Cyberthrasher

I get some cheaper sides on occassion that have quite a bit of fuzz and string hanging from the softer areas of the belly. Shave it, sand it, then slick it (I use water and a slicker)

NOW WE'RE TALKING!!!! That thing is Sweet!! I love that jockey shift and the overall steampunk like design of the parts

When did you email? Ed's been struggling to get caught up with things lately after some personal stuff. You might try emailing him again, or maybe even sending him a message here. Usually I get a response back from him within a couple of days.

That's pretty much what I'm thinking there. I try to focus so much more on custom work that I haven't gotten anything up in any online store. If these were quality kits that I could whip up, it would give me a less expensive alternative to offer people who can't afford my full on work and get me some quick "stock" to post for sale as bread and butter.

Pretty much the above. You will want to run a pipe cleaner into the feed nozzle and clean the tip thoroughly. I find that black is especially bad at building up. There was one time I was being lazy and not paying attention to how well I was cleaning up my black. The next time I pulled the needle it was caked in black dye.

Yes, definitely call Todd if you can . I emailed FoamForYou on a Saturday and heard back on Monday. I think what you're seeing in the shipping charges is the "oversize" shipping rates that we have to pay for anything that comes in a roll.

A lot of people say good things about Maine Thread. I purchased some from The Thread Exchange.

Are you overseas? Accufast2D shipped my pans flat rate. It was $20 shipping for 5 pans. But yeah, I did count my shipping charges into everything. It was just funny that this came up at that time since I was at my day job and someone had asked me about a half hour earlier how much I had into each seat, so I estimated everything up the best I could from memory. I get all of my leather and lace from Springfield, which helps since single sourcing stuff really cuts down on shipping when you get it all at once. But, it looks like they're cutting back on the 1/4" (I haven't asked what their stock is aside from what's online), but y-knot is about the same price and they're pretty close to me, so shipping shouldn't time shouldn't be too bad. I've been trying to get into seats since I started, but then my guitar strap requests really took off and I'm only just now getting around to the motorcycle side of the business.

So, Dwight, where do you screw up if you tool first and then assemble? Is it just the changing of shape? A lot of the gunbelts I see are 8 oz and up, which I've never really had deform on me while tooling. Honestly, since I would leave the back layer big and trim it after gluing, I would be scared of accidentally cutting into the tooled layer

Finally got the pans, foam is on order, now I just have to get a break in the guitar strap orders to sit down and get some going!!! I just have to hope I have enough 1/4" lace left to get at least one of them done

Not sure exactly what she's looking for, but I typed in diamante buckle on Google and got a bunch of stuff - mostly belts that include one. Might be the way to go. http://www.janenorman.co.uk/fcp/product/buy-fashion-look-fabulous/belts/diamant%C3%A9-buckle-belt/14773?colour=black

The Biltwell pans are pretty nice. But, I just got some accufast2d seatpans too (the same ones Benlilly uses) and they're solid too. It's 10 Gauge steel, so it's not going anywhere. In fact, I just did a price calculation for how much I have into each seat including the pans, foam, leather, and 1/4" roo lace. The total came up to $70 per seat (estimating a little high in some areas) assuming I can get 8 seats out of the foam. My math has always sucked and I'm pulling the seat measurements from memory, so it's either 6 or 8 seats per half-sheet of 3/4" neoprene. But, either way, that's cheaper than the Biltwell kit. You can't go wrong with them though. I haven't made any solo seats yet, but I've sat on a LOT of them

Sounds like a plan

No problems there. I usually just find whatever I have that's handy, or whatever I happen to be able to find from known sources. But, I thought I'd put it out there since I do see a lot of questions along those lines. I pretty much expected that answer though - but you never get what you don't ask for

I've never done a gun belt, but you pretty much always tool first, then dye, then assemble.

The first thing that comes to my mind is PayPal and the 45 day limit for customers to file a dispute. Other than that I can't say whether there would be anything else. My inclination is to say that when a customer pays you upfront, they're entering into an agreement, knowing how long it will take for them to receive their items. Now, if you took their payment with a promised completion date 4 weeks out and then changed it to 8 weeks without their consent - that may be grounds for legal action (I'm just guessing here). I tried looking around for hard facts, but couldn't figure out a good search term that didn't give results on loan pre-payment penalties. I think as long as you stick to an agreed upon completion date with the customer, everything should be fine.

Do you have pictures? It's hard for us to give a whole lot of insight into what might have went wrong based on "unsatisfactory", but my guess is it's somewhere in your resist stage. What were you using as a resist and what brand of antique gel were you using?

Yeah, I looked at yours at work, which is the only place I don't have the Tandy version. Since you have other stuff on it, I'll make sure I get a copy of it set aside at home. Any interest in doing a comparison with other popular makers? I know there's one out there, but I forget how well it compared between the different makers. So, if I were going through an old article and it said to use this craftool beveler, how does that compare to a Barry King beveler of the same size. Stuff like that would be helpful. But, I completely understand if you have no interest in redoing an awesome job

Start your template by sizing it to what you're going to put in it. If it's just for cash - make your template based on the size of cash. If you're going to add cards, make it based on the layout of the cards you want and use that size.

yeah, it will work. I opted for one of their 3 gallon compressors that can hold air and be used for other stuff, but you'd have to build up the fittings and filters inline too, so it's not as much of an "out of the box" setup.

Ditto this. You just gotta jump in and do it. I'd say do your design on a practice piece to prove to yourself that you can do it. From there, get to it

For your cutting, make sure that knife is stropped well and possibly wait a couple minutes longer before cutting. That can also happen if you're not keeping your knife perpendicular to the leather. Happens to me sometimes too, nothing that can't be fixed by rounding off the edge with a modeling spoon. If you don't have one, get one. It's one of the most important tools on your bench. We all start with tool marks - even when we think we're doing everything right. Make sure you're walking the beveler like a jack hammer or tattoo needle. You should be holding it just barely inside your cutline (or above it if you're comfortable there) and let the beveler bounce back up after you tap it down by using your finger as a shock absorber. The beveler should be doing the work. It should also be taptaptaptap with the mallet, not TAP......TAP.......TAP. If you can't get it all the way down without hitting too hard, make a second, or even third pass. Take a look at this video from Standing Bears. He does a good job at showing how to hold the beveler and walk it. Listen to the speed of his tapping too and notice that he goes back over the work instead of trying to compress the full depth in one blow. This video was actually the AHA!! moment that got me heading in the right direction at first.

Hmmmmmm

First thing that came to mind was a kidney belt, but those straps on top wouldn't fit that theme. They're probably the key to what it is.