Tag: stamping

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Picking favorites. Not cool if it’s your kids, but holsters don’t read.

Gibson Leather, Bruce Gibson Design, natural Hermann Oak leather OWB holster with rope basket stamp and liner. Roughout back panel.
Natural OWB with rope basket stamp, Barry King half-flower border, lined with roughout back panel.

This one’s a favorite. I built it last week along with a dozen others, but I only lined two of them. The other is the hammered finish I put in another post a week or so back. I like it, too, but I really like this one. That doesn’t happen too often. I should probably use the past tense talking about this–this one’s not mine anymore. It’s got a new home in South Texas, and it was interesting packing it up in that Priority Mail box and putting it in the hands of the Postal Service. It’s my hope the Postal folks don’t take it on a month-long tour of the Southwest. They did that with one a couple of months ago.

It was only here a few days after it was finished. I’ve got some I’ll probably die with, and others that aren’t finished yet, but already have “dibs” called on them. I’ll miss this one. But only for a few days–I’m building a couple more just like it.

That’s it for now. Thanks for riding along. It’s 7:30 PM here on the Redneck Riviera, and I’m calling it a day.

From what’s left of America…

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Monday. On the bench. Two florals just oiled…

Gibson leather two floral carved holsters in progress right after oiling 100% neatsfoot oil

Good early Monday morning! The time changed here yesterday–we “Sprang Forward” an hour. The twice-a-year time travel opportunity always reinforces my conviction that our government really is as screwed up as we’re led to believe. Or, I’m a simpleton that doesn’t fully appreciate the method behind Uncle Sugar’s madness.

Anyway, glad I got that outta my system. Here are two 1911 holsters we floral carved a few days ago. Both are for 4″ or 4.25″ Commander-length 1911’s. They were both molded with 5-inch barrels, and the purpose behind that is to keep the toes open. By doing this, they will accommodate a 5-inch barrel leaving 1/2″ exposed. Some like the exposed muzzle, others don’t. Commander-length 1911’s are fully covered.

These two were just oiled with 100% pure Neatsfoot oil and they look like hell. That’s totally normal until the oil evens out and they take on a pretty cool honey-color. Unlike the college students we’ve got down here these days that burn to a crisp and look more like lobsters splayed out on Panama City Beach.

It’s supposed to hit a high of 81-degrees here in sunny Florida today. These two, and a few others will get to hang out in the sunshine for a few hours and get their tan on. It’s like Spring Break for gunleather without the tan lines.

These two will be finished and on the websites later in the week. Neither are spoken for, so if you want one, shoot me an email to BruceGibson@aol.com. The price is $150 each plus $10 for Priority Mail shipping. Sales tax if you’re in Florida.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thank you for reading.

From what’s left of America …

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All in the details.

stamping, basket, basket stamp, detail, tools, leather, belt, gunbelt, border, half flower, Hermann Oak, premium, leather, process, leathercraft, leather work, trade, craft, craftsman
You can click on the photo for a larger view in a new tab. This is stamping, as opposed to embossing. Each segment of the pattern is “set” as deeply as possible into the leather using a stamping tool and a maul.

“It’s all in the details,” is a pretty common statement, but it’s critical to making leather products one piece at a time. I thought I’d show a photo of a gun belt being hand-stamped with a basket stamp and half-flower border. This is the cleanest, longest-lasting way of putting a design on the leather.

There is another way I know of to do this. It is by embossing or pressing a design into damp leather using a press or a roller/wheel with an embossing machine. This is the mass-produced, inexpensive way of doing it. It also results in a fairly shallow imprint that is subject to fading away over time. It can be done quickly, whereas hand-stamping takes more setup, and much more time.

Embossing can be done in seconds. Stamping can take hours.

An embossing machine for straps or belts.

Here’s a video from Tandy Leather and George Hurst showing you some of how it’s done.