billymac814

Its hard to say really, It would depend on the buckle and how its made. Usually the narrower the buckle the thinner the leather its made for which makes it hard to get a thick piece to feed through it, especially when there's already another thick piece wrapped around the center part. I would personally probably go with the heel bar with a separate keeper if I was making a pretty heavy collar, that way the leather doesn't have to get over stressed feeding it through and you wouldn't have to worry about skiving it which seems to me would weaken the collar some. I'm not a collar expert though but I did research them a bit as I was going to start making them at some point. Maybe someone else will chime in and give some insight to where to get buckles. I also think strap works.com has dog collar buckles but I would assume they are best used with webbing or thinner leather. I have some of them so ill check it.

I'm waiting for Bob to get more of the 227r in and will probably get one of those. I probably would have had one in December when I was there but the one he had was sold. I wouldn't pass on a used singer or something similar though. I'm still debating trading in my 206rb for one or keeping it and buying a used machine.

I think you're right on track. At 5.00 per kit I could put them together in no time at all and actually be able to make some money on them. If I were to make the patterns and cut them out myself the price would be double for the end customer. These would be nice little impulse items to keep at the counter because I'm busy enough with holsters that I really don't have much time to invest in doing things like this unless they are quick and easy. For the full out custom items i choose to make my own patterns but not everyone can afford those things so this would be an affordable solution to those people which broadens my customer base. I'd much prefer quality leather over instructions. Let me know when/if you start selling them.

I don't really think instructions are necessary for a 3 piece business card case or wallet. Its one piece for the back and a pocket on each side, there's only one way you could put it together. I'd leave the beginners kits for Tandy and concentrate more on wholesale/professional sales and if the buyer wants to resell them as kits they can come up with the instructions. I don't really think anything is necessary but you could simply have a picture of a finished one up on the web somewhere and include a link to that to the buyer, that shouldn't increase the price any and it would be quick to do.

Dog collar buckles do usually have a recessed center bar. I think you can get them from weavers. I know a lot of people have went to using a regular heel bar buckle and keeper for the collars made of thicker leather because the narrower center bar buckles don't work well with thick leather.

Here you go, this is the stuff you want. Its all gone from this thread but it gives the name and link http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=26543#entry269222

I have a feeling I'm gonna see your shop on American Pickers sometime soon. I would be interested in the air compressor but shipping would make that not feasible.

I would think it would be better without holes and without any patterns or directions and keep the price as low as possible ad still use good leather. That would appeal to people like me who could easily dye and stitch them up and be able to make a profit on them. There are plenty of kits geared towards beginners but very few geared towards the advanced or professional leatherworker. I personally would like to see some more kits that way, it would keep design time down and make it more cost effective to get a custom or semi custom item done and have it look like it was proffesionally made instead of looking like something a kid made at summer camp.

I make them as nice and as functional as possible. That's really about it, after that my customers seem to take care of the rest and post pictures and reveiws or whatever, I really have no idea but they find me and keep me busy full time. I recently added Facebook and that too helps but I find that seems to keeps current customers interested more than creating new ones. My name and a picture of one of my holsters has been in about 8 or so magazines over the past few months in a couple articles and while it may have helped a tiny bit it is not nearly as affective as a couple happy customers sharing their experience on a forum. Word of mouth advertising really is the best, I haven't ever had to spend any money advertising other than some local things that's more like giving money to a charity than advertising. I will say one thing that's kind of silly but I thought about doing(and would have if they would have let me) but a couple times we had some heavy snow I was going to call in to the local tv station to have my shop listed as closed that day. I figured my shops name would be played all day long on that channel. Unfortunately they changed their policy to only allow schools and non profit organizations do it now.

I would think the rough side of leather would be better than most fabric type materials as they would still be kinda slippy against a book. There's a material that is sometimes used in making pocket holsters that has a type of rubberized coating to it, that would probably be your best bet but I don't recall what its called. Try googling it maybe. Otherwise go find some rubber roofing material at a hardware store and glue or sew it on. Or make her a backpack. JK:-)

Yea that isn't always correct, doing it the same thickness as the leather only works to about 10oz give or take. Beyond there I usually go half the thickness. I shoot for just far enough away from the edge that you don't get bumps when stitching, really I eyeball it to where it looks good but 1/2 the thickness is a good starting point for thicker items and full thickness for lighter weight items.

I may be incorrect here but I think the Chahin leather is what weavers sells as theirs. I think the tannery is in Mexico but they use US hides. I bought some once because I needed a pice quicker than I could get it from WC and it was OK but I much prefer Wickett and Craig over that. They also sell Herman oak but when I looked into getting that from them it seemed like a crap shoot since its TR. if rather order directly from WC and be able to choose what grade I'm getting and their prices are very reasonable even for the best grade and it is not only flawless it is very smooth. They will also provide little American flag tags which is a nice touch for retail items.

No problem, I figured I'd ask, I'd like to add a small cylinder arm machine. Back on your topic though, how many holsters need stitched? It would probably be worth your while to outsource the stitching rather than try to mess up your machine or hand stitch them. Plus they will look better and be stronger with a heavier thread. If you had all your stitching lines marked it wouldn't cost much for one of us to stitch them up and send them back.

I've never needed to use a tap or a but to clean off the threads, I do it all the time with Chicago screws too that are too deep, just be carefull how you do it and it should be fine, especially for a permanant mounted one. I also put a bit of locktite in there too.

My real Shield has been sold.

Weavers has a pretty good selection of thread colors and sizes.

In the event you purchase a bigger machine and want to sell the Singer let me know, Id be interested in it.

You may look into having them made. I've had some made from Brenda at lasergiftcreations. She does good work for a fair price and delivers them quick. It'll be a lot more than the 3.99 Tandy stamps but if you need it for multiple projects it should still be very reasonable.

Well you can get your sewing machines and supplies from Bob Kovar, he's in Toledo. Weavers is in Ohio as well but I can't think exactly where they are. I hate to say it but ordering online is a fact of life these days though. I order from about 6 or 7 places on a regular basis and a few others on occasion and they are located all over the country. That's what it takes to get what I want. No one place has everything so unless you want to settle you'll have to order something.

I've had to grind down the post on occasions when the screw bottomed out, you may have to do the screw too. That should eliminate the washer anyway.

There's a seller out of china that sells brass tips for soldering irons to do the heated edges. I've ordered one about a week ago, I'm waiting for it to arrive. That may be an inexpensive way to get an edge iron.

I would be very very surprised if Bob doesn't have them but in the event he doesn't let me know, I'm pretty sure I have a few spares laying around.

Ok, that is pretty standard, its usually not a problem since most holster makers usually have a longer turnaround time than the time it takes to get the blue guns. I think with all the gun craze as of late that it must be affecting the blue guns as well. I have about a 10 week wait list so I generally order whatever blue guns I need once a month. It rarely takes a full two weeks. I've had a few times where I needed one quick for a rush order and Rob has sold me one of his own to get me by. Another time he had a weighted version which was more expensive but it was in stock. Good luck

I would agree, it is disturbing, I can't argue that. I find freeze drying pets equally as disturbing though and people are making some serious coin doing that. If someone already isn't doing it I bet someone eventually will be. I can't honestly say how I truly feel about it at the moment. Considering the alternatives which is rotting away in a hole or maybe cremation, being made into something nice seems pretty appealing.

What tab are you talking about? Can you post a pic so we can see and answer your question. I thought at first you may be referring to the tension thing on the shuttle, if that's the case they can be replaced without replacing the shuttle.