Reason to appreciate the group we have here...

[Rayban]

Rayban.

Nice work.. What did you fill the handle with? bird shot also. Is the bottom flat or rounded as the top.

Peace.

Tal~ "AZ09"

The other side is rounded....identical to what you see....I filled it with #6 bird shot. I poured it in thru the opening at the top of the handle.......poked at it with a stick so it would pack in, then stitched the top line you see below the grommet, then grommet, then the upper most line of stitching.

Simple, you can make one in half an hour if you dye last.

RG

[RVM45]

Several things come to mind:

A Master Craftsman is confident of his work and has no qualms about sharing his experience.

Some half-@ Shabnasticator, on the other hand, is desperate to discourage potential competition by any means--fair or foul.

James Krenov--a famous Cabinnent Maker--had some remarkably deep thoughts about the nature of Skiil; Value; and Craftsmanship. He recounts the following Dialog:

"The man down the street wiil do it for $50."

And I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying: "If that is the type work that will satisfy you__Please go to the man down the street!"

You will encounter this situaion many times, if you open your own bussiness. Sometimes work will be slow; you'll be short on cash; and you'll be sorely tempted to knock out something quickly for "$50"__But you won't__for many reasons...

But mostly because you're not a "$50 Person".

I paraphrased. Can't quote something that I haven't read for several years exactly.

I take "$50 Person" to mean a Whore--though a very high-priced one...

Finally, its purely a matter of aesthetics, but does anyone know what pattern to cut the leather to get the olde tyme looking blackjack that is shapped roughly like a miniture punching bag; or slightly elongated light bulb ?

You see this pattern kosh in cartoons more than anywhere else--though they did make them.

I wrote a novella one time. One of the Warders threatened the clients with one fairly regularly--and the narrator said that it looked sadly in need of some Viagra...

(Which is another indirect way of describing the shape....)

.....RVM45

[Rayban]

"Finally, its purely a matter of aesthetics, but does anyone know what pattern to cut the leather to get the olde tyme looking blackjack that is shapped roughly like a miniture punching bag; or slightly elongated light bulb ?"

That sounds to me like a cunk of lead encased in leather.....if not, do what I did for the pattern shown above....I saw one I wanted to try to dupe, tried it, and it worked out.