UncleGeorge

Anyone know of a leather supplier in the Austin, Texas area other than Tandy. Tandy is fine but ever once in a while I don't find a side that I like and sometimes they only have a few to look through in the sizes I need. San Antonio isn't too far away. Thanks

I inquired about the fee and was told there is no fee. Ha, there was one on my account. they said there shouldn't have been one, but it's still there. I was told by Paypal that there is no charge assessed to your account for using the pirnt label option. Tried it twice since then and kept getting errors in the shipping address that I typed in and there was no real option to edit the address so that it would satisfy the label printing software, so gave up on that. I just write the address on the box and stand in line at the post office. Fortunately my post office is only about 5 blocks away and in the morning there's usually not much of or not any line.

I just use the page template marked "general" in Microsoft Live Office. It gives you options to have 1, 2, 3 or more sections on your page if you wish. I just used one section for the entire page. I added photos and text whenever and wherever I wished and you see how it turned out. Adding a bunch of photos on a page is tricky but one or two no problem.

Hey thanks for the offer. I finally decided to just go with the high gloss shine. Have been getting some good reviews and feedback from buyers and the high gloss doesn't seem to be an issue with anyone 'cept me. Reckon I jus' worry too much.

When I make my holsters I end up with a high gloss finish. After dyeing and buffing I add some clear KIWI paste wax and buff again. The shine looks nice but too high gloss, would rather have a semi-gloss or no gloss finish but still want something on it to protect the leather and not just leave it dyed with no protection. How can I achieve this lower to no gloss look. Am using Fiebings USMC black alcolhol based dye on smooth cowhide shoulder leather. Thanks for any ideas on this.

Found out that if you hit the print shipping label button and use the PayPal connections to print your shipping label there is a 2 dollar fee added to your PayPal account!

I ended up using Microsoft Live Office. Was free. Paid 15 bucks for a domain name. You get a hunnerd emails addresses. Setting it up and designing the site was fairly easy. Free site reporting that is really helpful. Every time I look at the site I see little typos and such that I can't believe I missed the last time I looked at it...fortunately it is very easy edit that stuff. PayPal set up was much easier than I imagined it would be. Took a few days for the search engines to find it and get it to the top of the search pages. First time I ever sold anything on the internet. Pretty cool! Transaction through Paypal was really smooth. http://unclegeorgeswalletholster.com/default.aspx

unclegeorgeswalletholster.com

Thanks for the input. Will give that'n a try.

Getting ready to put together a website to sell some wallet holsters. Want to use PayPal for money transfer. Found the "Homestead" website that offers website hosting at 4.95 a month. Didn't see how much they charge for a domain name. Anyone try these folks out? What hosting service are you using? Here's the link. Homestead.com

Just got my "Uncle George" maker's stamp from Brenda today. Very nice, very pleased, very fast turnaround. Highly recommend.

Thanks that settles it. Buck 75 was what I found it to be also at USPS. My little wallet holster is very light so my shipping is a $1.73, doubling the shipping. But as yall say, they're paying it. My post office is only 4 blocks from the house so they'll be doing my shipping. My wife had a similar experience and ended up refunded a customer that scammed her. But no way to prove it. Was only about 8 dollars. Some folks are just eternally desperate I guess. Reckon that's why they call 'em desperados.

When shipping to customers do you find it necessary to require "signature confirmation"? Or have you found that just "delivery confirmation" is enough? Have heard that there's some rascals out there that will claim they didn't get the delivery and get a refund through PayPal even though they did get the item. Would "signature confirmation" keep this from happening? The price for it would double my shipping costs. Is this something I should be concerned about? thanks for any input and experiences!

Thanks Dwight!

Lordy, that's good!

thanks for info. I think I see where I could have gotten a better stick. First I don't know if I had the dyed areas cleaned of the residue real good. Am gluing a rough side to a smooth side, reckon I need to scruff up the smooth side a bit. I am using the Dap Weldwood as you say and I did let it dry but now I don't think I let it dry enuff. Also when applied with a brush it was not a smooth even coat. Wonder if I thinned it a might with some xylene so it would smooth out better and still have it full adhesion power. Will give this another try.

I cudden afford those blue guns either so I made some outta a piece of plastic decking material I got from Home Depot. Don't know what the material is called but you build decks with it. Comes in planks about a inch thick and 8 foot long or longer. About 20 bucks a plank for a 8 footer. But the material mills well with common woodworking tools. I used a table saw with regular ol' carbide blade, a router table with a bull nose router bit and a dremel tool with a roundy grinding/carving bit and some sandpaper. It cuts clean and sands nice and smooth. Best of all if you're using them for wet molding water dudden affect it. I put a piece of it in a jar of water overnight and it didden do anything, no swelling up. Oh yeah you need a digital caliper too if you want it to be dead on accurate in size. I didden need the whole gun just the part that goes in the holster so my dummy might look a little wierd to you but it works perfectly and have made a lotta holsters for a Ruger LCP with them. Took me better part of a day to figure out how to make the first one, then I made eight more the next day. The handle on these are short cause the handle don't figure in when molding my little holster. Just made a piece of it so the dummy would lay at the right angle in the holster. The area carved away behind the trigger also doesn't matter as the holster only comes up to the back of the trigger guard. Both sides are carved. By the time I have molded nine of them the first is dry enuff to take out the dummy and keep on molding. I only make this one holster.

Okay I tried just using denatured alcohol on the leather before dyeing a piece I had wet molded. Didn't help, still got the holidays in the dye finish. Dyed the assembled holster first and then wet molded, worked, no holidays in the dye finish. Was wondering just how long you really nead to let the dyed holster dry before wet molding. Overnight? Coulpla hours? I am vat dyeing mine so they're getting good soakin' but seem dry in a coupla hours. In about an hour they are very dry to the touch but still a might cold. Reckon it would hurt to wet mold them in that state of drying?

For my little holsters I usually use wood glue to hold my raw leather pieces together while I stitch them. Was playing around with dyeing the parts (Fieblings USMC Black/alcohol) first and found that the wood glue didn't absorb into the leather as well. Got some contact cement from Home Depot and tried that. Seemed to stick good but was able to pull apart a little easier than I had anticipated. Was wondering does the contact cement cure over time and develop into a much stronger bond than is produced/experienced at the time of mating the two pieces? Also is there a better contact cement that spreads easier and more even? If you use an oil base dye does this affect contact cement adhesion?

Gee your right. Got my original all-glued holster out and dang if I couldn't pull it apart in some places just as you say. It did pull the leather grain apart as it had soaked in substantially. Good thing during my 19 years of carrying it in my hip pocket I didn't get the notion to pull it apart. That's why I glue and stitch my holsters now, 'ncase someone gets the urge to pull it apart. Carrying little lightweight mouse guns in your pocket dudden put much stress on the holster as the pocket is really holding the gun. Guess that's why mine lasted so long.

I know its an old post but just read it and had to tell my tale. 19 years ago there was a bad shooting at a Lubys Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas where a nut drove his truck through the window and shot I think 26 people just going around table to table. Less than a couple of months later I started carrying a little .22 Beretta in my hip pocket figuring I wasn't gonna be killed like those folks were in the cafeteria. I knew nothing about leather work. Got some scraps from Tandys and made my first wallet holster. Just basically folded over a piece of leather with three thicknesses of leather under the handle. It even had a little compartment that held 4 extra bullets. The raw undyed leather was all glued together with Elmer's Glue-All that I had in my little woodworking shop. Clamped it up just like any other wood project and let it dry overnight. No stitching of any kind. I carried that holster for 19 years until my recent purchase of a Ruger LCP that would not fit the holster. The seams on the holster never came apart. It was thoroughly dunked and soaked twice when I fell/stepped out of my boat on different occasions. I still use the yellow Titebond on my holsters before I stitch them. Don't know if the Elmer's Glue-All I originally used was water resistant but the Yellow Titebond is. Not suggesting that holsters be constructed with glue and no stitching, just wanted to tell a little story about my experience with Elmer's Glue-All.

Thanks for the replies. Believe I'll cut, assemble, dye and then wet mold one. That shudden mess up my process. I'll give that alcohol treatment a go too. Thanks again.

Am new to the forum but have been reading a lot. Great stuff!. I am in the process of selling a little wallet holster I make and am refining my process. I can process 10 easily in a day and dye that evening and finish up next morning with buffing and packaging a such. So far I think the process works well enough to make a sufficient amount of them and have them all look the same and of the same quality. I vat dye (total immersion) them with Fieblings Black alcohol dye. In the process I wet mold a part of the holster. Most times the dyeing goes well with good even penetration but more often than I like there is an area on the wet molded part that isn't good. Looks like penetration isn't as good with a faint color of the leather coming through. I just re-dye the area if it happens with a wool dauber. The way I do it now is assemble the holster, wet mold and then dye. Was wondering if maybe the wet molding was closing up the leather a might so that penetration isn't 100 %. The bad places I notice are only right where I put the most pressure with my fingers to mold the shape around the gun mold. So, would it be better to dye before I wet mold as it is the effect of the wet molding that is causing the little problem. Or, should I just dunk the holster longer. Currently it is in the dye about 4 seconds. Hate to use up all that dye dyeing the rest of the holster that doesn't need it. Or is there something going on here I don't see. Your help would be most appreciated.