Rifle sling made with Hornback crocodile

[Joon1911]

Man, RockyAussie!  That’s one beautiful croc sling.  So cool.  I haven’t had a chance to mess with croc or caiman yet.  It’s so expensive here in the United States, I haven’t had a project come up that I could justify the expense for.  That sling shape is just about perfect for the croc hornbacks.  Is it hard to cut through those plates?

Beautiful  work.  

[RockyAussie]

19 minutes ago, Joon1911 said:

Man, RockyAussie!  That’s one beautiful croc sling.  So cool.  I haven’t had a chance to mess with croc or caiman yet.  It’s so expensive here in the United States, I haven’t had a project come up that I could justify the expense for.  That sling shape is just about perfect for the croc hornbacks.  Is it hard to cut through those plates?

Beautiful  work.  

Thanks Joon1911, yes if you cut through the bone sections it can break your knife. That is the reason to work around cutting through the leather in between them. I only work with Porosus crocodile that has less bones problems than the rest to deal with. Unfortunately it is the dearest as well. Lucky for me I have thousands of them here and make them up into belts most days.

[noobleather]

Thanks for the extra pics,really detailed.

Really like the edging work,is that just a regular soldering iron or have you modified the tip.

Have you ever made holsters out of croc skin??

[RockyAussie]

3 minutes ago, noobleather said:

Thanks for the extra pics,really detailed.

Really like the edging work,is that just a regular soldering iron or have you modified the tip.

Have you ever made holsters out of croc skin??

Yep, that's a 80 watt soldering iron with a tip I've reshaped to go over the rounded shape I want. It is temperature controlled via a light dimmer switch. Should say I been doing it that way for about 25+ years and way before I ever heard about these filituse things or however you say it. Haven't made any croc skin holsters as I don't tend to get much in that style of stuff. Only ever made a couple of leather holsters come to think of it. No laughin here's some pics of one.

[RockyAussie]

Just found another one

[kiwican]

Mick Dundee would have loved that!

[YinTx]

5 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Hi @YinTx I should have made that measurement clearer in my measurement picture. From the wide end, end the first crew punch is 19" down. On the average that should work fine. 

Pretty clear in the photo, I just missed it.  Thanks!  I don't think I've ever seen one with a thumb loop.  Will have to try it some time!  Fantastic sling, thanks for sharing the build with us.  Also, nice holster work!  I've only done one so far, and not much to shout about.  All in due time...

YinTx

[noobleather]

+1 for that info on the soldering iron RockyAussie. That holster looks very nice,clean and functional

[KingsCountyLeather]

Great job on the sling!

I made a couple out of veg tanned leather for my brother and the first was shaped like yours but he asked me to make it narrower as it kept slipping off his shoulder. I think my mistake was not lining it with nonslip type leather (nubuck). I notice you didn’t stitch the lining on? Will the glue be strong enough over time?

[Dwight]

Thanks, RockyAussie, . . . really enjoyed the tutorial.

I have a piece of veg tan that is simulated alligator, . . . never had a real use for it, . . . and THAT may be a way to use us some of it and get something really useful out of it at the same time.

May God bless,

Dwight