One for a friend

[Eaglestroker]

I finished this one over the weekend for a good customers wife. Only took two try's to get a left handed holster too Just a standard pancake rig for a 3" Wiley Clapp Gp100 along with a 12oz unlined pants belt to get her feet wet and an ammo slide for good measure. This will be her "knockin' around" rig which suits me just fine. Wasn't the intention when he ordered it in the spring but it should look good under the Christmas tree!

 

[snubbyfan]

Beautiful work as always.

 

[Watchdog]

I finished this one over the weekend for a good customers wife...it should look good under the Christmas tree!

Yes, it most definitely should. I like this one. Is this a variable-cant holster? Reason I ask is because of what appears to be two sets of belt slots. And I've never seen cartridge loops with a hole in them...that should add a bit of sparkle to the rig with the brass showing through the opening. Are the holes an original design idea from you?

 

[Eaglestroker]

Beautiful work as always.

Thanks snubby!

Yes, it most definitely should. I like this one. Is this a variable-cant holster? Reason I ask is because of what appears to be two sets of belt slots. And I've never seen cartridge loops with a hole in them...that should add a bit of sparkle to the rig with the brass showing through the opening. Are the holes an original design idea from you?

Hey Jim, I'd like to claim the loops but that's an idea I picked up somewhere along the way. It was on a cowboy rig with some nickeled brass, if I were to do it again I'd chuck the punch up in my drill press which would leave a nice tidy burnish holed. Just one of those "been wanting to try it so I did" sort of things.

My customer Joe is pretty familiar with being my guinea pig and usually enjoys them, although at times the question comes down to whose teaching who. An outside critic and someone to bounce things off of is pretty useful.

The holster is set so that you can wear it strong side either neutral, or heavy 20* or so forward cant, or as a cross draw. That set up is my most popular variation in applications where it is available - for little guns it just doesn't work so well there isn't enough space in the 'wings' of the holster. It is also popular for folks who don't know just how they want it to figure it out before buying a more expensive fixed position holster.

 

[vigil617]

She'll be the belle of the gun ball with that one, Eaglestroker!

Beautiful work, and the idea (even if copied) is really inspired. I wouldn't have been able to figure out why the holes were in the loops, so I'm glad to know now that it's to show off the shiny brass or nickel-plate of the cartridges.

On the basket weave, do you have to go in on every little black spot and apply dye there?

You leatherwork artisans have my admiration! What a gift you have.

 

[Shorty 45 MK2]

Very nice work!

Those will make a fine Christmas present.

 

[Eaglestroker]

She'll be the belle of the gun ball with that one, Eaglestroker!

Beautiful work, and the idea (even if copied) is really inspired. I wouldn't have been able to figure out why the holes were in the loops, so I'm glad to know now that it's to show off the shiny brass or nickel-plate of the cartridges.

On the basket weave, do you have to go in on every little black spot and apply dye there?

You leatherwork artisans have my admiration! What a gift you have.

Thank you vigil - usually even when you discover an original design it turns out to be already done by someone else. Give credit where due and put your own spin on it! Anyone can do this but the learn curve is a bit expensive.

Regarding the weave you go through a process to get the moisture content right before tooling, and when it is on spot you end up with those nice stamp impressions which burnish just like you finish the edges. I've attached a photo and in it you can see if you look really close at the border an uneven burnish from left to right - looks like I was holding the stamp at a bit of an angle. Couldn't find any really obvious ones to nit pick in the OP photo.

 

[vigil617]

I should have proofread my post, Eaglestroker, 'cause I meant to say that the holes in the cartridge loops were what was so cool even if you had seen it before and tried it yourself. The holster itself is a work of art; I'm really impressed! Thanks for the explanation on how you get the dark highlights in the basketweave; I never would have guessed that's how it's done.

As for looking real close to see an uneven burnish on the border -- I can't see that well! And I see pretty good!

 

[05CarbonDRZ]

Nice Work,What type of Leather do You use?

 

[bamabiker]

Just another fine piece of leatherwork, as usual.

 

[muzzleblast]

You do beautiful work.

MB

 

[Eaglestroker]

I should have proofread my post, Eaglestroker, 'cause I meant to say that the holes in the cartridge loops were what was so cool even if you had seen it before and tried it yourself. The holster itself is a work of art; I'm really impressed! Thanks for the explanation on how you get the dark highlights in the basketweave; I never would have guessed that's how it's done.

As for looking real close to see an uneven burnish on the border -- I can't see that well! And I see pretty good!

Hey vigil, no negative intent taken here! When I'm not traveling I'll do a sample for you so that I can exaggerate what your looking at.

Nice Work,What type of Leather do You use?

Thank you friend, all I have ever used is Wickett & Craig skirting. They do source a lot of their raw hides from Canada but tend to run quite a bit larger than others on the market. I like that whether ordering 1 or 15 sides my response on the phone was the same. Even with shipping there is a cost savings too. If you'd like some more information shoot me a PM.

Just another fine piece of leatherwork, as usual.

Thanks bama, much appreciated!

You do beautiful work.

MB

Thank you MB!

 

[Biginge]

Them boys in Mississippi sure know leather, working it, and football. Rob, how is our vet? Nice work my friend. Hello to Pops. He still keeping peace in the West?

 

[jack the toad]

Beautiful work.

 

[jjbrewst1]

I finished this one over the weekend for a good customers wife. Only took two try's to get a left handed holster too Just a standard pancake rig for a 3" Wiley Clapp Gp100 along with a 12oz unlined pants belt to get her feet wet and an ammo slide for good measure. This will be her "knockin' around" rig which suits me just fine. Wasn't the intention when he ordered it in the spring but it should look good under the Christmas tree!

Rob

Looks great. How's my LH Blackhawk coming. I need it for under the Tree Too. Lol.

All kidding aside. That Rig looks Amazing!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eaglestroker]

Them boys in Mississippi sure know leather, working it, and football. Rob, how is our vet? Nice work my friend. Hello to Pops. He still keeping peace in the West?

Hey Bill, been a good football season. Vet is getting to decorate a new house. I'm getting an at home sweat shop, pops is down with the flu but still kicking. Life is pretty good on our side of the river and trust the same for you!

Beautiful work.

Thanks Jack!

Rob

Looks great. How's my LH Blackhawk coming. I need it for under the Tree Too. Lol.

All kidding aside. That Rig looks Amazing!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Jim! Yours is coming, too

 

[gnfrk]

Looks awesome.... as usual

 

[snubbyfan]

I gotta tell ya, I really like that basket weave. While I don't use drum dyed leather, I've been working on some alternative dyeing methods to get that same kinda antiqueing effect without ordering more dye.
So far things look promising.

 

[Eaglestroker]

Snubby, the main thing is not the dye but the stamp burnish. I'll do a little write up when I find the time. Between work moving and Christmas shop time has been limited!

 

[Eaglestroker]

With the holidays I just didn't think about adding this here. She loved it, and this picture showed up the day that it was delivered.

I should have proofread my post, Eaglestroker, 'cause I meant to say that the holes in the cartridge loops were what was so cool even if you had seen it before and tried it yourself. The holster itself is a work of art; I'm really impressed! Thanks for the explanation on how you get the dark highlights in the basketweave; I never would have guessed that's how it's done.

As for looking real close to see an uneven burnish on the border -- I can't see that well! And I see pretty good!

I was stamping a holster tonight and thought about your post so here is a little critique on myself. Everyone does this different, I'm no pro, so this is worth what you paid for it.

Here we go: 3 basic tools for this set up. I grind in half a duplicate of my most used basket stamp for tight spaces it makes life easy. Start with a line and then move out, I prefer to start in the middle of a project.







At this point if your really good this will be a straight line. You can see that I'm not really good





In this picture you can see two things. Under the stamp is a light basket stamped corner, due to rocking the stamp. It's also not lined up perfectly or bounced when I hit it. Cheap stamps have more bounce than the high end maker stamps.






In these two you can see another twist, followed by a twist at the end of a line. These are easier to mess up but usually not as noticeable:








Now if your even better at this point your sequential stamps should form a straight line. You can see here I tracked to the right with each further stamp up, so I'm not good and definitely not better.






Here is a border stamp that fell out of line.






And one more stamp twist:






All those mistakes and you end up with this lousy looking finished product.








That's all I got. Annie didn't enjoy the process one bit.