billymac814

Mine don't have any rubber. They are wood centers with the steel rule around that. It would very easily cut 2-3 oz

That looks identical to mine. I'm super happy with mine so far, its much better for me now. I just threw the brake pad and screws in the drawer in case I ever need it or sell it.

Thanks guys.

I never have any issues with black, I use the pro oil dye, it requires almost no buffing and I can dye before or after assembly with no problems. Its actually easier for me to do black stuff as it really doesn't matter how its applied, I normally dip dye but if I'm running low ill use a sponge brush, dauber or anything else. I'd agree that you probably burnished the leather during molding which made it not penetrate. Anyone that's using USMC black or any other black dye to at least try the Pro Oil dye, I'd bet money you won't switch back. Vinegaroon works and makes a nice black but I find it to be too slow with the drying time snd neutralizing and it also seems to have an affect on edging and its less likely to penetrate well if you do it after assembly. If you're only making a few holsters its probably a feasible option.

I personally don't think you'd want a rubber table, maybe I'm wrong here I don't know. My cutting table is 6'x8' and pretty much has a Masonite type top, I believe you can cut right on that however I normally have a green OLFA cutting Matt laying on it somewhere. It was a regular layout table from a factory that made clothing. You could put a sheet of Masonite on your table, I think you'd appreciate a hard smooth surface when you're trying to sketch up patterns and such.

I use a 12 ton press with 1/2" thick plates on top and bottom. I swapped the jack out for an air powered one. It works ok but its not fast like a regular clicker press but its much faster than cutting. I use steel rule dies primarily so the blade is narrower than most of the very heavy ones so I think it might cut a little easier. I cut about 8oz leather, and most of my dies are about 5x8 or so. Lighter leathers cut very easily with it. I have less than 300 in the press. I attached my top plate to the press so I don't have to lay it on top of the die, that way it lifts up when I release the jack.

You'll probably have to accept mail order soon. I'd be SOL without the Internet and mail. You can get by without a groover, just make an indentation with a pair of dividers for now. You'll eventually want a groover. Surprisingly enough if you have a harbor Freight store nearby they sell a groover that comes with an edger and a gouge. I can't say how well they would work but I'd assume they are of very low quality but who knows, sometimes harbor freight surprises me. Tandy usually sells leather in various qualities, the cheap stuff is low quality for sure, I never bothered trying their high quality leather as it is often more expensive than Wickett and Craig and HO.

What about it are you not happy about? I've tried literally every black dye I could find and did tests on 5 different Angelus black dyes, USMC black and pro oil black and hands down the Pro oil was much easier to work with. Vinegaroon makes a nice black but I don't believe it to be practical for real production IMHO. It slows me down too much unless maybe you do your molding with the roon it just adds too much drying time. Also I didn't bother testing Eco flow stuff so I can't comment on it.

I figured I'd post a few pictures of some holsters I made. Most of my holsters are repetitive so these are a few that were a little different from the norm. The gun belt was the first of that kind I ever made. It wasn't meant to be of any particular style, just what the guy wanted. The Glock holster wasn't really different from the norm but I already had it uploaded to photobucket so I figured I'd post it too.

I used to measure from the fold like I seem on some other sites, up until I had my first mistake. Now I measure from like the diagram in the previous post. The only way I would do it from the fold is if the customer is providing the buckle and the buckle.

Yes that would be perfect. That would give you the option of having it or not basically.

I think for certain machines that would make sense however I'm particularly talking about my patcher that is used strictly for doing repairs. I more often than not use the handwheel so I can get the needle in the same holes or a number of other reason. Most of the time these items only need a few stitches and a lot of them are in akward spots. The motor is there for longer runs and straighter runs where I can open up. If the brake is in place it prevents easy use of the hand wheel. There are times when trying to repair large suitcases where I'm in very akward positions and the suitcase is nearly resting on the peddle so trying to hold it while trying to crank the wheel and awkwardly trying to get my foot to the peddle to release the brake feels like I'm playing a version of twister. With all that being said I don't have a speed reducer on it and even the slowest speed is too fast, I can feather it on long runs where theres enough momentum but the machine takes more torque in the position of the revolution where it lifts the foot so its not as easy at slow speeds I almost have to pump the peddle which almost feels like I'm using the old treadle. On my other machines where the motor does nearly all of the work the brake is fine and it doesn't bother me because the need to use the handwheel is very rare. I hope that makes sense, I'm not saying that brakes are terrible and shouldn't be there, just for my one particular purpose it is more of a hindrance than anything.

I know what you mean, there's times and machines that its nice but on my patcher its more of a pain than anything. The only thing it was nice for was to hold the foot up in the air but that was nearly impossible to do with just using the foot peddle, maybe once I get the speed reducer on there it'll be easier but right now its difficult, on my 4500 as you know you can leave the foot wherever, on the patcher it almost falls down after a certain point if that makes sense. The brake helped that but now I can just stop it when its all the way up, no big deal. I'd almost like it better if the brake was on when you first step on the peddle a little but was off when you backed off all the way. That way when you're going on all cylinders you can back off and apply the brake or not do anything with the peddle and free wheel all you want. It could easily be adjusted but I didn't see any point in my case, less brake is still a brake and would cause friction when trying to use the handwheel without pressing the peddle.

I don't think its piping because you can see in the one picture that the red lining goes up in it(if that makes sense). I think its done like keven king does the edges on some of his wallets. Look at some of the tutorials he has done.

If you can make your own and do it cost effectively go for it. Some will be more difficult than others. I've made larger arch punches like that and I sort of make most of my dies or I should say most of my dies are made in house meaning I bought all the equipment to do it and have a friend do all the work. The one I ordered from Texas was a little more than he could do though. Bag punches though would be difficult for the average guy to make though I think. I'm pretty happy with osbornes quality, I got a bad one but that doesn't happen often. Just about any cutting tool requires some polishing first, maybe the Master ones don't, if not and they are reasonable priced which I think they are they might be a good choice.

Bob, That's no problem with this machine as I go as slow as I can anyway, soon to be slower yet when that speed reducer gets here. I've been putting that off as I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to keep this motor or put on the 500GR. Other Bob, You'll have to report your findings, I have no idea if other motors have the same kind of brake so it might help others to post the brand. The one I did was a Family non digital type with the knob on the front. Of course we may be the only 2 people that don't want the brake on there??

I got mine at Frankford Leather. I think you need a wholesale account to order from them though. There's other places that sell them online though. They are usually called "Big Boy" glue pots. Most places that sell shoe repair supplies should have them. I Sachs in Chicago has them and no account is needed. Mine are the minor ones(small size).

Ok, I see on their site now. Do you have any pictures of what they look like?

I didn't realize they made slot punches there, although by the sounds of it they don't come highly recommended. I was just curious.

I use Paypal shipping as well for all of my online orders, it gives a discount as well as delivery confirmation. I "self insure" because I pay for shipping on all of the items I make and I very rarely have any issues. My average package is valued at 90.00$. So its cheaper to replace an item than to pay insurance on 150-200 packages per month. Larger more expensive items get insured though. There's a store right beside mine that has a post office in it that I use for phone orders, its convenient since they are close but not as easy as Paypal. I'm really surprised to here that 10% of your packages get lost. If I lost that many I would be very upset and probably ship a different method. Those numbers are way unacceptable, I'd be suspicious of something or someone if one out of every 10 of my packages disappeared. I used to work with a guy who would order something then when he would get it he would call and say he never got it, most of the times they would send him another. Needless to say he was trash and eventually got fired for stealing from the company.

I buy most of mine from Wickett and Craig. They have beautiful leather. Just for kicks really I ordered a piece if Herman oak from Springfield leather to try it and another time from Weavers BC W&C was out of what I needed and I couldn't wait any more. The W&C was so smooth and perfect, it was also a better grade though so its not a fair comparison. Either way I like being able to buy right from the tannery, they split it for me and I have it holstered. Also the W&C I get always is very light colored, I attribute that to being very fresh because the stuff that sits around, even rolled up is always darker. This really doesn't matter much but I figured I'd note it anyhow. Both were about the same as far as working with it goes. I buy supplies from Weavers, certain other things from Springfield but leather from Wickett and Craig. I mostly use #2 unless I need a large perfect piece then I get 1 but for holsters the 2 is fine. I was even getting the 3 for a while and it was very nice however I got a few pieces that weren't that great so I quit using it, I honestly think they were just running out at the time and using pieces that would have been picked over and that's why the quality went down. Another nice thing with them is they will provide American flag tags that say the leather in this item is made in the USA which is a nice little touch to add to the finished product. You have to ask for them though.

Ok this took all of 5 minutes. I removed the end cap on the motor, there was three screws holding it on. This exposes a wheel and you can see in the pictures there's a cork brake pad. There's 2 screws holding it on. I didn't bother to try to adjust it as its directly on the arm that activates the motor. Ill report back if this causes any negatives but I doubt it will.

Wiz, I have a Family servo on my patcher, this is the one I really don't want the brake on. Model number is FESM-550s. I may have to have a closer look at it. Do you think this could be done without removing the motor? Nevermind. You're 100% correct. Ill post pictures in a bit.

Anyone know where to get them at? I recently repaired a holster made by I think Galco(I don't remember but it was a big company). They used a stiffener with 3 holes. How it worked was the snap was set just to the stiffener in the second hole and riveted to the back side on top and bottom, there was a large hole for the snap to fit through the leather. This made it considerably thinner since a good portion of the snap was where the leather would be. I thought this would be particularly handy in IWB holsters or ankle holsters. OWB probably wouldn't matter that much.

I picked up a few with my last order since they were cheap. They look terrible and are too soft for holsters IMO. Mine were covered in a white substance too. I do use the natural ones that are stiffer but only for accent pieces. I really don't like using horse hide for molded holsters, I personally have a hard time getting it to look good. You get what you pay for I guess.