Guns, Leather, and Vinyl

I've been texting back and fourth with a buddy of mine. He lives about halfway between my place and my Dad's. He asked me to do some leather work for him, specifically a stock wrap and sling for his Marlin 1894, much like the one on mine, but for right handers.

I just so happen to have a pattern for that (heh!), so I told him I would be happy to. He has a maker's mark that he wants in the leather, and I know he has a vinyl cutter, so I told him to make me a cutout of his mark, and I would dye the stock wrap, apply the vinyl, then dye it darker, leaving him a two-tone image of his mark after removing the vinyl.

He liked the plan, and agreed to it. I told him to go ahead and make me a cutout of my maker's mark too, while he was at it.

He gave me a sheet with multiple sizes, so I applied one to my truck, and we put one on my Dad's van today. It's nice, I think.

As part of the payment for the leather work, my buddy gave me a set of round to square rosewood grips for my 686. He has one, too, but keeps a set of Hogues on his, so has no use for the rosewood ones. I picked up the grips when I was there, but apparently left something.

He sent me this pic with a text reading "Santa came early this year!" Looks like I need to swing back by his house later.

Anyway, there's a random blog post for you. Somewhat rambling, no point, but a snapshot of my last two days, at any rate.

God is Good.

Sometimes, life throws a curveball at you, after you have been dealing with lots of uphill battles. All you want to do is curl up and weep, because you have no idea how to fix THIS problem, on top of all the other ones you are trying to manage. And you know if you can't fix it some way, you simply don't have the cash flow to pay someone to fix it.

But you push down the self pity, and apply yourself, and throw all the knowledge you possess at the problem, and somehow, you get it fixed, with only having to outlay about 50 bucks.

I'm not a deeply religious person, but I do believe that there is a God, and he is benevolent. Sometimes, we witness miracles, even if it is as small as God gifting you with ability beyond your skill, just long enough to fix the problem.

And you offer Him thanks.

God is good, and he helped me today.

Thanks be to God.

Random Notes

1. I got to go hang out with Murphy and Aaron last weekend. It was great to meet Aaron and see Murphy again. Also got to shoot a real Full-Auto Thompson. Thanks, Murph.

2. I love it when steaks go on sale. They will be good tonight.

3. It's hard to beat Jim Beam and eggnog.

4. I'm looking forward to my upcoming trip to Branson.

5. I'm glad I got a brother that doesn't mind helping me. He's gonna save me a bundle by applying knowledge and sweat.

6. The older I get, the more I enjoy Christmas. It's a lot of fun watching kiddos opening crap and seeing how excited they get.

Stack-On

Horse-Traded a buddy for his old safe. He bought a new fire-rated one, and this one is more of a "lockable storage cabinent" than an actual safe. Still, having another option for locking up hardware is nice.

I gotta make him a holster now. So not a bad deal on my end.

Also, I'm loading up to hang out with Murphy tomorrow, and he mentioned the range... and a few Full-Auto guns.

I have 6 or 7 guns loaded up, and right at 900 rounds of .38, .380, 9mm, and .22...

And about 100 rounds of .38 is loaded from bullets Murphy gave me, so the ammo gets to come full-circle.

Tomorrow looks like it should be pretty fun.

Chili

We are experiencing the first cold snap of the year. A bowl of the red seemed in order.

My Tumultuous Affair with the G19

Growing up as the son of a police officer that worked a rural beat in the 80's and 90's, it is logical that the majority of my handgun exposure growing up was with revolvers.

I'm fact, until I became a peace officer myself, I could count on two hands the number of semi-autos I had fired. I knew how they operated, and was comfortable enough with them, but I had never truly seen the appeal.

Enter my first range day with my department: the Firearms instructor reached into the lock box on his truck, handed me a black clamshell box with "Glock" written on it, and 2 boxes of ammo. Now, I was a lucky one. Guns in my department get reissued. If an officer decides to move on to another department or profession, the gun gets turned in, and will be issued to the next new hire who walks in the door. For some unknown reason, I got a factory new gun. Luck of the draw, I guess.

Amyway, when I stepped to the line and ran my first POST course, I qualified with a 119/120, an almost perfect score. Some officers can go their whole career without shooting a 119. Now, yes, I am a shooter, and that plays a part, but having a decent gun helps the process immensely.

And so I fell in love.

But, as we all know, love can fade. And it did for me with the 19. Over about several years, the 19 was a constant companion, but the more I carried it, the more I saw it's shortcomings as a duty weapon. A slightly longer grip would be easier to hold. It would give you more rounds on board. A longer barrel would give a better sight picture.

So I spent a few years being resentful of what the 19 was not: the perfect duty gun. It just seemed like the bastard child to me: slightly too small to make a good duty gun, slightly too big to make a good off-duty carry gun. It could be pressed into either role, but wasn't great at either.

So I bought a 17. Put a TLR-1 on it. And you know what? THAT is pretty much a perfect duty gun (for me. I know everyone has an opinion). I love it. I truly do. And I had a single stack 9, a Kahr, which was a great (off duty) carry gun.

But recently, over the past few months, I have been thinking. I live in a city with a high crime rate. I live in a great neighborhood, but bad neighborhoods are not far. In my Kahr, I had 8 rounds on board, with a spare, 16. That's what the 19 holds, WITHOUT a spare.

So I started considering carrying the 19 off duty. I have in the past, but not much. That's kind of odd, because even though I have mostly only carried the gun on duty, I still have managed to collect a large number of holsters for it over the years.

Since I last carried the 19 off duty, I have really dove into holster making, and have an idea of what makes a good concealment holster.

And you know what? With the right holster, you can conceal a G19 under a t-shirt. It only took me the better part of a decade to draw the conclusion that literally millions of concealed carriers across the nation have already realized. With the right holster, the G19 is about the perfect concealed carry gun! (I do maintain that the G17 is a better duty weapon, though!)

I have been carrying the 19 lately in a modified Aker Flatsider. I removed the retention snaps, and refinished the edges to give me a cleaner draw from concealment. I will get around to making a holster that suits me better, but this one is pretty darn close to right for me.

My department is getting rid of a lot of the gen 3 G19s soon and upgrading to gen 4's, and will be giving us the option to buy our gen 3 guns. If I can get the scratch up, I'm gonna buy the 19.

It's the perfect concealed carry gun, after all.

Update

I know I've fallen off the face of the blog-o-sphere, and just wanted everyone to know I'm fine. Truth is, life has been crazy busy  (mostly good stuff, a little bad, and the occasional really bizarre "WTF" moment) and I've just been burnt out on the blogging thing.

I don't want to quit blogging, but I'm in the middle of a break from it, until things settle a bit in my life. I've taken breaks in the past, and always come back to it.

I'm still around, reading other people's blogs, and I can still be reached via email if anyone wants to contact me for whatever reason. lazyjdleatherworks (at) gmail (dot) com

Hope everyone out there is doing fine!

Single Six Saturday Nite Special

So my house shares a yard with the another house. They are both owned by the same woman (my landlord), and she is currently renovating the front residence (I live in the back house, a one-time Mother-in-law residence that was renovated about 5 years ago). She recently moved back to town, and so is renovating the front house to move into. She's nice, so sharing a yard with her will be fine.

But today, one of the painters walked around the side of the house, and had a gun in his hand. I immediately placed my hand on my gun (you do have a gun on your person at all times, don't you?), and grabbed the doorknob, to confront the painter in my yard walking around with an unholstered gun in his hand. My adrenaline had dumped, and my fight or flight response apparently went to fight.

Before I could open the door, my cop brain had processed information that I was unaware I had taken in.

First, this guy was a broke-down old painter. He likely had a thyroid problem, evidenced by the large lump on his throat. He didn't fit the stereotype of someone up to no good.

Second, he was walking calmly. He wasn't glancing around furtively. He simply walked into the house that was being renovated.

Lastly, he was carrying the gun loosely by his side, and he was holding it way down on the grip. His fingers were nowhere near the trigger.

I let go of the doorknob, and took a breath. I stood there for perhaps 60 seconds, letting my adrenaline work it's way through my system.

I told my wife I would be right back, and walked over to the house being worked on. The man was in the kitchen, and was speaking to a coworker. "...found it in the back"... He stopped speaking when I walked in.

"Hey guys. I'm a cop. I live in the house there (pointing out the window). I saw someone walking through the yard with a gun, and figured I should check it out."

"Yeah, I found this by the shed. Looks like it had been there a long time." (He held the gun out to me with 2 fingers) "you can have it, man."

He didn't appear to want to be involved with finding a gun and dealing with the cops. I figured he was one of those guys that has a general distrust of law enforcement, but probably due more to how he was raised than anything. He didn't strike me as the type to be an actual criminal.

I told him thanks, and told him I was just gonna call local P.D. I don't live in a bad area, but the transitional neighborhood is about a block away, and the 'hood' is about 3 blocks away. There is an alley behind my house that is choked with growth, and in speaking with neighbors, it was cleared out about a year before I moved in, but quickly grew back. It was apparently clear for about 6 months, and this was about 3 years ago.

Well, all that growth built up on the back of the property, and filled in a 3 foot gap between the shed at the rear of the property and the alleyway. The landlord had that area behind the shed cleared last week.

My best guess is that about 3 years ago, a dindoo-nuffin-type used the alley when it was clear as a cut-through, and found a good place to dispose of a stolen gun (or one that had been used in a crime, or both) behind the shed. And there it sat for 3 years until the underbrush was cleaned, and a painter walked around behind the shed.

I called the PD's non-emergency line, and had them send a unit to pick it up. We discussed it for a few minutes, and he agreed with the assessment of it being either stolen or used in a crime. Especially since the barrel had been shortened to about 3 inches. Poorly. It was obviously cut with a hacksaw, and at an angle. There was no crown, and it wasn't a square cut. There was no front sight to speak of. It appeared to have been done for ease of concealment.

There were live rounds in some of the chambers, too, but not all. Like I said, likely a crime gun.

At any rate, the local cop said he'd bring it to their firearms lab, and see if they could trace it to anything, and find a legible serial number to run. He also said he would cross reference police reports in the area concerning gun and drug crimes, and foot chases through the surrounding neighborhoods from about 2 and a half to 3 years ago, to see if he gets lucky. While unlikely, sometimes due diligence can solve a cold case.

Anyway, it was certainly an interesting morning.

Constitutionalist!!1!!

Arts and crafts day at the DLG residence.

Updates

So, I've gotten several emails about making holsters for guns I either don't own personally, or can't source from friends or family.

I hate turning away a potential customer, but I have to be up front about it. I don't want to tell them I can come through, and send them something that doesn't fit their gun properly. So I have had to refer them to other reputable makers, which is okay, because I want anyone seeking a holster to be able to get what THEY want, and I don't want to put my name on a product that I'm not 100% proud of.

Today, I was trying to figure out a way to source a gun, and I stumbled upon form guns. I've known about form guns for a while, but I was never able to find them at a reasonable price. Well, I found a place that sells them anywhere between 40-75 bucks, with about 11 bucks shipping.

So, if you want a holster for a gun that I can't source, guess what? I can get a mold gun shipped to me, and  I could make the holster you are looking for!

The only catch is that it will add up to 2 weeks to your order. As soon as I receive payment for your order, I will place an order for the type of form gun that you need, and I will build your holster when it arrives.

And next time someone wants a holster for that same firearm, I will already have the form gun on hand!

Also, I have been really trying to figure out how I want to go about setting up a rudimentary pic/description/price of the different types of holsters I offer. I'm honestly not sure if this can be effectively accomplished with blogger, and at some point may have to make the jump to having a website built. But until I decide for sure, you may see some random layout changes here on my blog over the next few weeks. Feel free to ignore them until I make an announcement.

Thanks for bearing with me!

Kustom: Kompleted

I spent the last few days working on McThag's 'Vette Kustom.

It's a form-molded, cross-draw, IWB, two-tone holster with a reinforced mouth, molded sight channel, and no sweat guard built for a S&W M&P.

It was a fun project for me, because it was pretty different than most orders. I did, however, use a base holster shape that I've had great success with for large frame autos in the past, and I gotta say, it's a great general use holster shape. It will definately become a staple of my designs going forward.

'Vette Kustom

So, an IWB Cross-draw holster, custom ordered from me, because none of the big Holster Makers will mess with a completely one-off order for a reasonable price with a reasonable wait...

Will forever be known, in my mind at least, as the 'Vette Kustom.

Because it's a Custom ordered holster, made for wearing while cruising around in a Corvette.

And the colors of the day are dark brown with a tan accent.

I just dyed them, so they look darker and more uneven than they will in 24 hours, when time and air do their magic, and make the colors look nice.

But, hey, it's another project begun!

Rope

My great grandfather was a mechanic. More than that, he was a tinkerer, and inventor, a Renaissance man. He came up in the great depression, and his uncommonly bright mind was put to use making his daily life easier. He invented all kinds of things that were ingenious ways to make work easier, or to make store-bought products at home.

One of Great Grandpa Gus's inventions was a simple rope maker.

It had 3 metal hooks attached to a triangular plate with a handle on it. All of this was mounted on a frame, and came with a spanner paddle. You tied twine  onto the three hooks, cranked the handle, and used the spanner paddle to keep tension on the twine strands. The twine would twist on itself, making it want to coil, which it would in turn do, around the other two strands of twine.

With an hour's work, you could have 50 yards of rope.

My dad ended up with the device after Gus passed, probably because dad had a farm, and there's always a need for rope around a farm.

Now, in this day and age, an hour of work is generally worth more than 50 foot of rope, but that wasn't always the case, and I can remember making rope as a pre-teen, because dad needed some, and we were a 40 minute drive from the nearest hardware store. With a big hank of twine, we had rope in less time than it would have taken to drive to the store and buy it.

Well, about 2 months ago, my brother happened to be travelling by our old farm, which pop sold off 10 years ago, after getting out of the business of raising cattle (and children). He stopped, and asked the owner if he could look around, and the owner didn't mind. While kicking around, brother found the old rope machine hanging on a nail in the barn.

He showed it to the owner, and explained how it worked. The owner was delighted with the simplicity. Brother asked if he could take it,  and the owner seemed glum, but said he could. Brother explained how it was a part of our family history, but he would be happy to have a replica built, and he would bring back a new rope maker for the farm owner.

The owner again seemed delighted, they shook hands, and Brother brought the project to me. (He's a genius with metal, but my skill at woodworking exceeds his... which is scary. A carpenter, I ain't. )

Today, my son and I completed the little project, tightening all the joints on the original, so Brother can hang it in a place of honor in his shop, and making 2 new ones (or at least the wood components thereof). I will bring them to Brother, and he will make all the little metal parts (metal is his specialty) and finish the machines. Then he's on the hook to make a pilgrimage back to the old farmstead, and keep good on his word.

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 7

***REMINDER: If you are interested in a custom leather project, feel free to contact me at lazyjdleatherworks  (at) gmail  (dot) com, and I will get back with you promptly to discuss your needs.

So I started today by using Edge Kote on the two finished edges of the holsters. That step has to wait until you sew the holsters together and burnish the edges, and let them dry.

Then I took everything apart and started sealing everything with Resoline.

This is an easy process, but time consuming. You have to make sure not to get any bubbles in the finish, or you will see them in the finished product.

After everything was sealed, I let it dry. Once it was dry to the touch, I took them all outside to take a finished photo. 

Now, I'm letting the finish fully cure, and the customer will have his finished product in probably a little over a week, depending on shipping time. It will hit the mail tomorrow, and get to him in probably 6 or 7 days after that.

So that's it! A leather order, from start to finish! It took a bout 2 hours to finish today, for a total work time on the project of about 18 hours. Thanks for following the progress.

Range day

Spent the day at the range. Work purposes, so no pics. We worked on the drills we were told to, and somehow I managed to cover myself in glory.

You ever have a day where you were just on fire?

I got complimented on my shooting on 4 different occasions today, by 3 different firearms instructors. And my department's firearms instructors are always short on praise.

 I love range days. I wish I got more of 'em.

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 6

***REMINDER: If you are interested in a custom leather project, feel free to contact me at lazyjdleatherworks  (at) gmail  (dot) com, and I will get back with you promptly to discuss your needs.

Okay, this is where it gets fun!

First, I sewed up a holster. Once it was partway stitched, I checked for fit. I would have hated to finish the project only to realise I made the holster too small.

Next, I finished stitching the left hand holster, and burnished the edge, mating the two edges of leather into one.

Then I wet the holster down, and shove the Security Six into it. At that point, you use your fingers to push and pinch and shove and tug the leather around the firearm, so that it fits perfectly to the outside of the gun.

Then, heck, you set it down and walk away! In 24 hours, it will be dry, and I can Edge Kote the last edge, and seal the whole thing. Then I have to add latigo tie-downs and hammer thongs (some like 'em, some don't. I add 'm to my 'ranch' style rigs, but attach them in such a way that if the end user doesn't want them, they can be removed, and the lack doesn't detract from the look of the rig), and it will pretty much be ready to ship!

I repeat the whole process for the right hand holster, and wet formed the stock wraps, as well.

This project will get finished this weekend, and be shipped out early next week.

Time spent today: 2 hours.

Total time spent on project, not counting communication or emails: 16 hours

Watch this space Sunday for a wrap-up post!

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 5

***REMINDER: If you are interested in a custom leather project, feel free to contact me at lazyjdleatherworks  (at) gmail  (dot) com, and I will get back with you promptly to discuss your needs. 

So tonight, I did nothing but see bullet loops. Ugh, the tedium! But, the good news is I got all of them done. That means that, with the exception of wet-forming and sealing the pieces, as of now, I'm done with the:

Belt

Stock wraps

And sling

I need to work on holsters next, as that is the last part of the order that needs work other than forming and sealing. I'm coming into the home stretch, now! Probably less than 6 hours left in the project, at this point.

Time working on project this evening: 2 hours.

Total time on project, not counting communication and emails: 14 hours.

Keep checking back!

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 4

***REMINDER: If you are interested in a custom leather project, feel free to contact me at lazyjdleatherworks  (at) gmail  (dot) com, and I will get back with you promptly to discuss your needs. 

I honestly didn't expect to find time to work on this project this evening. Yet somehow, after getting home from work, cooking dinner, and loading the dishwasher, I suddenly had a few hours with nothing to do.

It was all sewing tonight. When sewing leather, generally if you let a project sit overnight, the stitching holes close up a little, necessitating running the awl back through all the holes.

Then you get the proper amount of thread (approximately 4 times the distance you are sewing) and put a stitching needle on each end of the thread.

You start a needle in 2 holes next to each other

Pull them both through

Then thread one back through from the opposite side into the hole next to it.

Each end of the thread passes through each hole, meaning you have 2 layers of thread through each hole. This is a basic saddle stitch.

After the ends meet, you tie a knot to the inside, and if you are using nylon thread, you can melt the ends together for an indestructible knot.

When measure correctly, the belt loops should fit tightly on the belt. (The belt loop on the left hand holster has to be slightly looser, in order to pass over the bullet loops on the belt).

Then I worked on starting the bullet loops on the belt. The thread is a but unwieldy, starting at over 8 foot of thread.

But, after a while, I had to call it a night. I gotta work tomorrow. The loops I got to look nice, though.

Time tonight: 2 hours

Total time, not including emails and communication: 12 hours.

Keep checking back for updates!

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 3

***REMINDER: If you are interested in a custom leather order, email me at lazyjdleatherworks  (at) gmail  (dot) com, and I will respond promptly. 

Today, I burnished the edges of all the leather, except edges that will be sewn together in the final product. Those edges should be burnished together, so that the appear seamless.  When you burnish edges, it takes a rough leather edge:

And polishes it smooth, almost like glass. It's hard to see in these pictures, but if shown in person, the difference is night and day.

Next I dyed all the leather, making sure to get a deep, even coat on everything, so that they all look the same once the project dries.

Finally, I applied Edge Kote to all the burnished edges, which seals them and makes a pretty final product.

Time spent today: 2.5 hours.

Total time on project, not counting emails and communication: 10 hours.