Dwight

Fold it, . . . lay it on another piece of leather, . . . put a third piece on top of it, . . . then stand a concrete block on it for a couple of days. May God bless, Dwight

Have you thought about going to some place like Salvation army, . . . Goodwill industries. Take a shot at what they have, . . . if they have "THE" boot that fits your bad foot, , . . and another that fits your good one, . . . buy both pairs, . . . take em home, . . . fill em full of plaster of paris or something similar. Take a razor knife and cut the boots off the plaster cast, . . . sand it down a bit and cover it with a very light covering of fiberglass, . . . when that dries and is sanded smooth, . . . I would think the last would work to make the pair you need. You may have to do a "trial and error" pair first, . . . but if you make them as a lace up, . . . you could still use them. Once you get your pattern adjusted exactly to your feet, . . . you can then make your pull on pair with confidence. Anyway, . . . if I were doing it, . . . this would be my first attempt. Just remember that you have to make some sort of cut out and hinge part in it so that when your actual "foot" portion of the boot is made on the last, . . . you can then extricate it from the leather. May God bless, Dwight

Gunbroker is also a good source. I just finished a pocket holster for a Polish P-64, . . . owner took photos with ruler beside the weapon, . . . did a few quick caliper measurements, . . . I scaled it up on my printer to full size, . . . glued it to a piece of pine that was the right thickness, . . . glued another printer pic that was reversed to the other side, . . . cut out the pieces on a band saw, . . . rounded it with a router and some work on my power sander, . . . Customer was thoroughly pleased with the outcome. Now, . . . if I ever need it again, . . . I have a Polish P-64 mold. I've done several like this, . . . including revolvers, . . . AND, . . . don't quote me on this, . . . but if my memory serves me correct it is very similar to a Bersa Thunder 380, . . . but just a tad more beefy than the Bersa. May God bless, Dwight

I have also found (mostly by bad experience) that I can about 99% of the time NOT need a hole with square corners. Slightly rounded corners work in just about everything I do. That said, . . . I use a round punch to do all four corners, . . . then connect the cutting like you talked about with the awl. The punch actually starts that burnishing process in the corners, . . . by compressing the leather there, . . . and using a little burnisher I made by putting a 1/2 inch dowell on a 1/8 in drill bit (long ways), . . . and by notching it, . . . I can burnish those little holes very well. I couldn't find the pictures I have of them, . . . so here is a little drawing that shows kinda what it looks like. The 1/8 inch drill bit fits exactly in my Dremel, . . . works like a champ. I drilled the dowell, . . . glued the drill bit in, . . . put it in the dremel, . . . turned on the dremel, . . . and used it like a little wood lathe, . . . taking out the grooves and shaping it with files, etc. May God bless, Dwight burnish tool.bmp

Marie, . . . you would probably be better off looking for alternatives to dye, . . . Depending on the "color" you want, . . . strong brewed coffee can make a nice brown, . . . vinegaroon does one of the best blacks available. There are alternatives. Stop at a Tandy store, . . . some of their water base stuff is pretty light on aroma. May God bless, Dwight

I thought about photo shopping my face into the picture, . . . sending it to my daughter in law, . . . Maybe I'll wait until I become Pawpaw, . . . might work out better. May God bless, Dwight

I also do not make a lot of holsters for revolvers, . . . few of my customers have or carry them. I couldn't quickly find any other pictures but these two, . . . one of course is a cowboy rig (Duke rig to be specific) and it shows how deep I generally do my revolver holsters. The second one was for a cowboy out west who had a revolver, . . . just like mine, . . . but a shorter barrel. He uses his single action .45LC for concealed carry, . . . in a pancake style, . . . with a thumb break. Personally, . . . I like the old style clam shell holster for small revolvers, . . . when I carry my Colt Det. Spec, . . . it is in a clam shell. May God bless, Dwight

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, . . . I think it needs to be said that talent is first and foremost: an inherent trait / attitude / ability / or edge of some kind that one person has, . . . and not everyone else does, . . . nor can they all ever get it. There is a young man in England who can hear a tune, . . . play it on the piano letter perfect, . . . in any of a multitude of different styles, . . . has been on 60 minutes several times, . . . but cannot remember to eat, shower, or change clothes. Music he has, . . . social order he does not. So are ALL other talents to one degree or another. I have no talent for decorating, tooling, stamping leather, . . . nada, zero, zilch, none whatsoever. I can fake it enough to get a piece passed, . . . because I can do the mechanical part of making, lacing, sewing, stitching, dyeing, finishing, etc. I make holsters, belts, knife sheaths, and an occasional purse or billfold, . . . and they are Aunt Jemima plain, . . . nuttin' fancy. I said all that to get to this point: everyone has talents, . . . the real trick is finding where they are, . . . unlocking them, . . . using them. As an example, . . . I have 3 brothers, . . . all raised in the same household, . . . ate the same food, . . . drank the same water, . . . got whooped with the same switch from time to time. Two of us are very comfortable working on anything mechanical. Myself and another are comfortable working on plumbing and electric. The youngest can do numbers in his head like it is a 40 column spreadsheet, . . . us other three can forget our house numbers. We've all taken different paths because we found out long ago what our talents were, . . . and were not. And that is a shout out to our mother, . . . who encouraged us to try all sorts of things, . . . find out what we could or could not do. Bottom line, . . . find out where your inherent, God given talents lay, . . . business, mechanical, people skills (where would Odufus be if he could not manipulate people????), . . . maybe in the outdoors with animals, or creating things. Nourish them as you find them, . . . encourage them, . . . stretch them to their limits. You'll be glad you did. May God bless, Dwight

Yes, . . . and I would not bet that it isn't older than I am (70), . . . If you have access to one, go to a Brother sewing machine dealer, . . . tell him you want to look at an LS1717 or it's equivalent. I have one I paid a whole $25 for (from a lady who bought it at a hard sale), . . . I have sewn chaps with it, . . . several layers of thick canvas an leather combinations, . . . and I believe right now I have a # 18 needle in it, . . . sewing JoAnn's upholstery thread, . . . It is one tough little plastic machine. There is one on Ebay that is an LS2020 for about $40, . . . and the 1717 looks identical to it. There probably is a difference, . . . I just don't know what it is. Take a sewing example to the Brother dealer, . . . have him try sewing it for you, . . . you might be surprized to find it works. I know I was surprized as all get out with this little plastic wonder I have, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I don't think you can go wrong with the above advice. I did my own with a servo motor from Toledo, . . . took about 1/2 hour, . . . worst part for me was getting down on the floor, . . . then getting back up again. Only unexpected minor hitch was the original belt was too long, . . . had to hit the hardware store for a different one. May God bless, Dwight

No one buys anything because it is cheap and ugly. Cheap, . . . maybe !! Ugly, . . . never !! Leather work is in itself an artistic rendering of a useable product, . . . there will always be the $7.95 Walmart belts that last 3 months, . . . and there will always be the $75.00, double layer, hand tooled, solid brass buckle belt that will last a guy 30 years or an added 4 inches of girth, . . . whichever comes first. This has been going on for something near 3000 years now, . . . no reason for it to change today. May God bless, Dwight

I guess the first really big question is, . . . how are you applying the dye? If you want serious dye color, . . . you cannot get it with any other process other than dip / dunk dyeing. You have to fully submerge the leather in the dye, . . . and the longer you leave it in there, . . . the richer the color will be. With a yellow (assuming you are talking about "caution" yellow, . . . bright yellow, . . . dandelion yellow), . . . it will probably take at least two maybe three maybe even 4 trips into the tank to get the hue you want. You are trying to fully change the color when you go to something like yellow, . . . white, . . . pink, . . . or light blue. Browns, tans, black, or other darker colors can be done in one trip in the tank, . . . no problem, . . . but with yellow, it'll be harder. You also want to start out with the lightest color leather blank you can find, . . . you may have to go to the store and spend a while digging through their selection for a really light piece, . . . and be forewarned, . . . even after you dye it, . . . if it is left in the sunlight, . . . it will darken anyway, . . . it is the "nature of the beast" so to speak. There are other leather like products out there on the market, . . . some are leather with a plastic top coat, . . . that is what I had to use for some special "dress up" rifle slings I made a while back, . . . they wanted "WHITE" ones, . . . and they got em. Best wishes, my friend, . . . you have taken on an arduous task. May God bless, Dwight

Depending on the design of the bag, . . . Tandy sells a product, aptly named, . . . bag stiffener. It comes in a large sheet about 3 ft square, . . . and is a pretty tough product. It is cut with really tough scissors or with a sharp knife, . . . I use a drywall knife. It is also very durable, . . . and is something around $10 a sheet, . . . been a while since I bought it so that is a bit of a guess, today. Stop in a Tandy shop, . . . take a look at it, . . . you may just like it. May God bless, Dwight

Tom, . . . I am no expert on this, . . . bu it is the process I use, . . . and from experience I can answer some of it. I simply "dunk" my hosters, . . . knife sheaths, . . . cell phone cases, . . . trying for about a 3 or 4 second submerged time, . . . but it doesn't always work out perfectly because of the shape, etc. Belts, . . . I drop one end in the tank and snake the rest through, . . . again trying for a 3 to 4 second duration in the tank. I use cake pans, . . . 2 x 9 x 14 or thereabouts, . . . I dump in about a qt of dye, . . . because I never have more than that fixed up at any time. Yes, . . . my experience is that the longer it stays in, . . . the darker it gets. I also cut my dye 50/50 with Feibings thinner, . . . all of em. I tried for a while to do a bunch of shades, . . . gave it up. I do 3 shades for sure, . . . 2 browns and a black, . . . One thing I can tell you for sure about, . . . lay it down flat for the first 30 minutes of drying time. Belts go for 10 minutes on the bottom edge, . . . then flipped for the next 20 on the top edge, . . . then I hang em up. If you hang any piece that has any length, . . . too soon, . . . dye will migrate to the bottom, . . . making a lighter / darker piece from top to bottom. It can really ruin your whole day, . . . and I can factually attest that it DOES do that. May God bless, Dwight

If there is any other way to dye holsters, belts, guitar straps, knife sheaths, cell phone holders, . . . than dip dyeing, . . . you couldn't prove it by my shop. If it ain't dipped, . . . it ain't dyed. ALWAYS rub down your product, . . . if you are using Feibings oil dye, . . . cut it 50% with their thinner, . . . put some water on the edges with a damp sponge after you have beveled them, . . . burnish them, . . . put on the Resolene, . . . you will love the product. That is how I do all my stuff. Edge cote is junk, . . . so is gum trag, . . . IMHO, . . . a simple water / friction burnishing, . . . followed with Resolene, . . . makes a beautiful and durable product. May God bless, Dwight PS: Don't get in so much of a hurry either, . . . then you won't double and triple post on here.

I have a 111W155, . . . sews a full 3 layers of 6/7 with no trouble. Make sure of the full model number of the machine, . . . there is info out there for just about all of them, . . . you should be able to turn it in just a few minutes. May God bless, Dwight

Honestly, Thor, . . . I don't remember, . . . but if you do make slot punches, . . . use a piece of flat stock inside the conduit, . . . you can cold hammer it and make the sides really nice and parallel. IIRC, . . . the 3/4 conduit makes a little over a 1 inch slot punch, . . . and the 1 inch makes almost a 1 1/2 inch punch. I don't mess with trying to harden or case harden them, . . . the zinc coating can screw up your lungs bad if it is burned with a torch or if it gets too hot some other way, . . . and anyway, . . . they sharpen so quickly & easily, . . . Most electricians have some laying around, . . . or you can go to a big box store, . . . get a stick of 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1/1/2, . . . they're all 10 feet long, . . . should last you several years, . . . and should be less than the price of one fancy store bought punch. May God bless, Dwight

I haven't tackled the vest yet, . . . but I've got the machine, the liner, the conchos, and the leather. Wish I had the determination to go do it. Your work looks good, lady. Curiosity, . . . what is the connection to the Viking interest? Mine is from having been a sailor, . . . would love to haul out one day in a long boat,............. May God bless, Dwight

Electrathon gave you the cat's meow answer. Piece of conduit about 10 inches long, . . . lay one end up against a disc sander or a belt sander, . . . go slow, . . . sharpen it on a bevel back up about 3/8 of an inch, . . . take a round file to the inside when you get done, . . . cut your holes in the strap with another piece of scrap leather under your guitar strap. I make almost all my punches out of pipe, conduit, or tubing, . . . figure I've probably saved about $500 or so over the last 10 years. Plus I have some unique punches that nobody but me makes (that I know of). Here are a few of them. May God bless, Dwight

I put a light coat on both pieces, . . . dry them with a heat gun, . . . stick em together, . . . sand the edges, . . . bevel the edges, . . . then I sew the rascal. I have never had a problem sewing anything, . . . from a couple of pieces of really thin leather, . . . to a 3/4 inch piece, . . . Actual time from sticking to stitching, . . . probably 20 minutes at the most. Works for me. May God bless, Dwight

rbrooks, . . . I don't do a lot of shoulder holsters, . . . but mostly when I do, . . . they are "different". This is an example, . . . if I remember correctly it is an M&P 9mm, . . . and it had a laser on it. Nice weapon, . . . pain in the watoosie to make a holster for it. I refuse any and all horizontal shoulder holsters for striker fired weapons, . . . but I will make em muzzle down like this one. Take a look at how I did it, . . . it uses a thumb break for retention. A double mag pouch on the off side makes it ride easier with less shifting. Holler back if you have any questions, . . . more than happy to help. May God bless, Dwight

Terrypen, . . . get your camera out. Most people (myself included) do really well with pictures, . . . it is really time consuming and sometime futile to try to decipher another person's description. Cut the pics to 800 by 600 in size, . . . and post them. We can do a lot more towards helping you then. May God bless, Dwight

I have too many machines to do a lot of hand sewing, . . . but occasionally I have to do it. For example a knife sheath would be glued together, . . . welt inserted, . . . edges sanded, burnished, beveled, etc. I use my stitch gouger on both sides of the piece, . . . then go to the top end and make my first hole, . . . as straight down as I can do it, . . . but I don't go all the way through, . . . just far enough to be able to turn it over, . . . and see where the point wants to come out. If it is not on the stitch line, . . . I pull it back a bit, . . . adjust the angle of thrust, . . . and try again. I keep this up until I have that first hole exactly where it needs to be to look right. I then take my stitch wheel and mark both sides of the stitch gouge, . . . starting with a point in that first hole I've already made. Then, . . . just make the rest of the holes, . . . starting on top, . . . not going all the way through, . . . turning it over, . . . looking where the point is coming through, . . adjust it to come through on the mark you made in the gouge with the stitch wheel. I do all my holes first, . . . then come back and stitch. Probably not the most efficient, . . . but for an old codger like me, . . . it works, . . . that's all that counts. May God bless, Dwight

My belts are all snaked through the dip dye tank after they are fully assembled, . . . sewn, . . . burnished, . . . punched. I then re-burnish the edges, . . . apply the final sealer (mostly Resolene), . . . polish and send. If it has to be a natural inner liner, . . . I accomplish that by dying only the outside piece, . . . then assembling the 2 layer belt. Two layer belts are the only ones I make. May God bless, Dwight

Good looking work, . . . I have the patience for woodwork, . . . housebuilding, . . . electric, plumbing, and a host of other things. Never could create the patience for that kind of metal crafting, . . . Thanks for posting, . . . may God bless, Dwight