GlenH

Been making ID Badge holders for some folks here at work, and I've been using some old transparency film I had. But I'm glad to see Springfield has the real thing. Should have figured they'd have stuff like that. Thanks for the reminder. Glen

Just wanted to let everyone know that our site for the South Central Leathercrafters' Guild was down earlier today, but it's back up now. We had an issue with the domain name that's been fixed, but it could still take a day or two before everyone all over can see it. Sorry for the problems. Glen

If you plan on coming to Nashville in October for the IFoLG show, and you want to stay at the host hotel, you need to book your rooms NOW. There are less than 10 rooms left. Glen

Chan Geer will be teaching a class on how to make your own wallet and billfold liners at the upcoming IFoLG Conference and Trade Show here in Nashville. Details are here.

Ohio Travel Bag has some that I've used before.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the 2012 IFoLG show that the South Central Leathercrafters' Guild is hosting this October. Our host hotel, the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel, has informed us that they're hosting another conference that weekend (October 18 thru 21). We expect all the rooms to be booked for that weekend, so if you want to attend the show and stay at the host hotel, now's the time to get your room reserved. I've also finally gotten online registration for the show, banquet, and classes up and running. Keep checking our site regularly to keep up to date with all the latest information about the show. If you have any questions, let me know or you can email me at glen@harness.us.. See you in October! Glen

So this is a legit company? Every time I go to their web site my malware detector detects some kind of malware that I have to clean. So I've been hesitant about ordering anything from them. Glen

I've had to replace the camouflage, the pear shader, and the basketweave in addition to the backgrounder. The shafts on them just started bending. The seeder and veiner have been ok, but I don't use those as much. Glen

Tandy sells lower quality tools for the beginner. If you bought their seven-tool set, you probably got one. Even in their leathercraft starter sets the tools are not as good as what they sell singly. The A104 that came with my deluxe kit wasn't flat on the bottom; that is, if I held the handle completely perpendicular to the leather, the point would go in deeper, leaving me a tool mark I could never get rid of. Once I discovered that, I tried to bend it with some pliers and it snapped off much as you describe. Since I broke it myself, I didn't figure it was Tandy's place to replace it. So I bought one off the shelf. The difference in quality was amazing. Glen

Looks like you've already discovered what you were doing wrong (i.e. you were trusting their measurement). I don't do belts by mail order (much; I've done one or two without any problems). But I much prefer to have the old belt in front of me with the buckle attached to the new blank. I put the old belt on top of the new belt blank and use my stylus to mark the most used hole after aligning the buckle ends. Glen

I bought the deluxe kit from Tandy about two years ago. One thing I found is that the stamping tools that come with that kit are made of softer metal than the ones you buy by themselves. After a few months of use, the camouflage tool, the pear shader, and (I think) the basketweave were bending. II ultimately took them back to Tandy and he replaced them with regular tools for me. I was amazed not only in the difference in metal, but the difference in the pattern. The C431 that came with the kit only resembled the C431 that you get standalone. I was never satisfied with my backgrounding. I could never get it to where there were no tool marks showing. As it turns out, the backgrounder was not flat on the bottom, so when I held the tool straight, the pointed end of the backgrounder would go in deeper. When I finally replaced that tool, it made all the difference in the world. I also replaced the mallet with a rawhide mallet that my dad used back in the 70's (I also got a few of his tools as well). So the deluxe kit is a good way to get started, but I think you'll eventually want to replace the tools... Glen

I think it's interesting that everyone in this thread is assuming that the managers or employees were let go by Tandy. Perhaps they were moved to another store that was underperforming? Or perhaps they left of their own accord? I know the Knoxville store recently got a new manager who had been trained here in Nashville for the better part of a year.

I'm going to be posting some on our site in a few days. We're the host guild for next year. Our site is at www.southcentralleathercraftersguild.com. Glen

Do you have an Officemax part number for that?

I use a quarter inch oak dowel rod, cut to about 6 or 7 inches, in my drill. I put the GT on in a section, then slick it with the rod in the drill. Works really well.

On the holsters, would you call those "generic"? Looks like they could be used either right-handed or left-handed...Would you say that the pattern is symmetrical? Glen

I use either the angled or straight chisels (the straight one is one my dad used in the 70's). No one has complained so far about it looking "unprofessional." Glen

I use clear packing tape on the back of my leather to keep it from stretching during tooling. Works pretty well, although there is some adhesive residue left after removal. And if you use cardboard, don't use contact cement; use rubber cement. You won't be able to get the cardboard off if you use contact cement. Glen

Are you wiping the leather after the dye dries? The "blotchy" looking spots you're talking about could be just pigment that didn't get soaked into the leather. I just take a paper towel and rub it on the leather until it stops picking up the color.

By braiding, I'm assuming you're talking about double loop (or triple loop) lacing, right? You could always do a saddle stitch. You can look at a couple of wallets I've done that way on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.195874403765872.50017.193350830684896. I got the back and the interior for one of those wallets (the one with the money clip) from Springfield Leather (http://springfieldleather.com/).

This is exactly what I'm getting ready to do. I've actually already cut the pieces and tooled the front. I used my strap cutter to cut a piece a little less than 1/2 inch wide. I'll cut that into two pieces, one for the straight side and one for the curved side. I'll be using rubber cement to hold all the pieces together. I'm thinking about lacing this one instead of saddle stitching, but either way the holes are going to be a pain to punch, since you end up with about a 1/4 thickness. Ideally, I'd have a drill press and just drill the holes, but I don't. One advantage of doing the "leather spacer" is that the stitches are protected from the knife blade. When I assembled the kit version, I found that it helped to wet the back of the top piece to get it to be more pliable while I did the stitching... Glen

Probably a more durable way to do this would be to use thinner leather. For the back side, you'd cut two mirror image pieces and use contact cement to glue flesh side to flesh side. Then for the front, you'd start out with the two mirror image pieces and use the outermost one for the filigree. You'd sandwich in the suede between the two outside pieces, so you end up with a complete piece of leather next to the gun's outside. I have a friend who does something similar to this; he makes holsters that don't show any stitching. He actually stitches the two inside pieces together (flesh side out) and then uses contact cement to glue two more pieces (flesh side in) to the holster. Does that make any sense?

Ah, that's it. I was looking at the 1 ton model. They don't have the 1/2 ton model online, just in stores. I may check the one out here in Nashville and see if they've got it. Would be nice to have some kind of adapter that would let me set snaps, punch holes, and do some repetitive stamping... Glen

Thanks. They must've gone up. It's now $45 on sale. So you're saying you just drilled a hole in the end of the press part? How big and how deep? Glen