Kcinnick

I still can't sharpen these dang round knifes! I am thinking about investing in a wicked edge just for the task. I have been using knife edged Gingher's lately and I really like using them on leather, oh and they are easy to sharpen! It also helps that I have 3 pair to borrow from the misses in the house, she told me to never cut paper with them, never said nuttin about leather.

The Juki clones go through leather like butter, Wiz helped me with my machine selection and helped with some sewing tips. I ended up with a Cowboy 4500 and it just runs through leather effortlessly. I would hate to try to learn to sew leather with a machine not really up to the task.

LA police gear has blackhawk guns on sale for $23 and you can get 5% off with the code LAPG. Not affiliated, just started researching the blackhawk guns after seeing this post.

I don't know if this is the right way, but its what I have had best results with. 1. Cut 2. Glue 3. Sand edges even 4. Groove 5. Edge 6. Sew I have been dying before I cut my groove, but I think I am going to start dying after I cut the groove.

I have built up a modest selection of tools to cut leather but I don't have anything specific for skiving. I was putting together a belt and I thought I would try skiving the end with a Round Knife, well I was not successful. So I took the strap over to my belt sander and held it at an angle and got a perfect taper. Is there any advantage to getting a skiver over just using my belt sander? I like all the new tools I have gotten, well most of them anyway, but will a skiver work any better than my belt sander at skiving the ends of belts?

8/9 is a little thick for an everyday gun belt. I personally feel 6/7 is good for a gun belt. A 14oz Double layer comes in at just under 1/4 inch and will hold any gun I will carry. My current daily gun belt is two layers of 7/8 HO and I will be changing it out soon to a double layer 6/7 for my self.

I wanted to try bother tanneries anyway, I stand behind that Hermann Oak was head and shoulders better than W&C. I was told the backs would be good to the pockets, and it could have defects below that. They were not marked with a grade, they were an overstock but not the special grade, it was the middle grade. What I got from Hermann Oak was tannery run without any D's, and all hides where better than the W&C. The worst HO was better than the best W&C. I did get 4 hides from W&C and two where decent, all 4 will be profitable if I do my part, but two are just nasty and its not worth it to me to go with W&C in the future, Especially for belts. I just know from now on I will get Hermann Oak leather if I have the option.

I am quite sure it was Wickett and Craig, I got it direct. I was told the leather would have a usable back and could have defects in the bellies. The leather portions with out defects was fine. The good parts where quite good, it was just full of bad parts. It looks like I can get 50% more product out of the Hermann oak sides and the cost was the same. I have never purchased leather from Tandy, Just looked. They want too much money for anything that looks decent. I could buy Grade A Hermann Oak Bends for the price of a decent Tandy Hide, but the decent hides at Tandy look better than what W&C sent.

I would go with Hermann Oak over Wicket and Craig. I got my first shipment of Hermann Oak today and it is heads and shoulders better for cutting belts and making holsters over the Wicket and Craig leather. My last order from Wicket and Craig was horrendous. Giant holes in the back, lots of holes, lots of scars, just nasty stuff. The imports and Tandy look better than this, I guess Tandy knows you get to look at their leather to buy it. Next time I place an order with Weaver I think I am going to try some of the Chahin Leather, they offer some unique options like Double Backs, which should make a ton of belts with little waste.

I have had a CB4500 for a few weeks now. Bob and Toledo are Good to Go as far as service, I got my machine in 10 days ready to sew. I chose the Cowboy because it was cheaper than the Cobra and shipping was much cheaper to Louisiana from Ohio than California. I originally thought that there might be some downside to the Cowboy over the Cobra since it was cheaper, but from what I can tell everything on the Cowboy is Equal or better than the Cobra. You don't get everything you get with the Cowboy as the cobra, but for the base price of the Cobra I was able to get the Cowboy 4500, Holster Plate, Table attachment, left toe foot, a few extra pounds of thread, 30 needles and it shipped to my door. The only thing that I didn't get was the strap plate and the Cobra DVD's. You can watch anything you need to know about a juki clone on youtube, and I pretty much new how everything worked by time it got here. The only thing that would make me switch to another Juki clone over a Cowboy is if there was a dealer within driving distance of me or they just dramatically raised their price.

I wouldn't use it for a holster. Most modern guns would be fine using chrome tanned, the finishes we have today are amazing, but they are not used on the springs and small metal parts. If it were a holster for one of my guns, I have no doubt I would never see rust on the weapon, however you don't know who going to use the holster and how they care for their firearm. It is safest to stay with 100% veg tanned leather.

Comp-tac is having a 20% off sale on Friday, I am tempted to pick up a bunch of their clips. Does anyone know if they wholesale them?

Boiling with baking soda is used to get lacquer off instruments, I have never done it, i played instruments made out of wood, but I have seen it done and the parts would be boiled and then rinsed off in under hot running water and it was enough to get off all the coating. I am going to try to antique some buckles and screws and I planned on boiling the pieces to get any coating off, I'll let you know how it goes when they get here.

I know I am bringing this up from the dead, but how do you apply the oil without soaking your piece. The leather soaks up the oil like a sponge, and the only option I see to get a uniform coating is to put it on pretty heavy.

Boiling water with Baking soda in it will work.

I have been playing around Dip Dyeing with some scrap pieces and came up with a nice brown I liked using a combo of Fiebings pro Oil dyes and Denatured Alcohol. Once I was satisfied with the process I took two belt blank strips and dipped them, let them sit a minute, wiped the excess dye off and let them dry. They looked perfect, but when they dried they had little streaks across the belt blanks. I am fairly certain the streaks came from when I cleaned the blanks, I think its from rubbing back in forth with deglazer on the blank, everywhere I started and stopped a stroke it left a little line..... I won't do that again, but is there anyway to save the two blanks I have already dyed?

You don't want rubber cement. Weldwood or Barge Contact Cement should both form a bond stronger than the leather itself...

Purchasing a quality piece of leather is well worth the price, that Kindle cover is going to cost you much more than $70, but you will also get tools and experience and who can put a value on experience.

Amazing how the oil will slide down that bar in no time and three drops turns into a puddle.

Use "Japanning" when you search. Its basically black shellac, their are recipes out their to make it.

I just went through the new machine thing also... so I am not an expert here by any means, but when I was skipping stitches I had the thread from the bobbin fed through incorrectly and it was putting way to much tension on the bobbin thread. Once I figured that out the machine hasn't skipped for me.

Zach White Leather sells just the USMC stamp. I haven't seen the other branches available for sale.

I still haven't figured out how I am going to edge my products. I have looked at all my "custom" gun leather I have purchased in the past and it looks like most makers use some sort of edge paint. I would much rather figure a way to dye and burnish the edges in a way that is more permanent than an edge paint also.

I went with a Cowboy because it was cheaper to ship to Louisiana from Ohio than California and I got it shipped to my door for cheaper than the cobra cost before shipping. As far as I can tell the only item I didn't get that Cobra includes with their machines is the strap plate and DVD's, and I added 10 lbs of thread, 20 extra needles, extra bobbins and a pack of nippers. I had watched so many youtube videos of 441's that I was pretty ready to go when it got here. The head was set up ready to sew with 277 thread. I would say the quality of the base of the stand, head, motor, light all met or exceeded my expectations. The only pieces I was disappointed in was the table attachment and stand top, not that they aren't solid, just that for the price of the machine they could have been finished better. Nothing against the Cobra, just Cowboy worked out for me. I will say I am a novice, so someone with more experience might have a different opinion. I just consider it another toy to play with my guns when I can't get out and shoot.

Weaver.