BIGGUNDOCTOR

Are these plated or solid metals, and if so what are they? Brass, copper? If they are brass, or copper, you can solder a threaded stud to them and screw them down. If they are plated potmetal, you may be screwed in the wrong way. If they are plated steel you can still solder the stud on as the plating will facilitate a good joint. Don't know what your skills, or tool collection looks like, but a plate could be attached to the entire bottom, and either sawed to shape with a jeweler's saw, or filed to fit the profile. The plate could have tabs, or be threaded You can make rivets out of wire easy enough. Rivets do not have to be store bought.

My guess is that they had a positive, and negative mold of the AMG then basically stamped the leather into the shape. Not sure if it was done with heat to help set it, or done damp, and allowed to dry in the mold. This could be done by carving a block of hardwood with the logo in a negative, and a positive (make sure to leave clearance for the leather thickness used. Once done, case the leather, and sandwich it between the dies. Then stick the whole mess into a press to get the squish needed. Let dry, and remove. To keep the shape, the cavity in the back side could be filled with something. OR, make the letters, adhere them to a backer, and mold the leather from the top down over the letters. . This would be mored difficult then the above method to keep clean lines. Form the letters then vacuum the leather down over them. Carve the letters into a block, and use a dense foam, or rubber, to press the leather into the negative space. Take your pick, and someone else may have another idea as well.

Don't worry about your English, my Spanish is not that good, neither is my Portuguese, German, French, ......you get the idea.

On the same lines with patches, what do you charge to sew patches on? I realize that the price will vary depending on size, and shape, but say in general how much do you charge for this service?

Disclaimer; the following opinions are BIGGUNDOCTOR's and may not represent the opinions of this station, and it's affiliates. Any and all advice is for information only, and no warranty is expressed or implied. How about this? From your post it seems that you haven't used any Craftools by your use of the word seems. I have several Craftools that were my Mom's, and they still work fine. Granted that most were made in the 50's, but they are what they are. Most people/friends/customers wouldn't know the difference in work done with a Carftool, King, or any other brand. I would suggest getting some Craftools tools to get going, and see how well you really like leatherworking before dumping a ton of cash. This reminds me of a fellow that I knew that HAD to have a HK USP 45 that were were raffling off. He bought $280 worth of tickets, and did win it. Takes it to the range that we got it from, and shoots it for the first time. He hates it, and ends up trading it for a SIG. Make sure that you want to do leatherwork before jumping in all the way. My take on the newer Craftools is that you want to look at them before buying. I have seen some botched images mixed in with the good ones. There are also tons of older stamps out there being sold secondhand. In my years of scrounging tools I have also picked up some Baron, and Midas stamps. These may be an option too. I have purchased my stamps at dirt level prices by watching classifies, Craigslist, and garage sales for starters. My last purchase was from a fellow moving out of state. I filled the back of my Saturn wagon for $300. There were over 300 stamps alone, not including the leather, buckles, granite slabs, mauls, lace slitters, books, DVD's, and much more. So don't hold yourself back because you don't have a brand X tool to use. Being a tool maker, I too appreciate quality tools . My kitchen mixer is a 20qt Hobart, as are the slicer, chopper, grinder,and shredder. I would rather own a used American tool than a new Chinese tool that won't last a year. Buy it once, use it a lifetime. My small lathe is an 18.5" x 54" Monarch that weighs 5,200#, and was built in 1946. It is tighter than some of the newer lathes I have run. I purchased it from the original owner who took very good care of it. If I do my part it will outlast me by many decades. Again, get some tools, and get to work. Don't get hung up on a name just yet.

Plastics require low speed, and generous kerfs when using saws. If the chips pack up they end up melting. A band saw with a coarse pitch blade will cut it. The thin blade doesn't create as much heat as other blades do. To trim the edges I would put it in my metalworking lathe. Easier to do than with a wood late since a metal lathe has a 3 or 4 jaw chuck instead of a drive spindle. While it is in the late it can be bored out for the handle. When drilling plastic you have to go slow otherwise the drill might possibly grab, and get sucked into the piece. Again, slower speeds keep the heat down. I have also found that softer plastics like polyethylene ted to drill undersize. In other words, you run a .500" drill into it, and a .500" rod won't go into the hole. This is because the plastic pushes away from the drill some, and when the drill is removed it collapses back down some. A lot of times I will drill close to size, then bore out with a razor sharp boring bar.

Not being a religious fellow Easter is just another day for me, but I did spend it with some friends, and had a nice dinner. Zeus sounds similar to my neighbors dog. Nika is an English mastiff. 5 months old, and probably pushing 90# with huge feet, and the typical guilty conscience of the breed. It was nice shopping all day, and not having the regular crowds in the stores. When I get into Las Vegas AKA the big city, I get some groceries, and hit the thrift stores for some treasure hunting.

The blueish tint reminds me of the Nylons, or UHMW I worked with. UHMW is fairly soft though, and is used for wear strips on conveyors, and such. This wouldn't match your description of hardness.

The Delrin that I have used has been either bright white, or black. Delrin is very hard, you cannot press a fingernail into it. It is also fairly brittle, and will not flex much before cracking. I used it for bushings on some machines I was working on. When you cut Delrin the chips come off clean. Nylon comes in a wide variety of colors, and durometers (hardness). Most of the nylons that I have worked with were soft enough that you could dent them with your fingernail, but they can be hard also (stocks for the Remington Nylon 66's for example). The nylons that I have used usually left flags along the edges that needed to be trimmed off after cutting. Whatever you have, you want to make sure that it is not so brittle to chip, or shatter on the face, and possibly causing eye damage.

What style of font?

If it is something like Delrin, it may eventually fracture. I have machined Delrin, and it cuts really nice, like soft metal. Nylon will be softer, and more flexible, withstanding repeated blows better. Picture, or what color is the plastic?

Most good sized cities have an industrial foam and rubber retailer. I used various durometer foams when I was rebuilding winery labelers.

Being a machinist myself I would suggest getting a hold of someone with a metal lathe. They can make the ends any way that you want them.

What? No Nambu? All the guns I own have original military holsters, or sleeves. The modern ones get transported in zippered cases. The only holster I have is a Kydex on that came with my P97. I am thinking of getting a CCW since I can get the class part comped. But what to use? Makarov, Broomhandle, Type 14 Nambu, CZ52, S&W 35 auto, .................................

Sounds like you answered your own question. Do what YOU love to do. In the end it doesn't matter how much you get paid, if you aren't happy it isn't enough. Don't take a fun job, and turn it into work. I don't do holsters, but there are a lot of members in the SASS, and a big segment of them are women. You may want to cater to them. Belts that are are actually made for their shape, and tooling that they like. Unlike a lot of guys, women tend to really get into the accessories . In the end though I would say to not paint yourself into a corner, by specializing too much. The only thing I would specialize in would be quality items.

I'm gonna say that it is a decorative item made to confuse future generations. Why the interest in this item? Just to know, or does it pertain to something else?

Try experimenting with Sno-Seal for waterproofing. I use it on my hiking boots, and they stay dry no matter what happens to them. It does darken the boots quite a bit though. It is a beeswax base, and I heat the boots up till it soaks into the leather, and usually do 3 coats.

I look at this a different way. Would the people that shop at China Mart pay $50 for a custom belt in the first place? Probably not, that is why they shop where they do. People who look for quality will pay for it. As to the holster design. The internet has changed this ball game all together. Anyone could pay for one pattern than copy it, and post it up. A copyright is only good if you have the $$ to enforce it. Have you priced an attorney lately? I had to contact one on a totally different matter, and he charges $300 per hr. I weighed the cost benefit value, and dropped it. The only person that was going to benefit was the attorney. Now that the picture of the holster is up on the net, anyone can make a good copy, if they know the basics of holster making. Download the pic, scale it up to size, and you have the basic pattern. Even easier if you took multiple angles, or were proud enough of the item to discuss the quality details. Here is what I would do. Share the pattern. Later if you need to make a living off that holster you still can since it is your quality, your name, and your skills that will hopefully differentiate your holster for the other ones. I can look at a Bianchi holster, a Gucci purse, or whatever else I want to in a store, and start to reverse engineer the construction. I don't know any craftsmen who don't do that. When I go to craft shows I am looking for things that I like. If I find something that I like I will take a picture, or make notes, so that I can make it at home. By nature those of us that have skills to create like to make things ourselves, and are called craftsmen. Those who do not have the skills to create are called consumers. Maybe toss your design into the ring, and just have your name attached to it as the designer. I don't know how large of a market there will be for custom holsters for surplus CZ82's to use it as a fall back. I love my E.German Makarov, but it resides in an original surplus holster. I sold a lot of original unissued Mak holsters for $5 that I got for $1 ea. How many people out there do you think would make a holster of your design? 10? 100? 1000? and how many of them would you be able to sell one of your holsters to , if you chose to sell them at your price? If you don't want to give up the design, just post a price, and tell the forum members that you are ready to start selling them completed holsters. If you wait too long, someone else will,IF there is a ready market. Why wait to use it as a possible all back if you can sell them now? Go get the $$ while it is available. When tough times hit your customer may be broke too, get to them when they do have extra cash. You may find out that your holster is a hit, or you may only sell a couple. Better to find out now than when you are relying on it to feed you,and your family.

Equiss, can you post a picture of what you have, but want left handed? I looked for skivers, and there are lots of different styles.

Utility bags, tool bags, welding apron/jacket,backpack, shot filled shooting bags, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Good thing I got that right, seeing how I live just outside of Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada.

Hello, and welcome to LW, I grew up in Fairfield, not too far from The Cats (Los Gatos). Pretty area.

I would look at what your main focus is, and what you will need to do that. The main thing is to buy tools that YOU will use. Everyone is different, and what I have may be far different from what you may need. My main comment will be to look at the quality of the item, and buy the best that you can afford. One thing that Tandy does that kind of irks me is that they really tout some items that are gussied up, have a famous name attached, or some other marketing ploy to run the cost up. I would pass on the "Damascus" , and stainless knives, and some of the other cheap Chinese tools that they have. Also watch the ads since they run specials on some items fairly often. Granite slabs, and glass slickers can be found for free, or be made from found materials, so get the things that you cannot make, or find easily. Sorry to not be very specific, but not knowing exactly what you currently do (pictures, and guitar straps is somewhat vague) we cannot give you specifics, now in general here are some basic tools that you might like to pick up. A good rotary hole punch, not the flimsy sheet metal one. I have my Mom's forged one from the 1950's and wouldn't trade it. A good rawhide mallet, or maul whichever you prefer. I have always used mallets myself, but will be tying a maul soon to see how it works for me. Do you stitch your straps? Maybe a good sewing awl. Rivet, and snap setters come in handy. Something that that may be the best thing for you to pick up are books. Books on stamping, tooling, and carving so that you know what tools do what. Books on lacing if you lace you straps. I have several books, and they are very useful.

Maus, don't look on the Italian Craigslist, look on the ones near family members over here. Have them pick them up, and then ship them to you. Having a military APO address will cut your shipping costs to Italy. The slickers that my Dad made are made from Lignum Vitae. The same wood that is used for the propeller shaft bearings on some large ships. So dense it sinks like a rock, and best to use metal working tools to cut it.

Actually 1095 is listed as a common spring steel with most of the companies that I have checked with. We get 1095 spring tempered strips at work for some of our in house applications. The newer alloys like 5160 offer better fatigue resistance = less cracking from what I understand.