MADMAX22

In my own experience both with doing art work like drawing and painting and now leather work, find and use whatever helps you to control the instrument the best. For me I have big ol hands and trying to accurately move a little barreled swivel knife around in the fasion that you need to just doesnt work for me. I have far better control by using the bigger ones and changing the blade size out as is determined by the carving. I will put those rubber things on my thinner swivel knifes to make my grip a little easier. Ofcourse this is like anything else, personal preference is different with everyone you talk to.

Thanks Dirtclod.

Was thinking of picking some of this up and trying it out. Was wondering is it dyed russett color or is that the tannage that makes it that color. Was wondering can you dye it different colors and such after tooling or is it pretty much gotta stay that color. Thanks for the info.

Ahh ok the cobbler wax sounds pretty good then. Thought it was just a wax or a wax mix. If it has the pine pitch then it is probably similar to what I was describing making. I am not entirely sure but I would assume the 12/3 is 3 cord but I could be wrong. 3 cord may be a little weak for your intended uses. I would think you would need 5 or 6 cord for that kind of work. 5 or 6 cord is some pretty strong stuff, sorry dont have the tensile strength off the top of my head but it has lasted many years of hard abuse with what I have used it for. Several of the belts I made with it are still in use in some pretty bad environments and they are a few years old.

I would be leary of some linen threads from various places. Not all linen is created equal. I use barbours thread and many others do as well. There are some other linen threads out there that are good also I just dont know which brands are recommended besides that. If you can afford it try a spool of 5 or 6 cord from cambell bosworths site. As far as the wax. Most that use linen will use a mix of bees wax and rosin with a little oil thrown in. Basically heat the rosin and bees wax with some oil till it is liquid and ensure it is mixed well then poor it into molds and let cool. Or you can poor it into water and as it cools form it into balls. I like sizes about the size of a golf ball for my hand stitching. By the time you get it mostly used up it will have picked up alot of the fuzz from the thread and this prevents you from wasting a bigger ball of the wax mix. Hope this helps.

usually with the white lettering you tool or stamp the letters. Then paint/stain the item. Once that is dry and you have sealed it with some kind of resist use a white antique to fill in the letters. Atleast that is how I have usually scene it done. Once sealed the resist may work (experiment first) with acrylics as well.

Think maybe you could get this moved to another section of the forum that is more suited to your thread. Show off is not really the intended place for this stuff.

Ive been using wickett and craig lately just because I think its great leather and I can get it two or three sides at a time. I love herman oak as well but both are great IMHO. These are wickett and craig. The belt is all natural style. It is oiled, coated with a beeswax and oil mix I have then it was put out in the sun for the afternoon. The burnishing is just moistened then bees wax and saddle soap. The rifle sling is same leather using feibings pro saddle tan, then a coat of oil, then the beeswax mix and I think that is probably it, may have a clearlac finish but cant remember. Anyways hope this helps. The saddle tan works pretty darn good. It comes out pretty light. I usually cut all my pro dyes in half roughly with denatured alcohol. Then I just apply more coats as necessary to get the correct color I am looking for.

Yeah thats the one. My back stitching was fine at first but that bold had loosened a bit and I was having a few issues but once tightened up the lever was tighter and more consistant and the back stitching was pretty much dead on.

It ends up being what works for you and also personal preference but one thing I can say is thinner is better to a point. To thin of a edge and it will round over for regular steel blades but overall it is better to have pretty thin blades to help get thru the leather. I personally never had too much luck with the box cutter type knives. Ill use my little exacto knives for very intricate cuts and what not but I have to be so careful due to my ability to catch an edge and make a bad cut. Hence why I dont really use them more then I have too. I agree with Art whole heartedly that you really need to keep that polished fine edge on your blades regardless of what you use. I use to have such a hard time with head knives first because of the quality and secondly because of my inability to sharpen properly. I got some better knives and also learned how to put an edge on and keep it on with the strops or your method of choice. However to each there own and matter of what you feel comfy with.

I think it was Bruce Johnson that was saying he takes all the covers and oils the various stuff under them once in a while. Most of the stuff in there gets oiled from your oil holes in the top and what not. I take a peak in there once in a while and add a little extra oil to any parts that look like they may not be getting enough. It cant hurt right.

Didnt catch this thread but I had a similar issue with mine. Sorry I dont know the names of stuff but on the opposite side of the machine from the stitch length adjustment lever (that you use for reverse) if you remove that cover there is a screw in there that on mine had started backing loose and thus was causing the stitch length in reverse to be longer then they were in forward and sometimes at odd lengths. I think Bob will know what I am talking about, I would have to look up the name of it but its pretty obviouse when you pull the cover off.

Great looking, love the style. The hardware goes perfect with your setup.

Good looking stuff, is that vinee or did you dye them black? Nice looking floor also lol.

Somewhat true, but if you could skip the junk stuff right off the bat and not waste your money with crappy thread that wont hold up and will be the weak point of your holster then why shouldnt ya. I am not saying its the only thread for hand sewing but if your going with linen (which just my personal opinion is the best for it) then get the good stuff, just like if you were getting the nylon wouldnt you like to not waste your money on a big roll of bad stuff. Design, molding, and customer service is great till all your holsters start coming back because the thread is not holding up, or worse it doesnt hold up when its really needed.

One thing I would add is that you really need to find a knife that is designed for cutting leather vice just a folding or fixed style knife that is made for general utility cutting. Atleast from the look of the SRM knives they are very cheap and probably not very good at all which translate to a very bad experience when working with leather. My favorite knives that I have so far are a couple of gomph knives that I have gotten from Bruce and a Dan Carlos and a Rose knife that I have picked up on the way. All of which hold nice edges and cut very well.

Dont have no good info for ya, just wanna say those are some cool looking old machines. I know the 29k is a very useful machine if you can get it working good. The others I am not sure of. Looks like a good find though. Sure Wiz or Bob or Art will be around shortly. Looks like you dont wanna be operating them though until you have taken them apart and cleaned/oiled and what not.

Barbours is tried and true and works very well. I personally use 6 cord myself. As far as colors well dye it whatever color you want. You can dye it before waxing and doing the tips. As far as the price I imagine that there is a reason that it is half the price. Either the amount or the quality. The amount you spend on a spool of barbours will last you a long time doing holsters and anything else for that matter. Not sure how many holsters you make in a week but I am sure it will last you many months. Also dont forget a little bit of neets foot oil when doing your mix, this will keep it a little bit softer. One other thing I think I went with right twist but would have to look at the package.

I have a small space heater in my garage that does pretty good at heating up my working area a little bit, enough to use my glues. I personally only use two types, the weld wood for most of the smaller stuff. I use 3M 77 spray for all the liners, belts, any applications where I use padding like my rifle slings, other items that I want a quick and easy application and can avoid fine detail glueing. I have use tape to mask off portions to keep from glueing them when using the 77. It does work really well though. I like it for belts because its a second or two of spraying one swipe and about a minute or two of letting it sit then its ready to go together.

Great writeup about your experience so far. I imagine it will be great overall if you get it up and running good. I got mine from Neil at Neils saddlery. Thing runs like a champ now that I have learned how to properly use it (pretty much my first sewing machine besides a POS home unit for sewing my uniforms). They are great machines IMHO.

The only issue with the store bought waxed thread is that it for one is usually just wax, it usually has way more then needed or not enough. Also making the ends to go thru the eye is so much easier before you wax the thread.

When handstitching something entirely I only use barbours linen with my own wax/rosin mix that I make. It works great. Occasionally I will use some of the same bonded nylon that I run through my sewing machine just so it matches. That is rare and I really dont like doing it. The properly waxed linen really holds very well and is easy to stitch with.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. The customer was very happy with it and I will be sending it out soon.

I use the blue painters tape. Tried packing tape, guess mine wasnt that good. Took forever to get it off in little tiny strips and chuncks. The blue painters tape works pretty good.

Thats a toughy, looks really good so far and it sucks but think there aint much you can do about it IMHO. Let it completely dry and super shene it and hope that some of it goes away atleast that is what I would do in my limited experience. Sometimes its hard to do but you just gotta redo a portion, just really sucks when its the tooled and colored portion that your happy with. Maybe some others will have some more ideas.