Need advice making a gun belt and holster

[pepin1948]

He does want a cross draw too, yup. Thanks for mentioning the rake as well, I'll need to get that info from him.

[pepin1948]

So here it is, the first holster finished. I also completed the cross draw, but don't have pics of it. Am working on the belt now. Next he wants cowboy cuffs, at least that is a much easier project.

I baptized my head knife in blood on the belt (missed the leather, thankfully) and had to rush off to the clinic to have my finger glued/bandaged. Gosh, he's not paying me enough!

[BruceGibson]

Oh, no! How's your hand/finger? My father-in-law was checking out one of my round/head knives a while back and it made me a nervous wreck. I finally wound up taking it away from him.

For a head knife to work its best, it should be razor sharp, and polished along the edge to a mirror finish. The slicker the better, especially for heavy skirting. What works most efficiently on leather also works effectively on leatherworkers.

And the rule...the rule that you never, ever...ever...break---ALWAYS KEEP YOUR HAND BEHIND THE KNIFE. ALWAYS...there are times you'll persuade yourself to make an exception, but that's when you'll cut yourself. Awkward cut, angle cut, curves--particularly--you'll find yourself in a position to have your free hand in front of your knife. Stop immediately. Think about it. The temptation will arise, often. Just this one time, just this little cut.

ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, KEEP YOUR HANDS BEHIND THE KNIFE!

Stop. Think a second. Visualize your cut. Seriously. Hard spot/soft spot. They both have an effect on the knife behavior. If it jumps, or slips, where are your delicate body parts?

ALWAYS, KEEP YOUR HANDS BEHIND THE KNIFE!!!!

[pepin1948]

I had gotten the knife sharpened not long ago. I rarely use it. I chose it this time because the leather was thicker than I usually work with and the scissors were not an effective method (I thought). I did indeed have both hands behind the knife: one was next to the ruler, which I was using as a guideline...ruler slipped, hand moved, oops! :

Anyhow, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. I just couldn't get the bleeding to stop on my own. The dr put some glue (yeah, "crazy glue for doctors") and bandaged it. It's only about an inch long slice, from my finger nail to the first knuckle.

[BruceGibson]

OUCH!! Just thinking about it makes me cringe...and I've had my share of close calls, too!

I'm glad you're okay and that it wasn't TOO serious!

[pepin1948]

Not very clear pics, but here's a view. (hard to get a shot of the right first finger when that's usually the camera shutter finger!)

[BruceGibson]

You're not gonna believe this, but I have the SAME SCAR on the same finger--except I zapped myself with a single-edge razor blade several years ago.

I'm a lefty--looks like you might be too?

[bruce johnson]

Bruce,

Greetings from the other Bruce. Same finger, same scar. Another important safety tip - don't try to feed a doubled set of reins into a draw gauge. If they don't want to start, make the start cut with a knife. Yep was forewarned by my then finace/now lovely bride that what I was doing looked dangerous. It was.

Bruce Johnson

[pepin1948]

ha ha ha! Yup, I am indeed a lefty.

[pepin1948]

Here's the completed project. I begged our local Tandy manager into being a model for me! I promised him it'd just be the belt line...

My brother in law, who this is for, is in NH, but I'm hoping he'll send me pics too.