Dwight

I got $500 for mine, . . . I thought it was fair, . . . as that is about the investment I had in it at the time. May God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . I did find an older Springfield Armory, . . . all stainless, . . . 1911 (I think it may have been a "loaded"), . . . was absolutely bigger. This was a number of years ago, . . . and I have never run across it again, . . . but it would not go into a Milt Sparks Executive holster, . . . nor would it go into one of the cheaper kydex holsters I had at the time. Just sayin. May God bless, Dwight

Snubbyfan, . . . Great looking holster, my friend,.......and you definitely do a better job at basket weave than I do. Guess I just never really caught on to it like I would like to, . . . so I tend to stay away from it somewhat. But I did giggle a bit when I saw the suicide strap, . . . knowing the guy using it is not one of the "whole bunch younger" crowd. And as said before, . . . the concho really sets it off. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . this is an old trick I learned years ago, . . . and while I've never kept a log sheet, . . . the different needles seem for some reason to like different positions. All I'm doing is making sure that when I lock it down this time, . . . it is not where it was when I loosened it up. I had taken the needle out to check the size on it, . . . and when I put it back in, . . . it all went south, . . . seems OK for now. I've got a pancake holster to do for an order, . . . I'll find out for sure then if all is well. May God bless, Dwight

That, indeed, is some excellent work, . . . far beyond my expertise that is for sure. BUT ! If you are interested in doing that, . . . one of the things you can do if you want to get into that type of carving, . . . use a laser printer, . . . reverse the image, . . . print it on to waxed paper, . . . lay the waxed paper onto the leather, . . . use a squeege to transfer the ink onto the leather. At least you won't then have to try to draw the image, . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you look down on the top of the needle, . . . like you were standing up in front of the machine, . . . it's 3:30 or three-thirty on the clock, . . . or 4:00 or four o'clock. It indicates where the pin would be pointing. AND, . . . thanks Wizcrafts, . . . gives me something else to look at. I've actually gotten a bit lax in my "maintenance" schedule here in the last few years, . . . need to just toss a dart onto the calendar and whatever day that hits, . . . got to take some stuff down, . . . PM and clean it, . . . put it back in operation. I used to be really good at doing that stuff, . . . gotten lazy in my old age, . . . kinda got to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" routine. May God bless, Dwight

Generally speaking, . . . it's pretty much an either / or situation. Trying to tool a holster, . . . then come back and form it, . . . and add boning, . . . nahh, . . . I'll tool the leather, . . . make the holster, . . . and dampen it just enough to form the general shape, . . . but boning lines and fancy add in's are above and beyond my expertise. But then again, . . . never been asked, . . . so that has worked out so far. I did a rose pattern on a western six gun rig some time back, . . . tool, cut, sew, dampen, form, finish, . . . was kinda the progression, . . . turned out nice. May God bless, Dwight

Glockanator, . . . OK, . . . got mine fixed, . . . it would sew 20 or so stitches then somehow catch the thread, . . . next time, . . . 2 stitches. I took out the needle, . . . then took a straight pin, . . . stuck it in the "eye", . . . and played with it until I got it to sew, . . . by moving the needle back and forth. When the pin, . . . stuck in the eye, . . . was pointing to about 3:30 or almost 4:00, . . . it finally decided that It would sew. I was able to completely sew my niece's belt up with it, . . . did not skip a stitch or catch even once. May God bless, Dwight

I always coat my cartridge loops, . . . inside and out, . . . with resolene. It should take care of your problem. I've got nickle ones in my saddle rig that I know have been in there for 3 years, . . . maybe 4, maybe 5, . . . no tarnish. May God bless, Dwight

I use both sides and double shoulders for belts, . . . sides for the big guys, . . . double shoulders for the smaller ones. There will always be scrap, . . . but since I use a strap cutter, . . . at least they are "uniform" scrap pieces, . . . and I wind up using them on various other projects as I keep em all in a bag. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . I guess this whole discussion just may hang on one question: do you provide a buckle with the belt you are selling? Yes, . . . I always do. That is the way stores sell em, . . . that is the way they are sold by just about everyone I know about on the net, . . . so that is the way I do it. That is also the way I know when I make a 44 1/2 inch belt, . . . it is a 44 1/2 inch belt from the inside of the buckle lip to the center hole. But that's just my way, . . . OMMV. May God bless, Dwight

"Like"........... I just pushed the like button for this post, . . . thanks JLS........... May God bless, Dwight

Ain't never been there, . . . ain't never done that. But what I would do is just go on with what you were doing, . . . don't change anything. Veggie tan leather is some pretty forgiving stuff from what I've seen in almost 60 years of playing with it. I've had projects that I was sure was ruined, . . . came out all right. Matter of fact, . . . got a belt out in the shop that my sewing machine flubbed on, . . . will take a different look at it in a couple days. Right now, my big hammer is too close to the sewing machine better stay in here for now. Worst case scenario, . . . you become the resident expert on what happens. May God bless, Dwight

I do the resolene trick inside and out, . . . up and down, . . . top an bottom. It still ain't "waterproof", . . . but it is right real good and close to it. You can add any good boot or shoe polish to it, . . . make it REALLY shine then. May God bless, Dwight

1. Get that stitch line a whole bunch closer to the trigger guard, . . . that looks very much like you made the holster for a different gun. But for a "first" one, . . . it is great. Y'all ain't never gonna see my first one, . . . nada............ 2. Don't stain, . . . dye your leather. It would have taken me all of 30 seconds to dye that holster, . . . and it would have stretched to 3 minutes if you count clean up and put away time. I use 9 by 14 (or so) baking pans, . . . pour the dye in the pan, . . . drop in the leather, . . . swoosh it around a bit, . . . drag it out, . . . daub off the puddles, . . . let it dry. While it is beginning to dry, . . . I pour the rest of the dye back in the bottle, . . . wipe out the pan with a paper towel, . . . throw it and my rubber gloves in the trash, . . . What part of Indiana do you hang your hat in? My two sisters and I laugh about all living in Marion, . . . they're in Marion, Indiana, . . . I'm in Marion, Ohio. May God bless, Dwight

Well so far, . . . I've had to "re-do" a grand total of 2 belts, . . . doing it my way. The first was when a guy told me he needed a 36 inch belt. I didn't realize he was basing that on his britches size. As it turned out, . . . his new one was a 41. He had stretched the 36's that far. The second belt was a cowboy rig, . . . western belt, . . . bullet loops and all that regalia. I measured him for a 53, . . . and always add 4 inches for a gun belt, . . . When he put it on, . . . it only went to the first hole in the belt and he was kinda sorta struggling to get that buckled. I re-measured everything, . . . dude had gone from a 53 to a 56 in the time it took to make his belt. If you want to do it your way, . . . have at it, . . . I lost track of the number of belts I've done down through the years, . . . and like I said, . . . got recalled on a grand total of 2. May God bless, Dwight

Not meaning to be hard headed, . . . OLDNSLOW, . . . but stop and think about it for a minute. If you measured your bedroom for carpet, . . . do you not measure all the way to the wall on each side??? Not measuring the buckle, . . . leaves that much off the measurement around the person, . . . kinda like measuring your bedroom, . . . but starting about a foot from the wall. Measuring the buckle also, . . . will give you a more accurate measurement of the person you are attempting to surround with the belt. There is one caveat to all I have written, . . . and that is if the person intends to use a totally different type buckle on his/her new belt. If the person in Wyoming (I live in Ohio) wants a belt made by me, . . . they tell me 39 1/2 inches from inside of buckle tip, . . . to most used hole, . . . and I make exactly that, . . . using the buckle I have in my supply. If they measure from the fold, . . . and are using some kind of a Rodeo Reward buckle the size of a large human hand, . . . the belt I make them using a standard buckle will be too short when they get it. Uhh, . . . been there, done that, . . . so to speak. And, . . . I hate re-making something I thought was correct when I first did it. May God bless, Dwight

I went out to start on my niece's belt tonight, . . . machine decided to throw a fit, . . . so I'm down now for the long count. My Boss is a good machine when it is working, . . . when it decides to be a pain, . . . a red-headed, step-daughter, turned into a mother in law doesn't even begin to describe it. Had to just come in the house and bake me a cherry pie to get my nerves unfrazzled. We'll eat it tomorrow, . . . working on the Boss. May God bless, Dwight

OK, Glockanator, . . . misery loves company they say. If you figure yours out, . . . holler at me. I went out to sew up a belt for my niece tonight, . . . something I've done XYZ number of times, . . . COULD NOT GET IT TO SEW. So, . . . I'm back in the house, . . . chilling, . . . I'll take a whack at it sometime tomorrow, . . . If I mess with it tonight, . . . I'll take a whack at it with a 4 pound hammer, . . . Didja ever get yours running correctly??? May God bless, Dwight

When I do these, . . . I do the loops through only one side, . . . and it is the "looped back through the same hole" style, . . . never sewn, . . . but that is just my way of doing them. After I get the loops on, . . . I put on the buckle and tongue billets, . . . then wet the whole thing down pretty good, . . . fold in the middle, . . . crease with a one and and a half inch wide wall paper seam roller, . . . hang it up by the tongue billet and let it dry. I then come back and contact cement all of it on the inside except up under the buckle billet, . . . where I stash the cash. I suppose some of those back in the old days may have had a longer tunnel for the money, . . . all my customers will be putting greenbacks in there, . . . so I give em room for that. And, yeah, . . . 6/7 is fine. I always do mine so they become a roughout belt. May God bless, Dwight

At 71, . . . still "having at it", . . . getting ready to do my first long wallet like this. Needed some "inspiration" on the pattern, . . . thank you my friend. I've done other wallets, . . . just never got into the long ones, . . . sister has a "special friend" who needs one, . . . so here we go. May God bless, Dwight

I measure from the inside edge of the belt buckle, . . . to the most used hole. THAT is the fatness or skinneyness that the customer is. Measuring from the fold is an inaccurate measurement, . . . kinda like weighing out your hamburger, . . . with it in the cast iron skillet. And, . . . 7 holes is my standard. May God bless, Dwight

Glockanator, . . . try this: I sent them an email indicating you were having trouble, . . . Here is the response *************************** Hi Dwight, I’m sorry to hear that your friend is having trouble with his machine. Our technicians would like to help him out. Please have your friend give either Jamie or Al a call at his convenience. Thank you. Have a great day! Rachel Fogarty Purchasing Agent Customer Service Representative Tippmann Industrial 3518 Adams Center Rd. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 1-866-286-8046 Rachel@tippmannindustrial.com Rachel@air-ordnance.com

Welcome, Vana, . . . glad to have you aboard the leather working train. Your belt sample looked really good for a first go at it, . . . keep working, you will only get better. Or, . . . you will get broke, as in "no more money". It is also one of the attributes of leather working, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Boriqua, . . . one of the fun things you can do with blue guns is customize em. I do it often. Add several layers of masking tape here or there to make the slide wider, . . . augment with a layer or two of manila envelope, . . . be surprized what you can conjure up. I had a guy wanted a glock (ugh !!) holster and the model he had was a bit longer than the only one I had at the time. About 20 minutes after I found out what the difference in the two was, . . . I had a wooden extension for my glock (ugh !!) blue gun, . . . that when taped on, . . . carefully modeled the one he wanted. Made him the holster, . . . he's been a happy camper ever since (guess about as happy as you can be if you own a glock, . . . y'know). Anyway, . . . go for it. Nothing ventured, . . . nothing gained. May God bless, Dwight