Dwight

Resolene is THE sealer . . . May God bless, Dwight

For 20+ years . . . I have put the Chicago screw together with my fingers . . . Picked up the leather piece . . . and grabbed the back piece of the Chicago screw with the leading edge of a pair of professional lineman pliers. Left hand puts the squeeze on the screw head . . . and if you have enough ooomph in your left hand . . . you can shake the holster and it won't let go. If not . . . eat some Wheaties. Right hand picks up the screwdriver . . . and when it's job is done . . . that Chicago screw is "there" . . . and just maybe forever. Works for me. May God bless, Dwight

I've made that mistake . . . I take a deep breath . . . get out the razor knife . . . cut the stitches . . . pull out the thread pieces . . . Sew the belt piece . . . go get a coffee . . . and double check to see that I sewed it. I don't use that greasy kid stuff glue . . . I use Weldwood contact cement . . . Start at the toe end . . . stick a needle in that end hole . . . down into a piece of rigid foam . . . come up about 10 holes . . . stick another needle . . . and squeeze that piece between the needles together . . . move up 10 more . . . squeeze together . . . and so forth. Take it to the same sewing machine I did it with the first time . . . stick that needle down in the first hole . . . and VERY CAREFULLY sew it back together again. So far it has worked every time. May God bless, Dwight

Don't laugh . . . but you could move to Ohio . . . I have several leather jackets . . . I keep em all on good hangers . . . in my hall closet . . . knowing that July and August are the only months I may go completely thru and not need one of them. Today is the 22nd of May . . . all afternoon I'll be wearing leather . . . 50 degrees at 10 AM . . . yeah . . . leather May God bless, Dwight

Uhh . . . yeah . . . reading it myself again . . . I don't know . . . brain out in left field . . . I guess I was just going as I usually do . . . as I always take the blade off . . . clean the grease off it . . . put it back on . . . then adjust the depth . . . as most of the time, what I did last time isn't what I need this time. And that is why the blade is not over the center . . . I just stuck it back on from the last use . . . after I greased it up. I actually used to use it a lot more than I have lately . . . as I've been taking a micrometer with me to see truly what thickness leather I'm buying . . . and it has cut down on my time on the splitter. Thanks for both points . . . especially the blade position as I know better . . . just didn't do it last time I put it back on. Glad someone is watching over me . . . May God bless, Dwight

That is my second mat like that . . . and I've already turned it around. I love the thing . . . Wish the splitter was as easy to use as the mat is . . . lol May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . to start from the beginning . . . first determine how thick you want this piece of leather to be. Then loosen the large allen screws on each side of the blade . . . then by turning the black plactic knobs . . . you can raise or lower the blade . . . and when you have it where you want it . . . tighten the large allen screws. Now you are ready to go. Loosen the knob on the right side of the skiver . . . and you can then use the lever to lift or drop the roller . . . drop it and insert the leather piece you want to skive. Pull thru about an inch or two while holding the lever down. You will notice it drop as you begin your cut . . . as it pulls the roller up to the proper position. Once you have that inch or two skived . . . tighten the knob on the right hand side of the machine . . . while holding the lever down . . . that will keep the thickness even. You can then lay a board or something on the bail . . . to keep it from allowing the leather to jump up . . . jumping up gives you the bad skiving experience. Pull the whole piece thru . . . loosen the knob . . . insert the stub end . . . about an inch or two from where you need to start . . . again under the bail . . . and tighten the knob . . . pull the stub end thru and you are done. May God bless, Dwight

I use my Tandy splitter almost exclusively for belts . . . generally I leave a little extra on each end . . . I grab it with a pair of vise grips . . . and pull it thru. I actually start about 10 or 12 inches in from one end . . . then turn it around and do that section last so the whole blank is the same thickness. You are probably having two problems . . . The first is your blade is not sharp. Coming from the factory . . . none of those blades are SHARP . . . they are kind of a dull sharp . . . but not sharp type sharp. Your blade should be able to be held in one hand and shave 1/2 inch slices of a piece of copy paper . . . just like you might do with a straight razor or a pocket knife. If it is not that sharp . . . you need to work on it. I sharpen mine with several stones . . . ending up with a 3000 grit . . . and then I strop it . . . and I strop each side. When I get done . . . you do not want to touch that blade for any reason except to cut leather. Your second problem is in the picture . . . my hand it on the bail. Your leather needs to be under that bail . . . and as you pull the leather thru with your right hand . . . hold the bail down with the left hand . . . or lay a 2 x 4 edge on it to keep it down. If you don't . . . your leather will ride up and you will cut completely thru your blank. If you take a good look at the picture . . . my blade will appear to be rusty . . . it is not . . . believe me. It is greasy . . . that is just plain old axle grease on it . . . and it is on both sides . . . it keeps the sharpness from going away between uses. I wipe the grease off the blade . . . then run a piece of scrap thru it to check for sharpness . . . before I use it. When I get done for the day . . . unless I know for certain I will use it the next day . . . I grease it up and set it off my work bench. Hope this helps . . . may God bless, Dwight

The steel rod part is the last thing before putting it on . . . or handing it to a customer May God bless, Dwight

Let's talk about how you use resolene . . . I had problems similar when I first used it . . . because I used it too strong . . . and used too much of it. First . . . mix it 50 / 50 with COLD water . . . not ice water . . . just tap water from the cold side. I actually don't mix it . . . I shake it . . . mixes real good that way. I use a cheap 1 inch bristle brush I got from harbor freight . . . cost about 30 cents each or so . . . maybe more now . . . have not bought any in a while. Dip the brush fully . . . and start wetting the belt . . . or whatever you are doing . . . process is the same for all items. As you wet it . . . swirl the brush in little circles . . . building a light froth . . . you definitely want to see them there bubbles. Once you have gone end to end with the froth . . . the start end will be trying to dry out . . . hit it again . . . this time using long strokes . . . then cross wise strokes . . . then long strokes . . . then cross wise . . . Keep this up until there seems to be no change in the finish. Hang it up for a couple hours . . . get it down then and play with it . . . you want to flex it a bit . . . not seriously . . . just a bit . . . Last thing . . . especially with belts . . . find a 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel bar . . . roll the belt over that rod . . . pull the belt up close to your stomach . . . roll it across the rod . . . and pull it down sharply . . . flexing it the full length . . . and do it both ways. Give it an hour or two to rest . . . and then just use it. Using this process . . . I have no more trouble with my belts or the resolene. I will have to say though . . . I make very few single layer . . . most all are double. May God bless,, Dwight

If there is a powered skiving or leather splitting device there . . . it would be the first thing I would go for. Horse related items fall into two categories . . . plain functional . . . and decorated functional. Thickness is not a big deal on the plain functional . . . as long as it works . . . it is good. If she is doing decorated bridles . . . reigns . . . breast straps . . . etc . . . the thickness makes it move from good to great quality . . . and without that tool . . . her inventory of leather has to be tremendous compared to that needed for a person with the powered skiver or leather splitter. A fellow I know picked up one at an auction years ago . . . cute little dude . . . does up to 2 inches wide . . . about 1 foot every 30 seconds . . . but it sure makes life a lot easier if you need longer pieces done. May God bless, Dwight

You simply pull the left arm in . . . it doesn't go any place . . . yanks out like it was supposed to. The belt anchor is both good and bad . . . actually it is good if it is anchored on both sides . . . kind of acts like a pair of suspenders. But if it is loose under the left arm . . . it is more comfortable for me May God bless, Dwight

For straight holes . . . hands and punches will be hard pressed to beat a drill press. Remove the drill bit . . . put a needle in it's place . . . unplug the machine . . . and punch your holes. If you really . . . REALLY . . . want them to look good . . . punch them from the top first . . . into a piece of hard wood . . . with the drill press stop set 1/8 of an inch below your bottom edge of the sheath. Then turn the sheath over and punch from the back side all the way thru. Makes right real pur-teeee holes for stitching May God bless, Dwight

The answer to that question is the simple addition of a thumb break on the holster . . . the good thing about one of those is your thumb is heading in that very same direction anyway . . . and all you have to remember to do is have it ready to do it's job which is simply to separate the two pieces of leather by a downward push of the thumb as you push back a tad into your hip . . . it breaks the snap loose at the same time you fingers are surrounding the grip . . . and you are in great shape. As for the G3C . . . of all those you have mentioned so far . . . it would be your best carry option in my opinion. I owned a G3C for a while . . . got talked out of it by a young man . . . his dad had a G3 which I had made a holster for . . . and they both loved it . . . he didn't have enough money to buy a G3C . . . so he kind of begged me out of the G3C and the holster for it. He doesn't carry it . . . it's his home defense weapon. I never had any trouble carrying it as my CCW . . . other than I just simply am not a 9mm fan . . . I like the .45ACP . . . feel comfortable with it . . . which is a big part of feeling comfortable with your CCW. I can get it back . . . make you a holster for it . . . send it to you . . . you can wear it for a week . . . if you don't like it . . . your only cost is the return shipping. I can put it on Ebay . . . it'll be gone in a week. May God bless, Dwight

You put the whole problem in a nutshell in the bold letters above. There is a middle step between seeing and producing . . . it is defining "HOW" to produce it. Take for example . . . sewing a pair of shoes from scratch. Pick up a shoe of yours . . . preferrably a moccasin. Turn it around in your non writing hand . . . and use your writing hand to write down where you put the very first stitch. What two parts are joined before anything else is done. What is the next sewing step . . . the next step . . . the next step . . . etc. Now put the shoe down . . . go watch an hour of youtubes or TV . . . then come back and without making any changes . . . pull off the sheet and do it again. Compare the two . . . If you didn't cheat . . . you probably will have two versions . . . because you caught something in one . . . the other missed. This is how you learn to do the "HOW" . . . make up that written plan . . . cut 1 . . . sew 1 . . . cut 2 . . . cut 3 . . . sew 2 to 3 . . . sew 1 to 2 and 3 . . . etc. I have to do that or I'm coming back and trying to figure out how I'm going to get that snap put in that I forgot . . . or how will I get that sewing over there that I missed. That my friend is the key to your problem . . . a plan of action . . . which will always be subject to modification. Have fun . . . best wishes. May God bless, Dwight