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.

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 2

***REMINDER: If you are interested in a custom leather project, feel free to contact me at lazyjdleatherworks (at) gmail  (dot) com, or reach me by my personal email or cell if you have them!


So this morning, my wife and I spent about an hour converting her old office space to a leatherworking space for me! No more kitchen table or back porch! I have a dedicated space where I can leave out projects that I'm currently working on. The new setup is pretty Boss.

So today, after getting my new space arranged, I basically did three things on the big order I'm working on:

I punched holes with a leather punch

I set eyelets in the stock wraps

And I laid out stitching guides, and used an awl to punch all the stitching holes.

The stitching work was by far the most involved part of this process. I hoped to get to dyeing today, but I just didn't have the time. Maybe tomorrow!

I learned something today: for future projects, I really gotta charge more for bullet loops. They aren't hard, per se, but they are tedious and time consuming. I think about $5 per loop will be my price, going forward.

Time today spent on project: 3 hours.

Total time, minus emails and communication: 7.5 hours

Leather Order, From Start To Finish, Part 1

***Edited to add: If you are interested in a custom leather project, feel free to contact me at lazyjdleatherworks (at) gmail (dot) com. I will respond promptly so that we can work out details.

Or contact me by my personal email or cell #, if you know them!

I recently received an order for multiple leather items, and I decided I will document the creation process from start to finish, so everyone can understand the process.

Without further ado:

First, we start with receiving the order, and communicating with the customer to determine exact needs, items wanted, colors, etc. We then work up a quote, and inform the customer of payment methods, shipping, etc. To date, we have 19 emails sent to and fro.

Then, we get out tools.

And pull out leathers. Different thicknesses are used in different applications.

Now, we make a list with some basic measurements of what is needed.

If you have a pattern, you get it out. If a customer is requesting something new (like this holster for a Ruger Security Six) then you need to create a pattern. After making a pattern on paper, I transfer it to card stock. One day, I'd like to get all my patterns rendered in thin metal, for long term durability.

Next, we begin laying out patterns and tracing them into the leather, and cutting them out.

We bevel all the edges, which will give the end product a cleaner look.

Then we lay out edge lines. This also contributes to a clean finished look.

This order includes 2 holsters, a gun belt with cartridge loops, a sling for a Marlin 1894, a stock wrap with billet loops for same, and a stock wrap with bullet loops for a Marlin 336. Not including email exchanges, I currently have 4.5 hours in this project. I likely won't have time to pick the project back up until Saturday, but I will continue to document the project as it moves forward.

Keep watching for updates!

.357 Deer Load

My pop gave me some hard cast, gas checked 180 grain flat-point bullets recently. They are a bullet originally designed for use in the .35 Remington round.

In the early days of the internet blogs, dad and a few internet buddies got Lee to re-create an old Lyman bullet in a 6 cavity mold, the TL358-180. Several bloggers did some figuring, and decided it would be good deer medicine loaded hot in a .357 cartridge for handgun hunting. They put in a collective order to Lee for enough of the molds to make it worthwhile for Lee to make them, and ordered a custom lot.

Dad worked up a recipe using this bullet over Lil' Gun powder. He played with it for a few years, and moved on to other pursuits.

But it was a heck of a load. Out of a rifle barrel (16 inches) the load Pop developed was pushing slightly over 1600 fps. That's close to a mild 170 grain bullet loading in 30-30, which has taken more than it's share of North American game animals.

Under 100 yards, Pop's load shot like a laser beam, and hit like a hammer.

Well, like I said, Pop gave me some bullets, and loading data. I made a batch of 50, and tried them out.

Out of a Marlin 1895, the bullets shoot into the front sight (a 6-moa dot) with boring regularity, and they hit the steel plate hard enough to foul it on it's chains, necessitating going downrange to unwind the target from it's stand.

From a Uberti El Patron, they make the palm of your hand tingle with each successive shot.

I was pleased.

I saw Pop this weekend, and gave him thanks for the bullets and the knowledge. As is his way, he nodded matter-of -factly, and headed for his reloading bench. He pulled down several boxes, and told me he was pretty sure he was done playing with that load, and since he gave me his Marlin 1894 a few years ago, I might as well take care of his mold for it.

I'm now set up to reload that mean-ass .357 load, and I got Pop, once again, to thank for furthering my knowledge.

I appreciate it, Pop. I really do.