Awesome belt, Chris! Have you tried/thought about making holsters yet? If so, you have a customer!

Yes! I currently have pancake-holster patterns for Glock, Springfield XD, Smith & Wesson M&P, Kahr 9, and 1911 styles.
It's also on the back burner but I'd like to make a holster for my Glock by springtime. I might have to buy 'blue guns' (plastic replicas) for form-fitting purposes though.

Sounds like you need to take up cloning, so you get get all that stuff off the back burner! ;)

LOL, nah that wouldn't be any fun.
Not happy unless all burners are on full blast.

Hey Chris, I've heard that you can use a belt to sharpen your knives. I have a cheapo V sharpener that shaves quite a bit bit of metal off with every sharpening. I know the stick sharpener is preferable for home use, but I'm looking for an alternative to recutting the edge every time I need to sharpen..

Stone and ceramics are best for sharpening, diamond stones for mass metal removal or touch up (depending on coarseness) and steel for touch up w/o removing metal.

Chris - how about a western holster?

That's out of my league for now... really a lot of things to learn before I can tackle westerns.
As far as sharpening, I'm not an expert on that. If I need to redefine a cutting edge I use three separate flat sharpening stones - coarse, medium, and a fine Arkansas honing stone. Once that edge is established I fine tune it with a standard sharpening steel. The next step is leather strop but I don't have one.
90% of the time I go right for the sharpening steel to touch up an edge, works great. I don't have any experience with the diamond products or v-rods.

I have a carbide sharpener I do believe. My glass (doh!) Cutting board kills my knife. Fortunately it's not an expensive blade to begin with. It'll just be good info for when I have a nicer set up.

I came across that thread today actually, was reading a thread about something else and decided to poke around. Small world.

Your projects are coming along great Chris!! Looks like its kicking into high gear. There will be no stopping you when you get the rest of the equipment needed.

Thank you! I have to go to the ranch for another stay and unfortunately will have to put all this on hold until I get back.
Huge snowstorm here today... I might have enough time to saddle-stitch and burnish that Arctic Hunter sheath before I git, it's almost done. It's been my most challenging leather project to date. Learning some new skills with that one.

Glass cutting board? Oh my - brutal on a knife edge. We have gone back to wood. Yes, they are higher maintenance, but worth the effort! We use block oil on them, and
they stay nice.

I finished that sheath for the Damascus Arctic Hunter. I'll need to take some time tomorrow and update with pics for anyone interested in the rest of that process or how it turned out.
Next on the bench is this large kitchen knife. This is a pre-made blank that I bought and is pretty nice quality. All that I'm going to do is shape the tang and attach handle scales and it'll be done. I'm just a "Cutler" on this build, not a "Maker". If it turns out nice I'm going to send it to Ma for her birthday in a couple of months. I'm going to be using Ironwood for the scales. It's possibly the hardest wood on the planet and I bought some "presentation grade" so it should buff out nice. Part of the reason I chose Ironwood is because it's the name of the town I grew up in (good ol U.P.) and where my parents still reside!
In this pic I'm just getting started. I don't like the shape of the handle tang so I'm about to take the Dremel to it and make some fluid curves that are more ergonomic, comfortable, and purty. I used a green sharpie to outline what I plan to remove.... just gotta find a bit that will eat it.
Hard steel - Japanese 440C stainless.

Custom ironwood handles going to mom in Ironwood. That is some really hard wood, I bet this project will be a sweet one when finished too!
Look forward to seeing it.

theres NOTHING better than something you made for your parents! it shows that your still thinking of them when you made it! thats "priceless"