Tallbald

Interesting and helpful responses. I do not roll over the edge at all. It appears that the needle is simply piercing the top layer of leather then the bottom layer, which I guess is un-supported is mashing down into the open area of the bottom mechanism. The only fix I can see is to cut the material oversize, sew it farther back from the ege, then trim as Electrathon has suggested. I'm learning each time I sew, and as I said before, learning that machine sewing fabric is not completely like sewing leather. Thanks again all. Don

In sewing my first men's billfold from 5-6 ounce veg tan on my Cowboy 3500 I ran into trouble. As designed, the wallet needed stitching within about 1/8 inch of the edge. On the top, the stitch looked nice. But when I removed the sewn layers from the machine the bottom had wandered off the edge of the material and ruined the piece. OK. So I'm learning the limits of my machine. How close should I be able to stitch to the un-supported edge of something on my new machine? I suppose thicker leather would not give this trouble, but I also know I see thin leather items machine sewn very close to an edge. Perhaps I should be cutting the pieces larger, sewing as needed then trimming the leather to within 1/8 inch? Some sewing techniques that work for me with fabric just don't seem to be transferring to leather. Thanks for suggestions. Don.

I really like your holster. I'm still learning to use my Cowboy 3500. I was going to buy a 3200, which is from all reports I see is a great machine, but living in Kentucky I figured that a thicker capacity machine might resell for my family "one day". I started out using 6 or more stitches per inch until I read here about weakening leather. I switched to 5 stitches per inch as I was doing with hand stitching. It lets the thread be seen better and with the thickness of hides I use, the thread doesn't seem to bury itself deep into the leather. I still have so much to learn and though I've wasted leather, it's not been the machine's fault. I love all holsters but lightly boned simple holsters turn my crank, and that's what I have found I do best. Mercy I admire the artistic carvings many can do but I can't even approach the beauty of their work (some physical and medical issues/limitations), Boning by hand is difficult due to arthritis too. It would be interesting to see how you worked the belt loop. Can you share a photo please? I really like your work and look forward to seeing more! Congratulations! Don

Thanks all for the understanding. papaw I like the "educational bin" comment. Gave me a grin. Later all. DOn.

As the title says, I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to be as advanced a leather crafter as I am a wood worker. There's not enough time and lack of success hits me harder than it once did. Please allow me to whine and wallow in self pity here a bit (grin...sorta). I started working with wood as a child, using scraps from my uncle George's bin to make toys and such at age eight. My imagination could carry me anywhere I wanted with wood as a media. As a young adult I started seriously studying the art of the craft, building simple but rugged furniture and household accessories for self, family, friends and even for sale. I progressed into my early forties when I began to teach myself wood turning. Truthfully I became rather successful, creating turned wood, metal jointed sculptures that sold through art galleries within 150 miles of my home, and that won some juried art exihibitions. I paid for almost all my shop tools and such with proceeds from sales and prizes. In the process of learning to craft wood, I admit to many mistakes. Projects that didn't turn out with the quality I sought were scrapped and parts recycled. Or simply burned non-ceremonially. All this over the course of 47 years until I reached a point that I was good at it and became rather bored with repetitive success. Now here I am a budding leather worker. At the three year point of learning (earlier this year), I had taught myself with web forum help to design holsters, and execute them with a modicum of beauty and professionalism. Man of us relish praise for whatever reasons, and I was encouraged by family and friends praise for my work. I had a very modest collection of tools and techniques I used repeatedly to ply my new hobby. Sadly, spinal injury, a knee replacement and progressive arthritis quickly took their toll and I reached a point that I couldn't any longer set long enough to saddle stitch more than several inches. With great anticipation and family encouragement I bought a beautiful sewing machine, foolishly thinking I could work magic overnight. I was and remain wrong and I am childishly irritated with myself. Yesterday I "finished" my first full flap holster for my CZ75B 9MM handgun. I designed a simple three piece pattern, and used my beautiful sewing machine to sew it. I did vary my sequence of assembly and vinegaroon dyed the leather before assembly, thinking that it would help simplify my project. As I moved forward in the project I retained enthusiasm for what I hoped the end result would be. But as I continued, new troubles continued to pop up as they did so long ago when I was learning to craft wood. The external square for the button stud I cemented in place moved as I sewed and is not square to the front edge of the holster bucket. The stitch line on the cemented belt loop strayed and was glaringly obvious as it was white on black. Somehow while sewing the main seam, a backstitch wadded nastily on the back of the holster. The final straw was when the folded front outer surface of the holster began to show cracks in the right light, despite the care and attention I devoted in assembly. I didn't show my loving wife the final product. In frustration and disgust with myself I simply took the holster to our garage and stuffed it into a cardboard on a shelf with other unsuccessful projects. Good leather and good components essentially wasted except the the learning that resulted I think. At 56 though I won't have 47 years to get good. I guess I will just satisfy myself with so-so results while striving for better ones as I go along. I'm not giving up folks but I'm having to re-focus while admiring all the stunningly beautiful things you all create and share photos of. Looking at the things you folks post photos of here is to me like browsing an art gallery! Thanks for everything you folks share with and do for the newer leather crafters who like I do, stumbling along the way. Don.

Perfect! Thank you so very much. I can convert to English decimal and go from there. And I'll jot down the information to keep on hand. Does the thickness of the leather matter (affect the size to punch)? Don

In looking around I still haven't found the size information I need yet, and I'm ready to punch a hole for my button stud closure on a full flap holster tab. Is there a rule of thumb that's based on maybe leather thickness? Or is it to simply to make the hole a little smaller than the stud? I appreciate guidance and thank you all. Don.

You know I never thought of a food dehydrator. Penny and i have one we stopped using because physical problems prevent our gardening now. I'll dig it out of storage and give it a try. I doesn't have variable temperature but I can check it with an oven thermometer and see what it's running. Thanks so much. Don

I'll be the first to admit here that I have force dried holsters and small projects in my our kitchen oven set at the lowest temp (170 degrees F) and with the circulating "speed cook" fan running. I don't bring a project down to bone dry, and only do it 5 minutes at a time, but rather to a point it is retaining its form and I cannot squeeze water out (from the clear water submerge rinse after vinegarooning), then it spends a night on a rack in front of a table fan. I thought about building a small wood enclosure with a 100 watt light bulb in the bottom and a vent hole at the top that could maintain an inside temp of 130 degrees F, but incandescent bulbs are now "illegal" to import and sell in some areas and are a little hard to find. WHat are some of you members here doing to dry your projects? In my area, it could take days for outdoor drying in our high Kentucky humidity and with so many overcast days. I'm too old to wait so long for the sun to dry stuff for me. Thanks. Don

Deleted. Found what I need. Sorry for the bother. Don

I probably should have this issue resolved after three years of making holsters for self and family, but it always seems to turn into a "by guess and by golly" thing. When I start to design a holster I have the gun on hand and trace the stitch line I need to make on a cardboard cutout. I use this to draw the line on the stiff folded leather . I know I must account for the width of the gun (revolver vs. auto, etc) and the leather wrapping around the gun. Trouble is that being off either way by 1/4 inch can ruin the fit of gun in the holster. I've watched several tutorials through the years but can't get the hang of consistent first time fit. Are other makers perhaps wetting the leather then boning it before marking the line? Anyone have suggestions? Maybe it's just the nature of holster making. Thank you all. Don

Thank you. I increased the upper tension and the problem was reduced a lot. I do have so much to learn. DOn

Folks I know you all are right.I don't think I'm a lazy man but last night I really didn't enjoy applying, spreading, and wiping off excess brown dye. I won't lie- it did smell pretty good though. What resulted was a kinda blotchy appearance that may have been the leather (good Hermann Oak stuff though) but I'm sure it was my booboo. I never minded dirty hands but honestly it annoyed me that my fingers got a nice deep rich brown color that I wanted on the holster. I was out of vinyl gloves and thought "what the heck" and went ahead. Vinegaroon has indeed spoiled me since I started leather crafting. A woodworker, I had always ben irritated when steel screws in an outdoor oak project ran black streaks down the boards after time in the weather. But the idea of harnessing that iron and tannin reaction for good deeds was really attractive. My roon mixture is three years old and super strong. I just today cut it with water 50/50 to replenish roon lost to evaporation and use, and it still does the job in a matter of moments. Most all of the vinegar smell is gone, which I think should mean the neutralizing baking soda/water bath after soakng in roon can be shortened. When I first started using roon, my friends said I could not color concealed carry holsters because "everyone knows you're carrying a gun because you smell like a pickle!". As I write this, I'm brewing a super strong batch of tea and will pour in several days worth of used coffee grounds from my percolator. I'll funnel it into a plastic jug, fill the remainder with water and let it set for several days shaking it daily to mix well. Then I'll filter the stuff , add a half cup of vinegaroon as a "mordant" (something I have read about from a Google search), add a half cup of rubbing alcohol to retard bacterial growth and start experimenting. I'll post results, good or bad here so others might learn from mistakes I make. Don

So I've been using homemade vinegaroon for blackening the three years I been teaching myself leather crafting. Many holsters later I still like it despite the baking soda neutralization step followed by rinse rinse rinse. Last night though I was feeling froggy and jumped. A lined holster blank tempted me to try dying the outside brown with a name brand solvent dye. My results were blotchy, felt sticky and the results were way darker than it was supposed to be. Is there a youtube tutorial I can study before attempting again? Everyone seems to love dying holsters but me.Thanks. Don

In the three years I've been making holsters and such, all my leather coloring has been by submerging a finished or nearly finished project in vinegaroon or homemade walnut husk stain. It's almost always been satisfactory. Now I find myself wanting to try commercial dyes so I can restrict the areas dyed, like when I make a lined holster (brown outer layer with natural lining).. Would I be wrong to cut the parts out and dye the desired pieces before even beginning to glue and sew my holster? Maybe this is a no-brainer but I thought I would ask the experts about any pitfalls in doing it that way. Thanks. Don

I see. Mine is recent manufacture. I will admit though I had considered stoning and removing the sharp corners on the foot components. Thoughts good or bad? Don

Wanted to follow up with folks. I did reduce the pressure on the presser foot and the improved results are remarkable. Much fewer and shallower impressions. The stitches don't seem to suffer. I'm really unclear though on the topic of the foot underside. I cannot feel anything but a flat surface on mine. Don

Really learning fast on my new Cowboy 3500 from Toledo Industrial. One thing I'm experiencing though is that when I reverse to back stitch at the end of a run, the thread sometimes wads and tangles up on the underside on the leather. Does it matter if I shift the reverse lever quickly or slowly? Am I missing some technique I should be using when reversing? Is it OK to shift on the fly or must I stop before shifting? Also while I'm at it, when I start a stitch run I am holding both upper and lower thread. I don't remember if I was told to hold both or could I just hold the upper thread? It's difficult sometimes to reach the lower thread if I'm in the middle of a piece I'm sewing. Thanks everyone and I truly appreciate ALL the comments I receive to my questions here. Don

Again thanks for the input. More information that I can file and reference. Don

A new left or right hand harness foot right now is a little out of my price range. I've had no luck finding one used on Ebay or using Google and Bing search engines. If someone knows of a used one for sale I'd appreciate learning about it. I sometimes forget where I've posted a question so a PM would be great. Thanks as always.. Don

Wizcrafts thank you. Up to now, all my experience sewing was either hand stitching leather OR sewing fabric on vintage sewing machines (my favorite is my loving wife's and my 1934 Singer hand crank 201). I guess I should have gone a little more in-depth about the presser foot question. My concern in reducing the pressure was that in doing so I might change the relationship of the upper and lower thread where they meet and cause a loose stitch. I would like to have the right and left foot, but right now finances are snug. I really enjoy using my Cowboy 3500. Before I bought my machine I had come to dread sewing holsters because of arthritic discomfort. Now of course sewing is a task to look forward to. Thanks again. Don

Hi everyone. I take spells being here and asking questions because sometimes I am flat not able to work with my machine as I want to. Anyhow, I was sewing on an In The Waistband holster last night and in attaching mouth reinforcement to the holster bucket was getting significant presser foot impressions at the stitch line. First, should I routinely reduce presser foot pressure from dealer settings to accommodate softer hides or does that negatively affect stitch quality? Secondly, can the impressions be removed or reduced by boning over the stitch and is that how I should be planning my work? Thanks. Don

Fantastic looking machine! I myself chose the 3500 for the extra sewing thickness, reasoning that saddle repair needs may come my way here in Kentucky one day. I've had my machine over a month or so now, but honestly I've not been able to use it as I would have wished because of some physical troubles. You do beautiful work! Don

As always everyone I am overwhelmed by the generosity shown to me in the sharing of hard earned knowledge with a neophyte like me. I will bookmark this thread. I have been considering printing off wonderful information like the answers given and keeping them in a folder for myself at the bench. It's so much information that I have some trouble remembering it all and I could have it right at hand as I work. Thank you all again. Don.