Finished My First Rig

[Patrick Henry Brown]

Hi All:

I'm attaching some photos of my finished rig. This is the first leathercrafting I've done since junior high shop class --- a LONG time ago. I cannot claim full credit, as I bought a kit from Liberty Leather online. Belt, holsters and slides were cut out and a few holes punched in the belt, but the tooling, design, molding and finishing are all mine. I'm hooked now and ready to buy my own leather and go from scratch. Photos really don't do justice to the color. It is a rich, dark burgundy. And that is a Maltese Cross carved into the holster keepers (not sure keeper is the right term, but I'm sure someone will correct me if need be). Would welcome your comments.

Pistols are my Ruger Vaqueros in 44-40/44Mag with Hogue Pearlite grips. Holsters also fit my 1860 RM Conversions.

[cowboy316]

wooooo hooooooo preacher very nice i like the rich color ya got there and how it has the rubbed bronz look
i drool over everyones rigs thinkin ill make one someday lol even if it just hangs on the wall empty lol
            again very good work preacher
                              Cowboy316

[JD Alan]

Hey preacher, that's mighty nice work. I didn't know people sold kits like that, pretty cool. The color is great. I would appreciate hearing the steps you took to get it looking like that. I've learned enough here now to know it takes, steps, many steps to get the color & finish you want. Thanks for sharing the pics, JD

I forgot to ask, how do you like the feel of those grips? I love how they look. I use Ruger Vaqueros too. mine are blued, and I think they would look great with those grips, but from here they look mighty slick. Can you hang on to them pretty good? Thanks 

[Patrick Henry Brown]

JD:

I actually just applied two very heavy coats of the Feibing's spirit based Burgundy dye to the wet leather, buffed it with an old white athletic sock, then finished it with two coats of Ecoflo Super Sheen  -- then buffed it again with the old sock treatment.

As far as the grips are concerned, they fit the grip frames great. No fitting was necessary and I think they look fantastic. I've had no problem with them being slippery, but I have not tried them in the hot Texas summer yet. We'll see. The main reason I went with the Hogue was the reviews on Midway's website were better for them than the Ajax grips. They fit much better than the stock Ruger wood grips.

Preacher Clint

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Outstanding, PC. You did a great job. All the more impressive since it's your first one. Nice balance between design and open area. Really good color. I can hardly wait to see your next one. Thanks for the pics.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

      BEAUTIFUL work Preacher you can be proud of this Pard, and when you wear it you'll get plenty of looks and compliments for sure, with nice work like this on your first rig , we can't wait to see your future work, A BIG WELL DONE PARD.. 



                                                     Ten Wolves 

[cowboywc]

Howdy Preacher Clint
That is outstanding....
WC

[JD Alan]

Wouldn't you know, no one in my area sells that color.

I still don't know if it's OK to mix the "regular' Fiebings dye with the so called "pro" oil dye. They both have alcohol as their main base

I hope someone can weigh in on that one.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I have a jar of mixed dyes that is kind of a morphing color. I've dumped small leftovers of this and that together. Somewhere along the way, one of them settles out some but it doesn't change the fact that I can use the dye anyway. I just shake it up and use it. It works fine. You may want to try a sampling of the two to see what they do when mixed. I also thin my dyes with alcohol when I want a lighter color. I haven't worked with water-based dyes at all.

[Patrick Henry Brown]

Wouldn't you know, no one in my area sells that color.

I still don't know if it's OK to mix the "regular' Fiebings dye with the so called "pro" oil dye. They both have alcohol as their main base

I hope someone can weigh in on that one.

I ordered my dye online from Springfield Leather Company. Had it in two days. Here is the link:

http://www.springfieldleather.com

Preacher Clint

[T.C. Grant]

Excellent work PC!

[JD Alan]

Further investigation reveals a somewhat limited selection of colors in the oil dyes, at least compared to their other spirit based dyes. I now have all the colors except yellow and royal blue, neither of which was available.

I notice with the spirit dyes the colors burgandy, maroon, cordovan, medium brown, and russet are all available.

It's time for some experimenting. I took one unit of chemestry in college back in 1967, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but I barely passed it.

For a backup this afternoon I fired off an email to Fiebings, asking what they thought about mixing the two dyes. I hope I get an answer.

If you hear an explosion in Oregon...............  

[santee]

Sure is nice lookin'!

[Wiley Desperado]

Mighty fine looking rig there PC you should be very proud of that one pard.  Thanks for sharing