ltwguns.com

I recently had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman who was good friends with the late Bruce Nelson, and had quite a collection of Mr. Nelson's custom leather. Bruce Nelson was one of the pioneers of modern concealment leather. Many of the holster designs commonly offered by manufacturers today are variations of Nelson's original designs. As a holster-maker, it was truely an honor for me to be able to handle some of these vintage pieces and get some insight into the man who made them from someone who knew him well. So I thought I'd share some pics with you showing where it all began, and as a tribute to Bruce Nelson for getting it started. (Please excuse my spur-of-the-moment photography)


A well-worn #1 Professional front and rear:





A Professional #3 with thumb-break:





A Nelson Patriot snap-on (one of few in existance, barely marketed before his untimely passing):





Mag-pouches:





and a knife sheath:





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http://www.garritysgunleather.com
"He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist."
(St Francis of Assisi)

Thanks Mark. I enjoyed seeing 'em.

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Sic Semper Tyrannis

Nothing to excuse in those photos, Mark. Thanks very much for sharing a bit of history with us.

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NRA Endowment Member

Thanks Mark! I love the old stuff and we owe a lot to Bruce for what he came up with. How's your arm?

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People sleep peaceably in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Hey Mark:
Thanks for posting those! So what's wrong with your arm? Or were you doing something with it that we don't need to know about ?

Matt,
Stupid me, I screwed it up building an addition on my shop. The doc says it's just a bad case of tennis elbow, (with symptoms of carpal tunnel too)but it has made molding more than a few holsters at atime or using the edge bevelers a bit untolerable. It's much better than it was a month ago, but the doc is also scolding me for not doing anything to help it along. Hell, I'm so backed up now I need to clone myslef; I can't take a break or slow down. i'm sure you know what that's like.

As to the Nelson stuff, this guy has a bunch more but with my cheapy point-and-shoot digital and the lighting the black holsters did not photograph well.

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http://www.garritysgunleather.com
"He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist."
(St Francis of Assisi)

Mark,

I don't think it was the camera - it must have been that cheap background you chose to photograph them on .

Hope you get better soon -

John

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I will never forget you Lou......February 21, 2009

John Ralston
5 SHOT LEATHER, LLC - Finely Crafted Custom Handgun Leather

http://www.5ShotLeather.com

John,
That hide is absolutely incredible! It is as supple as glove leather.
I'm afraid to cut it !!! It's just too nice!

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http://www.garritysgunleather.com
"He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist."
(St Francis of Assisi)

Hey Mark:
Sorry to hear about your injuries. Yes it is a pain in the butt not to be able to take some time off to recuperate. Hope you get better fast!

Re: the black holsters, you might try taking photos of them on a light to medium brown background to see if that works better.

Matt

It sure is a pretty one - no mistakes!!!

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I will never forget you Lou......February 21, 2009

John Ralston
5 SHOT LEATHER, LLC - Finely Crafted Custom Handgun Leather

http://www.5ShotLeather.com

No mistakes - Nice one John; let's hope not!

Actually Matt, the black ones were photographed on a piece of gold stingray, which I have used for other pics on my web-site Photo Gallery,
but I think was too reflective with the flash.

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http://www.garritysgunleather.com
"He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist."
(St Francis of Assisi)

Mark:
Thanks for sharing those pics.

I dont know you guys, but I do love to see those first desings before they evolve, it´s really nice to appreciate how simple and funtional they were when first desingned, if you could post some more will be excellent.

Thanks again Mark, and take care of that elbow. it could be a really painful stuff, i suffered it too.
Alex.

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Alex NossaR
www.nossargunleather.com

Wow, very nice! Thanks for sharing.
Get well soon Mark.

Thanks for sharing these pics. All I have is one of Bruce's catalog (probably the last one as it has an ad insert for the Patriot") and it's really nice to see color pics of his holsters.

Very nice. I want to know what your going to do with that black gator skin?

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"King's to you, Fernand"

Mark, Thanks for sharing those photos.. Bruce was a great guy, and a genius of a designer.

It was pretty sad that he passed so young.
Lou

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Alessi Holsters, Inc.
You'll never know it's there, until you need it...

Hi, Lou!
Yeah, great loss; and this guy who showed me the holsters was really close with him. You could tell just by how he talked about him.

F16,
The gator is actually a dark tobacco brown and is for a complete rig for a customer; once I can convince myself to take a blade to it!

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http://www.garritysgunleather.com
"He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist."
(St Francis of Assisi)