Aged sixguns & leather

Pair of Slim Jims I'm finishing up with a pair of aged Uberti SAA's. Holsters came out way darker than I planned but with some efforts to age them, they lightened up pretty good. Have a nice reddish cast to them. Washed it over with denatured alcohol, hit the high spots with steel wool, added some wrinkles and cracks before oiling them down.

The holsters look nicely aged. Good job.

Those look very nice!

Good job!

Beautiful work

Nice!

Like the holsters. Do you hand stitch or so you have a machine?

Thanks for the kind words!

These are machine stitched. I'm using the machine when I can and only hand stitching period items.

How are you aging the saa? Or did they come that way?

Double post. Oops.

Very nice work Craig. That seeder/veiner border is outstanding. I think I'll try to incorporate that into my next piece. What stamp are you using on the outside line?

Thanks! You talking about the 7½"? That's a Celtic knot border stamp. Tough to make out unless you get real close. I want to find a Greek wave border stamp but have been unsuccessful.

The guns are factory aged but I did refinish the grips on the 7½".

Looks great!

Hi,

As always, Craig, very nice! Please keep 'em coming...

On the machine stitching, what kind of machine do you use? I have a client who's a semi-retired saddle maker, and it takes a good chunk of a two car garage to house his two sewing machines with some working room left. They hold the same fascination for me as old railroad steam engines in their sheer size, but I see cobblers' machines which look far more compact and better suited for work the size you do.

Rick C

Thanks!

A Cowboy 4500 model. It doesn't have the appeal of an old machine but I don't have to be a mechanic to run it either. It's a pretty good size machine and had to be delivered by truck freight on a pallet. It's on a wheeled stand so I can move it around the shop. The reason for most of the bulk in the machine itself varies with the thickness of leather it can stitch. Poking through 1" thick saddle skirting requires a hefty machine. It's a good bit bigger and heavier than my wife's big Viking quilting/embroidery machine.

This is a web pic:

CraigC said:

Thanks! You talking about the 7½"? That's a Celtic knot border stamp. Tough to make out unless you get real close. I want to find a Greek wave border stamp but have been unsuccessful.

The guns are factory aged but I did refinish the grips on the 7½".

Click to expand...

Yes, that's the one. Thank you. I blew it way up and can see it now. Very nice. I haven't seen any Greek Wave stamps, but I'll keep an eye out for one. Are you looking for the round wave or the Egyptian looking one?

What do you mean the Egyptian looking one? I've been studying quite a bit of Egyptian and Greek designs. Also Roman but most of theirs were borrowed from the Greeks and Egyptians.

I'm wanting to find something like this:



I've seen a similar border on finished work but have been unable to locate a stamp.

It appears that it's a Greek Key stamp. My first search brought it up as a Greek Wave along with the pattern you're showing. My mistake.
I can't get the image to load, but it was wrong anyway. I'll keep an eye out for the correct one. :wink:

That's what I was thinking. They're both considered "meander" patterns so they often come up together in a search. There's several different styles. I have a couple of Greek key stamps and have used them but don't have any pics of finished work. I started a quiver last night that will have a Greek key stamp as part of its border.

I guess I could ask Barry King if they could make one.

I guess I could ask Barry King if they could make one.

$$ Ka-ching! $$