Dwight

Well . . . there is a Boss sitting in my leather shop . . . I used it for 20 years . . . made belts . . . holsters . . . purses . . . knife sheaths . . . and others with it. I'll have to say that I'm 80 years old . . . and if I had to . . . I wouldn't think twice about going out there and knocking out a 50 inch double buscadero rig with it. Yes . . . you do pull down with each stitch . . . then push back up to complete it. A belt for a 40 inch customer generally took me 1/ 2 hour . . . 15 minutes each way . . . taking a 3 or 4 minute break half way thru each side. That 40 inch belt will need in the neighborhood of 500 individual stitches. It might be a good idea to go to a Tandy leather shop . . . let them show you the imitation that someone else makes. Ask them if you could try to stitch a couple of 8 ounce pieces of leather together. A good store will do that for you. You'll also get a good idea of what you would be in for if you got one. I would still be using it if I had not had a windfall of cash come my way. May God bless, Dwight

So why would one be more interested it it than in American cow hide?? May God bless, Dwight

Every now and then I take inventory . . . thinking I could chop it down. So far . . . if I take it out . . . within a couple days . . . I miss it. So . . . it stays . . . May God bless, Dwight

OK . . . here it is . . . my normal carry . . . I dropped it in a box . . . sat it on my scale . . . it hit 97 ounces . . . take away the 6 oz box . . . 91 ounces. I had to use the cell phone for the picture . . . but it was in the box. Yes . . . this is my EDC . . . except that sometimes that little 29 ounce Springfield gets replaced with an ATI 49 ounce handgun. That black belt goes around a 39 (or so) waist. It is also the reason my belt measures 0.230 thick . . . and it is only 20 or 21 or 22 years old . . . not for sure which. I make my belts I sell . . . between about 0.180 and 0.230 . . . but usually the heavier ones only hit 0.220 or 0.210. My customers have yet to complain . . . May God bless, Dwight

My bad . . . embossing stamps . . . May God bless, Dwight

Why not toss the cosmoline and use elmers white glue . . . or rubber cement. Both will allow for a certain amount of movement while you are sewing the product . . . and since you are sewing it . . . it is to at some point . . . be prevented from movement. Both the white glue and rubber cement will give you that option . . . and unless you practically bathe it in the glue . . . it will not come thru. Try a couple pieces . . . I think you will like it as an option. And just as an ending note . . . if anyone came into my leather shop with cosmoline . . . they would promptly shown the door and their product would go with them. That is almost like hiring the wolves to guard the sheep while I go on vacation. May God bless, Dwight

I am not a fan of Weaver's for personal reasons . . . but at the same time . . . there are folks in Taiwan and Japan who specialize in customized stamps . . . the two very special stamps I had made were done in brass . . . very intricate . . . and were 35 dollars each a few years back. May God bless, Dwight

There are auctioneers who specialize in these types of estates . . . they contact potential buyers all across the nation. Auctioneers I know of here in Ohio get 10% of the total. I'm not sure about a leather business . . . but if I were you I would investigate it. Local auctioneers would know those in their business who could help you . . . that is where I would start. Wish you the best . . . May God bless, Dwight

I''ll add a "nice work' . . . you earned it this time for sure May God bless, Dwight

Actually all of the Feibing dyes have a bit of rub off. Diluting it 50/50 with reducer will give a smoother color in the finished product . . . AND . . . cut the rub off by maybe 75% I do a dip dye on all my products . . . it is totally immersed at some point in the dye. Probably get less rub off if done with sheep wool pieces . . . but I just never could get the smooth color that way that I like. And Northmount is fully correct about USMC black dye . . . more loose pigment there than you can hardly ever rub off. Black dye gets the attention because it is too easily detected . . . but the browns do the same . . . that's the reason I like resolene so well. Seals it up . . . permanently. May God bless, Dwight

I never add more than a perfunctory coat of NFO . . . hair sde only . . . just enough to make it look wet as you put it on. The leather should be VERY close to it's original color within 12 to 16 hours . . . or you put too much on. Never mix anything other than some alcohol or Feibings reducer with the dye . . . and mix it 50/50 for best results. Wax will not seal the dye pigments . . . something like Resolene is necessary . . . even if you rub it till the cows come home . . . perspiration will leach out the pigment from the leather. Might try Diesel's idea . . . personally I've never ran into such a problem May God bless, Dwight

I tried it once diesel . . . and almost never got rid of my "inventory" . . . at the show . . . if it was the right size . . . wrong color . . . right color . .. wrong design . . . etc . . . Of these belts here . . . 42 was probably the average size. Besides that . . . I very seldom make single layer belts. Mine are for CCW . . . two layers . . . run from 0.180 to 0.240 thick . . . depending a lot on the chubbiness of the customer. Those are just too expensive to make to make on "guesswork" The shows I see . . . they guys selling belts . . . they have basically about 48 inch belts . . . and when they measure the customer . . . cut off the buckle end to fit. They get 30 to 40 out of each. I'm just not in that market May God bless, Dwight

If you go to any sizeable coin shop . . . they'll have metal rings that go around the coin . . . you can make a key chain, bracelet, necklace or anything else out of them. It is probably 10 times sturdier than anything you can create out of leather. May God bless, Dwight

Did 5 belts for a lady at church . . . another 5 for a veteran's group . . . and a couple more for regular customers. Gotta put buckles on em later today . . . they'll be ready for pickup May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, everyone . . . I had a hunch that might be the ticket . . . but asking the question can make one more sure . . . and I am now. May God bless, Dwight

I have always used Feibings dye reducer with my dyes . . . But if I had to do a small batch . . . trying for a custom color . . . I don't want to open a new bottle. What would be a good substitute for diluting only Feibings dyes? I don't use anything else. Thanks for any help you can send my way. May God bless, Dwight

I sometimes have the same "problem" with pancake holsters. I learned a long time ago . . . use enough leather so there is at least a quarter to 3/8 inch "extra" all the way around . . . and if it is a larger handgun . . . I'll go for 1/2 to 3/4 inch waste all the way around. I wet mold both pieces . . . let em dry . . . lay the handgun in the back side . . . apply contact cement around the edges . . . to within 1/8 of an inch of the gun . . . then take the front side . . . lay the handgun in it . . . and apply contact cement to it. Let the cement dry . . . (you can force dry with a heat gun) . . . put the halves together with the handgun inside the holster. I use a small Harbor freight belt sander tro even up the edges . . . with a little wooden jig to space it out wherever I want it. Picture below shows it. May God bless, Dwight

I am trying to gravitate off to belts from mostly holsters . . . and that design is just one I have. I make all my own templates . . . using wood . . . and it is really easy to lay down a piece of leather . . . dampen it lightly . . . get my little wooden pattern maker . . . a scribe . . . and mark it. But all of you hand stitchers never have to worry about me getting into your business . . . I ONLY hand stitch when I goof up and have to re- do a section or something. Mom introduced me to the sewing machine some 72 or so years ago . . . and I still like it better than the needle . . . pliers and thimble. May God bless, Dwight

Neither . . . Feibing sells their own reducer . . . I wouldn't use anything else. Others get away with it (or say they do) . . . using other stuff . . . THIS works . . . first time . . . every time May God bless, Dwight

I use Feibing oil dye and pro dye . . . exclusively . . . only 4 colors . . . always 50 /50 diluted. That keeps the expected results always predictable . . . or reasonably so anyway. May God bless, Dwight

First thing . . . ALWAYS dilute feibings dyes . . . at least 2 dye to 1 thinner. Preferably . . . 50 / 50 . . . has always worked great for me. Second . . . you are wasting good money putting the red on first. Forget that step . . . unless it is some kind of a two tone effect you are trying to achieve. If you want straight black . . . then dye black . . . period. Third . . . let it FULLY . . . FULLY . . . dry . . . 24 hours does it pretty good usually. 4th . . . buff with a dry cloth . . . alcohol should NOT be involved . . . best cloth is an old tee shirt . . . or an old bath towel. Buff until you do not get any more rub off. That is the way not to get any rub off later. I do not get any rub off whatsoever using the above technique . . . and I finish with one or two light coats of resolene . . . cut 50 / 50 with water. May God bless, Dwight

I am sure I could personally conjure up a pair of moccasins that I could wear. I need more than that. With my neuropathy in my feet . . . any shoe I have ever worn . . . begins to hurt my feet after 4 or 5 hours . . . they HAVE TO come off. I want to make a pair of mocassins that will stand maybe "short" cowboy boot height . . . maybe 4 inches above my ankle If you have such an animal . . . I'd love to see it. May God bless, Dwight

Honestly . . . I have no idea of what size needle I've always used in my boss (20 yrs) . . . as I'm still on the bunch I got with it originally. Don't recall where I saw it . . . but I saw a video that said "this is the way to size your needle for your thread" Cut off a piece of string about 36 inches long . . . thread it thru the needle. Grasp the thread in your two hands . . . wrapping it so you can hold it tight. Slide the needle up against your right hand thumb. Hold the string level and tight . . . lift your right hand while you lower your left hand. The needle should slide all the way down (fairly quickly as well) to your left hand long before you are holding the thread at a 45 degree angle. If it hesitates . . . go up one needle size and try that again. So far it had worked for me virtually every time. May God bless, Dwight

I did not read all the other posts . . . but I'll comment my thoughts. #1 . . . I made and sold belts . . . holsters . . . western gun rigs . . . knife sheaths . . . billfolds . . . and whatever with a Boss for 18 years . . . using 346 thread almost exclusively. Never had any problem except that at 6 stitches per inch . . . they way I make a 40 inch belt . . . puts me at just about 600 stitches total. 600 pulls on the handle . . . and 600 pushes up on the handle. Generally that was about a 20 minute endeavor. #2 . . . I would still be using it had not a good samaritan not reached out and helped me buy my 4500 electric. #3 . . . I would not sell you my Boss (its 24 yrs old) . . . for anything less than 750 dollars. Go from there my friend. May God bless, Dwight

Trash can would already have happened for me. I'm of the opinion that I'm not going to let 10 bucks worth of raw material destroy 50 dollars or more of material and labor . . . I'll pitch it first. May God bless Dwight