More comparative photos

Cowboy

My dad and stepmom have a lot of single actions....

Ruger, Round 2

I spent the weekend at my brother's house. My sister got married to her fiancee' (a great guy that we all like) and my brother and his wife hosted me and my wife. While there, I made a holster for him. He has a Ruger LC-9.

I finished it with a dark brown dye, then oiled it with Neat's Foot oil.

I think it turned out well.

Paying gig

I had a friend of a friend bring by a knife that he wanted a sheath made for. He had a hand made Damascus knife, in a 5 dollar gun-show, bargain bin sheath that didn't fit it.

Unfortunately, the knife is such an odd shape that it was impossible to make good-looking sheath for it. I did manage to make a sheath that was functional, well constructed, and fitted to the knife though. It should serve him well.

It's the first commissioned piece of leatherwork I've made. That's kinda cool.

Camper

I bought a camper shell for the Danger-Ranger. It has side access panels, and is entirely awesome.

Neighbors

I lucked into some great neighbors on this move. My front yard is that back yard of a guy named Mike. We both rent from the same people. He has bee here for 4 years, is a blue-collar professional (he does bidding for one of the largest construction companies in this metro area) and enjoys gardening and cheap beer. We barbecue or drink beer together at least once a week. He is much more liberal than I, but is a good man, and can articulate why he views certain politics the way he does. I may not always agree with him, but I respect that he can back up his beliefs with reasonable arguments. He is a fun, hard-working, and intelligent man. For having to share a yard with someone, I did hit the jackpot, as far as neighbors goes.

Across the street, I have another neighbor, Aaron. Funnily enough, I have known him for about 20 years. When we were kids, he was friends with a friend of mine. We always got along fine as kids, and even though I haven't seen him in 10 years, we apparently still get along fine. He works for the local college as building maintenance, and is about a year away from getting a degree in Industrial Maintenance. He is a good guy, and bikes everywhere. He mountain bikes on the weekend, goes on neighborhood rides daily, and commutes to work (about 6 miles) almost every day.

The Boy-o got into bike riding earlier this summer, and insisted we take off the training wheels after learning to ride without them at Paw-Paw's. We were in a bind, and Aaron offered to let me borrow a bike to ride with the Boy-o.

This is no small thing. This dude lives bike-riding. He let me borrow one of his "beater" bikes for almost 6 weeks. I looked it up, and it was about a $700 bike.

2 weeks ago, me and the wife bought bikes to go riding with the Boy-o, and we go riding 4-5 times each week. It's a great family activity. But I wanted to say thanks to Aaron for lending us his bike.

I made him a tool-bag for his bike. This way, he can carry the basic tools you may need to repair problems encountered on the side of the road  with a bike.

He seemed to like it.

Having awesome neighbors is hard to beat.

Also, Cub Scouts

Did I mention that my son is finally old enough to get involved in Scouting?

We went to a Cub Scout social, where the kids played water-kickball. The bases were kiddie pools, and the baselines were slip-n-slides. He had a great time, and I think we found a pack that is a good fit for us. We go for the official sign-up event on Wednesday evening.

Pattern

How does a leatherworker get repeatable stitching on multiple items? Patterns, of course!

These are a selection that I use pretty regularly.

I have a few others. And I have some other patterns that I use frequently enough that I need to just go ahead and make a pattern for them.

Car Door-Holster, Redux

Okay, so this holster isn't officially going to be done for several weeks. Why? Well, I had this idea...

In that big tab on the bottom of the holster (the "foot" if you will) I'm going to fill it with lead shot. You know, like shotgun shot. My dad has a can of it, and I figured that if I filled the foot with shot, it would weigh the holster down, and help it stay in the door, if you had to draw the gun...

I think I'm gonna call it...

The Leadfoot.

And yes, this holster has some interesting features: it has a reinforced mouth, border stamping, and fancy stitchwork. I decided that Momma Jane needed a 'gunfighter stitch' on her holster, as she enjoys that gunfighting game so much. Also, of course it has my maker's mark. Most all my Leatherwork does.

Anyway, that's a wrap, until I can get some lead shot!

Car door-pocket holster

While I am nowhere near done with this one, I really like the way it is coming along. I figured I'd give ya'll a sneak-peak.

This one will ride in the door pocket of my step-mother's vehicle.