Dwight

Years ago I had some problems with dye not being uniform . . . mostly the lighter browns. Someone suggested I hit the project with a light coat of neatsfoot oil . . . not neatsfoot compound oil . . . the real stuff . . . the more expensive one. Put it on with a dauber . . . cover the whole thing . . . starting from one edge and going to the other . . . be careful to come as close as you can to an even coat on the project. THEN . . . let it set for 24 hours in a 65 t0 75 degree F room . . . Dilute your dye . . . 1 to 1 with Tandy's dye reducer. Get a flat pan . . . dump the dye in there . . . and start your project thru the pan . . . dip dying. Use a cotton ball on a wire to get into the inside of holsters and the like. As far as putting oil dye on a leather surface that I just put water on . . . I wouldn't do that for the moon. Water and oil don't mix . . . and my leather costs me too much to take a chance on that. The only down side to dip dyeing . . . you only get one shade . . . and it is mostly darker than the panels on broschures . . . but since I do it that way all the time . . . my leather goods match pretty well. May God bless, Dwight

I faced the idea twice . . . once for my Cowboy 4500 . . . and once for the patcher I got. I bought the Cowboy from Toledo Sewing Machinds in Toledo, Ohio . . . as I had done a small bit of business with them before and they did good by me. That also gives me a very close answer for any "problems" I may have. The patcher came from China . . . was in the 400 dollar range . . . I set it up . . . put thread in it . . . been sewing ever since. Buying the cheap patcher I hear is a nightmare . . . May God bless, Dwight

Since you already have a "pattern" with that particular scabbard . . . get a package of manila file folders . . . cut the edges off so they are square edged. Lay enough of them down on the table to be longer than your scabbard you have and tape the edges together to make a long box . . . longer than the scabbard you have. Do the same for the width of the scabbard . . . make the box more than twice as wide as the scabbard. Draw a line thru the long middle of your taped together folders. Lay the bottom (the straight edge) edge of the scabbard so the line is in the exact center of the fold at each end . . . then lay it to one side. Take a #2 pencil and outline the scabbard . . . roll it over the other way and outline it again. Voila . . . you have the pattern for that scabbard. Don't bother with that silly cut the other guy made in the scabbard . . . that's just a decoration. NOW . . . lay the new gun down so it lays bottom down on the line . . . and roll it to one side or the other. After you have laid it down . . . move it so the tip of the barrel and the lowest other part of the rifle are on a line about 1 inch from your center line. Draw around the rifle with your pencil. Roll it to the other side and do the same again. Then comes the kinda fun part . . . you are going to want to add about 3 inches to the outside line of the rifle . . . on both sides . . . and add about 6 inches to the overall length of the pattern you are making. Pick your rifle up . . . cut out the pattern . . . and then lay your rifle down on it . . . fold it over. Then you have to make the judgment call if you have allowed enough length and width to get what you want. If not . . . cut more from the manila folder . . . and use masking tape to add it to where you need it. Use a piece of leather about 1 1/2 inches wide . . . sew that in the extended area where the barrel is . . . bring it up and over the front 1/2 to 2/3 of the scope. The finished part on the outside should show edges butted together with the 1 1/2 piece sewn inside. Finish it by adding an appropriate sized zipper . . . and you are good to go. May God bless, Dwight

And the second . . . right behnd the first . . . other thing you need to do it put 1000 rounds thru that thing so you can learn to hit something with it. I'm doing that right now with my "new to me" SA 35 Put together a shoulder holster from some scrap pieces and stuff I had laying around . . . but it won't be shown on here . . . it's one that's worn under a cover garment . . . as much a concealed firearm . . . as it is a concealed . . . not to be seen . . . holster . . . 😀 May God bless, Dwight

Hey Marc . . . there is one single secret to skiving stuff . . . and it is the only secret. Sharp . . . sharp . . . sharp blade(s) You cannot get them too sharp . . . and the sharper they are . . . the better they work. Plus . . . keep oil or grease on them to keep them from rusting . . . a rusty blade is almost worse than having no blade at all. May God bless, Dwight

There are a number of programs and apps that mess with drawing. Adobe Photoshop elements allows you to scan a picture . . . open it up . . . and then make it proportionally bigger . . . If I had your problem . . . that would be my answer . . . I do that with all sorts of things I do . . . works like a champ. The program can be downloaded for free or you can usually find a cd on Ebay for 5 bucks or so. And when you get it . . . you have one of the slickest photo messing programs out there. I have version 2.0 May God bless, Dwight

I assume it is for you . . . you will need your wife to help you. Look for sale tickets to Michaels (many of them used to be Joann Fabric) . . . sometimes you can find the 40 or 50 percent off on one item. Get two of them if you can find them. You want to go to the part of the store that sells thick boat vinyl . . . something in the 28 bucks a lineal yard price range. You buy the tan color . . . let her buy the red. A lineal yard of that material is also I believe 60 inches wide . . . one yard of each . . . a 36 inch straight edge . . . a roller knife . . . and a little "thinking about it" . . . will let you cut out a beautiful pattern. Use a staple gun to put the pieces together . . . If I made that . . . the red part would be probably 7/8 oz . . . and the brown leather pieces would be either 3/4 or 5/6. Ask your supplier for some shaved veggie tan . . . it once was the thicker veggie tan that had the back cut off of it . . . and somehow crumpled and it is really soft. That is the leather you want up around your neck and the arm holes. Thick stiff leather will give you burns and scrapes in those areas. I make all kinds of patterns like that . . . 2 different sets of Roman armor in the Jesus time period . . . vests . . . etc. May God bless, Dwight

Tony . . . go back upstairs and look at mine . . . same problem . . . scope height. It is layers of leather . . . contact cemented to each other . . . the bottom one starts out with tape holding it to the stock (bottom 3/8 of an inch or so) . . . then pile on the pieces until you get the height you want . . . ) Then take the thing to a belt sander . . . sand the sides smooth . . . add the last "pretty" piece . . . with the lacing loops, etc . . . and finish it. I tried that soft stuff . . . and if you are looking to drop 1 inch groups at 100 yards . . . forget the soft stuff . . . your rifle will not let you do that . . . you'll be all over the target. It takes me about 3 hours to make one . . . get it ready for the dye and finish. May God bless, Dwight

JD . . . if you decide to do another one . . . what I did . . . cut the pieces to make the height I wanted . . . my cheek bone rests directly on it (I'm told it is a native American trait . . . but it works OK). After you cut the pieces to the rough shape you want . . . stack them up one at a time . . . put them together with contact cement . . . sand off the edges . . . then put a "pretty" piece to cover up the rough ones. Actually you can make almost anything out of leather doiing it that way . . . but I mainly do cheek rests. May God bless, Dwight

Looks really good from here . . . Mine is a little taller . . . image is the emblem from Destroyer Squadron 7 . . . my parent outfit for my navy ships that went to Vietnam May God bless, Dwight

Yes, you are way overthinking th subject. Gum trag is some of the "apply and forget" product. Once on . . . its done. May God bless, Dwight

A knee length skirt . . . tall leather boots . . . always looks 5 times better than any nylons . . . Course . . . too . . . might just be the caliber of the ladies in the boots or nylons . . . and some jeans and boots . . . are better than the nylon crowd May God bless, Dwight

Suede by itself is a lousy gun belt . . . it needs a backer of 6 oz at least . . . depending on the thickness of the suede. If you just want the suede look . . . turn the leather inside out . . . that "rough" out look is actually suede May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . personally . . . I've never seen nylon anything that looks better than leather. But that is MY opinion. May God bless, Dwight

My best looking dagger compared to that lot would be considered a common shank Good looking work all around May God bless, Dwight