Littlef

I use barge, straight out of the can. I have not attempted to ever thin it, and I havn't had a problem. I also store it inside, so its always 66-72 degrees-ish. I could see it getting real thick, if it was stored at lowers temps. Mine is honey consistency.

Another suggestion. You said "I cut myself usually when hand sewing - poke myself with the awl or needle." Work on sharpening your awl and other tools. A well sharpened awl with slice through leather with light pressure, that you can control. When tools are dull, it takes much more pressure and effort. When having to muscle your tools to work, there's a much higher likelihood that something slips, which causes an accident.

Hmmm. It sounds like you need to re-think your process on how you handle knives. Statistically, if you work with sharp items long enough, you'll eventually cut or nick yourself. BUT, when it keeps happening, that comes from improper handling. I'd recommend re-thinking how you go about your process to cut away from you, and how to keep your fingers out of the path of the blades.

That's great!! I have "packing iron" too. I need to start just picking various holsters that I like and try to replicate them.

The one thing I've read is that you shouldn't shake it, stir it...agitate it, cause that's just adding oxygen to rust the iron. - but it still works, even when there's a rusty solute.

The hardware store sells these aluminum binding posts cheap. You could quickly polish the head shiny. They come in different lengths, or you could cut the post to whatever length you needed.

Love that. nice work.

Here's a jar of mine. Its now just over a monthly old. I dyed my project at 1 week. Before I used it, I removed the steel wool, and ran it through a coffee filter. At one week it was pretty clear, but since then its developed this delicious rusty color. I've scooped crud off the top about once a week. But, I just dipped a scrap of leather in it, and it pretty much still instantly turned it black. There doesn't seem to be any kind of ill effect on the leather from the vinegaroon looking rusty. It still works great. Just test a piece of scrap in your before you use it on a real project to make sure you get the effect you're looking for.

That is a cool looking hide. I'd love to see the finished holsters when you're done.

Thank you very much! I used Feibing's Kelly green, and I subdued it a bit with usmc black and mahogany dye. I also applied some medium brown antique paste.

sure, nothing wrong with wanting to understand how things work. Enjoy the experiment!

I think you're putting way more thought behind this, than is necessary. I just did a vinegaroon belt pouch for round balls. I filled a pickle jar with vinegar, and jammed 2 4x steel wool pads in it on a Tuesday. On Saturday I blackened my leather. I didn't take a single measurement. - your level is dropping because vinegar is mostly water, and water evaporates because you made a vent hole in the jar lid. Its not hurting anything. Also, its nice when the mixture remains clear, but it still works just fine when it develops some sludge from the steel wool rusting.

It's a Holster from the Movie 3:10 to Yuma. The Bad guy in the movie, Russel Crow, carries a firearm, with a cross inlayed into the grip, and its nicknamed, The Hand of God. -This is the Holster that was made for that firearm in the movie. It's just a cool design and a good looking holster. It got a lot of screen time in the movie, since it was worn by a main character. The Pattern is sold on--line by the actual maker of the holster who made it for the movie.

- and I thought of a #5. - Clean your work space, and get rid of clutter. This especially applies when the leather is wet. The less junk you have sitting around on the workspace, the less things there are to bump the leather into that can make a mark on it.

I'm a newby too, and here's what I've done trying to mitigate the same marks. 1 cut your nails short, and file them smooth. The shorter the better. 2. Use a stitching pony. The less you handle the leather, the less opportunity there is to mark it up. 3. When you are stamping, hold the tool higher up, so your fingers are not in contact with the leather. The more you drag your fingers around on the leather, the more opportunity there is to mark it up. 4. I actually bought a pair of thin cotton "quilting gloves" They are designed to give you grip when feeding bulky layers of fabric through a sewing machine, but they are thin, and have grip in the finger tips, so you still have dexterity. I just tried using them when working on my last holster, and it eliminated 99% of the stray fingernail marks.

That's a good looking belt!

Thanks Bruce, that's a good bit of perspective. I'm certainly not in production. This is my recreation and entertainment. I figure for $70 bucks it'll be a good science experiment. I just didn't want to throw $70 bucks out the window if they were just garbage. I appreciate it.

I thought it might be handy to have a leather splitter to fine tune strap thickness. I see splitters on amazon in the $70 range. Tandy and other places have splitters in the $300 range. Has anyone messed with one of the Chinese made amazon ones? I might get one and experiment with it. Looks like the more expensive models have wider 5 1/2" cutting width versus 3 1/2" width of the cheap ones. 3 1/2 would be pretty limiting.

Looks nice, well done!

Nice thanks. I believe I watched this back before I started doing any leather work. I'll go back and re-watch it, now with a bit of perspective from having completed a handful of projects. Thanks!

That's a helpful bit of info also. Even when I'm pulling the thread tight, I still pierce the thread with the 2nd needle occasionally. I'll try the inserting both needles simultaneously on the next project. Thanks!

I'm glad someone asked this question. I've made a couple western holsters, and sewed the perimeter in one shot, which was like 7 feet of thread --ish. That is a beat down fighting tangles in that much thread. - Going forward, I'll do it in multiple sections and overstitch the sections by 3 or 4 stitches. Thank you for that nugget of experience!

lol, yea I bet its tedious. - but the finished product looks really nice.

nice! thanks. It makes a nice background, I bet it fits around every contour.

Love it! I want to attempt a leaf carving on a future holster. (when I build up some skills, ...and my nerve to do it.) May I ask what backgrounder you used? was that a round backgrounder?