Stitching question

[Pappy Hayes]

In Packing Iron there are some holsters that look like they have some type of whip stitch on the edge but there is no space in between the stitching. What is this stitch called and how is it done? I cannot find anything on it.

[Graveyard Jack]

Probably looks that way because the holes are punched at an angle, rather than parallel with the edge.

[bedbugbilly]

I may be wrong on this but are you talking about the holsters that are stitched up with rawhide?  If so, look at Stohlman's book on holster making as it is shown in there.  I haven't done one yet but I will in the future at some time.  If you are looing at the holsters done in the rawhide - Google rawhide lacing.  I bought several spools of it that is 1/4" wide.  I don't have the information handy on the source but a number of sources should show up.  I haven't read the directions lately but if I remember correctly, you soak it for bout 20 minutes and as you lace up the seam, you use saddle soap as a lubricant.  It reminds me of "whip stitching" - at the starting point and the ending point, the end is worked under the whip stitch and pulled tight.  When the rawhide dries, it shrinks and forms a tight hold on the seam.

I experimented on some scraps . . . I used a leather punch and spaced the holes so that when the whip stitching was done, the edges of each stitch touched slightly. I was using a round hold but I suppose you could also use something like a 1/4" chisel to make angled slots - you'd just have to experiment on the spacing.  When the rawhide lacing is dry, you're supposed to be able to lap splice it if the piece you start out with ends up being too short - glue with something like contact cement.

On the sample pieces I tried, I just cut the end of the lace to a long tapered point and fed it though the punched hole - you have to be careful to keep the lacing flat and not twisted.  i just used a pair of needle nose pliers to pull it through the hole and then snugged it up by hand.  When my sample dried out, it made a nice tight and attractive stitch.

You don't reference a page number in Packing Iron but I'm talking about holsters such as shown on page 190.

[Pappy Hayes]

Thanks bedbugbilly