Matching Leather S&w K Frame Belt And Holster

[snubbyfan]

Just finished up a matching leather S&W K frame belt and holster today.

It's all 9 ounce leather. The belt's hand stitched, double layer leather and I skived the end of the inner layer at the buckle end so it'll taper down rather than have an abrupt stop. All the hardware's solid brass. The leather's hand dyed, stitched, burnished and finished.

I've seen some leather holsters with welts, I kinda liked the way they looked. I decided to try a welt on this holster and I kinda like the way it looks.

Our cat Natayo likes ot too.

[builderofstuff]

Very nice, very nice indeed

[Rohn]

Nice job on that one. Looks great!

[Wild Bill46]

Snubbyfan

Very intricate looking, and a good job too,

I kinda like the fat welt look as well, and it kinda goes with intricate, Congratulations ! Wild Bill46

[stu925]

Very nice, I did a holster for a Ruger Blackhawk as one of my first projects. I used a really thick welt and punched one hole at a time with a diamond awl. Stitching looked ok from the front but the back side was damn ugly. Holster is still usable but I need to do another nicer one one of these days. Punching those holes through that welt I found it almost impossible to keep the awl straight, I know there's a few people that use a drill press for this, I may give that a go on the next one.

Stu

[snubbyfan]

Stu, patience and practice.

It's all punched and stitched by hand.There's one hole out of line and it's just buggin' me.

[Treed]

Looks great.....great work

[snubbyfan]

Snubbyfan

Very intricate looking, and a good job too,

I kinda like the fat welt look as well, and it kinda goes with intricate, Congratulations ! Wild Bill46

Thanks, my wife says it's busy lookin'.

[Wild Bill46]

Snubbyfan ---------------

And I still think its intriccacy looks right at home with this leather.

The handles material kinda contrasts with the whole idea you had for the holster and belt in the first place.

Busy maybe ? I still thiink its a good job, I say congratulations ! --------------- Wild Bill46

[BubbaJon]

Very very nice - I especially commend the edge work - smooth as a baby's bottom.

[zuludog]

stu925 I make knife sheaths. By the time you've got front + back + welt in 3 to 4 mm leather that adds up to quite a thickness. I use a drill with the following technique

Make the stitching line with an edge groover,

Tack all the pieces into position with a few dabs of general purpose glue

Mark the position of the stitching holes with a stitch pricker

Transfer the sheath to a bench vice fitted with padded jaws, Clean the vice up first so you don't get the sheath dirty. Even with soft jaws only close the jaws just enough to hold the sheath

Drill the stitching holes. I use a small hand drill that's something of a family heirloom. You could get a small modern hand drill, but may as well get a miniature drill like a Dremel. I use a 1.5 mm drill.

Transfer the sheath to a sewing pony and sew in the usual way, using an awl to open up the drill holes

It sounds a bit cumbersome, but once you've got a bit of practice you can go fairly well. Obviously it's slower than using just an awl on thinner leather, but keep telling yourself it's a hobby, you don't have to earn your living from it. In fact, once you accept that it's going to be slow, you can concentrate on neatness.

[snubbyfan]

Very nice, I did a holster for a Ruger Blackhawk as one of my first projects. I used a really thick welt and punched one hole at a time with a diamond awl. Stitching looked ok from the front but the back side was damn ugly. Holster is still usable but I need to do another nicer one one of these days. Punching those holes through that welt I found it almost impossible to keep the awl straight, I know there's a few people that use a drill press for this, I may give that a go on the next one.

Stu

I just give the pricking iron a good whack, it helps to align and guide the awl. Make sure that awl's sharp, polished and stropped, that'll help too.

Very very nice - I especially commend the edge work - smooth as a baby's bottom.

Thanks, I take pride in my edges and stitch lines.