[Eaglestroker]

Late last fall I was more than a little surprised at the fact that a semi-local and very talented leather maker approached me about having a rig made for himself. He specializes in turn of the century western gear and does all of his stitching by hand along with wonderful hand stamping that is really impressive. We talked a bit about it when he decided he'd really like the rig done in an elephant overlay. We were able to come to a trade agreement involving a nice elephant hide and this shipped just 4 hours down the road yesterday to some rather anxiously awaiting hands. Still makes me nervous to send work to another maker for critique, he's getting the best I'm capable of on this one either way though.

While I've worked with elephant before this is the first time I've done an overlay of any kind. The J-frame holster was a test so that I could learn any do's and do not's on a smaller project and he liked it so much he decided to buy it without owning a gun for it. He bought a 640 last weekend for his new holster :biggrin: Lately these projects while familiar patterns have all been in new ways that are quite an enjoyable challenge for me. The sweat guard has been such a popular option that it is now a part of any of my holsters that allow it to be incorporated, too.

Since I don't have a 1911 nice enough to fill that holster I left them empty for this photo shoot. Hopefully you folks don't mind too much!

 

[half cocked]

:congrats: beautiful work, your quite good

 

[a9mmfan]

Excellently done Eaglestroker!

 

[Fun junky]

Very nice work. :congrats:

 

[Pereira]

Mighty fine:congrats:

 

[Cajun]

Robert my brother absolutely beautiful work!!!!!Your work always amazes me you have some serious talent!!!!

 

[dhansen]

Excellent work as always with your leather work Robert. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[Eaglestroker]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Fun thing about doing 'em is you can point out ever single think 'wrong' with it even in the photos. That and when you climb that mountain you get to send it to a new home and start over.

Always always always room for improvement, but it sure is fun and satisfying :eating:

 

[1895Gunner]

Nicely done. Something I would be proud to wear for sure!

1895gunner

 

[Tomray]

Robert,

All I can say is WOW!...... :congrats:

What a great looking Rig with matching Belt........Where did you find the Elephant Material?

Tom

 

[dhansen]

Attention to detail makes all the difference, and you can tell you pay attention to detail. Every stitch! My son works on programming robots and their movements. He films the movements at 1000 frames per second and looks for any pause in the motion that can be eliminated. To the one creating the work it is important and leads to better products. To me looking at your work, I'd never spot even one flaw. You are going to be very busy and in demand producing the quality products like the ones you post photos of!

 

[oleroy]

:congrats:Looking Good, & Good Looking Work!!:tee:

 

[Eaglestroker]

Robert,

All I can say is WOW!...... :congrats:

What a great looking Rig with matching Belt........Where did you find the Elephant Material?

Tom

Tom, the other maker bought it from Roje Leather and it's of fantastic quality. I've bought remnants before as they were cheap and big enough for small projects. I could wear this side of leather around like a cape - it was massive. Got half of it sitting in my shop still waiting on a not so busy day!

Thank you for the compliments as well my friend!

Attention to detail makes all the difference, and you can tell you pay attention to detail. Every stitch! My son works on programming robots and their movements. He films the movements at 1000 frames per second and looks for any pause in the motion that can be eliminated. To the one creating the work it is important and leads to better products. To me looking at your work, I'd never spot even one flaw. You are going to be very busy and in demand producing the quality products like the ones you post photos of!

Hey David, agree whole heartily. I went to school for ME and working on things that meticulous (robots) would drive me crazy. It takes a special level of focus to be able to do that kind of work and speaks very well of your son and his dad for raising him right!

When my work first started really improving I was sure that being a premier maker was in my future. Things change and life gets in the way, I'm not capable of doing custom work on a production scale. The two things just don't go well together and created a lot of heartache for more than a few customers as well as myself. I just came out of a 6 month new order hiatus to clean the chalk board. With all of that that I'm now content with enjoying the shop time and looking forward to a comfortable retirement job in 40-45 years!

*The* single best thing to come of this if I quit tomorrow is the fellowship from customers I'm proud to call friends. Gun folks are GREAT folks. I'll hop off my box now :biggrin:

 

[DWB]

Nice work...

Since you don't have a 1911 "nice enough" to slip into that holster, have you considered selling it along with the belt? I reckon there are more than a few folks that would happily entertain the notion of purchasing it. Me included. :flute:

 

[Eaglestroker]

Nice work...

Since you don't have a 1911 "nice enough" to slip into that holster, have you considered selling it along with the belt? I reckon there are more than a few folks that would happily entertain the notion of purchasing it. Me included. :flute:

This whole rig is spoken for and actually on the truck for delivery today, but I still have half of my elephant cap worth of hide to work with if'n you were so inclined :biggrin:

 

[DWB]

This whole rig is spoken for and actually on the truck for delivery today, but I still have half of my elephant cap worth of hide to work with if'n you were so inclined :biggrin:

PM Sent.

DWB

 

[half cocked]

This is just the Class Clown in me and no disrespect at all,

But I bet the new owner of that fine elephant holster, will "never forget where it is" :ahhhhh:

sorry lol

 

[Eaglestroker]

Got this photo tonight along with some very kind words. Nice end cap to the day, and some nice guns to boot!

 

[Reload]

Great workmanship. Thanks for the photos.

 

[kybob]

Very nice indeed. Thanks !
BoB