Kcinnick

So, I re-edged the belts, got them down to bare leather. Burnished with wood and water. Dyed the edges. Let them sit for two days. I put several light coats of clear lac let it sit a day. And bam today, tested it out and it just rubs off. I swear I am never dying and edge again!!! They will just stay two different colors, I don't know what else to do.

Yes, The thread is cutting a line going with the tight stitch line, but I am willing to sacrifice the back to get the nice front stitch on belts. When I sew holsters I don't use a stitch near as tight and can get a much better looking back side stitch. I thought I should be adjusting the bottom bobbin tension to compensate, but I Bob told me that was the price of the tight stitch on this kind of machine.

The copic markers are amazing. I got 4 from a dealer on amazon, otaku fuel. I am using pro oil black, so should wait 48 hours to dry, any tips on saving the couple of belts I am having problems with?

I was thinking pull the handle style like the weaver, my main goal is number 24 snaps.

Is there another good bench mount snap setter out there, for a few less bucks.

No matter what I do I cannot get the dye to stop coming off my edges. Here is a description of my last attempt. Well, I got some empty "Copic Sketch Markers", they are perfect for doing edges. They are made for comic book artist to ink drawings with alcohol based inks and come with a chiseled tip and point tip that is soft almost like a paint brush. My lines are now perfectly straight, angling the chiseled tip at the correct angle to the leather and a steady hand makes for a nice clean edge. Now I am still back to my original problem, I have still having dye rub off! I am able to get a clean edge before or after burnishing with the copic markers so I have tried both ways. So my last two belts I dyed the edges black using the marker then ran an old white t shirt over the edges and got any excess dry dye off. I then used Fiebings glycerine soap to slick the edges then hand burnished with duck cloth and fiebings white saddle soap. I then coated the edges with paraffin wax and used my grinder style buffer to shine the edges. The buffer gets the belt hot enough to give the wax a good shine. I would stop there if I could but black will still come off on a soft cloth. So I had a can of Clearlac, neatlac, whatever the stuff is called and I filled one of my copic markers with it, perfect even coats, great. Well I did a couple of coats and let it dry, got a white T shirt ran it across and I got black marks! I just tried two more belts and I am going to let them dry overnight this time, well at least until later in the morning. One got 3 light layers with a copic marker, the other got a few layers with an artists brush. Maybe giving an overnight dry time will give me the protection I am looking for. I am probably the only loon who got out of bed at 1 am to go test some new methods to get my edges right. They look really nice, I just can't have black dye coming off if I ever hope to start selling. These are for Christmas gifts, and I have a few people who want to buy but I have to get the edges beyond pretty , they need to be pretty and durable. I don't really want to coat the entire belts in Clearlac, I really like the look I am getting with a light coat of neatsfoot oil then a coating of Renaissance wax, I put my finishes on before I sew or edge the belt, the stitching gets beat up and gunked up if I finish after stitching and edging. Thanks for any insight you may have. Those belts I let dry overnight did not work, still got black marks on my white cloth!!! I really need to stop the black from coming off.

Would this be good for setting snaps on holster loops? Will this work better than one of the bench mounted setups?

How did you know I was up at 1:30 in the morning PMing hidepounder about issues getting black rubbing off my edges! My wife is working on a photo setup to take some product photos tomorrow so I will throw one up if she gets the pictures looking good. From talking to Bob at Toledo it is normal for the bottom thread to pull into the leather and it is what I should expect. The longer stitches won't pull into the leather so far but since I am using 6 and 8 stitches per inch for my belts to get a nice tight front stitch the back stitch is going to pull into the leather. It is mostly uniform, has a little "pucker" look to it. I smooth the back out with a rounded polished piece of wood and call it a day now, the fronts look amazing. Basically you need to upgrade to a needle and awl machine to get pretty stitches on both sides. The back stitches will start to look better if I move out to 3-4 stitches per inch, but that is not the look I am going for. Mainly, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong.

Well I did what I should have done in the first place, I called Bob. Everything is normal, it is how the stitch is suppose to look, and I am just too critical of myself. Go Cowboy, but not Cowboys. Who dat. I feel like I am paranoid replying to myself, but new info is new info.

Well, I played with settings since my last post. Mainly bottom thread tension and presser foot pressure. I read to loosen the presser foot pressure until the leather begins to lift while stitching, so I went up and up, really it was 10 turns and pop out comes the assembly, so I put that back to how bob set it. I then played with the bottom bobbin pressure. I loosened it a 1/2 turn at a time until I got a tangled mess. I then proceeded to turn it a 1/2 turn at a time back until I got back to where Bob set it.... So my machine is back like Bob set it up, sews a perfect top stitch every time, but the bottom stitch doesn't look so nice. I am using 277 on top and bottom. Does using 207 on bottom give a better looking back stitch or do people do that to get more thread on the bobbin? Is there anywhere I can see the back stitch of juki 441 clones, I have not been able to find a picture of the back side of a Cobra, Cowboy, Artisan, Ferdco stitch anywhere.

I ordered a pack of LR needles, I have "D" "S" and 7X3 sharp points. I was thinking it might have something to do with the bobbin tension, but I don't want to mess with any settings without suggestions. It basically pulls the stitch completely into the leather creating a like a cut in the leather. Tip stitch looks perfect, like straight little soldiers (Or ugly) I tried the 7X3 sharp points, but I had all kinds of problems with them. Nick

I am very happy with the look of the top stitch of my Cowboy 4500, I have gotten very good results with tips I have read on the board and from PM's conversations with more experienced members. I was not happy with how the back of my stitching looked on my belts so I remembered there was this huge thick 3 pieces of leather sewn with the machine included with my machine, I looked at the back of the stitch, while it didn't look as good as the front it looked much better than the back of my stitches. I am using 6 and 8 stitches per inch with a diamond needle. Any suggestions or settings would be greatly appreciated.

My stitch looks just like the one on your keepers, and everyone loves it. I just don't want to weaken the leather and have problems in the future. I do plan to try a rig like Katsass posted and something with 12 gauge shotgun shells loops to draw attention that I would probably extend the stitch to 6 per.

I haven't standardized a product yet to advertise, but I have produced belts using different stitches and the most popular is the tightest stitch I ran with is 8 stitches per inch using 277 thread. My machine pulls this stitch real tight and it looks nice and uniform, but am I weakening the leather with stitches that close together with 277 thread. Thanks

My favorite leather cutting tool is a pair of Gingher Knife Edged scissors, well besides my strap cutter and plough guage. You know how you can hold the scissors slightly open when cutting wrapping paper and run it across the whole width of the roll, gingher knife edged scissors will do that to 8 oz leather. I am trying to love my round knife, but ugh I can't. What kind of work would you like to get into?

No, she wants an LSU belt so I ordered a bottle of purple dye. I haven't used anything on molded holsters other than oil and the sun, or just used drummed dyed black leather. I have enough trouble with die to try to get an even coat on something molded. My plan in the future however is going to be to dip dye the piece a lighter color than I want it to turn out, then airbrush the color I want over the top. Good thing everyone wants black these days, Drum Dyed Hermann Oak black saves a ton of time.

I bought a bottle of regular fiebings spirit based dye because they didn't have the color I needed in Pro Oil and I am never going to buy the pro oil again. Good thing my wife wanted something purple, or I would have never figured out I like the regular dyes better.

Doesn't really matter at this point. No matter what dye it is, you want to get the excess off (buffing until the color doesn't come off) and seal it with an acrylic or wax product (The resolene, wax based product (Kiwi neutral, johnson Paste.) I suggested the Kiwi even though its not what I use because you didn't seem to be a leather worker or aspiring leather worker and its a readily available product that will work for you application.

Buff until no more black will come off on a soft cloth and put a coat of Kiwi Neutral Shoe Polish since you are taking the frugal route.

Bianchi shows how to sew loops in his DVD's. They cost about $50. I haven't coughed up the money for them yet, but they are on my to buy list. Cas City has some pictures of the different stages of bullet loops also, I don't know if there is a full blown tutorial, but you can get the process from looking at the different pictures.

I want to build an inventory to bring to a local gun show but I have 0 sales history. I have traded a couple of belts,and made some for friends and family, but I have nothing to go on what to make for a show.. I have made some great looking gun belts lately, but right now I would rather my customer see and feel the belts so I can get some more feedback before I start taking orders.

I haven't been happy with any of those so far. Waxes being the best look so far, but the finish fades quickly.

There was very little difference in a perfect stitch in a groove and just stitching without a groove, I am able to get a much more consistent look without the groove. Only problem I have with the groove is if the stitch is just slightly to the left or right, and I am talking fractions of a millimeter, and the belt looks homemade, not hand made....

Well, I sewed a belt tonight, after LSU whooped Georgia, without a groove and it was my best looking belt to date, I think I am going to go without grooves. My next two tests are getting a straight line with my edge dye and figuring out my final finish. I tested mop and glo on my last belt, I must have put too much on because it developed slight cracks. I have a can of Clearlac, Neatlac or whatever its called, just haven't tested it yet.

When using my Cowboy 4500, the machine pulls the thread fairly deep in to the leather. I think the stitch lines look better without a groove line, especially on belts. Is a stitch groove necessary for double layer belts and holsters?