LH Crossdraw

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I recently bought a new stitch groover. It wasn't all that impressive. The groove is larger than my old one and it doesn't cut all that well. Yeah I could sharpen it but decided I liked the one I bought some 50 years ago better. It also had these edge beveler tips that didn't work at all. The largest one is too small to be useful for anything I do so I modified one of those to make a beader tip. Then the edge guide was not the right length for that so I made a new guide out of a 1/8" stainless fill rod.



Now I had to try it out so I made a LH crossdraw holster with a 15 degree cant. I ran a double bead around it with a floral stamp where the beads changed direction. I'm pleased with it. It does the same thing my hand made double beader does but it is faster to use and I can make any number of beads by simply changing the guide and running another bead next to the previous one.

Here's the holster. It also has some character marks that showed up nicely after it was finished.



For comparison, here's a similar holster I made with my other double beader tool.

[Rube Burrows]

Very nicely done. I have the hardest times doing lines and grooves like that on your holsters. I have tried them with stitch groovers and have tried them with winged dividers.

Is there a decent tutorial out there on doing lines like on your holsters?

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thank you, Rube. I don't know of a tutorial for it but I've made them with a beader tip in my swivel knife, with my double bead tool and now with this modified stitch groover. The new one just follows the edge of the leather except along the fold of the pouch where I used a straight edge.

[Cliff Fendley]

That's an awesome idea Marshal. Very well done and nice holster.

[Johnny McCrae]

I had a similar problem some years ago. Looks like your modifications did the trick. Thoe Holsters are beautiful and the lines are perfect.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thank you, Cliff, John.

I measured the new guide rod again and found it was actually 1/8" not 5/32". I'll correct my previous post to reflect the size.