Rawhide whip laced edging?

[Graveyard Jack]

Growing up, Dad had an H.H. Heiser holster for his High Standard .22 pistol that was floral carved and had the rawhide whip laced mainseam. I always thought it was a beautiful holster. Now I want to give it a try. Any tips, tricks or tutorials on doing this? I get the general idea and have done a test piece. I assume this is done without gluing the seam first.

[St. George]

Tandy offers several lacing books that are well-illustrated.

They cover braiding, as well.

Scouts Out!

[Grenadier]

There's some very good instructional videos on YouTube.

[1961MJS]

Hi

Barbra, our local Tandy worker said that there's a big difference in lacing the edges with leather and we wet Rawhide.  The rawhide shrinks when it dries.  How much?  Who knows?  The 1/8 inch thick (roughly) sinew looks o.k. too.

Just my $0l02.

[Davem]

Well, I'm not very experienced in it but I think there is single, double, and triple.  If you want the edge of the holster completely covered in lacing you pretty much need the triple.  On leather lace, there is a special needle with a split end- like a clothes pin. The leather lace goes into the split.  On rawhide- I'm not certain if you use a needle or just keep the tip of the rawhide dry.
   The only books I've ever found on the subject are sold by Tandy.

[Trailrider]

If you are looking for a rugged, simple style, use 7-9 oz, red latigo 1/4" wide. Punch holes 3/16 inch diameter holes in the leather with the center of each hole on a line 5/16" in from the edge of the seam, and 1/2" apart.  Tuck about 1-1/2" of the end in between the two layers of leather at the start of the lacing, and use a simple whip stitch.  When you finish lacing you can also tuck the end of the latigo in or simply tie an overhand knot in it!  To see a picture, go to www.gunfighter.com/trailrider and look at the #96X or the #1870 holster. And, no, I'm NOT trying to sell you anything! Just showing you my trade secret.  This may not be what you are looking for, but it is a rugged construction with a western style to it.
Hope this helps.

[Graveyard Jack]

Thanks but I'm pretty set on using rawhide.

[Massive]

The Heiser holsters look different from standard lacing for billfolds and such.  The slots are cut at about a 30-45 degree angle to the edge, this allows one to use a wider (44%) than the spacing between the stitches piece of lacing.  Rather than the coverage occurring because the lacing is woven over the edge, it occurs because it is oversize which allows it to lap on the edge of the welt in overlapping form.  If slots were cut square to the edge, unless they were offset or something, the coverage at the edge would either be sparse, or the slots would joint up and cut the welt right off.

I don't know that much about the Heisers, other than studying them for a few hours after coming across them on Ebay.  I don't know where I heard it, but I thought the lace was Kangaroo, on many of them it was white, which is an unusual color for rawhide, or am I missing something, I am no expert on rawhide.

[Trailrider]

Another thing to consider when using rawhide is the fact that if it gets wet it will stretch, and when it dries, will shrink, become brittle and crack.

[ChuckBurrows]

Another thing to consider when using rawhide is the fact that if it gets wet it will stretch, and when it dries, will shrink, become brittle and crack.

Apparently you've never had much experience with rawhide - it will stretch but only a certain amount (green hides are different), shrinkage when done right is minimal (but do remember it swells in thickness when wet so that is a consideration. As for drying and cracking, etc. if taken care of right it can last a very longtime - if not those thousands of piece of historic rawhide would be nothing but dust, and I'm talking stuff from the ancient Egyptians onto the plethora of cowboy and Indian goods made with rawhide: lariats, quirts, knife sheaths, moccasin soles, saddles, etc. My old George Lawrence rawhide laced holster from the 1920's for my S & W Triple Lock is still often used and is in excellent shape.

As for the angled holes, Massive is correct (that's how my Lawrence is done) and Tandy has the lacing punch for it.