BillinOK

Does anyone have a fire department craftool 3d stamp 8373 that they would let go of fairly cheap? I'm not paying those high ebay prices. May have to get one made. Thanks!

Springfield leather has several kinds also. If you do the wholesale, they start around $1.50 ea or a little cheaper for 25+ of them.

I'm not using any of the Horween, etc., but I use Aussie and neatsfoot oil. I really like the Fiebings Aussie. Nice waxed shine on the finished products.

Thanks! I don't do a lot of lacing, mostly sewing. I'll get some paraffin.

Nice looking! What do you use to keep the lace from wearing as you lace?

I've started buying from SLC and love it. So far the H.O. leather has been great. I needed 3 3/4", 10 oz rounders and no problem. Had them in a few days. The staff is excellent and very helpful. Everything is packed very well, with all liquids lids taped, and double bagged and taped again. Very impressed and they definitely have my business.

I talked to Springfield Leather. In my case (plain Fiebings dye), "The greenish glow/tint is happening because there is too much dye to absorb into the leather and the pigment that is left after the alcohol evaporates sits on the top and creates that situation. " Also suggested using dye reducer. I don't know if you can use that with the pastes. Fiebings leather site suggested cleaning the leather first with the glazer or denatured alcohol. In my case, I may try the denatured alcohol and see if that helps any.

Here is the link to Bunkhouse http://www.bunkhousetools.com/ Raymond has over 200 rolls, but not sure they will work on the tandy

I have some new Fiebings Light Brown Dye (plain dye). I put it on a large piece of untreated Herman Oak craftsman 7 - 8oz. First coat went on ok, other than streaking a little. Let it dry, then a second coat. Right after that, it turned a dull greenish cast. I was sick! Took some Aussie conditioner and buffed a corner and it seemed to take it out. Any ideas?

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Ferg, I will check that out.

Looks great!

I've got several people wanting a 2 sided cell phone case with pockets for credit cards, etc. Is there a place to find the snap in case for the cell phones? I'm thinking gluing in the snap in case with Barge cement. Ideas?

Keith, its been sent to you. Hope it helps....pretty big list, but it is probably not complete. I'm impressed to at the amount of craftaids you have.

Are you using a paint booth? Any ideas on a home built one?

I've been having problems with my aerostitch. I "thought" the bobbin shuttle was binding as it sewed. Talked to Tom at Tippman and we decided to try and replace the shuttle spacer and shuttle retainer. Got everything in and started sewing.....same binding noise. I can now tear apart the bobbin and shuttle assembly blind folded. Looked and looked trying to figure out what was going on. As I watched as it was sewing I noticed the binding started as the needle was entering the leather. I was sewing about 3/8" - 1/2" leather. I thought to myself, surely not the needle. The needle was fairly new (a 180). So I put in a new 160. Started sewing just fine. So, I now have a lesson learned for about $35.00. If I had looked close enough, I could have a lesson learned for about $2.00. So......always check the needle to make sure it is sharp. But at least I now have extra parts.

Hi Jeff, I have been a LEO for over 30 years, carrying all sorts of guns. I have made many pancake holsters for LEO's. I'm with the others on the price, a little high. Depending on how your LEO friend is going to wear the holster, depends, somewhat on how to build it. I have made some that were quite heavy and others quite light. Depends on what they want and if that will work. I usually get around $50 - $65. From looking at the belt loops, they need to be somewhat larger....as in lenth and width. Some officers wear an underbelt as a regular belt off duty. These can be thick or heavy. Also, as Dick pointed out, these and the holster needs to conform to the hip area, especially the belt loops. When wet molding the holster, I form the belt loops. I get them to where I want them by inserting a heavy piece of leather. After I've done the molding and while the leather is still damp, I will check to see how it wears. Then the heavy leather is re-inserted until the leather is dry. I try to reach a point to where your belt fits almost as if there wasn't a holster there. I have used 7-8 ounce leather, but not on a pancake (unless it is lined), or reinforced. When I make a holster, I try it out. I'm looking for comfort, but fast on drawing. And yes I've made them to where they were scrapped. After drying, putting them on and the gun was too hard to get in or out. For me, that's scary and dangerous. Talk to some of the officers and see what they are looking for, both in price and functionality. Hope this helps.

Wow, I'm glad I waited. Sometimes the best price in NOT the best service.

In case no one has one, I've been looking at this company to buy a few glocks and colts. http://www.botachtactical.com/bluegunshkp7m8.html $36.00 + shipping

Well I tried different leather (Wicket & Craig) today with the Fiebings medium brown dye. Shook the bottle good this time. Nothing on the leather. Same emerald green streaks appeared. Hopefully the aussie conditioner will take it out.

Contacted Tippman today and talked to Tom. He was very helpful and walked me through a couple things. Ended up, he thought the shuttle retainer may be the problem. So I ordered that to start with. Too scared to use the machine for now. It's really binding. Dennis, I talked to him about the presser foot. He said at one time they came out with the valve, but it caused other problems with the leather moving around. He suggested keeping the foot highly polished, and then rub out the marks. I may get a cobblers hammer like you have and try that. Bill

Russ, I heard back from Fiebings. They thought there was probably something in the tannery method of the imported leather. Suggested a thin coat of neats foot compound. They also suggested switching to oil dye. I hate to set aside almost 3 new quarts of dye, for the oil....but that may be the way I go. I will also try shaking up the regular dye. I have never used oil dye that I can remember. I may really like it. Thanks Russ for the help. Bill

I was checking to see it Johanna had received my PM's for the DVD. I paid by paypal ($25.00) but have not heard anything. Thanks Bill Name: Bill UserName: BillinOK IP Address: 162.40.39.239 Email Address: bdcrow@valornet.com

I bought quarts of Fiebings Russet, Black and Medium brown dyes. I was dyeing some light import skirting from tandy today, with the medium brown. After drying for about 90 minutes or so, I started seeing streaks ( and alot of them) of emerald green showing up. At first I thought it was a reaction with the neats foot oil that I had put on the outside, but then the streaks showed up on the inside which did not have the oil on. I tried rubbing and that didn't help. Then tried a light coat of neats foot oil. That took out the streaks until the oil dried and the streaks re-appeared. I then put on a coat of fiebings Aussie conditioner (paste) and that finally helped. Anone had this problem? I'm wondering if there was something in the leather.....but I used Tandy's pro dye on a piece of the same side of leather last week and it dyed ok then.

I have a reconditioned aerostitch ver. 2 (does not have reverse and has a piston valve on front side for needle return). I have been sewing light skirting from Tandy with it. I bought some 7-8oz from Wicket and Craig and starting sewing with it. I don't know if it's a combination of things I'm doing or what........the presser foot is imprinting pretty hard on the new leather. I have been sewing after I dye and oil things, maybe not waiting long enough for good drying. I tried a test strip without anything on the leather and it did better, but you could lightly see impressions from the foot. I only have one presser foot and that is the standard foot. Is there a way to lighten the presser foot? I did see the nut on top of the presser foot cylinder, but there is little room for any adjustment....if that is what is used to adjust the presser foot. Ideas? The other problem is the bobbin shuttle. When cycling, I can hear what sounds like binding. I watched the bobbin shuttle as it was sewing, and I could some slight jerking about 1/3 of the way around. When I see the slight jerking, I also hear the binding noise. I disassemblied all the components, cleaned and oiled. It's somewhat better but I still hear and see the binding. Everything feels real slick and no burrs. Before disassembly, it started skipping stitches. After cleaning and oiling, it sewed very good. Also, slowing the machine down to a crawl, makes the noise and binding much more noticeable. Any ideas? The leather from Wicket and Craig is great. Much softer than the Tandy I was using. I thought maybe the softer leather was the impression problem.