HBAR

I hate to tell a man his business but... If your specialty is belts, you need to be lining them. The advice above is good but you should be lining your belts. That is just one sign of a quality belt. They are firmer, sturdier, smoother, less stretch, nicer in just about every way. I make most of my belts at a 1/4" thick. If you make the front with 7/8 oz, you can line the back with the exact same and have a great belt and after edge finishing it will look like one piece of leather. Of course if you are selling more dressy belts just use lighter weights of leather. Still always line them if you want people to really like the belt that you made them. You put a lot of time and effort into your creations. This will make them even better.

I agree.

or maybe because they can quit anytime and at least around here get paid a fair wage. I know many LEO, I was POST certified myself, we have many LEO in my family. However being in the Marine Corps meant having no say whatsoever during your enlistment. They could work us all day all night for weeks straight, we barely got paid anything, we couldnt quit, sometimes we didnt see family for 6 months or a year. The sacrifice is not the same. LEO and Firefighters do a nobel job. But, its still a good paying job, with standard hours even though they maybe nights or weekends, and they can quit any time. I know I already said that, but is a very very big thing. Here you can go to a community college POST academy and 6 months after starting you can be making $45-50k a year. As a Marine with less than a year in you will make around $19,000 before deductions. Yes we volunteered for it, but you cant change your mind and they own you. Its not the same. being an LEO isnt as dangerous as the hype either. ( i still dont want anyone hurt) there are over 600,000 sworn officers in the US. We lose less than 180 a year on the job. Less than 60 of those are by getting shot. I hope we never lose another one, but its still not the same.

My wife has one of the carry purses from gun totn mamas. She only bought it because it was half off at a local store and she had to use up a in store credit. Ok features, but it is junk. It started falling apart very quickly. I have been meaning to make her a new one. This time one that will last.

I ordered 2 machines from a vendor on this forum. Three weeks later I still didnt have them even though I was told I would. They canceled the order. I called Cobra Steve on a Monday. I ordered the first 2 machines and 1 more machine. (because a better price) I had them delivered at my house 1100 miles away on Thursday. Less than 4 days from ordering to delivery. Great shipping time and great customer service. He gave me a pretty good price on all 3 machines too.

Leather machine Co is in Corona, CA. Something like 55 miles from San Pedro. I think they carry all of the things you asked for. Steve and Dave are great to deal with. http://www.leathermachineco.com/

Rob is a good guy to order from. Everything I have ordered from bluegunstore.com has come fast.

These are primarily created and sold for Kydex holster makers. Kydex holster makers need the trigger guard and ejection port blocked out. This save much time and labor. Of course the takedown pins or levers, mag releases, safetys, slide release, lights and rails also need to be blocked out. Many beginners wont block out these things and the guns will drag in and out. Next time order the blueguns brand IF you are only doing leather. There are many stores online who carry them. bluegunstore.com, alternateforce.net come to mind. as to their surface finish... I have bought several different brands of molds. I have probably close to 200 blue guns. I have a dozen or more multi-molds. The small companies making the ones like you bought are just guys like us. They make them and sell them pretty cheap. If they finished them out all the way, they would cost too much and nobody would buy them. Everyone would go back to using only Blueguns or the real thing. The market for these molds is very very small. so they cant just make a huge run and recoup their costs. I understand where you are coming from though. I have bought the molds too and went "what the heck".

In Cowboy action Shooting, you use a shotgun, rifle and 2 pistols for every stage. (of course there are exceptions) Every competitor must have 2 single action revolvers, 1 rifle and 1 shotgun and have the ammunition for the shotgun readily available and also reloads for the rifle if you jack a round out. some stage call for a reload on the pistols too. Shotgun shells are pulled either from a shotgun belt or a shotgun slide worn on the pistol belt. Some use bandoliers, but they are few and far between. I dont know which pattern you are referring to. The actual basketweave is a Craftool USA X514s. The tri Weave is a custom stamp made by Robert Beard.http://robertbeardtools.scalabledata.com/catalog.html The cheap (crappier) version of the triweave is the tandy X503s. There is no comparison in the two though. The Robert Beard tool is great to work with. That rig was the very first time I ever attempted to use that tool. There is a learning curve, but his tool makes it much simpler. The tandy version isnt symetrical, doesnt have the locater pins, doesnt make as deep of impressions.

Mine are not flat backed. I did experiment with making holsters that way last year. Some turned out good. I guess If a guy spent lots of time and modified their patterns to work that way it would help with getting better definition. My trouble is that I have had some holsters in the past (not shown) with great defintion and no texture, but I can no longer replicate them. I will get a bag setup like the ones from the veneer shop and try to go that route. The Andrews video is one of the better videos for showing most of the process. Like you said, most videos you see are time lapsed and set to music, cutting out most of the informative parts. One thing though, I would never line my holsters with suede. Thats his perogative to do.

Im not sure what you are saying about the shotgun belts and cartridges. All of those rigs were made at different times and are not the same colors. I think some of it is lighting, but where the antiquing is done, if you dont do it fast and cleanly you leave some antiquing in spots even though its resisted. Its an art and Im not an expert at it unfortunately. Also depening on how deep your impressions are you may get more antiquing left in the impressions. I probably overdid it. (that never happened before...) The colors could be wrong on just about anything I do. I think THE hardest thing for me is finish. I design a pattern, sure its time consuming but eventually you get it done. Cutting, sewing, burnishing, no real problems there. Then we come to dyeing... I have tried oil based stains with neatsfoot oil. Straight Feibings oil dyes. and many combinations of things. I am rarely very happy with the final colors. Then what sealer is another issue... resolene, tan kote, just an oil finish. Who knows? I do have an air brush setup, but I havent used it much yet.

My kydex forming membranes would leave texture on the leather. They would also not be good for boning through. However I could easily change the setup to work. similar to this I have watched the Andrews video several times. I do what he does in the video. BUT... he doesnt exactly give away any secrets there. He doesnt mention what rubber or how hard he presses or how wet the leather really is. Im working it out on my own, but if anyone had the perfect process and was willing to share details I would love to hear them.

Recent Rigs I have made. Be gentle. Well actually, I am happy to have all the constructive criticizm you can give me. last rig is mine, I wouldnt stamp my logo on the outside of a rig made for someone else. I made this last year, I hope I have improved some since then.

I have thought about doing the vacuum route. I have looked at others threads about it, including Adams Leatherworks. I also have a kydex setup in my shop. I have a dual vacuum chamber setup. I have a 8cfm pump. Maybe I will finally have to get into vacuum forming leather too.

Hello, I have been a contributing member for 3 years(financially), but dont post. I try to read and read and learn. I have read many threads on pressing, molding etc. I cant seem to find the answer I am looking for. I make the holster, wet the holster, insert the firearm or mold and then press in hydraulic press. I have used the rubber that you all recommend on this site. I have used softer foam. I have tried wetting the leather less, I have tried wetting the leather more. The problem I am having is, Im getting too much texture in the leather from pressing. I make the holsters to have very deep definition and then I bone them from there. How hard should I be pressing? What rubber/foam is recommended? (even though I bought what was recommended) How wet should the leather be for this stage? How long to leave it in the press? Am I expecting to much definition and detail? Should lines from the gun transfer to the leather when pressed? Logos? etc. Mine look like this. sometimes better sometimes worse. see the texture Im getting sometimes? For example I want to make them look something like the Milt Sparks holster seen here. Any help would be great. I did try to find the answers for myself, but I just cant figure out the problem. Thank you.