Dwight

Do this: Use contact cement, . . . glue the edges together so they cannot move. Sand the edges until they are all nice and rounded, smooth, and the contour of the holster is appropriate. Bevel the edges Gouge the stitch line Mark, punch, stitch (or in my case, . . . sew). Works a whole lot easier that way, . . . believe me. May God bless, Dwight

I was told most of the hide houses use a laser thingy that dots the edges, . . . hits the CPU, . . . and spits out a number. I've never been able to verify how close they are in their laser guesstimates. May God bless, Dwight

After throwing away a few holsters, . . . I finally figured out that if I glued, . . . sanded, . . . gouged, . . . THEN stitched, . . . it would work out better for me. You may not be able to get the distance from stitch to edge as even all the way around by doing it your way. But we learn as we go along. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Mike, . . . been wondering from time to time, . . . glad to see your signature back on here. Try some of them home made cinnamon rolls with butter, . . . some raspberry filled doughnuts with white butter creme frosting, . . . a banana creme pie or two, . . . along with keeping a bag of Chili Cheese Frito's corn chips open on the desk . . . . heck, . . . . you'll be back up to 210 faster than you thought possible. Anyway, . . . that's what happens to me if I'm not careful. Welcome back, my friend, . . . may God bless, Dwight

The first thing: you can stamp, cut, tool, and beat on black leather till you are purple in the face, . . . and it will never, ever show up as good as a tan color will. It is just the nature of shadows and shadowing, . . . the difference between black and tan. For black, . . . you can spray or paint on highlights, . . . edges, . . . stems, . . . leaves, . . . etc, . . . but that is about what you will have to do to get the desired result. The second thing, . . . I could not tell for sure, . . . but it did not appear that you did much beveling if any , . . . especially around the flower petals. The beveling is one of the tools that makes the image pop up off the leather, . . . and has to be done right, . . . it adds a 3 dimensional depth to the subject. I'm really not too good at it myself (mainly I DO NOT have the patience) but I use several different beveling tools to lift up one and put down another section of the leather, . . . giving it a much deeper "look" than it really is. Hope this helps, may God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . we've got orange oil, . . . cedar oil, . . . eucalyptus oil, . . . and now, rosemary. Question 1: Where do all you folks find these things? Question 2: How much do they cost? Question 3: How much do you use , . . . weight? ratio? measured? That would be good information to have. May God bless, Dwight

I'd almost be tempted to throw that leather gizmo away before I'd waste good peanut butter trying to clean it up, . . . That's pretty darn close to culinary blasphemy. May God bless, Dwight

Really easy, Dorado, . . . measure it by weight, . . . equal portions of virgin beeswax (make sure it is not some garbage manufactured beeswax product), . . . and neetsfoot oil. I put them in a jar, . . . set the jar in a $10 crock pot from Goodwill, . . . turn it on high, . . . come back in an hour or so, . . . make sure it has all melted together and is only liquid, . . . swish it around in the jar to make sure it is well mixed, . . . pour out the concoction into a muffin pan lined with muffin papers, . . . and when it cools, . . . I've got it. A dab more of wax and it'll be a bit more solid, . . . a dab more oil, . . . it'll be more squishy, . . . but both work well. I'd actually do everything with it if I thought my customer's would put up with it, . . . but most of them have been trained to expect the plastic type finish, . . . so I give them Resolene. A few of them get this treatment, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I have dealt with Tandy, . . . Springfield, . . . Weaver's, . . . and some mom and pop locations. I go to Tandy's because I can pick out THE hide or piece I want. I was not always satisified with the others when I ordered from them. YMMV May God bless, Dwight

Herman Oak is good leather, . . . but just leather: it'll crack, peel, bend, break, fold, spindle, and mutilate, . . . the blank with snaps is what I don't like and prefer not to use. Chicago screws keep the belt together, . . . snaps can easily come undone, . . . not often, . . . maybe never in your experience, . . . but only one sneeze in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and your gun may be sliding across the marble floor to the chagrin of those around you. Probable???? NO, not at all. Possible, . . . Murphy says it is, . . . and I've known that goofball long enough to know he comes around at the worst possible times. My belts I make and sell, . . . generally are never thinner than .160, . . . and not thicker than .210. The shorter they are, . . . the thinner, . . . and vice versa. I carried an XD double stacked .45 for a while, . . . it took my .240 belt to comfortably keep it and two mags together on my skinny frame. I still carry a compact all steel 1911 most of the time, . . . on that same .240 belt. It is comfortable. Your SR9C is light, . . . but also because it is light, . . . will tend to flop around if not well secured. Again, . . . a better belt makes that an easier chore. Try a stitched double layer belt, . . . what have you got to lose??? I really think you will be amazed and happily surprised at how well it carries the extra weight and keeps everything in place like it is supposed to. May God bless, Dwight

If you are going to carry a scandium 5 shot .38, . . . probably will be OK for a while. Eventually you will find the snaps will come apart if you put any real force onto the belt buckle (at least I've seen the experience, . . . and it ain't funny). And the time frame for that eventuality becomes much shorter if you are carrying a steel 1911, . . . a Python, . . . or similar piece. I use Chicago Screws to hold my gun belts together. Good luck, . . . like they say in the funny papers, . . . you can make do if you make yourself do it. I will always prefer a double layer, stitched gun belt, . . . after my first one years and years ago, . . . I got hooked. And, yes, . . . for myself (not for profit..........), . . . for myself, . . . I would hand sew one. That single layer belt will sag like a stepped on jump rope after a fairly short while, . . . Herman Oak notwithstanding, . . . it's just leather. May God bless, Dwight

Because I only make double layer gunbelts, . . . yes they are contact cemented together, . . . but they are also sewn ALL THE WAY AROUND. With my sewing machine, . . . it runs between 10 and 20 minutes per belt. But it is totally worth it. I know a fellow who used to do them by hand, . . . he started on one end, . . . his wife on the other end, . . . usually took them an evening of watching TV together, . . . but they enjoyed it, . . . made a few bucks, . . . win / win situation. May God bless, Dwight

I had the privilege of teaching a couple of holster classes and belt classes there a number of years ago. Scott is one of the few folks I consider a true friend, . . . May God bless, Dwight

You can also hand flex the piece. Veggie tan will get hard, . . . but you subject it to multiple bends, . . . squashing, . . . etc, . . . it'll go soft again. May God bless, Dwight

I was given the recipe by a wonderful lady in either Oregon or Washington state several years ago, . . . I use it for my "special" stuff, . . . if it has to be "old timey" or something like that. My parade rig has it on it. From what she said, . . . it is an old, . . . old recipe, . . . been used for a long, long time. The other finish I use, . . . is Resolene. May God bless, 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