Miles City holster

Cliff Fendley · April 17, 2011, 10:06:40 PM

Made another new pattern, influenced by Moran Bros. work. I made this one for a good friend that is getting into NCOWS.

Drayton Calhoun · April 17, 2011, 10:36:06 PM

Really nice rig, Cliff. I like the squared skirt.

Marshal Will Wingam · April 17, 2011, 11:02:21 PM

Looks great, Cliff. The copper rivets are a nice touch. Great color. Your friend should really be proud to wear that one.

KidTerico · April 17, 2011, 11:21:09 PM

Cliff nice job. I like the stamp pattern. KT

Johnny McCrae · April 18, 2011, 01:35:32 AM

Howdy Cliff,
Great job! Great look and finish coupled with excellent workmanship! Thanks for showing it to us.

santee · April 18, 2011, 07:01:00 AM

Nice and clean.

Cliff Fendley · April 18, 2011, 07:49:11 AM

Thanks fellas, We didn't want anything too flashy, just dressy looking. He's going for a fairly dressy persona with his character so I thought this was a good style to work with. Plus I've been wanting to make a Moran Bros. styled holster anyway.

David Carrico · April 18, 2011, 08:10:23 AM

Very nice!

Chuck 100 yd · April 18, 2011, 09:33:19 AM

I like that one. How will you keep the skirt from curling up at the edges??

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · April 18, 2011, 09:45:55 AM

Cliff, another outstanding rig, I like every thing about it, your choice of tooling stamps couldn't be nicer, color, and I really like your use of the copper rivets, they just yell out the old west, well done pard

tEN wOLVES

Cliff Fendley · April 18, 2011, 12:23:38 PM

Thanks TW. I used a rope and couple other stamps to try and resemble the embossing that was on the original holsters that inspired me on this one.

Chuck, I don't know if that large skirt will curl on him or not but I doubt it will give him any trouble. I guess it's no different than the fenders and skirt on a saddle, I've seen some roll a little but most don't.

I did have to wonder a little while making the pattern why Moran put such a large skirt on the holster and why it did not have the loop centered on the skirt. Anyway that's how Moran did it so if it was good enough for them it's good enough for me.

One of the ones I was looking at is in Packing Iron but I cant remember which page it's on. It's pictured with a wide money belt.

TwoWalks Baldridge · April 18, 2011, 01:00:23 PM

Dang Cliff that is beyond words ... Awesome workmanship and design.

So I am working away on another holster and belt and feeling pretty dang good about it ... then I see work like this. Well maybe the next one I do. Well maybe another 50 or 100 then I will feel good putting one of mine next to one of yours. Well maybe not, but mine are improving ... I think.

Wolf Tracker · April 18, 2011, 04:04:03 PM

Cliff very nice.

TN Mongo · April 18, 2011, 07:08:07 PM

Great work! Your toe plug is excellent - one of the best that I have seen.

Cliff Fendley · April 18, 2011, 07:20:54 PM

Thanks again fellas. I struggled with toe plugs at first, I wasn't able to find a tutorial on doing them so I had to do some trial and error and studied some originals trying to figure it all out. Now I don't mind doing them.

I sew them and the main seam with one thread, no splices, I saddle stitch down the main seam and around the plug to the main seam again. I'm not sure if this is how everyone does them but I saw a tutorial of Will Gormley a while back and he does it very much the same way. If I had that tutorial to look at when I was first doing toe plugs it would have saved me some fumbling.

outrider · April 19, 2011, 07:15:29 AM

Cliff, Well done my friend. Did you use the new machine to stitch it???

Cliff Fendley · April 19, 2011, 07:57:12 AM

Outrider, this one is all hand stitched with linen thread. We wanted it 1880's-90's authentic so we used materials and methods that were available then or prior to that. Most of Morans work I've seen had stitched bullet loops but the woven ones were used then and I like the woven ones better for action shooting since they hold the cartridges out a little more for easy access. Plus the woven ones are stronger and a little faster to do.

I wish I had a sewing machine I could stitch linen thread, especially on those money belts.

Do you know when other types of thread were first used in leatherwork? I may be mistaken but I didn't think Nylon came along until the 1930's or so.

I have been using the new machine on more modern styles.

Irish Dave · April 19, 2011, 03:17:28 PM

Very nice job, Cliff. Your pard should be proud.

outrider · April 20, 2011, 08:10:12 AM

Cliff,

I think Nylon was invented by DuPont around 1939...Polyester came after that in about 1941 or so. Soooo I assume that prior to that most of the thread used was cotton or a linen type thread.....

Do a search in Wikipedia and type in "sewing machine"...there is a history of the sewing machine that is very interesting read.