Dwight

I had the same EXACT problem with saddle tan . . . darn near quit using it. Now I take a bristle brush . . . and coat the hair side with NFO . . . and make sure you ARE NOT using the compound . . . buy the good stuff. I dip the brush and start brushing . . . watching that every square inch gets a light wetting . . . it has to change color or I add oil to it until it does. I leave it for 24 hours . . . belts laying on their side . . . holsters laying on their back most of the time. After 24 hours . . . I get out the 9 by 16 baking dish (my dyeing pan) . . . and I put it in the dye just long enough to know for absolute certain that every piece of it has contacted the liquid dye. Pull it out . . . and set it up to dry. I quit having "serious" blotchy problems using the above process. There are still slight variations . . . but nothing like your holster. And I can't comment on your process because I've never tried it. I've also never dampened my leather . . . as that is water . . . my dye is oil based . . . and I never believed that oil and water will mix in a good way. YMMV May God bless, Dwight

I've been messing with leather for 25+ years so far . . . NEVER have had any thing I made give me problems with Resolene . . . it goes on . . . stays on . . . and works. I was really . . . REALLY . . . mad at a belt I made one time using USMC black . . . I think I could have wire brushed that thing and black would still have rubbed off. Grabbed the Resolene . . . 2 light coats . . . END of problem. Try it . . . you have nothing to lose at this point . . . if you've never used it . . . make sure to dilute it . . . 50 / 50 Resolene and tap water. Stir well and put on with a bristle paint brush (I use the little cheap 1 inch wide throw away ones . . . rinse the resolene out of it . . . use it for months) . . . You kind of slop it on to start with . . . then give it the up/down . . . left / right . . . right angle . . . left angle . . . put enough on that serious brushing will cause a bit of foam to come up . . . then brush it until all the bubbles are busted . . . that is one coat. Give it 20 minutes to rest and add a second coat . . . and you should be fixed all and good. May God bless, Dwight

Try Weaver Leather . . . they're a sponsor on here . . . May God bless, Dwight

You just might check with local veteran groups . . . there are people who help veterans with "problems" . . . they find leatherworking as a resource to help them work thru their "problems". If you are not a veteran . . . they may welcome you anyway as someone who brings another group of ideas that may spark a better interest than key fobs, wallets, and belts. Plus . . . you may find someone there with your same interests . . . the help could go both ways. Columbus Ohio Tandy has a really great one . . . and I know the instructor . . . he's a cool dude . . . and apparently it is really helping some of the guys. May God bless, Dwight

If I were making it for you . . . I would do "PARAMEDIC" in larger letters . . . Your job is outstanding . . . so your "title" should be too . . . unless of course the unit has certain limitations. Plus . . . just before you quit on the shield . . . go over the back with 2 or 3 or 4 more coats of 50 / 50 resolene and water . . . that valley between the shield and helmet will allow lots of water to hit the back of it . . . and you don't want water to go in the back and ruin the rest of it. Resolene in several coats on a product that does not flex . . . is the next thing to waterproofing . . . good stuff. May God bless, Dwight

Here in Ohio . . . our best bet for selling stuff is Facebook marketplace . . . I bought a truck . . . milling machine . . . I've seen whole shops on there . . . and I've sold a brass bed headboard . . . portable air tank . . . it's just good. I'd try there first . . . doesn't cost anything unless you want to pay for some special treatment of your ad . . . just make sure you put a good list of what you want to sell . . . if the information doesn't spark an interest . . . no sale. Do you have any machinery? You can list it here . . . or if you want . . . you might break it up into machinery . . . hand tools . . . leather (size & sq footage) . . . you might sell it all on here. May God bless, Dwight

A couple of years ago . . . I was in an Amish store that sells material for sewing . . . kinda like an Amish Joann Fabric shop. They had this tool in there . . . and I knew exactly what it was as soon as I saw it . . . the tool itself was 35 bucks . . . and the set of dies was 18. Both sets fo male and female came in that kit. I went back later and bought another one just like it . . . so I didn't have to swap dies every time I wanted to do a snap. I have been just plain pleased with this tool . . . it is great . . . you have to be careful and follow directions . . . and if you do . . . great snaps every time. I believe I also saw them in Hobby Lobby . . . not certain. There is a cheaper version like this . . . sells for about 18 bucks . . . comes in a kit . . . Amish buy them for the snaps for the women's clothing . . . it is a smaller tool . . . and I don't know if it will do line 24 snaps . . . mine does every time. Nothing against Dot . . . but that's a bunch of money for a snap setter. May God bless, Dwight

Ohio Travel Bag is a name you may look at . . . I believe they are owned by Weaver Leather now May God bless, Dwight

I bought 2 of em . . . asked the lady if it was a Singer . . . she said yes . . . loaded it up . . . got it home . . . then saw that it didn't have the "Singer" across the middle like the one in the picture. Had to go buy another one . . . checked it this time. Yep . . . they are one solid platform for sure. May God bless, Dwight

I use a smaller oval shaped punch . . . Never quite got the hang of it . . . minor miscues really look bad with it. Finally put it in a vise . . . made sure the punch was oriented straight away . . . Took a file and engraved a line down the middle of the top of the punch. No more problems . . . works great. May God bless, Dwight

Excuse me for laughing TomE . . . but just for the heck of it . . . I went to the page on threading . . . the Chinese actually coppied the same images and everything in my book that came with it. I could not afford even a used Singer here . . . and this one was only 335 bucks. May God bless, Dwight

I have severe peripheral neuropathy in my feet and legs . . . (starting in my hands as well . . . ugh) . . . so I have to sit while using it. Coincidentally . . . saw a Singer frame for sale . . . had to laugh when I thought of it . . . Wound up buying two frames . . . will make a table for our church out of the other one. I sit on a folding stool when using it . . . and it is really comfortable. It is a Chinese copy of a Singer 29 something . . . it is one of the two with the smaller spool . . . about the size of a quarter. I was somewhat concerned about the thread . . . turns out that good old carpet thread works great in it . . . I'm also going to remodel it some day down the road . . . in the arms (solid 2 x 4's right now) . . . I'm going to make some long drawers . . . keep all the thread, bobbins, needles, etc. in them. May God bless, Dwight

I got my patcher . . . set up . . . and working . . . am very happy with it. May God bless, Dwight

I made one a couple years back . . . he wanted the hammer and trigger fairly well covered He also wanted to wear it around his waist May God bless, Dwight

A single point sling has several advantages . . . the biggest of which allows you to pass the caretaking of the firearm to either arm effortlessly and quickly. Makes for entering or leaving a doorway very easy . . . as well as meandering thru bushes . . . or trails where overgrowth can get in the way. Allows one to reach down and pick up something on the ground or a table . . . without the possibility of stubbing the muzzle in the mud. I put a ring on the left side of my M1A just below the rear sight . . . and I love my single point sling when I'm carrying the rifle . . . the weight around the neck does not bother me as much as trying to carry it on a shoulder. it is also MUCH MUCH quicker to put into action than any other sling I've ever tried to use. May God bless, Dwight

My first laser engraver (of 3) came from a wonderful friend on here whom I'll leave nameless so people don't bug him for one or other stuff. He offered me a 3000 Mw machine for 50 bucks plus shipping. I love that little rascal. I also have a 10 watt . . . and another one is somewhere in the "in transit" stage. I have no problems with the 10 watt . . . cutting anything leather I want . . . and I even cut 1/4 or 3/16 plywood with it . . . engrave the plywood and do all sorts of funky stuff. I use an air assist which makes the edges look like they were cut with a super duper sharp but hot knife. One of my favorite things to do with it is cut out left over leather scraps for key fobs. It cuts the fob . . . pops the holes for the rivet . . . in two passes. I could do it in one . . . but backing off on the power conserves the life of my laser head and makes for a slightly better looking product. If I'm adding a name or logo or something . . . I do it first . . . then do the cut out. Logo and cut out are in the 3 minute category from blank hunk of leather in my hand . . . to the finished product in my hand. My 2 present machines sit on a 10 dollar second hand door about 24 inches wide and 6 ft long . . . 1 by 12's form the sides . . . and some of the top . . . plexiglass windows cover each machine . . . a fan is on one end pulling out the fumes . . . to a dryer vent hole in the side of my shop that leads outside . . . at the other end of the box is a hole slightly larger than the fan hole. There is no stink in my shop. I don't have my phone or I'd pop the pictures up here. I only have this one of the setp showing it from the end where the hole is. It is covered by the square of plywood with the drawer handle . . . and you can see the two machines inside. Basic corrugated cardboard it a good medium for practice to check your settings. I'll then do a cut out of one of the important areas of the burn . . . run it thru the machine on a piece of scrap . . . adjust as needed . . . an run it. All in all . . . laser engraving is not as easy as falling off a cliff . . . but each person has to learn on their own. One machine . . . using one piece of leather . . . and one program . . . will produce different results than whatever part of that equation changes. May God bless, Dwight

Airbrushing produces a pretty appearance . . . and can be feathered to the extent that it is very very uniform in color. It can also be used to make a two or 3 or even more . . . toned layers of color . . . making some really unique and lovely color(s) or color patterns. BUT . . . airbrushing is only a light surface dying technique. Almost any scrape or beating will remove the dye . . . there is a thread on here about re-dying shoes . . . the scrape on his right shoe proves my point . . . as shoes (especially Oriental made) are very lightly air brushed with the appropriate cheap thin dye. I much prefer and seriously advocate dip dying if one wants one color . . . and wants the item to be able to stand up to at least some serious abuse. May God bless, Dwight

That would be very easy duplicated on a laser engraver . . . And using some oddball scrap leather . . . shouldn't take over 3 or 4 tries to get the first pattern done for it. I don't need any such cartridge holder . . . but if I did . . . I think I would like that pattern . . . especially if I were using something bottle necked like a .308 / 30-30 / 30-06 or so. Would be a good deal for a deer hunter . . . maybe even incorporated in a butt stock cheek weld riser. Shouldn't be too hard to do . . . even sew the thing on a big rig machine like a Cowboy 4500 May God bless, 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