So I've Got This Beautiful Gator Backstrap...

[BigRiverLeather]

I saw this awesome backstrap with the beautiful medallions and skutes, in a gogreous cognac color and thought, man, I can make some nice holsters with that. Well, when I got it I was even more amazed at it's beauty, but most of it is far to heavy and large for a holster, and frankly I don't think it should be cut up and sacrificed for that. It has so much more potential and I could do what I want with much smaller, less uniform pieces.

Holsters are my thing. This is much better suited for a shotgun case, golf bag, some awesome midevil armour or something greater than I have experience for. Maybe I'll hang on to it until I have the confidence to do something great with it. Maybe I'm over selling it, but I sure think it is beautiful.

Any ideas?

[MADMAX22]

That is very nice, I like.

Not sure what I would do with it but a killer bag of some kind comes to mind. Looks a little 3d for holsters though. I would hold on to it until the right project raises its head.

[TwinOaks]

pack it up and send it to me!!!

and would ya mind throwing in free shipping???

I think a shotty rig would be the perfect use of it.

[particle]

Wow - those are beautiful skins. I saw Tandy has them on sale - something like $100 off? Thought about buying one for a holster, but I'm glad you posted and put some perspective on the size of the scales. Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours!

[DCKNIVES]

I have picked up a couple of those from the Ostrich Market.The last time I was over there Hank was showing me a guitar strap done with one real wide looked good.I did a couple of rifle slings, and will possibly do some cuffs.Dave

[BigRiverLeather]

Wow - those are beautiful skins. I saw Tandy has them on sale - something like $100 off? Thought about buying one for a holster, but I'm glad you posted and put some perspective on the size of the scales. Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours!

I've seen / touched the caiman hornback hides Tandy has and they are NOTHING like this. Those are Croc and this is Gator. The hides at Tandy run $100. They must be trained to tell their customers that they are normally $200 because I heard the same thing.

Ostrich Market (where I got this one of a kinder according to Henry) has caiman hides nearly twice the size for a little more money. Even if the price per square foot was the same, I'd bet the quality form OM would be better. Henry is great to work with.

OM has black gator backstraps, not near the quality but good useable hide, for $15 each. Again, the skutes are kind of big, but there are plenty of uses for them, probably more versatile than the one I got here.

Edited April 27, 2010 by BigRiverLeather

[particle]

Ahh - that makes more sense now. I didn't remember the hornback skutes being that large. When I asked the salesman how much the hides were, he laughed and said "a LOT!", then he looked up the price and said they were $199. If I recall correctly, one of the Tandy mailers I got said they were on sale for $99 with a regular price of $199.