Shorts

I believe the strength comes from having two skin layers as the bread of your 'leather sandwich'. Then you have thread (and glue) which should hold the fibers of the leather in place over the long term better than an unglued, unstitched piece. I'm interested to see what you find in your experiment.

I do. PM sent

Two pairs Comptac clips sold. Thank you sir.

The website looks great All the info a customer wants is immediately visible at the top of the page and communication is clear. As for the phone number, I too would take that down because of accessibility. As you get busier you will find the phone a bit of an anchor. There is a lot to be said for a good chat and communication with customers but just be careful how open it is. It's a control issue - the more you can control your work time, the better. Otherwise you will be stressed out of your mind, splitting actual holster work with customer service. Then people will complain how you never answer and the phone rings and rings... Just look ahead to the worst case scenario and decide how you can head that off from the very beginning. ; Edit: What you might can do is request their phone number when they submit their email order request. If you need or want to talk to that particular customer you can call him/her on your time. You may also set your outgoing number to pop up as "Private" or not. That is a little one-sided, but remember, you've got to be in control! ...maybe I'm just a control freak?

Jeff, I've just started to order dies, one by one. I've ordered from Texas Custom Dies. They make a nice die though I have not ordered yet my regular holster patterns. I'm currently waiting for a reply on one of my fullsize patterns as I mail it in (no fax and I don't trust email for patterns). I saw the DIY above and I'm interested in trying it myself to see what comes out. Biggest question I have on it is if the metal band stays strong and sturdy enough not to warp over repeated presses.

My setup is a $149 12T press from Northern Tool. I've got a 12"x12" HDPE sitting on top of a steel plate. And another steel plate I put on top of the die when I get it in position. I have not modified the ram rod as I still want to be able to use it as a press if I need too (it is in my garage and I do work on my truck) What I'll probably do after I get my welder is build different crossbeam that sits under the ram.

Some makers do recommend a dry lube. I've yet to try any. A trick I use is wax paper. Use it to final fit a fresh holster instead of a plastic baggie. Sometimes I've got Resolene that likes to stay tacky as well. I think its the humidity. Also you might have to lighten up the spray. Use finer layers of spray or back off the amount you're spraying. I've done this as well. Should be fine with Resolene at full strength.

You're welcome. Sometimes I boo-boo and get it too close But the more you do it the better you get at judging the position and it'll be automatic. And you'll definitely have room for the tooling as the foot walks outside your border.

I was just upstairs and I snapped a pic real quick to illustrate what I talked about up there: My clearance of the stitch line and RM edge is 1/8"

Neat holster for sure. I prefer black on black but the white on black adds a particular flavor and style that matches the tooling. As for the ejection port molding you have a couple options. - scoot the mouth reinforcement over to line up closer to the slide stitch line. You need it close enough the foot can step up and walk on it while far enough the needle foot thingy has enough room to continue on a straight path. Press your ejection port for the retention. You will have a shallow indentation. Because of that you need to bone the ej port line. It doesn't need to be deep, it just needs to be drawn. It gives definition to the shallow area and you accomplish the retention needed. - notch the mouth reinforcement for the ejection port. I've begun to toy with this design as well. - run a straight dowel line and use your boning tool to notch under the edge of the reinforced mouth piece. You can define the ej port edge, again, accomplishing some retention and keeping good aesthetics. Hope you don't mind, I painted your photo to demonstrate.

Thanks for the heads up

I figured that's what it was. I understand it though. I do have some of that tendency come down the line from my dad. You know, why use a regular hammer when the sledge will do? I think my too practical husband (read: my "how much?" husband) puts a wet towel on those tendencies I am driving a big Dodge Cummins to haul my lonely self around. And thank goodness I don't need the tow capacity to move me from point A to point B A gasser V8 will fill my needs just fine - but don't tell anyone I said that!

I'm poking around the used market for a Line 24 snap press (DOT snaps). I use the hammer and punch die set right now but thinking it's paid for itself long ago and I can "splurge" I'm not in a hurry and not needing to buy new. If you've got something you're thinking you don't need, let me know. Must be in working order with the dies. I don't want to hunt around for parts. Thank you

I buy sides from HO from Springfield and have been satisfied. Of course there are some spots or marks, they're from real cows. (Do they make organic cows?) But for the most part I'm using a very large portion of the side for products. I find that my gear always finishes nicely (wet molded, dyed and Resolened) and I really love the texture that comes through. For extra leather I keep for dye tests and design mock ups. I still have a lot of usable scrap (I use that term loosely), I just have no idea what I want to use it on.

I've been starting to wonder, why's everyone buying the Cobra Class 4 machine lately? Was there a sale I didn't know about? Edit - compared to a Class 3 For what I'm doing (holsters), I haven't run into "I don't have enough room" on the arm length.

I bought a Cobra Class 3 from Steve last year and haven't looked back.

Thanks for the tip Jeff. The 1.75" I got this time is a roller buckle and the first time I will be using one. I'm thinking if it goes well I'll start using them on my 1.5" belts too. It makes sense the roller will help get all that leather threaded through without too much hang up.

Not really. Cutting at the buckle end is a good way compared to the tip end. At least the buckle end will hide the slot when it is being worn, unlike the tip end which will always show the stitch holes around the border. I've wondered about ways to adjust a double layer belt and haven't found a way. When I've made a mistake in the measurements I'll just set the belt aside and build an all new one. I'll sell the first belt at a later date.

That's awesome Carl. I would have loved to see the look on her face.

Ah, thanks. I ran across it after I posted. I did get them ordered.

Ahhhh! See I never thought of that cause around here, well, beef - it's what's for dinner. I think I've only got the leather-hater once, but she was a Birkenstock/Subaru/fleece-type/PNW friend of ours from the Navy and she didn't say anything directly to me. She just made an offhand comment once when all the guys just got back from a det with their new leather flight jackets..."I hate the smell of leather". So, in that regard I respect her for respecting me enough not to bring it to my doorstep.

I knew there was a reason I don't offer 1.75" belts - the scarce nature of 1.75" buckles. I need a brass heel bar buckle 1.75". Where can I find this?

Ohio has both CC and OC. I feel for Wisconsin. You are one of the few, lumped in with Illinois & DC....ewwww

Two in fact- both married