California Slim Jim Holster + Matching Tapered Gun Belt

[Bruno Rock]

Hi guys! Just finished making this rig for myself, like the title topic says, California Slim Jim Holster that comes with 2 1/2 inch gun belt, tapered to fit a 1 3/4 inch center buckle.

It's my first attempt in making a large portion of basketweave decoration, I've found a little bit difficult to angle the tool to leave just an half mark, advices for future improvements are appreciated.

A special thank goes to Jim Simmons, for his great patterns and really detailed instructions, I can't thank him enough for all the patterns and tutorials kindly provided.

So guys tell me what to you think

Cheers from Italy

[benlilly1]

Looks great Bruno!

[camano ridge]

Bruno, looks great. When I do basket weave I usually use a little stteeper angle then you did. As I get near the border area I tilt the tool up so that the end near the border area is off the leather you will leave more or less a half impression. I use the border tool after I have done the basket weave.

[JLSleather]

Yep, me too. Overall, the rig DOES look good, and I certainly like the stitchin'. A bit steeper on the basket stamp on the belt, and on the holster, take it on around a bit further, and you wont have that 'fade' in the stamping at the front edge.

Again, I still like the rig

[dakotawolf]

I like the color and finish. What method did you use? I assume that is saddle tan? How did you apply it to get such a consistent finish? It is really a striking rig. Machine sewn?

[snubbyfan]

Bruno, looks great. When I do basket weave I usually use a little stteeper angle then you did. As I get near the border area I tilt the tool up so that the end near the border area is off the leather you will leave more or less a half impression. I use the border tool after I have done the basket weave.

That's pretty much the process I use.

[Feraud]

The Slim Jim style is my favorite of the old west holsters. You did a great job on that rig!

I'd like to know what dye and finish you used.

[Bruno Rock]

Thanks to all you guys, for the nice compliments, thanks to camano ridge, JLSleather and snubbyfan for the tips. I'll try soon on another project!

To dakotawolf and Feraud, the leather I've used was already dyed, it was on special, and I decided to give a try, it's saddle tan but here in Italy it's called "Color Cognac", I've applyed some mink oil to finish it. Honestly I prefer to work with veg tan leather, instead of pre dyed.

It's all hand-sewed! It took me to two afternoons to complete the stitching on the belt!

[JLSleather]

IF I do basket stamping, I like the stamp to run evenly down the strap. The stamp is angled, but the resulting "basketweave" runs down the length -- it does't 'wander' off the strap.

Posted here, just so you can see it and decide if you like the look or not. Keep in mind, this belt is narrower than yours, so you'd have more "rows". Or, you may not use the same stamp. But, you can get different 'look' on the same width just by changing the stamp you're using but using the same technique. Well, technique may be too 'fancy' a term for this... anybody can do this.

[LederRudi]

That's exactly what I'd like to build for my 1860 Army! I hope it will turn out as nice and clean as yours!

If the leather's not veg tan, how did you convince it to take the impressions of your tools?

Back when I worked on my very first project which was a cowboy rig for my little son, I tried to hammer some impressions into what had to be black dyed chrome tan...
I have seen drum dyed tooling leather advertised on the net (Zack White leather). Maybe that's the kind of stuff you made your rig of?
But even if so, the dying process seems to affect the tooling qualities of the leather since you mentioned that you prefer natural cowhide.

I like the idea of working with pre dyed leather and avoiding the risk of getting a blotchy coloring.

In Terms of angled basketweave: I've only recently made my first steps on that field after an extensive research on LW-net which yielded valuable Information. The method I prefer now is the following:
- Measure the length of the "feet" of your basketweave stamp. Let*s say that's four millimeters each.
- Draw a line two millimeters (about half of the measured length) north of the middle of your belt strap.
- Put the lower left and the upper right foot directly below the line and make tthe Impression.
One could simply draw a middle line and put the lower left foot below it and the upper right foot above it, but I found that difficult to control visually.
(All that nitpicking might not make a hell of a difference since the groove the dividers leaves in the moist leather is easily one millilmeter wide. So this procedure is as much about the peace of the craftsman's mind as about precision.)
- Complete the row putting the lower left foot of the tool into the already made impression of the upper right foot.
- add further rows.

Edited January 14, 2015 by LederRudi