Halitech

I make mine from 6-7oz

I love their thread, been using it for almost 3 years now so I know what a great score you pulled here. I wish I had a reason to go down, I'd be loading up as well

wish I could get this shipped north of the border

I would suggest that when you build another one, use the same closure on both ends so you get the continuity. The other option would be to sew the end going around the belt.

you got my idea perfectly the hole you cut for the button stud though could be an issue as it wears and it may stop holding. Typically I punch a hole a little bigger then the neck size then cut a small slit about the same length as the widest part of the stud. Works pretty good and is about the same as the tool tandy sells for them

not at all, use a single piece of 4oz veg tanned, cut it to the length you need, tool.dye, etc. Then finish the flesh side by burnishing like you would the edges. I've done the call center thing and it would take decades of wear to wear out 4 oz leather with just the weight of a headset hanging from it.

Not going to say Paul Long isn't as good as you say Tony but google shows he does a pancake style sheath and that is it. With a pancake sheath, no, you shouldn't need to wet mold the leather however, that is not the only style sheath and I would say wet molding is done probably half the time a sheath is made.

you could go with 1oz lining leather and it would hold up fine. I would suggest probably 4oz veg tanned about 7/8" wide and a 1 inch D ring. Or, extend your pattern by 4 inches and make a loop to go on your belt

sorry to hear about your health issues. Far as the thread, I can't find any #400 thread info so I'm not sure how thick it is. I usually buy my thread in either 0.8mm or 0.030" but I can't compare to what you are using. What brand is the thread you are using?

pretty much unless you want to invest in a electric edge burnishing machine and burn the edges

I know when I last ordered from them, paypal was not an option but I had to call and make the order anyway because they were having an issue with shipping options to Canada and they were bale to send out an invoice to be paid by paypal and then they shipped. Might not be the case now but I don't think paypal was on the site at that time.

you will literally pull your hair out if you try to burnish chrome tanned leather. Chrome tanned does not absorb water so you will be better off using an edge paint or some other form of finish.

I'm assuming that is a machine thread. Is there any reason why you think you can't use it?

what thread do you normally use to sew things together?

bonded will have a white fabric on the back from what I have seen while genuine doesn't. Granted I don't have a lot of experience with either so if that's not a way to tell, I wait for someone to explain it

nice job on your lacing and the serpentine border. You did pretty good on keeping the tri-weave straight but you can see areas where it's off a bit once you hit the edges. The tri-weave is a bugger to keep on track.

Let me see if I can explain it better. Instead of having the buckle attached to the body, attach it to the end of the tail and then put the adjustment tail on the main body of the strap. Like this one. That way, everything hangs down naturally, not flopping over and down like yours will once the leather starts softening up

Now you've gone and done it Jeff, you forgot about the pansexual and asexual in your alphabet soup When I was a kid (and no, we won't go into how long ago that was), you were either a boy, a girl or you were gay. Now, there are more letters in that alphabet soup then you can shake a stick at. It's no wonder the kids growing up today need safe spaces to retreat to when someone says something they don't like, words hurt them more then sticks and stones do and they grow up confused from the time they are born. Oh, and transgendered means they were born with a stick shift but feel like they should have a slot machine which is supposedly different then being a guy and being gay :shrug:

I'm not an expert on holsters but I think you'll find the holster will loosen up because the stitch line should be closer to the gun. Any chance of seeing the backside? with the mag holder, I would have added a back piece to protect the ribs from being dug from the end of the clip

Nice work and design. 2 things I noticed though. 1, the mic strap should be up higher to the shoulder so they don't need to unclip it to talk and 2. When doing the name, you pressed too hard on the arbour press handle because you can see the square from around the letter.

looks better then some of my first ones. A suggestion though, turn the adjustment buckle around so the tail hangs down instead of pointing up. It's a small thing but from what I've seen on most others, that's the way they have it. I don't use buckles but works the same on the same brown studs I use for adjustment.

the reason your belts aren't being protected is because NF oil is NOT a protectant. It's to put oil back into leather that has been dyed or wet molded and has lost moisture. Nigel (I think it was him) did a test on multiple finishes, both for water resistance and color change (if I remember right) and resolene was the best option of the products he tested. Resolene also has the benefit of blocking most UVA/UVB rays so it prevents the most effects of being in natural light. Most finishes won't protect the shape, stitching the edges will help some though.

what would a full set of these cost if a person was so inclined to order them?

if you put the resolene on then antique, there won't be anything to keep the antique from rubbing off so you will end up with a hack of a mess (I hope they don't wear them with the wedding dresses) so you need to put something over the antique. Normally, supershene is the finish of choice before applying antique. far as the back side, if I'm not dying them, all I do is apply sno-off or a wax mixture I have and melt it in with a heat gun. Prevents the sweat from your skin penetrating very much (you will be hard pressed to make the leather completely waterproof)

Dip dying is a good idea. I will sometimes use an airbrush but I find if I go in a circular motion instead of straight lines, I don't get as streaky of a job. You could have "beefed" up the protection factor by putting a liner of foam between the liner and the outside. I use kitchen drawer liner on some of my items. It's about 1/8" thick and soft so you can double it up if you want/need to.