yet. I'm hoping it's just a matter of my going in more often to get to know him better. And I agree with Jonas - Thank you for supporting local. Online shopping has it's place, but we need to keep the local stores in business too. /dwight

Beautiful work. Nice tight stitching. /dwight

Looks great. I may have to build myself another one to add another shelf for the dyes and paints. Or maybe I'll just use some dowels to attach another shelf on top of the existing one. Looks like you have room for the thread rod above the tools. The problem with mine is that when the spools of thread are loaded, pulling some of the tools out of the shelf below it gets a little awkward. If I do a rebuild I'll plan on leaving more room between the shelf and the rod. And I used a piece of aluminum electrical conduit for my rod. Having a step-son who is an electrician with easy access to "scraps" was pretty much the deciding factor for me. /dwight

Looks great. Weren't those stars fun to paint? /dwight

Looks great Chuck. How did you do the lettering? Was that just freehand with a swivel knife? /dwight

I guess that technically makes it an "overlay" instead of an "inlay"? It was hard to tell from the photographs, especially when I was looking at it from my phone. Still looks pretty good to me. /dwight

While I personally know nothing about holsters, I think it looks pretty good. What do you think you did wrong? /dwight

Veeerrrry Carefully. Yes, it was kind of a pain. I painted the blue field first (trying to keep the blue paint off the stars), then once that dried I went back with a fine-point artists brush to do the stars. This time I tried to keep the white paint only on the stars, but I didn't worry too much about slopping over onto the field. Once that paint dried I went back again with the fine-point brush and touched up the blue. I found that it was easier to cover the white slop with the blue paint than it was to try to cover any blue slop on the itty bitty white stars without slopping onto the blue field again. /dwight

Truly impressive. It would probably take me 5 hours just to cut the leather. And to get the lacing to look that good - just wow! /dwight

Thanks Samalan Thanks Chuck. And thanks for your feedback on the design. Thanks Mulesaw. And thank you for your feedback also. Yes, it was a lot of basket weave. Doing that told me that I need a larger work area when I take on a project of this size. Trying to fit that big (23" x 10.5") chunk of leather onto my little work area lead to a few of my "goofs". But having all that basket weave also helps make the flag stand out, and that was really what I was after. And the answer for the other PGR members is simple. "I'll get right on that as soon as I clear off the other projects on my list." Thanks. First time in a long time with doing a project of this size, so having the feedback along the way helped. Thanks Bawarrior. Thanks. Thanks Hags. Even though I know where the mitsakes are even I can look past them when I look at the whole thing, so I guess they weren't all that bad. BTW: a good friend of mine is a retired Army RN who is also retired from the VA Healthcare system. She was the one who got me to apply for my VA benefits. /dwight

Today I finished my flag case. I'll be using this case to carry my flag for Patriot Guard Rider missions to stand Flag Lines at the funerals of veterans. Overall I'm fairly happy with the results even though there are a few things that I would do differently if I ever do something like this again. For example, I should have used center-bar buckles for the top cap instead of heel-bar buckles. Thanks again to those who offered feedback when I initially posted this idea in the discussion area. /dwight Had to split into two posts because of size limitations.

Thanks all. I'm almost finished with the final case. As with any project there are some things that I would do differently if I had to do it again, but on the whole I'm pretty happy with the way its turning out. I'll post in the "Show Off" area tomorrow when I'm done. And thanks again for the feedback on the tooling pattern. I think that really helped me to make it better than what I had originally come up with. /dwight

I think it looks great. And I really like the design of the bucket. Simple but highly effective. /dwight

Beautiful work on those leaves.

That looks awesome Chuck.

With @Mulesaw's comments in mind, I decided to modify the design a bit to move the flag bearer down so that he isn't covered by the flag at all. I also changed the pose so that he is at "Present Arms" instead of just "Attention" and I shortened the flag pole. I like the looks better and it is more representative of how our PGR group stands the flag line. And I did this practice piece without the basket weave. Not totally decided yet as to if I'll use it in the final piece or not. Guess I better decide soon though since I have the leather for it casing right now. And yes, I got a bit sloppy with the matting tool on this practice piece. I'll have to keep it cleaner for the final piece. /dwight

My tool rack is similar to @Brokenolmarine's, probably because I copied and adapted his from when he posted it before. It mostly works, but there are some tools that don't have a home on the rack. Maybe I have too many tools? Nah. No such thing as too many tools.

Nice job. That looks fantastic. It's a great way to use some scraps. /dwight

Yep. We do that sometimes, but Farkle works better for road trips on the motorcycle. I just need to get around to making a dice tray that will roll up for transport. /dwight