Littlef

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?

That looks amazing.

I pulled that right off the leather crafters and sadlers website, which is where I bought mine.

Hand of God Rig G2 Holster Pattern Pack – Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal (leathercraftersjournal.com)

I made a concho and silver soldered a Chicago screw on the back. After I did that, the screw was bit too long. I just took a hand file, and filed down the screw and the post till I got the right length. I was concerned it might mess up the threads but they worked fine. You might be able to just take a file to it, and shorten it a bit.

Thank you very much, I agree. - Its actually an Army Tan bonded nylon. But, against the green, it certainly looks white and not tan.

I concur.

fair enough, I'll concede to your expertise. I gotta get back to work, lol.

Actually a Dragoon was dismounted infantry. Over time the dragoon role evolved into just the cavalry.

Thanks Chuck!. Absolutely, I agree with the idea that any flintlock it highly susceptible to moisture, but at some point, it would need to be carried into battle. A Dragoon would have had a long arm, a saber, as well as a pistol. It does seem odd that at this point in history, there didn't appear to be any type of holster used, once the dragoon dismounts from his horse.

The 1805 was issued to Dragoons, by the war of 1812. (and probably before.) Although they were considered horse pistols, carried in some sort of saddle scabbard. I could not find a photograph of one, aside from a Pirates of the Caribbean type movie creation. I couldn't even find an example from a museum. Once a dragoon dismounted, I'm not exactly sure how they were officially to be carried. I actually tried to find historical photos of how they would be carried on a battlefield... or while on a naval ship, and I found nothing. I find it hard to believe that military doctrine of the time would have a soldier just tuck a pistol through their belt, or put it in a coat pocket, or in a haversack, etc. Maybe the flintlock pistol was such an afterthought, that's really how it was done. Thus, I came up with this anachronism, based on much later Western Holsters of the late 1800's. -A very long winded response to say, yes, it would have been a real advantage to have a way to securely carry one.

I had to go back and relooked at the photos. The sight is brass, and it’s against a tan burlap background so it kinda just blends in to the background.

It absolutely has a front sight, and its a large sight. You can see it in the main photos of the original post.

Thank you very much. That means a lot. This is the third holster I've made. I spent a lot of time trying to work out the pattern to fit good, and not be sloppy with the large cut out for the lock. It does drag a bit, but once you clear the wood, there's room for the sight. Now - ramrod tip is flared so it'll cover a .58 caliber roundball. That's a big flare. The ram rod catch almost every time, unless I pull it real slow and finagle it.

I know union jacks on Etsy has a nice looking Schofield pattern for download for like 15-20 bucks. Schofield Holster Digital PDF Patterns for You to Make - Etsy