Dwight

It depends to a large degree on how certain you are of what you are doing. Generally I will make a paper pattern buy copy/paste onto a piece of printer paper . . . cut it out with scissors . . . tape it down to a manila folder. Cut out the manila folder and paper . . . toss the paper. Lay the manila folder down on my leather . . . get a black or blue ball point pen . . . and draw it out. I'm confident in my ability to draw correctly . . . having graduated from crayons a little over 70 years ago. I can see the ink very well . . . cut it right down the middle . . . or slightly outside . . . and go to work making the holster. If I should happen to have a line where it should not be . . . no big worry . . . holster will be black anyway . . . and if not this one . . . the leather goes into the folder for the next one that will be black. May God bless, Dwight

I use the same "measurements" that I would for a typical ranger belt . . . The cowboy belt is simply 1 inch wider . . . and I make it a "finished" 4 inches longer. If I was making one for you . . . and I made you a 40 inch belt to hold up your britches . . . your gunbelt would be a 44 inch belt. I make them with 7 holes . . . 1 inch apart . . . and from the first hole to the tip of the tongue (where that fancy piece of metal is) is 3 1/2 inches . . . with the fancy metal tip hanging over the front of the belt body. Measuring your 44 inch cowboy belt . . . it would measure from the butt of the buckle (where it meets the leather) . . . to the center hole of the seven holes. That gives the wearer the chance to gain 3 inches of pizza . . . or lose 3 inches of lard . . . and still wear the same belt. I've only had to re-do one cowboy belt for one customer . . . he ordered a 55 and when he came to pick it up about 6 weeks later . . . he needed a 59. The buckle front lip hangs over the other end of the belt body. With a ranger belt . . . the tongue and the belt keeper are laid out and fastened straight as possible along the axis of the belt. With a cowboy belt . . . I lay the buckle end to the left . . . the tongue to the right . . . and I place the tongue so it is NOT straight on the axis . . . I lay it so the tip of it lays over the bottom corner of the belt body. That tends to pull the body upward . . . making it appear straight on the wearer. And of course I don't put a belt keeper on a ranger belt . . . to hold the body right behind the buckle . . . but there is always one on the cowboy belt. Haven't had a customer complain yet. May God bless, Dwight

My setup is not as "pretty" as is many others . . . but it does the job. Took a piece of oak I had laying around . . . made sure that even though the grain is big . . . it was solid . . . no "splintery" trash on it. Semi rounded it out on my disc sander Drilled a hole in it to match the shaft of my little rusty old 1450 rpm motor . . . then slotted that hole so I could put a clamp on it . . . hold it tight to the shaft. Set up a block of wood on which to use my chisels . . . worked it down nice and straight and round. Then used the chisels to cut the grooves in it . . . gave it a good dose of solid bees wax . . . grabbed a rag and polished the wax. The two pieces of leather were just a scrap I had in the shop . . . used to test the stitches on my sewing machine. Hit the edge with a edger . . . put it in the groove closest to the motor . . . as it is the one I use for belts . . . after I dampened the edge. I didn't get fancy . . . wanted to show the basic burnishing . . . would look really nice if I had put some wax on it . . . The ruler is one of them kind that don't measure in inches . . . (lol) This has been my tool for something on to 5 years . . . had to scrap the other one . . . start switch went out on the motor . . . and shaft was different size . . . had to make a new one. May God bless, Dwight

I've never used that . . . too thin . . . and my experience has been NOT to use two pieces . . . one fat and one skinny. A 9oz and 3 oz will eventually find the 3 working loose in the glue . . . becoming bubbly . . . and looking ugly. Match the two layers as much as you can . . . I even cut mine back to back from the same piece of leather . . . It also dyes a lot better that way. Put your bullet loops on the curved outside piece . . . last thing you do before gluing and sewing the two pieces together. It makes the inside look better . . . and when you glue it together . . . you have glue holding the pieces of the belt loops . . . you don't if you add them later. If you can get it . . . use 3/4 oz calf leather . . . And think about your bending of the leather . . . doing so will make the bottom thinner . . . eventually becoming more flimsy than the top. It's better to make a pattern and cut them curved . . . that way they always remain the same thickness uniformly. I know the argument . . . "but you waste so much leather that way" . . . and it is basically garbage argument . . . as you lose some off the back side of the first one you cut . . . and off the front side of the last one . . . and all told . . . when it is done . . . you may have saved enough to make one side of a standard belt. Usually . . . there is a defect I go around . . . and that defect is in that standard belt piece of trash. YMMV May God bless, Dwight

Actually you don't have to do that . . . there's a really MUCH easier way. The program is Laser GRBL . . . and it is free. If you can make a drawing . . . and I mean anything on paper with a pen, pencil, or crayon . . . all you have to do it make a digital copy of it. AND . . . if you take your time . . . and play with it a while . . . you can even take certain photographs . . . digitize them black and white . . . and if you have even a 300 dollar laser engraver . . . it'll pick up the shading . . . you can put a photo on leather. I use cardboard as my test medium . . . when it is right . . . I cut a piece of the picture . . . try it on scrap leather . . . if that works . . . I do it. I do a lot with *.jpg pictures . . . they're easily scalable . . . and work great. You set the laser on a platform that is checkerboarded and each line numbered . . . note on your first good copy that the top left corner was at 24 horizontal and 18 vertical . . . and you can produce a thousand . . . setting your blank at that point every time. The enclosed pic is one taken from an army patch of a buddy . . . turned to *.jpg . . . one made is about 4 cm wide . . . the other was about 8 cm wide . . . he was tickled pink with both. . . . again . . . they were done with B&W *.jpg prints. AND . . . if you go to an auto part store . . . or lumber store . . . buy the absolute cheapest . . . ugly dirt cheap . . . black or grey PRIMER . . . you can spray it on your metal . . . do the engraving trick . . . and clean the paint off with a strong paint thinner . . . or use a drill and steel wool pad to polish it off . . . Yeah . . . it works. May God bless, Dwight

The simple answer to your problem . . . don't make the tongue and buckle end of the thicker leather. I still make double layer . . . but I go down in size . . . so I wind up with an 8/9 oz belt tongue. The one on my cowboy rig has been there for 20+ years . . . was done that way . . . and still works and looks good. May God bless, Dwight

Wood actually does work great . . . several commercial leather suppliers make and sell them . . . Mine is I believe out of maple . . . which is the type of wood you want . . . it has a very close grain and is reasonably hard. Oak can be OK . . . just have to be careful of it . . . sometimes grain can be pretty open . . . which would make for a splinter producer possibly. When you first start it up . . . 1450 rpms or so is good . . . start it up . . . fold up some old canvas or some cotton rope . . . use it to get the wood warmed up . . . holding it tight into the grooves . . . then add sliced solid bees wax . . . back to the rope . . . more beeswax . . . more rope . . . until you get a really smooth surface. Fix up some scrap leather . . . edge it . . . rub beeswax on the edge . . . and force it into the grooves while it is spinning . . . and kinda let up slowly on the pressure . . . finish polishing it with an old handkerchief or tee shirt. Then each time you use it . . . hit it with the beeswax . . . or rub beeswax along the edge of whatever you are burnishing. You'll love the production. May God bless, Dwight

Finish them with a coat or two of Resolene . . . they last for a long time . . . look good and feel good. Before finishing . . . lay it flesh side up . . . slightly dampen it . . . and using a glass slicker . . . go over it . . . from end to end . . . only ONE WAY . . . It'll smooth right out . . . your customer will love you. May God bless, Dwight

I basically disagree with all your conclusions. Leather weighs what leather weighs . . . making a belt out of two layers of 5/6 will equal the weight of one layer of 11/12 oz. If the holster is slipping up and down . . . it is the fault of the design and the maker . . . the belt slot is too big . . . they can be made to fit. Making belts or holsters of 2 layers . . . glued together with contact cement . . . will make a very comfortable and enduring belt . . . to say nothing about it's superior looks. Making a holster "rough out" is only a personal preference . . . sometimes adding a certain "rough" beauty to the belt or holster. For a few dollars more and other westerns of that era had some of them. Double layer holsters also will grip the weapon better . . . be far less apt to deflate and become a floppy mess of loose cowhide. The smooth side out on a belt . . . only allows the belt to slide . . . if the belt is not made on a slight cresent contour . . . which makes it not only very comfortable . . . but will not slip down . . . even with two 4 oz revolvers and 24 rds of ammo in the back. Made right . . . they don't slip. Been making holsters for 20+ years . . . never had one . . . not one . . . negative complaint on any double layer holster I've ever made. John Bianchi taught me how to make them with his videos . . . still do it that way. May God bless, Dwight

Actually it is a really good job . . . and this is only a comment . . . not meant as a complaint. If it were mine . . . it would have a thumb break . . . especially if I were wearing it in the water. There does not look like there is a lot of leather that would hold it in if it needed to be held in. May God bless, Dwight

Most all of us here will at one time or another . . . repair something made of leather . . . usually though only in the vein of work we normally do . . . ie: belts, holsters, purses, sheaths, satchels. But you can put me down as one who generally will take on repair work . . . I actually enjoy the challenge. May God bless, Dwight

Unless he's selling a couple hundred a day . . . he'll never pay for a full international patent . . . they're scary expensive May God bless, Dwight

But you do have to remember that your German patent is not good in the US . . . so the first customer who wants in on the action . . . may just jump on it . . . Things of this nature . . . even when they are patented . . . are always subject to "copy" so to speak. Not pushing the sales opens the door for another enterprising individual. May God bless, Dwight

Thank you . . .

I don't have one any more . . . sold it long ago . . . but if you really wanted to do custom engraving . . . it is really a simple process. First you make a copy of the item to be engraved . . . in some detail . . . and make it rather large . . . put it on a computer program that will print it out on paper . . . in a very large format . . . filling an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. Glue that to a piece of 1/4 inch plywood . . . and here is where the person comes in who is very talented. Non talented people will dismiss this . . . as will lazy people. Using a router with a very fine tipped blade . . . engrave the image . . . by hand . . . 1/16 inch deep into the plywood. You then take that image in the plywood . . . and using a pantograph router . . . set for 2:1 scale . . . re cut it into another piece of plywood. This will produce an image that is 4 1/4 inch by 5 1/2 inch . . . Using that 4 1/4 inch by 5 1/2 inch . . . you then use your pantograph router again . . . and this new smaller image . . . put a diamond bit in it . . . and engrave the buckle. The maximum size for that buckle engraved image will be 2 1/8 by 2 3/4 inches. Making the first image . . . being very talented . . . and willing to take your time . . . you produce an image that has flaws in it . . . for sure . . . but the talented part will not let many flaws erupt on the plywood. The second image reduces those flaws to not being readily seen . . . and the final engraved image is almost always very good looking. The first ten or so you do will take some time . . . but it usually isn't long before you get the hang of it . . . and it becomes old hat. Plus you can take the old ones you have already used . . . flip them over . . . and use the back side if you only engraved 1/16 of an inch down the first time. May God bless, Dwight PS: You may be able to substitute a carbide tipped router bit for the diamond bit . . . you would just have to experiment.

Your best bet would be to contact several well known auctioneers in your area. THEY . . . have "been there . . . done that" . . . as far as liquidating estates. And besides that . . . what little info you gave us . . . there is no way anyone here could take any kind of a guess at it. May God bless, Dwight

Maybe before asking a question . . . you might read what was written previously. Might answer your question before you ask it. May God bless, Dwight

If only that old saddle could talk . . . It's memories would probably keep us spellbound for some time May God bless, Dwight

There are very few times when it is optimal to tool later . . . as a rule . . . stamp it and tool it first. May God bless, Dwight

Toss the esthetics out the window . . . get a cap start single phase motor . . . and go to work. Quickest . . . cheapest . . . and actually THE best way . . . as there are downsides to ANY other option . . . and the only down side to this one is you haven't done it yet. May God bless, Dwight

I kept getting little spots of dye and stuff on my shirts . . . got aggravated . . . made an apron. I looked all over in the shop for a special leather to make it from . . . didn't like anything II saw. Wound up making it from marine vinyl . . . sold at Joann's fabric shop for about 25 a yard. I keep it and use it when developing a pattern . . . it mimics leather well enough for holsters . . . so I had it on hand. Am I ever glad I did. It is fairly light in weight . . . liquid proof . . . makes good pockets . . . If I had to do it all over again . . . I'd still use the vinyl. May God bless, 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