Francis

Me, my love, and the boy-o spent Christmas in northern Arkansas with my mom. It's the first time in at least 10 years I got to spend with her. We all had a great time. I saw an Elk, which are apparently legal game in Arkansas. My mom baked an AMAZING pecan pie.

And I got a dog. She was wandering the mountainside. And she has character. She looks like a miniature boxer with a nice brindle color and a white flash on her chest. She only has one eye. My son said she looked like a steampunk pirate.

So of course I had to make her a steampunk collar.

Christmas was good, and we got a new pack member.

Spartan

My friend that I made the holster for to fit his Glock 43 put night sights on it. Consequently it no longer drew smoothly from the holster, as they are taller and bulkier than the factory sights. He gave the holster to a friend with a Glock 42, and asked me to make him another one that fit the gun now that he had night sights.

I got a little creative, but I like the final result. More importantly, so does he.

Small business and the entrepreneurial spirit

About 6 months ago, my boy began saying how he'd like to open a lemonade stand. He said he wanted to earn some money. I'm not one to stand in the way of business, but I allowed as how I didn't think he'd make enough money to make it worth his time. I told him to keep coming up with business ideas, and when he came on a good one, we would look closer at it. My lovely bride agreed and supported this plan.

 He had several ideas, some better than others. Selling pancakes in the front yard? Not so much. Going door-to-door offering to plant flowers he was selling? Not bad, but not quite there.

About two weeks ago, he mentioned building birdhouses to my wife. She told him to come talk to me, and we decided that he had a good idea. He wanted to build bird houses, and drag them around the neighborhood in a wagon and sell them. I told him I would invest in his company, and buy him the tools he needed, but he would have to buy all of his materials. He agreed.

I bought him a hammer, and a saw, and gave him one of my clamps. And I let him borrow my hand drill. I told him he can buy his own drill after he sells the first batch.

Took him to Lowe's, and he bought lumber and supplies, totalling about 45 dollars. He has enough lumber to make 9 birdhouses. He promised one as a gift to the neighbor who has been bringing him wood scraps to practice on.

He originally wanted to sell them for 5 dollars each, but I explained to him he would be losing money, not to mention time. I convinced him to try to get $20 for each one.

I don't know how well he will do, but he made 3 today, with little help beyond guidance and holding boards in place from me.

I hope he sells a butt-ton, and it drives him to entrepreneurship.

Retro Rig

A month or so ago, my dad got me a S&W model 36, 3-inch, in trade for some leatherwork I did for him. I've fallen in live with it, and enjoy shooting it. Last week I qualified with it for on-duty carry. Now, when I do field work, and I know I am going to be running the streets, I carry a Glock 19, 2 reloads, secondary weapons, and a shotgun in my cruiser.

But for sitting around the office, doing paperwork, maybe a quick run to the courthouse?

That model 36 has gotten me jonesing for a retro-rig. Something that would have fit in on the scene of a Miami Vice episode. A 1980's leather rig with a hand-rubbed oil finish.

I just finished this one. Now, the holster and belt I already had. The holster I made a few months ago, and the belt was made a few years ago.

But now, I have a simple, understated classic leather rig for my wheel gun.

I'm happy!

Crazy Train

Life has been....busy.... the last 2 weeks. We went to Florida for thanksgiving, and held services for my wife's grandmother. She will be deeply missed.

We got my truck back from the shop. Turned out, not as much was wrong as the shop feared. They fixed it, and their transmission voodoo cost less than $600, which still hurt, but wasn't 2k worth of financial misery.

I took the boy for his first cub scout camp this weekend. Marshmallows, hotdogs, campfires, nature hikes, bike rides... it was a blast. The most telling thing was loading up after the closing campfire last night. We got in the truck, and before I could put it in gear, my son looked at me with a sober expression like only a 7 year old can have. He solemnly looked me in the eye and said quietly "Dad... I had a great weekend. Thanks for taking me camping with the scouts".

It summed up the trip nicely for me.

Now I just unpacked the gear, and hung the Christmas lights, because it's that time of the year.

The rest on the day will be spent relaxing and washing clothes. And that's not a bad way to wrap up a weekend at all.

Make a note:

Sometimes, after 2 glasses of wine, it's important to spend 5 minutes dancing in the kitchen with your wife.

Don't ever let the moment pass, gentlemen. That particular moment will never be here again.

Reach out and grab it.

Pub Glasses

Apparently you can buy cool-ass, heavy duty pub glasses for 59 cents each at goodwill.

I'm digging it.

Half-a-mind

For 2k, I have Half-a-mind to just buy a transmission from J.C. Whitney or Jegs or Auto-Zone for about $1500 bucks. Install that bad boy myself, and save $500. The only problem with that is that I have no idea how to swap a transmission. So the Half-a-mind plan may come out the half-assed plan...

Hazard of buying used

Apparently my truck's Transmission has proverbially crapped the bed. Mechanic says best case, $2k to fix.

Just damn!

Nebo Redline

My gentle readers may remember my buying a Nebo Flashlight about 2 years ago. It was bright, and I liked it's lighting output. I carried it regularly at work for about 4 months, until I finally got issued a streamlight.

This is a follow-up. The Nebo is a piece of garbage. Especially for the 50ish dollar price tag. The light still works, but it is bulky in the pocket. It uses 3 AAA batteries in a circular battery configuration. You could almost get a single C-cell battery in the same diameter. Not great for a light with a pocket clip.

Also, the output switch (10%, 50%, 100%, strobe, and s.o.s.) adds lots of bulk. Also, I have grown accustomed to the "multiple press" system streamlight uses. It's not better or worse, per-se, but I like it better.

The worst thing about this light, though is its shitty tail-cap. It is overly large. And the rubber covering the activation switch is chintzy, and rips. And when you try to fix it, it rips more. And eventually, the magnet breaks, making it un-fucking-useable.

To hell with Nebo. I have used this light a grand total of maybe 6 months over the last two years, and it just doesn't meet expectations. Save 10 more bucks and buy a streamlight.

Leather tooling

So one aspect of leatherwork that I have had no exposure to is tooling, or carving. Sure, I have used some basic stamps, but just for some basic border work.  Today, I tried my hand at some true tooling. These are some very basic floral patterns, basically what everyone starts with. The bottom piece got too busy, I think. I like the way the top one turned out.

I'm digging the tooling. I have a basic stamp set, of like 6 stamps. I think I'm going to keep playing with it. Maybe one day I can do one of those really cool oak-leaf belt-and-holster sets.

Belted

Neighbor Mike asked me the other day to make him a belt.

I like a lot about this belt, but I wish it was lighter. I need to get a medium brown dye. I think the tooling turned out great. And the belt loop has a pocket for a guitar pick built in. Mike is a mandolin player, and is always looking for a pick, so I figured I would make it easy for him to find one. He has a buckle he wants to use, so all that is left is attaching it.

Revolvers vs. Autos

A couple posts back, I opined that I was not backwards enough in this day and age to still distrust Autos. The Other Ryan, in comments stated that if anything, he believed that Autos were more reliable than revolvers. He stated that taking a quality revolver off the shelf and having it go heads-up against a modern service pistol, such as a Glock or M&P, and he would bet that in shooting a wheelbarrow of ammo through each would result in reliability issues with the revolver before the auto. He defined reliability issues as the gun failing to function at a 95% level. In other words, the first gun to fail to work 95 shots out of 100 would lose the competition.

Thing is, I tend to agree with him. Given THOSE conditions. I still trust a revolver more. Here's why.

I've shot a lot. I shot guns all the time growing up. I grew up in the 80's and 90's, the son of a cop in a rural town. Know what we shot? Revolvers. Smith & Wessons.

I grew up and went into law enforcement, and continued shooting. Only now, my shooting mostly focuses around my service weapon. Know what it is? An Auto. A Glock, to be exact.

Now I know that competitive shooters, and serious gun writers, and hell likely some hobbiests shoot more than me. But I know I shoot a hell of a lot more than the average cop, and a good bit more than the average gunnie. Until I moved to the Big City in May, and lost easy access to shooting land, I shot several boxes each month. Easily over 1000 rounds each year. Sadly, since moving, I haven't shot nearly as much. Maybe 500 rounds all told, with less than 300 of that being handgun shooting. (I went to a carbine course, and shot a few hundred rounds of .223.)

I say all that to say this: I have never had a revolver fail on me. I have once SEEN a revolver get decommissioned due to faulty powder in the ammo. The bullet got stuck in the bore. But if the next round had been fired, it would have shot. It would have also likely caused a catastrophic failure in the gun, too. Revolvers can also have their timing go to crap, or have parts of their lockwork fail, causing the gun to fail. At that point, the revolver is nothing more than a paperweight.

Now, I've also shot a lot of autos. Have I had them fail on me? YES. Was it a less than 5% failure rate? Yes. Was it because of the gun itself? Sometimes. Sometimes it didn't want to feed the particular ammo I had. Sometimes I was limp-wristing. Sometimes, when I was simulating firing from the hip on close targets, I had the gun in too tight to my body, and the slide hit my belly, causing it to not fully cycle. All of the failures I have experienced I have been able to clear with a tap, a rack, and a trigger pull.

But they still failed.

I have never had a revolver fail. And over the course of my life I have probably shot a revolver twice as much a an auto.

So, is Ryan correct in his opinion? Given the 95% function rate, I believe he may be. As I said, I have had probably a few dozen failures with an auto, but I would bet that they still functioned at over 95%. Given Ryan's guidelines, I have never had a gun become "unreliable".

Thing is, when a revolver fails, and it is an actual failure of the weapon, not bad ammo, you will likely need tools, if not a gunsmith to get it working again.

With an auto, when you have a failure, you can often fix it quickly, right there, just by going through a failure drill.

So in my completely biased opinion, a revolver will work 100% of the time, until it doesn't, at which point it will likely be useless in the field. An auto will work better than 95% of the time, and a failure you will likely be able to fix right there, on the spot.

So by the standard of 100% reliability, I feel like the revolver will get the nod, every time.

Think of this: lots of people have done a 2000 round torture test of semi-auto handguns, and the results can be illuminating. I feel as if a 2000 round test of a Ruger GP100 would be pretty boring. I bet that if ammo reliability was not a concern, it would reliably shoot every single round, first to last.

So that's my thoughts on that. And that's why I like revolvers.

Gun Porn for Old NFO

A set of Herrett's Shooting Ace grips on my 36. I wasn't planning on posting pics till I had tried them for a week or so, but NFO is laid up reading blogs while recovering from surgery.

Also, I plan on doing a post this weekend (an idea that comes from a comment left by The Other Ryan in my last post) about my feelings concerning semi-autos vs. revolvers, and concepts of use, which I hope you will enjoy, to NFO.

Get better, man.

36

Well, I have pretty much given up on carrying my Kahr CW9. Don't get me wrong, there are no problems with that gun. It's a great gun. It's just not the gun that I am most comfortable carrying, anymore.

I tend to favor revolvers over autos. Now, I like autos, and carry one on duty. I'm not backwards enough to still distrust autos in this day-and-age. There are literally hundreds of dead-nuts reliable autos out there that I would be comfortable trusting my life with, if I got enough trigger time behind them.

But I LIKE revolvers. Yeah, I admit a bias that doesn't have any basis in actual application. I just like revolvers more than semi-autos. Revolvers have soul.

But with a carry gun, I am always trying to strike a balance. I want a gun that is easy to conceal, comfortable on the belt, but that is as close in size to a fighting pistol as I can get, while maintaining small enough dimensions to carry OWB, and still easily conceal it with a shirt.

For the last year or so, that gun has been a Kahr CW9. If checked all the boxes for me.

But since getting the Model 36, it has taken over as my daily carry piece. With the 3 inch, heavy barrel, and the Pachmayr grips, this little j-frame handles like a fighting revolver.

But it still carries like a j-frame. I have carries it off-duty every day for a week. I know I need to carry it more to truly get a feel for how it is going to work out long-term, but I can conceal it under a polo-shirt, and I can carry it all day without it rubbing wrong or getting heavy and uncomfortable.

I feel like this is a perfect carry solution for me.

Neatsfoot Oil

A hand-rubbed, oil finish can be a beautiful thing on the right piece of leather.

Tortilla

Sometimes, things just come together. This holster is one of those things. From the drawing a few posts back, I started playing with the outline of the holster, because I didn't like the outline I had; I just didn't think it looked "right". After a few minutes, the drawing transformed into the Tortilla-style holster you see in the picture. I cut it out, and started stitching, and when I was done, I really couldn't believe the result.

There is about a million minute details about holster making that are easy to get wrong. I usually get something wrong. The stitching is sometimes slightly uneven, or they don't lay flat on the stitch-line. The demensions of the projecr may be slightly off. Not so much that you have to scrap the piece and start over, but enough that you, the maker, notice, and it bothers you. Sometimes to get the cut you want, you have to cut across the grain of the leather, and it makes for weird stretching. Sometimes you slip while cutting, and nick the finish on the side of the holster.

Any of these things can easily go wrong. Sometimes multiple ones go wrong, and when you get done, you can't point at any one thing and say "that screwed this project up", but the project is screwed up nonetheless.

And sometimes everything comes together. The grain is beautiful, the stitching is perfect, and the measurements are precise. You were able to cut the leather so that the natural grain enhances, rather than detracts from the piece. It all just works.

And that's why you keep making things, and trying to get better.

Biscuits

Ever have a sensory experience that brings you back 20 years? I've been the weekend at my dad's, and he cooked biscuits this morning. Hand-flung, cat-head biscuits.

He made them pretty regular when we were growing up.

After they were done this morning, I cut one and slathered butter on it, and dipped it into cane syrup.

And for just a minute, I was 10 years old, sitting next to a kerosene heater, relishing in the warmth and sweetness of a home made biscuit with cane syrup, getting ready to go hunting, the smell of hoppes #9 faintly hanging in the air around the shotguns leaned in the corner.

What a damn memory! 

Thanks for the biscuits pop. They meant more to me than you know.

Fun

Ya know, when I'm really having a good time, I usually forget to take pictures.

Today I saw my brother, shot my patrol rifle, shot my usual off-duty gun, a Khar CW9, and shot my new Model 36.

Had a blast, and hung out with my brother, bullshitting for the better part of 4 hours.

I took a quick pic when I got home, but it's not a great one, because that target got pasted over, and we kept shooting.

All the bullets in that 2-inch orange target came from that gun, though.

Using single-action, it is very easy to keep all shots in 2 inches at 7 yards. Almost trivially easy.

And this from a guy that hasn't shot a handgun since May... early May...

I like this new Model 36. It's a shooter.

Conceptualizing

Thoughts on a holster for a 3-inch j-frame.

Hallo-wine

My step-mom likes wine. I was in the dollar store today, and saw a holiday wine glass I thought she would enjoy. I will be seeing her and my dad next weekend, so I'll bring this by.

Aaaanndddd... BEER!

Finished bottling. It made less than I hoped, at 43 bottles, but I did lose some in the explosion, and several bottles worth was inseparable from the sediment.

I hope this pumpkin beer turns out good.

43

By the way, this is the holster I made for my friend's new glock.

Proud

5th Generation scouter, proud. Proud to be that little man's father. Proud he wants to be a scout.

Adventures in Brewing

I asked my neighbor, Mike, to save me any empty pry-top beer bottles he ran across a whole back. He asked why, and I explained that I threw away a lot of my bottles for brewing beer when I moved, and I needed to replinish stock. He gave me a few six-packs  worth over tale last few months, and he asked a few weeks ago when I was planning on brewing. He was interested in the process.

We made plans for a brew day, I went and bought an Imperial Pumpkin Pie Ale brewing kit, and we planned to get it going in time to drink pumpkin beer for haloween.

We brewed Sunday, and I set up the fermenter in the bedroom. The bedroom is cool and dark, so what could go wrong?

My wife woke me in the wee hours, saying that my beer was making funny noises, keeping her from a restful sleep.

I dragged the whole mess into the kitchen at around 3am, and I'm glad that I did.

It blew up. BLEW UP.

Beer was everywhere. Apparently the fermentation was quite vigorous, and caused the airlock to blow. There was beer foam in a neat circle, directly over where the fermenter was. The airlock was on the counter nearby, and every wall in the kitchen had beer splatter on it. The entire floor was sticky.

I managed to clean it all up nicely, and still make it to work on time, but those high-sugar content beers will do some crazy things! Also, the beer didn't appear to be hurt in the least. It is still doing fine, 2 days later.

Quality time

My lovely wife caught my main man helping me put a new plexiglass screen on the back of my camper.

That's one awesome dude, there!

And another

Posting from a phone is a pain in the ass, especially with multiple photos....

Another.

Fotay-tree

Had a friend leave is new 43 with me for the weekend. He wanted me to make him a holster. I have been lusting over the slim-line Glock 9, but after holding it... well, my Khar fits my hand better.

Go figure.

The guns are pretty much the same demensions in all respects, bu r the grip is a tad longer on the CW9. Enough to make the difference from "this lets me get an okay grip" to this lets mee get a proper grip".

Guess I won't be buying a 43, after all.

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.

Teal

Well, I finished up the second holster my dad asked me to make. Well, actually, my step-mom asked for this one. She wanted a nice black holster, with pretty stitching. I think this one turned out better than the last. I was able to cut the pattern tighter, so it fits the gun better. It is still a bucket-type holster, and doesn't hold the gun, but there isn't a lot of slop, either. I was able to wet-form it as well, and I flared the holster mouth, for reholstering.

The one I made my dad was good, but this one is better. It's the proverbial difference between a 9 ring shot and a bullseye shot. Generally, I'm happy with consistently shooting in the 9 ring, but being able to hit the bullseye is even better.

Component Parts

The major parts of Fast-Draw holster #2 are cut and dyed. They are drying for later, when I have free time.

Fast-Draw

I finished up my Pops' Fast-Draw rig. Learned a few things, too.

I cut the pattern too big. I have re-calibrated my pattern.

I need to stain the whole damn thing before assembling. It will probably go easier, and have a more uniform color.

But, it's a true Fast-Draw rig. If you turn it upside down, and the tie-down isn't over the hammer, the gun will fall right out.

It's wet-formed well enough to maintain rigidity. If you get the muzzle in the holster and let go, the gun will re-holster. A one-handed re-holster is a help in the Fast-Draw game. I even flared the mouth to assist in the re-holster.

I was even able to make a nice bullet-deflector.

I don't know if it's going to suit the old man's needs, but from all I can tell, it should be up to the tasks demanded of a Fast-Draw holster.

Here's hoping.

Mock-up

New project in the works...

Ruger

My sister and her fiancee' came by this weekend. We barbecued last night, and this afternoon, we will go hit some museums.  I called my sister's fiancee', Greg, and told him to bring his Ruger this weekend. He got it about a year ago,  and has yet to get a holster for it.

I used red stitching on this one, and it looks great against the black. I am not entirely pleased with the way the sweat-shield turned out on this one, but otherwise I am pleased. The sweat shield works fine, but I didn't match up it's angles properly with the angles of the Ruger, so it doesn't LOOK as clean as I'd like. At least I know that, though, and can avoid it in the future. Greg says he likes it a lot, and if it gives him something in which to carry his gun in the woods, so much the better.