Dwight

If you contact Galco, . . . they will sell you the paddle, . . . it's plastic, . . . and by far the best material for for the paddle. Take a look at some of their paddle holsters, . . . I had one once, . . . went to an IWB, . . . it's more concealed. The down side to a paddle holster is they wiggle-waggle on your belt, . . . and you have to almost have a USNavy pea coat as a cover garment to not let it be seen. May God bless, Dwight

Or if you are handy with wood working, . . . I did one for a S&W model 29 a few years back. Still have the model, . . . customer still has the holster, . . . he was tickled pink with it. May God bless, Dwight

Simply put, . . . it is a wrap around holster with a shoulder strap, and a belt strap, . . . a suicide strap keeps the gun from falling out if he bends over to tie his shoe. Look at this example, . . . it's for a military pistol, . . . but shows the general idea. May God bless, Dwight

PM Sent

You'll have to be more specific, . . . 3 oz will work for some applications, . . . a double 8 oz might be needed in another. Is it for looks alone? Carrying a bunch of stuff on it? Woman? Man? Dress? Utility? May God bless. Dwight

Actually, . . . it can hurt. First off, . . . the belts won't wrinkle unless the maker does some radically wrong things, . . . and secondly, . . . the contact cement will not adhere to the filament tape as well as the leather, . . . it can come loose, . . . leaving only the stitching holding it together, . . . I prefer mine to stay "together" as long as it is a belt, . . . so I don't put any foreign object in my leather belts, . . . other than the metal and stitching. May God bless, Dwight

I make, sell, and wear a double belt. I usually make them of blanks cut from the same hide, . . . generally cut side by side. The better looking of the two becomes the outside, . . . which will wrap around and through the buckle, . . . come back and fasten to itself, . . . and lay flat next to the inside piece. I use good quality buckles, . . . and I Chicago screw them together. None of my belts has ever been returned as being worn out. Comfort is in the waistline of the wearer, . . . and while in the pulpit on Sunday morning extolling the virtues of Jesus Christ, . . . it sometimes is a bit more comfortable to have my thinner Ranger belt on, . . . but I also do not have my 1911, and two 8 round magazines hanging off it. Sometimes, I will use one thicker piece and a thinner piece as Chief said he does, . . . but usually mine come from a 7 oz piece of leather. It is (if right on the money) .109 thickness which will result in a .218 thickness belt. The one I currently wear is right at .240 and is a little stiff, . . . but I personally like it better that way. The ones I make and sell will generally start at .180 overall thickness for a slim, ladies belt, . . . to the .250 for Mr. Big Guy whose girth is substantial. And, . . . yes, . . . a few thousandths of an inch WILL make a substantial difference in the comfort level it gives. There is no "one size fits all" in this question, . . . I hope this helps you, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Avion, . . . where are you located? Reason I ask, . . . I've got a couple spare marble pieces, . . . if you're close, . . . I'm sure we could work out something. I wasn't thinking earlier, . . . Electrathon certainly has the other most likely component. May God bless, Dwight

Avion, . . . I am not the "best" person to answer this because I don't do a lot of stamping, . . . and there just isn't enough money left in Ft. Knox to get me to do a lot of basket weave, . . . it's just not worth the wear and tear on my very last nerve. But having said all that, . . . just about every time I have an issue with a stamp or my stamping, . . . I stop and take stock, . . . and I've usually either started before the leather was really ready, . . . or allowed it to get too dry. I usually give it a real good 5 to 8 second dunk, . . . then let it lay on a paper towel on my marble until it has turned almost a "dry" color, . . . before I do much stamping if I really am interested in the piece I'm working on. I use a 1 pound mallet, . . . and I've found that 4 or 5 or 6 "tap-tap" blows will usually equal one "whack" blow, . . . and most of the time will be done a lot more accurately. Whacking the stamp does not work out for me, . . . but again that is just me. Best wishes my friend, . . . wish I could help more. May God bless, Dwight

Mine is usually just a good "dunk", . . . doesn't last over 5 or 6 seconds. Then I give it a few minutes to allow the water level to even out. I have to do that because almost all my Western rigs are two layers bonded together, . . . need that time for the water to get down to the bottom fibers in the stack. I've never had a problem doing that. You also won't want to allow it to get all sloppy, soaking, wet, . . . as the stamping and stuff will lose it's crispness, . . . look more like something rolled out by a press in China, . . . rather than fine detailed hand stamping. May God bless, Dwight

Driften, . . . this is my pocket holster I made for my Colt Det Special, . . . works really well. The leather is 4/5 oz, . . . measured out at about .070 thickness, . . . veggie tan, . . . no oil, no dye, no finish, . . . turned it flesh side out to aid in the holster retention in the pocket, . . . but not for the gun. I sewed the front edge together to give it some stiffness, . . . back is just contact cemented, . . . have carried it that way for years. May God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . I cheat, . . . I'm guilty, . . . I put my Chicago screws in by laying the female onto one of those red rubber erasers kids used to have when they did homework. I push down hard as I am turning the screw, . . . like Electrathon said, . . . it'll hold em. Actually, I sometimes have a bear of a time getting them off when I've put them on this way, . . . but at least they don't fall off. Tandy also sells a different version of this screw, . . . with an open back, . . . and teeth on the inside, . . . they can be pulled down really tight. May God bless, Dwight

I finally got smart a few years back: went to Harbor Freight, . . . bought a whole package of brushes, . . . 36 brushes for 3 bucks. One will last a whole day, . . . pitch it at the end of the day. Contact cement is in the can with the pry up lid (from Lowes), . . . No drippy, . . . no droppy, . . . no sloppy, . . . well, ............most of the time anyway I refuse to do it any other way, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I made one like this (this was my practice piece) for a guy a few years back. His just like it was literally falling apart. His daughter had got it for him 30 or so years earlier, . . . overlook the obvious errors, . . . again this was not a finished piece, . . . just a few pieces of leather hacked out to see how it would go together. Got a note from him a couple weeks after I sent him the wallet, . . . he was thoroughly pleased. No, . . . don't expect to see a return customer for this one. My next wallet will probably be this also, . . . soon as I wear out the one I have. May God bless, Dwight

I could never run a high production shop, . . . I can do one belt, one holster, one pair of chaps, one bridle, . . . etc, . . . but I simply do not do 2 or 3 of anything at a time. Every time I try it, . . . I screw up something, . . . have sometimes gone in the hole because of it, . . . just quit it. If people don't like my wait times, etc, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Here is what I use, . . . has never let me down. The tools all fit in a Dremel. I also use a # 4 edger. May God bless, Dwight

Our prayers and best wishes go out to you TexasLady, . . . had a cousin who was paralyzed from the waist down in a coal mine, . . . he bought an engraver and spent the rest of his life hunched over that thing, . . . making a living for him, his wife, his daughter, and his 15 pound alley cat. I said all that for encouragement, . . . if you have the will, . . . the Lord will supply the way. My first thought would be possibly dog leashes, harnesses, and collars. They are fairly straight forward, . . . inventory would be somewhat stable, . . . not a lot of up and down, . . . they can be personalized to no end, . . . and I would think there would be a market for them at local dog shows, etc. Just a thought, . . . wishing you the very best, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Philip, . . . if I can, allow me to make a suggestion: print off a 40% or 50% off coupon for JoAnn fabric, . . . they have vinyl there for $18 bucks a yard that is I believe 54 inches wide. You can do a monstrous number of workups with a couple yards of that stuff, . . . it just about mimics 3 oz veggie tan, . . . can be glued, sewn, stitched, laced. I use it for my chaps mockups, . . . had one lady actually ask if I could make hers out of the stuff, . . . but I declined. It works for all sorts of stuff, . . . best thing is it makes wonderful patterns too. But in answer to your last question, . . . no, when I make a bag, . . . front and back are the same size. May God bless, Dwight

And I agree, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Make sure you share your horror stories with us on the Cobra Class 18 after you get it and use it for a couple of months. Unless you are Cinderella's fairy god mother, . . . you do not have the ability to anticipate every possible situation that will come up in sewing. I've been running thread on this and that machine now for right at 60 years, . . . and it is THE exceptional piece that I sit down to and there is simply NOTHING in the entire piece that is less than perfect. Machines are made by imperfect men and women, . . . and to expect ANY of them to be perfect, . . . well, . . . your coach becomes a pumpkin at midnight tonight. I bought my Boss to be free of electricity where I planned on using it. It did the job, . . . and is still doing the job, . . . but like any other machine, there is a learning curve, . . . (hint, hint), . . . read and follow directions. As for the "horror" stories, . . . far as I am concerned, . . . overanxious people wanting the machine to make up for their own inadequacies. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Constabulary, . . . you make it look easy. But sometimes there are very few more frustrating things than a machine that "should" do this, . . . but only does "that". Thread tensions on sewing machines sometimes are hectic to fix. May God bless, Dwight

You will find sometimes using the search feature will get you some really good results. Try this one: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=62613&hl=punch#entry405093 May God bless, Dwight

Now you know that wasn't fair,............... .............taking advantage of us just because we like steak, chocolate, spaghetti, chocolate, doughnuts, chocolate, and did I mention chocolate? May God bless, Dwight

Bushpilotmexico wrote: C. SHRINKAGE FACTOR: Any material will shrink (proportional to it's thickness) as it bends; belts are no exception. I estimate 3/4" to an 1-1/2" up to a 58" waist, assuming a 12/14 oz (.20") total belt thickness. Remember to add it on! Quite honestly, I don't know of anyone else who does this, . . . my "training" came from John Bianchi's videos, . . . and it was never mentioned by THE pro, . . . so I don't really think it is important. 1. You say I should measure from the hole it was latched in to the edge of the buckle. I assume you mean the front edge or is from where the buckle prong swivels on the buckle? It does not matter which way you measure it (I use the front edge myself) just so you always do it the same way. 2. 2-1/2" or 3 inches from front pocket around to the other front pocket....what is the front pocket? What I meant is the wide part of the belt will go from the left front pocket to the right front pocket, around the backside. Only the tongue and buckle area will be smaller. I made you up a little diagram showing how I make the tapered belts, . . . it is really easy, . . . just remember to measure twice before you cut once, . . . Do you line your cowboy belts? Chris Andre does and this may be why he adds the additional measurement for "shrinkage factor". I line all my cowboy belts unless the buyer specifically says he does not want it lined. I contact cement two pieces of leather together looking for something in the .180 to .220 overall thickness, . . . thinner for the shorter ones, . . . thicker for the longer ones. After cementing them together, . . . I roll them with a rolling pin and leave them flat for about a day, . . . then I treat it as though it was just one piece of leather. And again, . . . I don't know why, where, or how he came up with the shrinkage, . . . maybe email him and get an answer. It has NEVER been a problem for me. May God bless, Dwight

I don't know what you are referring to when you say "shrinkage", . . . I've never had a belt shrink yet, . . . unless it is literally soaked like overnight and laid out in the noonday sun (or put in a microwave, . . . but that is another story), . . . leather won't shrink enough in a cowboy rig to cause you any grief. The one thing you really need to do though, . . . take off the belt you are wearing right now, . . . measure from the hole it was latched in, . . . to the edge of the buckle. Let's say you measured it and you got 42 inches. Make your cowboy rig 46 inches from the edge of the buckle to the center of 5 or 7 holes. Some guys use 5, I give my customers 7 holes. That added 4 inches seems like a lot, . . . but that is John Bianchi's formula, . . . I've used it for over 10 years, . . . it has never failed me, . . . works every time. For your first belt, . . . let me suggest you do a simple one, . . . 2 1/2 or 3 inches from front pocket around to the other front pocket, . . . and taper the buckle end, and tongue end, just long enough to do the work for the 1 1/2 inch buckle. If you remember Clint Eastwood's rig in the spaghetti westerns, . . . it would be shaped like that. May God bless, Dwight