MarshalWill

I've always liked historic pieces so I decided to make a copy of this Main & Winchester holster. I had to make a new pattern so I modified one I already had on hand. After the piece was done, the pattern got a few adjustments so if I make another one, it will be even closer to the original. I didn't have a maker's stamp big enough so I went around my stamp with a border tool. It came out OK.

Looks good. Sometimes nothing is better than oak leaves.

Looks good. I like BW stamping done parallel to a side or edge. The side snaps look different in the finished photo. Did you change those to magnetic or something? I've done that. It's an annoyance for sure but it doesn't take away from the overall effect.

Thanks. It looked that way but I wanted to verify that.

That new one is beautiful. Certainly a step above the putty knife. Is it sharpened on one side or both equally?

What about other knives? Anyone use others? My favorite is one I made while working in the saddle shop. I copied the one Charlie Miller had made and used for just about everything. It does more than most.

It's been a while since I've been on the forum. I figured this thread was as good a place as any to post again. I haven't been overly enamored by round knives, having not used one much in the past. 10 or 15 years ago I made one just because I didn't have one. I made it out of a saw blade and it cuts great. I'm still not sold on it, though.

I suspect the only thing that could happen with stainless wool is that the vinegar would clean it. In food processing, they build stainless machinery so there won't be oxidation (rust) contamination of the food. No rust = no oxidation = no vinegaroon.

After the baking soda bath and rinse has dried completely, I put EVOO and Lexol conditioner on it. A light coat of EVOO seems to help neutralize the acids in the leather. After that, I think it's mostly personal preference.

I keep mine in mason jars. I never really tighten the tops but I suppose I could. The stuff gives a nice, rich black for over a year. I have some that's a couple of years old. It produces a medium grey which is fine as a base for a nice dark brown color. I can rejuvenate it but it's nice to have the grey so I just make more when needed. Yeah, it is magical. I don't use black dye anymore unless it's with leather that doesn't take the color.

You have a picture of that toolbox? I've been planning to make a new one and am looking for ideas. Thanks.

My favorite swivel knife is a Henley. By far the best one I have. My favorite cutting knife is one I made from a sawblade. I never got used to a round knife because the saddlemaker I learned from years ago showed me his knife he made. I copied that one. Here's a picture. The lighting makes the blade's edge look dark, but it isn't.

I agree that they will make great background tools. Especially when you have a lot of area to cover. Good designs.

I also took advantage of the Christmas special this year. They're great stamps and for the price, you probably won't be able to match them. They're a good selection to boot. I've also bought a few extra stamps from Ellis at full retail price and they're still worth it. I do intend to dip them in touch-up bluing to seal the steel so they won't rust.

A friend gave me one that a friend of his made. It's interesting because the jaws rotate to any angle. The drawback is that the head is actuated by a 1/4" steel cable and there's no stretch to it. I put a spring in the cable and it works better but needs a stiffer spring. It's very useful to have the roatating jaws. Notice the peg on the back of the jaws that goes through a hole in the head and into holes in the seat. He also put a holder on the right jaw to hold a cake of beeswax. This thing is well thought out. Maybe it'll give you some ideas.

I did a stint building machinery. More often than not, there was loud music playing on both sides of the shop, never the same type and I worked in the middle. Usually Mexican folk music battling it out with hard rock. Both sides turning the music up so loud they didn't have to listen to the other. I got tired of being surrounded with noise. Now I enjoy quiet while I work. I suppose some good music would go well but I just don't think of it. I like having iced tea on hand. Maybe I'll try some music one of these days.

I've been making my own stamps since I first went to work for a saddlemaker back in the 70's because that's what he did. I made my own leather knives, again as he did because the shape wasn't available commercially. If I can buy a stamp, I will. When what I want isn't available or if the lead time is too long, I will make my own. Some of them look fairly nice. Others are less than beautiful but the tip is what matters. Most have been made from old bolts because that's what was on hand when I needed to make one. I don't have many stainless ones but the steel doesn't make dark impressions when used. Just to be sure, I stamp a scrap a few times to clean the head before using it on a project. I've only had one tip corrode. That one got dipped in Birchwood Casey Super Blue to seal it after cleaning. I'm thinking of dipping all of my hand made ones to prevent that from happening in the future. Here's a pic of one of the more, shall we say, functional ones. As you can see, I didn't have to texture the barrel for ease of handling.

Howdy, Panhead. I see you made it over here, too. Welcome from one newbie to another.

I've used Chuck's method of making vinegaroon for a couple years, now. I clean the steel wool with lighter fluid then shake out most of it and burn off the excess. When it's cool enough to touch I put it in the vinegar. One of those big 0000 pads in a quart of vinegar works great. I never strain it or anything. I suppose I should but it never occurred to me. I can get a beautiful rich black in a couple of days with a new batch. Here's a picture of a holster done with it. Oops. Wrong pic. Here's the right one.

Those both look good. I like the basketweave pouch with the sides left plain. Nice work.

Some tools just make sense, don't they? I use mine a lot. It adds a nice touch to edges of things. To follow an edge, I tip mine slightly toward the beveled side and run it along firmly. On a second pass, it will usually work fine stood straight up.

Packing Iron is a great reference. I've made a lot of holsters using the pictures in it as an inspiration. It's also a good study for how leather was done in the 1800's. I also have a couple SAA's that are good for more excuses, ah, inspiration to make leather stuff. Here's another pic for a little later in the century, inspired by the cover on PI. The pistols are really great. They are the New Model Armies (aka 1858 Remingtons) with R&D cylinders. With the right loads, they're tack nailers. Great feel and balance, too. A little filing and such and they really look like the real item. Best of all, they're a good excuse to make leather for the 1860-1880 period.

You're right about the first tool being a beader. It looks like one for tooling a single bead. I suspect that would be for doing a bead that doesn't follow a knife cut or edge since both sides seem to be the same height. Here are photos of a couple of mine. The other picture shows the bead put on the edge of a design. That bead was done with the smaller of the two in the second photo.

Thanks, Tom. I more or less copied those from originals I found photos of in Packing Iron. They're close but not replicas. The left one is reversed from a right strong side. I had to make the two stamps to make that fern pattern and another one for the running chevron pattern on the other one. The dyes were made from pecan hulls (the left one) and English walnut hulls (the right one). Thanks to Chuck Burrows for the recipe for natural dyes. Here's another one along the same vein done with Chuck's recipe for vinegaroon black.