Dwight

As a matter of fact . . . I make them. I do standard ones that usually run around 9/16 of an inch high . . . to bigger ones . . . offset ones for an offset scope . . . As a rule . . . I need to know the height the person needs . . . which is a process they have to go thru. Looking at the pictures . . . the one at the bottom is the starter. Cut a piece of scrap leather . . . about 15 cm square . . . dampen it slightly . . . drape it over the stock of the rifle behind the grip . . . so that when it is laced . . . the front lace will but up against the grip. Allow it to thoroughly dry . . . you might want to place a plastic bag under it so no water marks get on the stock. Once it is dry . . . look at the bottom picture . . . and you'll see that I've taken masking tape and taped it down tightly to the stock . . . but only in about 5 mm of the edge all the way around. Tape it so the flesh side is up. Next . . . take other pieces about the same size . . . but not over 7 oz thick . . . dampen them . . . pull them down over the first piece in a stack . . . tape them down tight . . . after you have made the height of cheek piece you want . . . minus the thickness of the one last piece which will go over and all the way down to the bottom of the stock where it will be laced. Allow that to dry . . . at least 24 hours . . . carefully take the pieces off . . . keeping track of which one was which . . . and one at a time . . . using contact cement . . . glue them all together in a nice uniform stack. You will have to take the "stack" to a sander of some sort . . . mine is a 30 cm round one that will take your finger off if you are not careful. Sand the sides and the ends smooth so the profile of it comes elegantly up from the stock . . . to a similar profile at the top . . . that you would find on the top of the stock of the rifle. Very carefully cut your over piece . . . cement it to the "stack" . . . make lacing holes in it . . . and lace it onto the gun. I generally will dye the outside and the ends . . . edges . . . and use wax on the inside so it does not mess up the finish of the stock. The cross side picture with the 7 on it is my rifle . . . the 7 is the designation of my destroyer squadron from Vietnam and San Diego . . . DesRon 7. The reason for it being so tall is my very small Native American heritage . . . that gave me cheek bones that are very high. I rest my cheek bone on that riser . . . and my right eye picks up the cross hairs perfectly. Two of the pictures are of a standard 9/16 riser . . . left side view and rear view. Another one is that of an offset piece for an M1 Garand that uses an offset scope mount. Have fun . . . may God bless, Dwight

I bought a spool of 415 a couple years back . . . as I had always used 346 and thought I'd pop the bigger thread for "exhibition" sake. After a couple of times messing with it . . . I went back to 346 . . . and am still there. I only use black and white . . . black for black products . . . the white for everything else . . . It does not take the dye like I would like for it to do . . . but I've never had a complaint on the thread. Try the 346 . . . I'm sure there are folks who will make that in colors . . . and it is a pretty bold thread. May God bless, Dwight

All I've ever run across like that were made of leather scraps from the floor . . . ran thru a chopper like a blender . . . then blended with glue . . . forms a leather product that is similar to OSB . . . Usually not worth the gas you spent getting to Walmart to buy it May God bless, Dwight

Leo . . . my dies are simple . . . pre-made . . . and I have not yet come to a need for a custom die Very simple . . . as far as my most important factor(s) . . . 1st: it has to cut . . . no bulling around . . . just cut the thing and 2nd: it has to be substantial enough that it won't get messed up if ol clumsy hands me drops it or something. Other than that . . . I'm good Have never needed stitching holes . . . one has a rivet hole . . . the other does not . . . it is no big deal to me to pop the rivet hole in the second one I use a hydraulic jack press . . . May God bless, Dwight

I've done holsters like that on and off for 20 years . . . all of the stitching except the 9 stitches which hold the holster together at the trigger guard and continuing down 9 stitches. All the rest is done with the double layer holster laying flat on my Cowboy table . . . the decoration on the front only goes thru the one outside layer In this order: outside decoration on first layer of the holster . . . wet form the holster parts . . . first the inside layer . . . then wrap the outside layer around the gun AND the first layer. Be sure to also fold over the belt loop while the leather is still dampened. Proceding on: allow all pieces to dry . . . use glue or contact cement to put the 2 pieces together . . . wrapping them first around the gun . . . then around each other . . . Trim as needed . . . then sew the whole holster other than the 9 stitches talked about earlier . . . last to sew is the loop on the backside. Starting out to "finish" the stitches . . . when you started sewing this holster . . . at the first stitch . . . the 10th one down from the trigger . . . you go completely around the edge of the holster. A cowboy 4500 laughs at how easy this is to do. The stitching you did here has 3 inch starter threads that you do not trim off. When you get to the area of the holster where the trigger guard is . . . you quit sewing halfway around . . . in the 9 stitch area on the backside of the holster . . . pull out 4 inches of thread and cut it . . . pull the thread out of the needle and sew the 9 stitches' holes . . . just punching holes in the leather. Apply contact cement to the inside of both edges where it is below the trigger guard for those 9 stitches. Starting on the back side . . . first stitch the top one of that 9 stitches below the trigger guard . . . making sure you have the outside leather facing up and the needle going down thru it . . . but all you will do is punch holes . . . when you get back up to the top where the leather is just below the trigger guard . . . pull out 3 or 4 inches . . . and sew the whole outside top of the holster. When you get around to the place where the top of the outside of the front of the holster is . . . pull out 8 or 9 inches of thread from needle and bobbin . . . cut it off. Sand the edges of the holster and bevel all except the area where the 9 stitches are. Wire brush both places on the backside where the belt loop is sewn down. Contact cement it . . . put it between two small wooden pieces and squeeze the bent over piece that when stitched out . . . it'll form the belt loop. HERE COMES THE TRICKY PART: if you did it right (and if I told you right) . . . you will have 4 corners on that holster that have thread protruding out of it. 3 will have 3 or 4 inches . . . one corner will have 8 or 9 inches. You should also have punched holes for the "9" stitches I talked about earlier . . . but no thread . . . and those will be located 180 degrees from each other . . . two sections of 9 stitches . . . but no thread. On the backside pull both threads thru so that the stitch threads will both come thru toward the welt. (forgot . . . sew 9 stitch holes in the welt too . . . but not with thread . . . you want holes only) Do the same for the back side of the holster beginning at that piece where it is below the welt . . . pull both threads in so they lay on the inside of the holster. Do the same for the front side of the holster . . . beginning at that piece where it is below the welt . . . pull both threads in so they lay on the inside of the holster. Apply a 1/2 inch wide strip of contact cement to the welt and to the inside edges of the holster where those 9 stitches will be finished up. On 3 out of the 4 corners you have at the 9 stitches . . . pull all 6 of the threads into the contact cement . . . and lay them 1/16th of an inch inside the punched holes for the 9 stitches. Let it all dry. With a hand needle that will adequately hold your thread . . . pull the bobbin thread of the front side of the holster up at top where the trigger guard is . . . pull it thru the welt then thru the back side. Get your needle pad and as you gently lay together the outside area where the welt is . . . fill each hole with another needle. When you have the holster fully together with the contact cement . . . use two small wooden pieces or two sections of 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/8 inch . . . CLEAN . . . steel angle iron . . . use a couple of C clamps . . . pull the wood or the angle iron up and almost touch the needles on the front and the back . . . and clamp them down . . . hard. Put your remaining one orphan string of thread thru another needle . . . and saddle stitch the top 8 of the 9 stitches on the welt . . . pulling out the 8 needles and going thru the hole each occupied . . . start at the top and stitch downward . . . remove the wood or the angle iron. For that last stitch . . . I personally would do it and double stitch back up toward the top of the welt . . . 3 or 4 stitches . . . cut and trim. This holster was probably done a different way here . . . bringing both threads thru their respective pieces of leather and a square knot finishing it all off . . . the knot residing between the welt and the back side piece of leather. Take those last two sewing threads and pull up on the inside of the holster next to the welt . . . after first coating the first inch with contact cement . . . force them into one of the valleys between the front and back and the welt . . . but do it on the inside. When the contact cement is dry . . . get a flashlight . . . check for any EXTRA thread that didn't get cut off inside . . . with barber scissors . . . reach in and trim off all you can. If there is any left over you cannot reach . . . dip a q tip in contact cement and force the EXTRA thread into the welt area. When that dries . . . you are ready for dying and edging the welt . . . and the final finishing touches. Hope you all were able to follow my directions. I've done several like this . . . works every time. May God bless, Dwight

All thread I've ever used will pick up the dye . . . cotton and linen are the worst culprits for this. If you want it to be pristine . . . as some of my orders are . . . put it together . . . dye it . . . rub it out real good . . . sew it . . . then wet mold it . . . works great. OR . . . dye your leather first . . . cut out the pieces . . . sew it . . . wet mold it . . . that's the simplest way to get light colored thread to be really nice . May God bless, Dwight

The S&W . . . I'm not familiar with it . . . doubt if I ever did one. BUT . . . it has been my experience that if you are "close" it will work . . . and if you are not . . . you wasted a pound of leather. Revolvers are finicky that way I have actually made my own S&W mod 29 . . . works really great . . . a little wood . . . some band saw and sanding work . . . and a dowel rod was all I needed. The buyer was very happy. Autos are easier to make . . . and a little more forgiving IMHO . . . than revolvers. But take an afternoon and make your own model . . . some day you will be really happy you did. May God bless, Dwight

I'd like to see the full pictures of the holster . . . not sure of all I'm seeing with the chopped up pieces. May God bless, Dwight

If you want a good solid leather sewing machine . . . and you want a manual one . . . get a Tippmann Boss . . . I've used one for 20+ Years . . . their service is excellent . . . and it will sew 3/4 of an inch leather . . . I've done it. It will also sew up to 415 thread . . . I use 346 almost exclusively. It is the original hand machine . . . all others are poor copies . . . and personally if you gave me an outlaw . . . I'd never get it out of the box . . . seen them at Tandy . . . about as impressed with them as I would be a left handed crescent wrench. May God bless, Dwight

Get hold of Bob at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine Co I've had great service from him including the servo he sold me for an old singer machine Besides that . . . he's good people . . . https://www.tolindsewmach.com/ And yes . . . they're in Toledo Ohio May God bless, Dwight

Welcome back . . . Pastor Bob . . . from Pastor Dwight May God bless, Dwight

Good job on the holster . . . and like Beehive said . . . big chunk . . . like the early Ruger 9mm's . . . . could beat a gorilla to death with an empty one. May God bless, Dwight

No I didn't . . . but I learned early on that I needed two containers of Resolene. One for browns and one for the black. The brush I used on the black would pick up some of the loose pigment and drop it off in the resolene jar. Not really a super big deal . . . but I didn't need any extra color in my brown products. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Johanna . . . I looked for some "explanation" . . . didn't find one . . . so I did my usual . . . I mentioned it. Sorry if I sounded rough on you . . . didn't have a clue as to what you were dealing with . . . other than I couldn't get on the other night . . . must have been when you had it down and were working on it. Anyway . . . good job getting it back up . . . May God bless, Dwight

Just a quick note to say I don't like the new setup . . . 1. I enjoyed seeing several of our supporters/suppliers names up at the top each time I came in . . . now there is one. 2. I don't like the color arrangement . . . makes it look more like a tube of toothpaste or a cereal box. 3. Whoever took it upon themselves to do this . . . seems to have forgotten that a lot of us here are well past the 40 mark . . . do not always see too well . . . and the size of the text was diminished . . . or because of the color arrangement . . . it makes it much harder to see and to read. There is absolutely nothing wrong with larger type . . . in fact . . . lots of people enjoy it. 4. The perpetrator of this demolition of the site also took it upon themselves to diminish the upper right hand side where newer posts were posted. There used to be about 10 . . . it is now knocked down to 6 . . . fifteen would be better . . . 5. Perhaps whoever did this is patting themselves on the back for such a great job . . . personally . . . again . . . I think it stinks. It seems they have the mistaken idea that computer face space is costly . . . like space on a newspaper. If this site supplier is charging you that way . . . you really missed the boat . . . because few do so. 6. This needs to be fixed . . . period. May God bless, Dwight