Dwight

And the tooling part is the big difference between our customer bases. Mine very seldom want tooling, . . . preferring a simple belt. I might lean more toward your way if I had the customer base, . . . but without it, . . . no need to. Thanks for bringing up the tooling subject, . . . some of the folks may not have considered it. May God bless, Dwight

Yes, . . . Tandy Leather store. May God bless, Dwgiht

My guess, . . . looking at the picture, . . . you are using the pre-dyed leather. It is HARD stuff. Wet it first, . . . WET, . . . and if that does not work, . . . put the spot in the holder, . . . use it to mark where the legs are, . . . use an awl to poke the holes for the legs, . . . then use the tool to complete the job. Second guess, . . . you are trying to WHACK them through, . . . gently, just tap, tap, tap, tap, . . . works better for me. I am not a great fan of spots, . . . May God bless, Dwight

No problem, Rick, . . . I use two equal as I cut them side by side from the same piece of leather. I know the dye will be exactly the same, . . . I know the width will be exactly the same, . . . and I do not have to skive one end to make it lay down next to the other one by the buckle. Also when you burnish, . . . sometimes (seldom really) the thinner one will want to do it's own thing with the burnishing, . . . I know what to expect when both pieces are side by side from the same cow. AND, . . . putting the thinner one on the inside is almost a guaranteed wrinkle patch. The thicker piece outside will not want to give, . . . forcing the inside to wrinkle. Sometimes I get a few small wrinkles in my belts, . . . but I can work them out easier with two equal thicknesses than with one fat / one skinny. I also only have to stock one size, . . . only have to check one size before accepting the order, . . . and there is no appreciable savings in having a side of 9, . . . side of 7, . . . side of 5, . . . and a side of 3. They are for the most part the same price, . . . so why knock yourself out? Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

I went to a plastic supplier I found in the yellow pages, . . . took a sample of what I wanted. He took me back into his warehouse, . . . I brought out a piece, . . . 30 by 48, . . . 1/4 inch thick, . . . it is on my old work desk as we speak, . . . I think it cost me $40 or so. AND, . . . if you have a TSC or Rural King close, . . . ask them about bed liners for pickup trucks. If I were doing a 4 x 8 table or something near that size, . . . I'd seriously consider one of them. May God bless, Dwight

I need a pattern for a 2x leather fringe jacket, . . . Needs to be for deerskin, . . . open / button up front, . . . collar, . . . fringe, . . . Can someone point me in the proper direction for finding one? Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

I have a box pattern, . . . looks like a cell phone case when finished, . . . Lemme know if you are interested. May God bless, Dwight

My favorite leather jacket has a similar treatment. It's an Eddie Baur, . . . bought at a yard sale for $3, . . . every seam and outside edge is "sanded" or something to make it look worn on the edges. At first, I just thought it had been worn a lot, . . . bought it anyway for a run around coat, . . . began looking seriously at it, . . . it was darn near brand new, . . . but had been subjected to the "worn" treatment. Probably not "THE" best buy I ever made, . . . but certainly one of them. I'm with Tinker, . . . beat it up, . . . jack up the prices, . . . smile and say "thank you" when they pony up the cash, . . . laugh all the way to the bank. May God bless, Dwight

I dislike using different thicknesses because they never work out for me as well as the double layer / same thickness. At the buckle end of the belt, you either have a step/shelf, . . . or you skive it down, . . . weakening that piece of leather. With holsters, . . . they tend to wrinkle more on the inside, . . . and I DO NOT like wrinkles in the interior of my holsters. What little I have done that way turned me off, . . . I'm just following Mr. Bianchi's advice, . . . two equal pieces. YMMV May God bless, Dwight

Except for one small thing, . . . If that is a good hatchet, . . . the first time somebody forgets the sheath is on the hatchet, . . . swings it into a piece of wood, . . . each rivet that is cut in two, . . . will leave a nasty, ugly, horrible nick in the edge of the hatchet. I refuse to put them in my knife, ax, or hatchet sheaths simply for that reason. If the stitching won't hold it together, . . . and it needs rivets, . . . it was not done right to begin with. Yes, . . . they are pretty, . . . but totally non functional. May God bless, Dwight

That's how I do it, . . . just be sure not to hang it up by one end, . . . top will be light, . . . bottom will be dark , . . . I lay it on the top edge for about 15 minutes, . . . then flip it and let it dry out. You can use Red Cent's process too, . . . I am just a bit lazy, . . . and I'm also a Baptist, . . . and a doughnut lover, . . . so "dunkin" just comes kinda natural to me. May God bless, Dwight

I have no idea who bad mouthed the stitch groover from Tandy, . . . but I'd bet it was either someone who did not know how to use one, . . . or someone wanting you to buy his fancy one, . . . or one like his fancy one. I am in the holster, belt, knife sheath, purse, and wallet (reluctantly only) business as a hobby. My Tandy groover has been in service since somewhere near 10 years, . . . still working fine, . . . used it today. My belts alone are almost never shorter than 35 inches, . . . add 9 inches to the blank to start, . . . doing both sides, . . . both edges, . . . which works out at 176 inches per belt, . . . and that is the short one. I get belts for them guys that wear 53 inch britches, . . . You want to spend more than their $15, . . . have at it, . . . I surely would not. May God bless, Dwight May God bless, Dwight

If you make the belt out of two equal thicknesses of veggie tanned leather, . . . contact cemented together, . . . sew the edges, . . . you will have a belt you can will down to your grandchild possibly. They are absolutely sturdy, . . . strong, . . . look great, . . . wear great, . . . and if you carry "stuff" (cell phone, . . . handcuffs, . . . CCW, . . . pager, . . . ammunition, . . . flashlight, . . . etc) on it, . . . it won't sag. If you use almost anything else, . . . the edges will not burnish really well together, . . . wind up looking raggedy in a couple years or so, maybe even sooner. May God bless, Dwight

My first one did not look that good, . . . Altogether, I'd say good job for the first one. May God bless, Dwight

By the time all is said and done on that "first" one, . . . profit is slim to none when you add in the blue gun. Fortunately, . . . after that, . . . it's a whole lot better. May God bless, Dwight

Mine is about an inch and a half thick, . . . but I'd say your's will probably do the trick. The important thing is to allow the stamp to do it's work, . . . which on a spongy surface, . . . doesn't happen correctly. I would, however, . . . build a box to put that thing in, . . . with handles at each end, . . . and bring the wood up around the edges so it is flush with the top. My piece sometimes aggravates me when I get kinda tired and rest my wrists on the edge, . . . with a rounded wooden edge you would not have that problem. I have meant to do that to mine, . . . but for now just throw a towel on it. May God bless, Dwight

Tinker hit both nails right on the head. I've just about made it a habit, . . . and part of my "pre sewing check out", . . . to check the bobbin. I make just enough belts that I got into that habit, . . . knowing that on my machine with 346 thread, . . . I'm always good for one belt on a bobbin, . . . but need to check for that second one. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . first thing you gotta do is go spend time at the EAA museum, . . . tell em Dwight sent you. Then, . . . get into the habit of dip dyeing your projects. I use all Feibings products, . . . I cut them with thinner, . . . half dye / half thinner. I use a couple of old cake pans I scrounged out of my wife's kitchen, . . . they're 9 by 14 or something thereabouts, . . . 2 inches deep. The leather goes in, . . . end for end, . . . dunked all the way around, . . . and sometimes it's tricky to get the last few places dyed, . . . and sometimes it gets a bit messy, . . . BUT IT GETS THE JOB DONE. Another process is spraying it with an air gun, . . . but it is only surface deep, . . . I don't like it as well. Both processes work well though, . . . purses, holsters, belts, billfolds, pouches, etc. May God bless, Dwight

Always was a fan of his, . . . you did well in your re-creating the image. I thought about making one for myself several times, . . . but I guess I just don't think I could do justice to the persona, . . . gave up the idea. If I did, . . . I would hope it came out as well as yours did. May God bless, Dwight

Two things: 1) I don't like pigskin for a liner, . . . it just never worked for me as well as I wanted it to, and sometimes I could not get the edge to look good, . . . it seemed to pretty much stay together, . . . but looked funky, . . . and 2) try using suede leather, . . . I've never had any issues with the ones I've done in suede, . . . and the old wives tale about it rusting your gun because of the chrome salts, . . . it's so much hogwash in my opinion. Better yet, . . . use two layers of the same thickness of veggie tan, . . . my "better" grade western holsters are all made this way. It is the best lining you can do for the treatment of the weapons, . . . and it seems to be more indestructable. That said, . . . I pretty much use your process except for the gum trag. Had a bottle of it, . . . threw it in the trash. If you get any of it any place where it is not supposed to be, . . . forget dying that piece of leather. Gum trag is a wonderful resist for stopping dye in its tracks. But to answer the HOW??? I think it was John Bianchi in one of his videos, . . . maybe not, . . . whatever. When you are doing the forming of the holster, the last thing you do before you hang it up to dry, . . . gently take your thumb and flare the mouth of the holster slightly outward. It is not supposed to look like the fat end of a Bflat trumpet, . . . just ever so slightly flared, . . . giving the weapon a sort of "funnel" to guide it down in. The upside of that flaring is that it also adds incredible strength to that outside of the holster. It will seriously help it from crushing flat should it get really bad squeezed. I've never had a problem using this process. May God bless, Dwight

When the belt is laid down on the table, . . . loops up, . . . flat, . . . it should look like a big smile (or frown depending on which ends are up). My 40 inch belt has a 6 inch curve if you draw a line left to right, . . . point to point, . . . then measure from the line to the belt. Both pieces are cut, . . . curved, . . . loops put on outside piece, . . . then glued together. If you are thinking curve like a curve around a barrel, . . . you are thinking of the wrong curve. It's the curve you get from a smiley face that you want in the belt. That is what keeps it up around the cowboys hips when he sneezes wearing a hog leg. I pretty much make all of mine 2 1/2 wide, . . . everyone seems to like that the best. I've made some 3 inch, . . . they are a bit wide. I made my template, . . . using a string, . . . pencil, . . . and a needle. Needle is the center of the arc, . . . string holds the pencil, . . . make a big arc for it. Then I cut the template, . . . made markings on it to make a 34, 35, 36, 37, etc inch belt just by sliding one end around. You might look down in the holster and belt forum on here, . . . some excellent tutorials there. May God bless, Dwight

Looks like black to me.............. May God bless, Dwight

If you want the rig to carry that cannon, . . . better do the belt right. Yes, . . . it needs to be curved, . . . there is an excellent video series from John Bianchi, . . . he goes through it. Basically, . . . if you can think of a bow where the string is 6 inches from the bow at the middle, . . . that is the curve you need to make. That keeps it from dropping to his ankles every time he sneezes. I make only dual layer belts, . . . two pieces using contact cement and then sewn together, . . . 7/8 oz veggie tan. Tongue is also double layer, . . . same leather. Buckle holder is 7/8 single layer. Belt loops are 4/5 or 5/6 depending on what is there when I need it. I use a single hole looping system, . . . the loop comes through the hole, . . . around the cartridge, . . . and back out the exact same hole. This is ONLY done on the outside piece of the belt, . . . NOT on both pieces. There is an example on my website, . . . but it is a money belt, . . . made a bit differently than the standard gun belt and it is not curved. Gun belts are not that hard to do, . . . just time consuming. Oh, . . . final point. Make it a practice to add 4 inches to the length of the belt the guy wears, . . . for a hip holster. That way it fits, . . . if you don't, . . . you'll re-make it most likely. May God bless, Dwight

I have no experience with pleather, . . . but I would not hesitate for one instant: getting together the facts and figures about the manufacture of pleather, it's contents, it's toxicity, . . . as well as pointing out that the leather most of us use is a by product of meat growers, . . . and by using the "cast off's" of another industry, we are indeed being better stewards of the planet. But then again, . . . she'd a nut case, . . . and will most likely twist and spin the whole topic until you become Attila the Hun / Jeffery Dahmer. Good luck. May God bless, Dwight

I had made one identical for it for my XD, double stack, that I did not keep very long. Must have traded off the mag carrier too. At any rate, . . . this is how I did it, . . . you can see that the front piece, . . . and both straps are cut from one piece of leather, and the back is a second piece. I made my template using yellow manila folder material for the pattern, . . . then cut the leather and simply stitched it together. I then wet them real good, . . . jam the mags in to do the forming, . . . allow them to set for a couple hours, . . . gently tug out the mags, . . . let them finish drying for a day or two. I then dip dye them, . . . resolene coat them, . . . apply the snaps, . . . and we're good to go. Here are some picture of the single stack rig. May God bless, Dwight