Boriqua

Hey Pit seems we are in the same hood. the holster pictured is 8-9 oz. The trick for me is a quick submerse after sewing. probably a couple of seconds tops then right into a sealed freezer bag for about 35 minutes. I wish I could be alot more detailed but I kind of judge it by eye and feel and that is about right. After I have jammed my gun down in there I start rubbing with my thumbs and finding the grooves and high spots. I then start to work it with a bone. https://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/search/searchresults/8117-01.aspx You will be surprised how much detail you can bring up with some patience but lobo was right going into it multiple times just ruins the lines. I tried the vaporlock bag and I didnt care for the results. The moisture content wasnt right for me but each to their way.

While I have trouble finding good singers here in AZ there seems to be a bunch of treadle bases available cheap. I'm a fair woodworker so I think I could just cobble a base together to drive a machine?

I have been looking at machines for months now. So very many things involved both spiritually and financially before I even get to what I would use one most for. So after a good deal of soul searching I came to the realization that I want a human powered machine. I spent years working in the design and production of large scale displays and exhibits. Spent way to many hours a week in a shop setting with a cnc going, a few table saws, a bunch of radial arms and jig saws and more all going at once and giving instruction and getting feedback on progress while shouting. I am now semi retired, work from home and I just dont want the noise again. You dont realize how much it affects your life. Also being semi retired I want to make a few bucks a month on leather work but dont need to push myself to pump out massive amounts of work with crazy deadlines and such so I dont want a machine that sews 5000 stitches per minute. I have been making steady if not small income sewing by hand and really enjoy it but I have been doing more inlay stuff and handstitching all of that is just a drag. I would like to do more belts and handstitching belts isnt any fun either. I think I would like the chug chug sound of a human powered machine. So here I am I have read 8 bazzilion posts on the boss which is the machine I thought I was going to get but sounds like it needs a lot of TLC and I want to make cool stuff out of leather not mess with a machine. I used power tools my whole life I just want it to work. I thought about and looked hard at some singer 29's and it may be suitable but I cant find any locally and I have been looking for a while. They are pretty pricey and with shipping if I can find someone willing to ship it gets up there. I thought asking like a techsew to sell me a unit without motor or table and I would convert it to treadle? Then a couple of days ago I can across the Windham cub which was according to what I have read the Luberto Cub. Looks like the answer .. 1495 plus shipping is a bit more than I had hoped for but I can swing it. I would rather 1495 shipped but hey .. everyone needs to make money and that is their price point. http://www.windhamcub.com/ Now has anyone used the Luberto cub this is based on. The website has very little real info and unfortunately I cant find any videos of it in use anywhere. Any thoughts at all would be appreciated. I plan on calling him on monday but I HATE the phone ... another left over from work days ... so any info I can glean before then would be great. Thank you in advance Alex

ok my 2 cents .. I use a chisel sometimes but an awl more lately. Here is what I use that works. I use the Tandy Needle Number 1192-10, Sz 0 harness needles. While I might be able to go with thinner thread I like the look of .040 or .045 when I sew a holster or sheath together using 2 pcs of 8 oz or more. I usually use .040 when I awl and .045 when I chisel. Maine thread is what I have been using almost exclusively for the last 2 months. When I thread my needle for using the awl and using .040 I cut my thread to length and I take a razor blade and scrap the last 3 inches at either end. You can see when you start to shave off fibers. When I have thinned down the 3 inches at either end I rub it through a block of bees wax and twist it back up. It is now about half the thickness of the thread.I put my needle in about 1.5 in and fold. Now that tight spot at the eye comes right through the hole. It is a huge help but I still like to use a rubber finger tip on my right thumb to pull through the second needle. Just makes things faster. I dont have very large hands and I can use a size 13 fingertip rubber on my thumb. They are very durable and I think a box of a dozen was 3 dollars. I only need to use the pliers sometimes when I am back stitching at the end and I have a little spring loaded jewelers pliers I got from Harbor freight. I think it was also about 3 bucks and it had no teeth and being cheap junk the metal is so soft the needle actually dents the inside of the jaws. Has worked great and I have been using the harbor freight pliers for some 6 months easy without any problems. Other than that I dont need to use the pliers so long as I prep my thread and use my little rubber.

Wow! That is amazing.

So does anyone know what leather they might have been referring to. I would like to try the pattern but I don't know what leather to use. Thanks Alex

So I just moved and while setting up my new little work area I came across some patterns I bought YEARS ago still neatly folded up. So one of them was for "freetrapper mocs" and I thought ... cool .. when I get 5 minutes I am going to make myself a pair. So I am reading the material list and it says to use "paul Bunyon leather" and I am thing What? LOL So what is tandy referring to when it calls out paul bunyan leather.

I cut it about 1/4 inch and then take a lighter to the thread and when its melting nice I press it with my thumb making a nice mushroom cap. Its probably overkill but Its not going anywhere.

I would never have thought buying a machine would be so difficult! Guess I should have known but i have now spent countless hours reading posts and visiting the advertisers site information. I am now in the stage of actually listing where i would want to use a machine as i do my various projects so i can lock in what i need. I am leaning toward the cobra 3. The more i look at what i would want to use it for and the price i keep coming to that one. Thank you everyone for the input. Alex

I will answer my own question since someone else may someday have the same one. I was afraid to do it to my brand new tool but yes taking a largish nail and tapping it gently on the dimples of the ferrule tightened it right up.

I have been looking for about a month now at all the information about sewing machines. I would like to start to make gun belts to match the holsters I am making. Having gotten it crystal clear that there is not one machine to do everything I am really trying to assess what I would use the machine most for. I have made a couple using two layers of 8-9oz and final thickness was about .28 in. Im wondering if this is overkill and should I move to 2 layers of 5/6 oz. Looking for your opinions on overall thickness. Alex Thank you!

Very nice stitching. Was that hand sewn or machine? What size thread? I want to make one for myself but all that hand sewing seems daunting. I can perhaps lose 25 lbs and make less sewing but I dont think I have that kind of time!! Alex

Sorry if this is a stupid question. I just received today a new awl. Never thought I would get all excited about a new awl but I am beside myself with glee. I bought Vergez Blanchard from the link below. Awesome service by the way it came super fast and it was the best price I could find on the net too. http://www.rmleathersupply.com/collections/tools/products/vergez-blanchard-diamond-awl-38mm It feels so sexy in the hand I have just been playing with it. Its awesome. I have a bunch of projects on deck and cant wait to get stitching. I had been using a tandy awl forever. I do have one tiny probably inconsequential thing bothering me though. The ferrule is the tinyiest bit loose. Its not going to fall off or anything but you can feel it move. I would rather not put a drop of glue. It has the 2 dimples in the sides. Can I just take a nail and give it a tap at these dimples to tighten it up?

instead of starting a new thread I will ask in here since it is a math question that seems relevant. I have the Pro line Diamond Chisels from Tandy http://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/department/tools/stitching-lacing-tools/88043-535.aspx It reads 3mm. I think I should get 8 holes per inch but I get 6? So is stitches per inch different than holes per inch? Or do I just need to go back to Junior high school?

its amazing how much I learn here! even if it is not relevant to what I am doing its just amazing the wealth of knowledge. Does anyone have a pic of the stamp in use with letters? I would love to see it.

I work from a small home shop so I dont have a lot of space for things that stay out. Sounds like you are looking for something more official but I have become the king of cheap, fast and portable. I have a piece of glass from a cabinet I had that is about 20"x 20". I lay a piece of tinfoil down n the table. I put a small piece of 4x4 on wither side to hold up the glass and I hav a little box that has like 8 of those battery powered undercabinet light pucks. I throw em down and press down all the caps to turn them on and put my glass on the 4x4's. Solid as a rock, been using it for a couple of years for drawings and when I am done the lights go back in the box and I slide the glass back behind my desk and If I am really lucky there is a slice of cold pizza in the fridge and I get to throw it on top of the piece of tinfoil and have lunch

the hair dryer and box works great if you have to push the drying.Couple of things I learned. I poke the hole in the box for the nozzle but point the nozzle at the back of the box. I put the object on a rack so its not sitting on the box floor. small racks can be had at 3 for a dollar at the local dollar store. Now here is the important part. I poke holes in box over by the piece and I never point the nozzle at the item. I dont use it often but if I just gotta gotta gotta push the drying this has worked great and gently. Sometimes depending on the object I will tape in a little cardboard divider between the hair dryer nozzle and the object.

I have spent the last few weeks reading up on machines here and must admit .. Im dizzy!! So much to learn and I still don't know if I want a machine but I came across this machine on ebay that seems to carry all the specs of say the cowboy or the cobra 3. I am a little concerned about the misspellings in the ad but aside from that is there a reason this machine is not a descent deal? http://www.ebay.com/itm/371276009770?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

No way! Damn that was better than a movie ending. What a twist! Heart goes out to poor little girl though ... hope he gets his in the end.

Thanks tom but I am aware that resolene is a sealant. I am not looking so much for the absorbtion of the wax but for a similar affect you might get when waxing your car or floor. I'm curious if anyone has tried to apply the butchers wax to the resolene finish to bring up a nice deep shine. Nothing like a few coats of wax to really make a nice finish even on bare metal but I dont know if the butchers wax will pull up the resolene. I have tried Saddle lac but for holsters I have had to much trouble with finish cracking, super sheen just aint so super and neutral shoe polish I have used but it can get ashy and leave a white residue. so I am looking for a different way to get to deep shine. I like the fiebings leather sheen in the brown can but Its still a little flat. Guess I just have to bite the bullet and buy a tin tomorrow and give it a whirl on the leather. Its just not very cheap so I was hoping someone had already tried it. I will report back with results Thanks! Alex

There is no product that makes leather look as good as it can as does a hand rubbed wax finish. Has any one tried using Butchers wax as a final treatment on leather. Here is what I have done that has worked kinda. I finished my piece, buffed it until the rag is clean and then applied a 50/50 mix of beeswax and neatsfoot oil paste. I apply it to heated leather and then heat the softened wax some until it melts into the leather and then buff. On some colors it is amazing. Water resistant and a DEEP deep color. On some colors it has caused endless rubbing. Saddle tan seems to be the worst culprit. So I tried a seal coat of resolene 50/50 and applied the Bees wax neatsfoot paste to the top and on some colors (saddle tan) it will still caused rubbing. On other colors again a deep wonderful sheen. So I am wondering if it is the neatsfoot oil. I have used butchers wax on metals and wood for years and was always so happy with the result. I am thinking about trying to buff and then seal my leather with 50/50 resolene and then apply butchers wax and buff. I am afraid that like the 50/50 bees wax/ neatsfoot it will still pull color basically making my project trash worthy. Has anyone used butchers wax on their dyed leather before or after resolene. What were your results? Thank you for any help Alex

I kind of think this is one of those solutions looking for a problem. If I put a directional snap on a retention strap its pretty obvious which way the strap should break. If you tell the person you made the goods for that you put on safety snaps or directional snaps then it should be obvious. I didnt get the caps with the "pull the dot" on them because the text annoys me visually. I could live with a dimple but I dont feel overly in need of an indicator on which way to pull a snap. If there is a cheap way to add a dimple fine but if you cant figure out which way to pull a snap on a thumb break then you probably shouldn't own a gun.

Well feel free to send me a pm about your dimple technology. I dont currently dimple but I could if I had a good method that wasnt going to ruin my rather expensive DOT caps. Thanks Alex

Sorry about that guys .. its an SAR K2P. A little compact 9. Havent owned a 9 in forever and am having a ball with this one but its hard to find any parts for it. I have been asked to make a few holsters once people play with the gun and want one. They are fairly inexpensive guns and so far mine has performed wonderfully. Videos are a huge help! Thanks Ken