yldbill

I am in the process of designing my first CCW gun belt and all the info says to get a double thickness belt for full size weapons. My question is,where do you end the double thickness at up near the buckle end? I can't imagine bending double thick leather around the center bar on a buckle. I am planning on using 2 layers of 8/9 oz leather,is that about normal for 2x thickness?

I am in the process of designing my first CCW gun belt and all the info says to get a double thickness belt for full size weapons. My question is,where do you end the double thickness at up near the buckle end? I can't imagine bending double thick leather around the center bar on a buckle. I am planning on using 2 layers of 8/9 oz leather,is that about normal for 2x thickness?

I am tooling some roses and stems on a belt and was wondering what I do to keep the dye from bleeding together where the rose and stem meet . I am also worried about the dye getting outside of the tooled area. Any help would be great.

I won a 29-4 on E-bay and was wondering what the limitations on this machine were? I've be getting some " schooling " from a saddlemaker in Phoenix, and he said that this was a pretty good machine for my first one. Right now I have been doing small projects like holsters and some tool bags for motorcycles, but I've been hand stitching all of them and my fingers are wearing out.

That's the one!

There were some pictures posted by Antipalidin on January 26 2009 . The pictures show the moveable head that the horse has. I would link to the post by I'm not that versed in computer skills.

After some lengthy searching I found a little info about a stitching horse I would like to copy. About a year ago there was a Ken Allen stitching horse on E-bay, one of the forum members won the bid and I have been unable to find another one like it. I found that Mr. Allen no longer makes these horses and the phone number that was given for him is no longer a valid number. Does anyone have any info on how to contact Ken Allen ( of Portales, New Mexico). I would like to find out if he would be willing to either give me or sell the plans to the horses that he was constructing. The one on E-bay had a clamp that would swivel and I think that design would be a nice fearture to have .

Thanks for the info.

I am ready to start making my leather seat cover . I have not seen anyone mention how thick of leather they use on their seats. Should I be using thicker leather on the top and then go to a thinner more pliable leather for the sides?

Thanks for all the info. If I decide to take on this project I'll try to get some pictures.

I want to try and make a solo seat for my 08 Wide Glide. I've been trying to get as much information as possible . I would like to know where it is possible to get seat pans. Any source will help.

The double layers I am referring to would be the flat surface next to the bike and the surface that you see when looking at the bike from the side. After more thought I'm thinking that 2 layers of 9oz would be overkill. What I don't want, is to put all the work into a set of custom bags and then have them collapse in on the sides. I've seen some bags that can't be closed because there is a huge gap between the side and the overlap of the top.

I've been looking at saddle bags for my motorcycle and have almost convinced myself to make my own. Does anyone know where to get the plastic stiffener that goes between the layers of leather to help the sides keep their shape. I'm planning on using 9/10 oz leather but was told that I still need to use a stiffener even with double thick sides, does that sound like overkill or common construction practices?

I recently soaked some belt blanks in water prior to stamping them. When they dried ,they had a white-ish haze on the surface. Iapplied neatsfoot oil but after it dried all night the haze came back. Could this be due to the fact that I used soft water? I never had this happen before and I recently had my soft water system serviced.

Will soaking leather in soft water cause it to have a white-ish color .

Thanks for the suggestions Dwight.I took a look at the link and came up with some ideas. Before I get started,I have to finish one for my son-in-law for his Springfield XD. Before I start on the next one I'll post my design and you can make any suggestions on how to improve it. Bill

Thanks for the link.

After a friend saw the holster I made for myself, he asked if I could make one to fit a pistol he built. The pistol is a 1911 auto (colt-style) equipped with a scope. The weapon is going to be used for hunting so he wants the holster to be a side carry design. Does anyone have any info on such a creation ?

I polish alot of tool steel for plastic injection molds. When we want to get a real good finish(meaning mirror) we use different color diamond compounds.It comes in a syringe and could be worked into a strop very easy. You would not want to do any major sharpening with the stuff but as a finishing polish you probably can't get anything much finer here is alist from course to ultra fine: Red Blue Green Orange Yellow White

The knife sheath looks really good.What type of antler did you use for the handle and did you also make the knife ?

Randy, Since this was my first attempt I went to Tandy's and got some 6-7 oz leather to work with. The stitching was done by hand , with nylon waxed thread. I used a 4-prong punch to space the holes for sewing. The belt loops do look pretty rough but I wasn't sure how to dress them up at the time, I have read some more suggestions here and am looking forward to starting my next one. I think I know where I screwed up the first time. I only allowed 3/8 around the gun and because my pistol is a large frame I think I should have allowed 1/2 inch aroundthe gun. the current holster fits a Smith &Wesson but I don't know the model.. Thanks for the feed back and encouragement.

This is my first attempt at a holster, it didn't fit my gun, but luckily it fit my future son-in-law's gun. Bill

I have a few questions that I need some answers to. Why do leatherworkers use a round or tapered maul instead of a amallet with a flat face? It seems that it would be easier to hit stamping tools squarely with a flat face. I have also read that people are making their own mauls out of UHMWPE.If this material makes good mauls, can it be used for tooling boards. I have access to some sheets of this material that is 1 inch thick and I was wondering if this would be solid enough to use as a stamping surface. I could also flip it over and use it for a hole punch backing board. As I am just a rookie , any advice would be appreciated.

I bought a new pistol to carry with me when I go on long motorcycle trips. It is an FNP 45 and not a lot of holsters are currently being made for it. I've been searching the "FN FORUM" and there are not to many people that are pleased with the holster they are currently using. There is definitely a market for a OWB and IWB and a nice CCW type . If anyone has a pattern for this specific gun please let me know . Thanks.

Just getting back into leather working after a long hiatus. My uncle got me started and now I can't remember why I stopped.