Dwight

I'm assuming this is a loop between the shoulders to hang the jacket on a hook With that in mind . . . the "loop" leather would be popped thru that sort of oval piece . . . and then thru probably 8 oz little circles. It would then be splayed into 4 pieces . . . each would be glued and then cemented to the little circle Then you super wet the whole thing and form that semi oval using regular tools and let it dry . . . when it was originally cut . . . I would have cut it probably 1/2 inch wide all around it . . . and once dry . . . trim to the exact size you would want. Glue and stitch . . . re-dampen the oval . . . touch up the molding . . . done It is actually a novel piece of work . . . would add a bit of bling to the garment . . . I would never use it . . . but it is a cool touch May God bless, Dwight

If you were in the military . . . Resolene and dress shoes would be a gift from heaven. Super polish them guys . . . about 6 or 8 coats or resolene . . . you have a pair of inspection shoes that need only to be put back in their protective white socks . . . to await the next inspection. Didn't have it when I was in the Navy . . . had to do it the hard way. And I would probably bring the holster back to you within about a week. Neutral or any other shoe polish has no ability at all to protect the leather item. Rubbing up against a wall . . . gate . . . laying on the ground . . . the leather will look like it was found on the beach at Normandy. May God bless, Dwight

Neatsfoot oil is meant to replace the oil that was latent in the original hide. It is very easy to get too much in there . . . kids usually do that with their baseball gloves . . . thinking sloppy and floppy will catch a ball better It don't. My oiling is done with a cheap 1 inch pig hair paint brush from Harbor freight. I put it on quickly . . . just enough to see it is wet . . . and quit. The "wet" stage disappears very quickly . . . My item will be just barely noticeably darker the next day. Usually only determined by putting a piece of the original leather up to the oiled one . . . squinting a bit . . . to find a difference . May God bless, Dwight

Do it however you want . . . but if my project requires a gusset . . . I lay down the item . . . trace the outside for the length of the gusset I want . . . then cut the outside of the gusset piece out of a hunk of leather. I then decide how wide a gusset I want . . . use a pair of dividers and mark that all around the inside of the piece I cut out I then cut out the gussett . . . glue it in place . . . sew / lace / stitch / as necessary. May God bless, Dwight

I'm old school . . . one pencil . . . 2 or 3 erasers (lol) . . . ruler(s) . . . compass . . . blank paper . . . and masking tape to use for making a pattern bigger than an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. I then take a picture of it with my phone . . . turn that into a *.jpg with Adobe Photoshop elements 2.0 . . . and go to work from there. I've done it so much that it has almost become intuitive . . . AI programs are not as fast as I am . . . because most of the time my pattern hits production run with the first iteration . . . AI isn't smart enough to outthink the directions . . . usually needs a half dozen corrections . . . and by that time the other one is done and I'm off having coffee and pie. But that's just my way. PLUS: Some folks make a separate pattern for each holster or change purse or whatever. If for example I'm doing something different on a pancake holster for a 1911 . . . I basically make the one for the full size . . . and use it for all sizes. There is a bit of waste . . . but it keeps my pattern storage down and I can easily trim a full size to the officer's size in 2 minutes . . . May God bless, Dwight

I don't have anything against any of the professional punch makers . . . But I'm a cheapskate . . . so I make my own. So far . . . no one as asked me if their holster had holes made by one of the professionals . . . they just pay up and go on down the road . . . happy little customers. Mine are made from good old EMT . . . better known as Electrical Metallic Tubing . . . or conduit for short. Probably took me 2 hours to make all of them . . . punches and round end strap cutters. May God bless, Dwight

I'm wearing a 20+ year old belt . . . 1/4 inch thick . . . 2 ply . . . It has been on my body for just about every one of those days . . . The resolene finish is still on there. Not really sure that there is a more durable finish . . . but it does make the product stiffer . . . Oiled leather always looks good . . . but it can get buffed up and beat up pretty quick . . . and there is no wax that will do much more than a couple months as far as protection. May God bless, Dwight

Last Christmas I was asked to make 4 belts . . . I told her how . . . and STRESSED it needed to be measured correctly. I have 3 of the 4 in my shop . . . you guessed it . . . wrong dimensions. I'll "fix" them . . . basically using the original poster's idea. But like another said . . . it's almost as tough to "re do" work as it is to do it in the first place. May God bless, Dwight

Good job in my book . . . May God bless, Dwight

All in all a good job . . . but as another pastor besides Bob . . . as he said I would slick the edges real good . . . PLUS . . . I always run an edger around the leather . . . knock off those little peek-a-boos that slip up just above the edge . . . make it look like a torn piece of paper. But I do like the design . . . you did a good job. Especially the designs on the flap and the back . . . I'd never attempt it because I would get almost done . . . and I'd have a double line I could not cover up. That is also why I don't do a lot of stamping . . . etc. May God bless, Dwight

I'd suggest a Tippmann Boss . . . used you should be able to get one for that price. They are 1000 or so brand new. You can sew down on them to two layers of canvas (I've done it) . . . or you can to up to almost 3/4 inch of veg tanned leather. I've made leather dog collars on my old Boss . . . and it worked fine. It is a non motorized . . . hand operated machine . . . and they are hard to screw up. The company used to have a full lifetime warranty on the machine . . . no matter who owned it. You'ld have to check if they still do . . . and my guess is yes. You can also go into a Tandy Leather store . . . they sell a similar machine . . . take your sample in there . . . let the manager show you how their machines do . . . then go home and look on Marketplace for a used one. May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . if you google . . . "image: boston mass firefighter helmet shield" . . . you should get something near 20 pages of information. Google is your friend when wanting to see something . . . just start with the word "image" May God bless, Dwight

You should never put shoe polish on before any kind of oil. It can block the oil from penetrating. But since you have already done it . . . go for it. I ALWAYS . . . oil before I even think of dyeing or stamping . . . and I use just a light coat of neatsfoot oil. For me it has been THE thing that makes my dye jobs much more even. May God bless, Dwight

Ebay is always your helper for things you need . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/396977964819?_skw=1911+blue+gun+model&var=665436502944&itmmeta=01K4QBB3J8JF2KZBGH9YMEN1N9&hash=item5c6dbb0713:g:tV0AAeSwb~hodTUX&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dv2i7ARm3ClNSsxdtKFB0OrG7CAZhEJjKYUozIlkBZe12kCtsecjRR47D6rvCFoRec%2FX13vaUqONlPVuq8ifPxLlvOb2ayE5GdDgATYD0i9splPUBTWVubnSw92ndH%2FksNNy23VBBduDpIktGIOt5LGgTbkyoTPm9EuBvVrsHzfNgoTn5eUH%2BlBCv%2BNQn5knlxF5IQxSNpfAwGKnysm02WUKCQobVKBqvt8Du%2BjYCgvrZoMa47UpZkcPbioivcv%2FU%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_a5rOulZg&pfm=1 May God bless, Dwight

Just a curious question . . . if someone was to send you a "pattern" . . . made of plastic . . . cut out on a computer based machine . . . of an exact personal buckle . . . would you be up to making that buckle? I'm thinking of the American Western buckle type . . . May God bless, Dwight