dikman

That is jaw-dropping stuff! Absolutely amazing! Makes my plain ones look, well......plain. You've given me something to aspire too.

Very nice, the sheath colours set off the snakeskin, particularly the first one.

That leather is real nice! It almost has a used look about it right from the start. The bag looks like a fairly complicated build, you've done well.

Brian, you've done it again! If you need to cut longer fringes than your jig allows could you cut them and then slide it up to extend the cuts? I'm also wondering if it would work with a head knife, using a rocking motion with the knife rather than dragging it.

It's a domestic sewing machine. It might sew thin garment leather but that would be its limit, it's simply not designed to sew leather.

A pretty absurd thing to say (probably by someone who has an overly inflated opinion of themselves) and also a contradictory statement. You can't get the experience unless you make, and sell, the holsters, but if you don't sell them then how are you going to be able to keep making them to get that experience? No-one can make "hundreds" of holsters before deciding to sell them. I'm with you, LiftPig. Once you understand the basics of holster making, whether pancake-style or western, it's not that difficult to make them properly.

Smooth (grain) side out generally has a nicer, finished look about it but some do use rough-side-out for the very reason you mentioned (to try and improve the belt's grip). Whether it makes a huge difference I don't know (I've done both) as over time the rough side will slowly wear smoother anyway.

If you can make a very simple jig to just touch the shaft you should be able to see where the bend is by rotating it.

You're right! Both a work of art and a remarkable achievement. Having just done rudimentary smoothing on mine I can imagine the amount of time he must have spent in smoothing and polishing every part!!!!

But what do the 5 and 16 actually mean?

You need to either replace the handwheel, as Toxo said, or fit a speed reducer . If you search "speed reducer" on here you should find many, many posts on the subject. Do you have a needle positioner fitted, by any chance?

But if you change that won't it also change the spacing width for the stamps? That has to stay the same while widening the part where the belt fits.

I'm guessing it could probably be brazed. If it was mine, being rough as guts I'd probably use the MIG to put a dob of weld on there.

That makes sense. If the forward stitch length is longer then by adjusting the plate further out it should have the effect of shortening the stitch length by limiting the downward travel of the arm. I was puzzled about those small screw adjusters until Old Coach explained it (like many things, obvious once you know ).

Great idea, Gary! I'll add the file to my collection and print it out (never know when it might come in useful). A 1.5" would be nice as it's a fairly standard belt size. (Hint hint ).

That is the reality that many come up against. So many want a single machine to do it all, but it's something that simply doesn't exist. An upholstery-class machine is a good choice - until you want to make holsters! For that you would be looking at a CB3200/CB4500 (or equivalent) type of machine as a minimum, but trying to do finer work on one of those is extremely difficult (if not impossible).

Nice! The background texturing is impressive (as is the carving, of course).

I wonder how many of us have done just that, bought something because 1) we wanted it or 2) it seemed like a good idea, and then had to figure out how to use it. My plasma cutter comes to mind.

As long as the knurling provides sufficient grip I can't see why anybody would be concerned about it.

Not something I use a lot, I bought a cheapie set (4 sizes) and find they work fine for my needs. They're nothing fancy, plain steel so will rust easily.

What sort of holsters are you talking about? Holsters are generally made from much thicker leather than bags etc and also require heavier thread, hence the CB3200/4500. There is a sticky by Wiz at the top of this section that discusses the type of machines needed to sew leather, have you read it?

That's different! Nice job.

Neither do I, it's all about experience and learning to judge when it's right. Unfortunately I mis-judged my last one just a tad but as in your case it still works.

I'm interested to see how it works out and how long it holds up. Simple enough to print a couple more and keep a spare handy.

Frodo, if you're referring to me, thanks for the offer mate but as I'm in Australia the shipping would be a killer! Chuck sent me the info to get mine working so another little project.........