thecapgunkid

It would seem that the core of your problem is that your eye can't regulate the stitch in the vertical..."straight down"...method you are using. Grind a really fine taper into your awl and then polish it on a wheel. Put your piece in a clamp and, since it positions the work horizontally, you will be able to see both sides of the seam. You can eyeball your stitches straight by being perched above both sides of said seam instead of only being able to see one side whilst drilling down. The polished awl will slide through the leather almost effortlessly if it is tapered right, giving you an almost complete control with a little practice. You might also want to cut a shallow groove on the underside the same distance from the edge as your original, topside edge. Then you can almost aim the awl when you stab through. Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

From your post, it sounds like you are trying to make the billet end for your belt or the cut for the buckle itself. Else, you can disregard what I wrote below because I'm just blowing smoke Divide 7/8 into 14/16th's. Divide 3/4 into 6/8ths. Fold a common piece of paper or, better yet, a chunk of thicker, grocery bag in half. Mark it 7/16ths from the edge in two places and draw that parallel line. ( 7/16ths is half of the original width of 14/16ths). Between that line and the fold, mark another line parallel to the fold at 3/8ths ( half of the 6/8ths of your tapered end). About four inches from the end of the folded paper, draw a nice even curve where you want the belt to taper, and an then an even curve for the belt end where you want it. Those four inches aft of the taper will help you line up the pattern on the belt and ensure that everything is centered, even and pretty. Strop your razor knife and cut out the pattern. Lay it down and paste it on on a piece of poster board to make a template. Now cut the pattern out onto the poster board. I like to use posterboard templates rather than paper because I don't trust my drawing hand enough to keep it from wandering into the soft edge of the paper and disrupting the even-ness on the leather. The point is that the fold is going to keep your end cut and taper even because the two parallel lines you drew and cut out unfold into an even pattern that matches the widths and tapers you want. Using your sharp knife, whether clicking or moon, will also help you in the burnishing process because they don't rip the leather the way a sometimes duller punch will. I have about six or seven of these templates for re-use with all the gunbelts I make where my clients want everything from their SASS award buckle to an off the shelf Tandy special and I don't wanna go through this every time...so I make and keep templates. Hope this helps. Don't shoot yore eye out kid, The Capgun Kid

Neat post. Thanks, Troys for the pdf. If you can do this in a clamp it goes a lot faster. This type of edge embellishment was also used in white a lot in the B-Western era of movies for the good guys' gunbelts. The PDF explains it really well. Thanks again, you coyotes. Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

Has anybody preached to you yet about a clicking knife with a sharp point, where you hone it by shaving imaginary slices off a piece of fine grit emery cloth stapled to a furring strip, and then polished it on a cloth wheel? When the Knights Of Columbus moved me out here to Pittsburgh, we picked a house where, for no apparent reason, the previous owner added a wooden barn the size of a bedroom in spite of the multitude of space in the rest of the house and garage. You know that I know that you know what went through my head as I planned on running some electricity into the place. I went from a ten-footer in the front third of my old garage in Connecticut to this fresh-wood-smell palace and have been re-arranging it ever since. Lasts hanging off the walls in neat rows, a stand up bench in the middle, saddle making stand in the corner, tools neatly put away each time they were used, and so on. Every spring it gets shuffled around and swept out, and I will get some idea that makes me wanna change something. AND....I am greatful enough to know how good I have it to boot!! Moral of the story...there's something wwwwrrrooonnnngggg with us. Maybe it's the restlessness of being able to create nice crafted stuff, or that kernel of desire to do things different or that eternal quest for the right, neatly cubby-holed workspace where we can spend the rest of our lives in productive peace.....nnnaaaahhhh!!! Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

God loves that goober too, so be glad that you did not strike back at him and walked away. Sound thinking. Nevertheless, if I have any kind of question I'll come to someone like you over someone like him any day because folks who stand on that type of phrase...you know... I been doing this for thirty five years... may well have been doing this one year thirty five times. ON a different day, maybe if you bring him a piece of your work, you might recruit him to a website and forum such as this and he'll change his ways in a hurry. Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

Back in August there was a really neat string on this topic, but I was so wrapped up in my cowboy shooting I missed it.My master taught me what he referred to as a butt seam. In colonial shoes you would most often see this where the back of the heel on the upper was joined, or where the vamp met the side of the shoe and you did not want a seam rubbing on somebody's footsie. I also used it on a neck sheath where the seam ran down the side of the blade rather than along its edge. The way I was taught involved using a stirrup and block. The pieces of leather to be joined rested on a furring strip that I had sanded into a curved surface. This allowed the pieces to droop downward along the top of the strip of wood. It was key not to have the seam resting on a table-top like plane. This assembly was held in place with a leather strip that ran over the top of the right thigh, pinning the pieces to be seamed atop the furring strip which rested on the top of the thigh of your right leg. The entire operation was done as seat work, where your shoebench allowed you to sit low enough to make your thighs paralell to the ground. The stirrup ran under your right foot in front of the breast ( front) of your heel on the right shoe. Your right heel rested on a block...in this case a chunk of 2X8. Thataway you could tighten and loosten the stirrup by pushing your toes down to stretch the stirrup. Sort of like operating a foot pedal. This held the piece on the top of your thigh securely. Woldomir Billy was a big fan of holding things securely while he worked his magic in front of my eyes. The degree of curve in the awl determined the entry points of the holes on the way into the right side of the butt and on the way out of the left side of the butt. The butt is where the edges met. I never mastered this the way Woldomir did, so I used to scribe lines equidistant from the butt on both pieces of leather. I learned just how far my awl woiuld have to be by trial and error, and grew to favor an awl with a tight curve to keep the seam neat and close to the edge. My pricking wheel would mark the scribed lines. Woldomir could push the awl through both sides in one motion. Not me. I used to stab both sides seperately and then line them up on the furring strip before tightening the stirrup. I did learn his technique of tapering thread and using bristles, because that operation and welting on a shoe almost always requires the travel through curved holes. He also taught me something else very important...that curve in the awl was also designed to lift the and pry the hole upwards for easier access. Combine that with a lot of handwax on the thread, and the stitching technique he taught me was as follows; Stab the awl and define the hole through both sides of the leather. Left bristle in first, thread pulled about halfway through. I became a big fan of cutting my thread length to a span...the distance between my arms stretched out to the sides... like I was gonna fly away. The longer your thread in hand stitching the greater your chance of tangles. Rest the right bristle tip into the left thread at the point of exit from the hole on the right side, and drag it through by pushing it and pulling the thread it rests on. Make a half cast by pulling the right thread up through the loop before closing the stitch. This has the same effect as the first knot in tie-ing your shoes, so each stitch is secured and gooped up with handwax in each hole. At the end of the seam, back stitch about three or four stitches, and hammer the seam closed. The thread I was using was two ply hemp and one ply linen, and the handwax I was using was equal parts pine resin and pitch with a small amount of pine oil and a chunk of beeswax. I dunno how I did not burn the house down when mixing the stuff over a very very very very low heat. Did I mention that you keep the heat very low? Hopefully I managed to attach a shot of my most recent shoemaking demonstration showing the block and stirrup arrangement and the neck sheath with the butt seam. Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

Funny how you trip over this stuff by pure accident. Many of the Cowboy Action Shooters I sell to ask for unlined holsters because they are working a persona from the 19th century rather than a 21st century competition rig. Many of these holsters were unlined, and the gunsight and metal rubbing on the inside of the leather yields a dust all over the gun. The best way I have found to smooth the flesh side is as follows; 1. Pick a chunk of leather to work weith that is not already shredded ( rocket science...huh???) 2.Slick it once while it is still wet and before any carving. Make sure the flower side in on a smooth lap or marble stone so you don't get unintended impressions 3. You do that voo doo that you do so well on the leather through tooling and dying, and let it dry. 4.Dampen the flesh side but don't soak it. 5. Consume the contents of a no-sugar added glass jar of apple butter common to any grocery store and wash out the jar, leaving the paper label in place. The reason for the apple butter or no sugar added label is because they use jars that don't have a rim around the base, so the entire outside of the jar is one round, smooth surface. 6. Grasping the label ( which helps traction ) lay the piece rough side up on your marble or lapstone, and work toward you in smooth, long, even strokes with a measure of elbow grease. This is an eye-ball thing and you'll know you're done when you see that you have really compressed the grain. By keeping the decorated, flower side of the leather dry (step 4) you won't butcher your work. 7. Let it dry. Now get on the treadmill because all that apple butter you just ate is headed right for your beltline 8. Now comes it the tan-coat. I like brushes where I have cut the bristle length by about half...usually a one inch trim brush that my wife is gonna yell at me over because I did not paint the room but made some cowboy the John Wayne Rig he always wanted as a kid instead. 9. I like to run a shoe brush over the surface. It probably doesn't do anything but it is a nice and pastoral feeling like I fit in with the ecology or something by not using a machine. Hope this helps, and, don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

Thanks Luke and Ricky Bobby. Yeah, I hang on for dear life when locking the stitches. Tension adjustment and lubing seem to be a constant. What I really wanna know is why the bobbin thread will occasionally tangle. You can't see it happening when stitching ( maybe I'll put a mirror on there) and always end up one or two stitches in the hole before sensing it jam up. Other than that the tech boys at Tippman appear real helpful, and mine has no trouble stitching with different types of leather. Thanks, and, don't shoot yore eye out, kid

Anybody out there using a Tippman Boss? Being an 18th century cordwainer and hand stitching devotee, I broke down and bought one about twelve years ago. I did not use it a lot, but when I did NO matter what I did, it'd jam. miss stitches and mess up my work. So, I sent it off in a box and told them I did not care what they did with it but never wanted to see it again. About a week later, I get a call from one of their techs wanting to tune and fix it, and Bob Tippman hisself even called me. Two weeks after that, I get it back and it is now working surprisingly well. Now, slap my face and call me cobbler, but I really respect their rapid customer service and may well keep the thing. I am looking for operational tips on using it, because, up to now, I have only used it maybe fifty times in the twelve years I had it, principally because doing 18th century required hand stitching. Now I'm into cowboy, where 19th century work was done mostly on machines, and the machine is almost preferred if I can keep it working right. Here's my biggest question: Why does it tangle up the bobbin thread and jam once in a while and how can I prevent that? Thanks, and, don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

Anybody know where I can go to learn some moon knife techniques? I was trained with clicking knives by Cordwainer Walter Billy exclusively and have had to teach myself. I don't use it often enough, so I alternate between the point running into the cutting board and the rounded edge skipping over a hard spot along the cut. Thanks, and, Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

The only way I have ever been able to do this was by using my patcher sewing machine. The patcher doesn't have a table between the needle and bobbin, because it is basically designed for shoes, which can have a lot of flaky stitching areas. Here's what I did. When I glued the liner to the holster, I penciled on the liner the where the stitch line was going to go. Then I positioned the holster on the belt, punching holes through all three layers along the stitch line. Then I grooved the inside of that line on the liner so the stitches would not tough the gun, enabling them to lay in the groove. Then I assembled and finished the holster and belt. Methinks the guy wanted a natural oil finish, so I didn't dye anything. When I contact cemented the holster to the belt before sititching, I ran a bunch of harness needles through all six of the holes along the path of the arc of the stitch line. That enabled me to line up the stitchline on the belt with that of the holster. Now I'm getting real impatient and making a lot of victim statements on how I should have charged more or convinced this guy to use rivets, so I took a break and watched John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin and Walter Brennan clean out the bad guys in Rio Whatever. On my Singer, as with all patchers, the bobbin rests in an arm that sticks out of the machine where the table would be. I shoved the holster over the arm so that the stitching was done through the back of the belt, back of the holster, and onto the liner groove that you can't see when you work like this. Thank you harness needle aligning. When finished, I ran my finger on the inside of the holster to make sure that the stitches were all nestled in the groove and not exposed to the surface of the gun. Then I went and watched John Wayne, Rickey Nelson.... Hope this helps, and, Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid

Yup, tha's the rumor. How is it you read the chronicle? What's yore alias? Thanks for the compliment Don't shoot yore eye out, kid Capgun

I just signed on to this website, and not more than three hours before somebody asked me the same thing at one of our cowboy action shoots. In the past 30 years, I have been taught several things about mating canvas to leather. The first is, if it stinks, don't use it. If you gotta use contact or rubber cement, then post a fan at your back and blow all the fumes away from yourself whether or not the room is ventilated. Secondly, read the instructions on the adhesive you are using. There are a lot of retail/craft store products out there that'll do the job, but some of them will differentiate between a temporary bond where you gop up one side and slap them together real fast or whether you gop up both sides, wait until they get tacky and press them together. The third is that gluing cloth is not always the best thing to do because the less dense weaves will allow any glue to come through. Sometimes plain old retail glue sticks will workand sometimes, before stitching, even double sided tape will also work. The only times I have used the canvas/leather combination was when lining a hunting bag or saddle bags or a pair of shoes, and I used a medium gauge canvas in the process. I made a bouncer out of a steel rod and a ceramic doorknob, and will press the two halves together on a smooth marble slab to tighten the bond The last thing I was taught was to fold the edges of the canvas so that the stitches hold permanently. Right now I am using mostly Leather Factory/Tandy leatherweld or white glues, and relying on contact cement only when I need a really held fast bond before stitching, such as holster edges or welting/insole stitching on shoes. Hope this helps, and, Don't shoot yore eye out, kid The Capgun Kid