Dwight

Don't laugh, . . . but I have what would easily pass for a shoulder purse, . . . that I made especially for blackpowder hunting. It holds all the "stuff" needed to keep old Betsy ready out there in the field. That (and the fact that my wife has a shoulder bag she has had since about 1972) both convinced me. Mine has a very light coat of Resolene (cut 50/50 with water), . . . my wife's purse seems to be oiled only. Both work very well. Sealing the fibers down is a moot point, really, if you start out with a really good piece of leather for the strap. Those fibers will be down, . . . and will stay down. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, TB, . . . how many do you need? May God bless, Dwight

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with not using the flesh side. Go to any large store that sells leather purses, . . . even high end, . . . EXPENSIVE, . . . purses have the flesh side revealed on many of their straps. If it is properly sealed and dressed, . . . and you start out with a top grade piece of leather, . . . it will be a plus for the strap. Flesh to flesh veg tan straps are very slick, . . . tend to slide around on shoulders, etc, . . . flesh side has a little purchase power and will be less apt to slide off. May God bless, Dwight

Several coats of resolene on the edges alone might do that, . . . but it also might produce an edge that will cut you, . . . it's pretty hard stuff. May God bless, Dwight

No, . . . neetsfoot oil is not for the dying process. It is basically a preservative / conditioner. You may use many other things, . . . nothing will beat it for preserving your glove. After the dying process, . . . the glove WILL BE dried out of some of the natural oils that produced a natural suppleness before you dyed it. The neetsfoot oil restores that. That is where I told you to make the decision, . . . is it too dry? Without it, . . . it will be. The Aussie or Atom wax are more a finish than anything else, . . . kinda seals it up, . . . makes it ready to use. May God bless, Dwight

It would take some elbow grease and some luck, . . . staple a triple layer of canvas to a 4 or 5 inch slab of 2 x 4, . . . on the edges is where the staples go. Lay the belt on the edge of your work bench with a board on top of it, . . . let it protrude over the edge by just enough to know it's over, . . . dampen, . . . burnish, . . . add a little bees wax, . . . burnish. It looks really nice at first, . . . but it gets ragged fairly easy. That is only for a "saturday nite special date" belt. May God bless, Dwight

I have three blue gun 1911's, . . . full size, commander, and pip-squeek size. Which ever is needed is the one I use. Of all I have ever done, . . . my worst one was a Springfield, . . . I was told it was an older model "loaded", . . . stainless steel, full size, single sided safety. The slide was just enough bigger that it simply would not fit anything else I had, . . . But it was the worst. May God bless, Dwight

Two words, Bobby: Good Luck,........... Actually, I said that with a smile, . . . because your project is not that hard, . . . and can be done. You will want to clean the glove first, . . . get the dirt, trash, oil, grease, wax, . . . all that stuff off it. Good old cheap rubbing alcohol will do that, . . . put it on a wash cloth, . . . rub the glove, . . . but since you are going black, . . . just get the dirt, . . . don't get all deeply involved in this part of the task. Next, . . . let it dry, . . . at least one full 24 hour period, . . . maybe in front of a fan, . . . but no extra heat. Buy Feibings pro oil dye, . . . and a package of their large wool daubers, . . . looks like a little wooly pom-pom. Mix the dye with Feibings thinner, . . . 2 thinner to 1 dye should work, . . . and start daubing it all on. Unlace your fingers, . . . and the pocket, . . . also the cuff, . . . dip the lace, pocket, etc. into a little pan full of the dye. Just keep going over it, . . . first few times it will look like a muddy zebra, . . . but it will come around after several coats on each area. Make sure you are wearing rubber or vinyl gloves, . . . this dye doesn't wash off, . . . but it will wear off in 6 or 8 days. Again, . . . let the glove fully dry, . . . then put more vinyl gloves on, . . . grab a washcloth you never want to use on your face again, . . . and buff the glove, the pocket, the laces, . . . buff it like you are wanting it to shine, . . . which IS what you want it to do. Apply a good coat of neetsfoot oil with another "never to be used" washcloth, . . . over the entire surface that was dyed. Let it dry another 24 hours. Here, . . . you will need to make a decision, . . . is the leather still dry???? If it is, . . . add a second coat of oil. When it dries, . . . give it a coat of Aussie wax or Atom wax, . . . I'm not into ball gloves, so I don't know for which of those would be best, . . . ask at the store. Don't try to dye the inside, . . . and if there are stitches that did not like the dye, . . . finish the whole product with a Sharpie, . . . it'll blacken the stitches, . . . etc. Again, . . . Good luck. May God bless, Dwight

Rooster, . . . you need two things: 1) a piece of 2 inch, galvanized, electrical metallic tubing, commonly known as EMT or thin-wall conduit, . . . and 2) a piece of flat stock steel, 1/2 inch thick, . . . 2 inches wide at the top, . . . 1 inch wide at the bottom, . . . and about 5 or 6 inches long. Look at the drawing, . . . on the right, . . . take the conduit to a belt sander and sharpen it like the image at the right, . . . Next take the flat stock steel, . . . round the long edges on a grinder or belt sander so they also have a 1/2 inch radius, rounded edge. Put the sharpened end of the EMT in a vise, . . . start squeezing it down, . . . insert the steel piece and keep moving it in as the conduit takes on an oval shape. When you have almost gotten it done, . . . take the pipe, . . . lay the punch end on an anvil, . . . have someone hold the other end, . . . while you continue hammering and forming the punch end, . . . using the 1/2 inch piece of steel to keep it from collapsing. Keep it in the punch and hammer with a flat faced steel hammer. I've made a number of punches this way, . . . for different sizes, . . . the one you want should come out very close to that size with 2 inch EMT. Takes about 1/2 hour. May God bless, Dwight

SteelcityK9Cop gave you the best answer. Especially with all the different 1911 makers, modifiers, and aftermarket stuff, . . . some safeties have an arm on them that has to be almost 2 inches long, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Welcome aboard, . . . from the Buckeye state May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . I built my own house from the dirt up, . . . 2600 sq feet, . . . 16 x 32 shed, . . . 22 x 45 car port & leather shop, . . . have been the family photographer & videographer for about 45 years, . . . spent 4 years in the Navy, so you can forget painting. I'm just one of those guys that gets bored easily with the same old stuff, . . . gotta be playing with "new" stuff from time to time. BTW, . . . main computer is down or I'd show pics, . . . for leather storage in my shop, . . . I just made a stand up box, . . . 4 each 2 x 12's in a box, . . . 4 ft x 8 ft, . . . hinged the front 4 x 8 of OSB, . . . nailed the back piece on, . . . put in some rods, . . . and I have a leather vault, . . . 32 cubic feet, . . . allows all my leather to hang straight (gets rid of most of the curls) and I can just open the door, . . . take quick inventory anytime. Beats the devil out of drawers, rolls, boxes, etc. at least IMHO. May God bless, Dwight

wig190861 and I use similar methods. I put the rivet through the hole(s) and lay it on a small piece of scrap steel about 2 inches by 4 inches that I basically only use for rivets, . . . it's just a piece of clean carbon steel flat stock. I put on the washer, . . . then use the hole in the end of my setter, designed for that purpose, and tap the washer down with the setter and my 10 oz or so, little ball peen hammer. I then cut it about 1/8 of an inch above the washer, . . . and begin the shaping process with the back side of my ball peen hammer. I end up with a couple of good strokes on the "rounder" indentation in the foot of my setter, . . . and I'm done. Again, as mentioned above, . . . don't be afraid to waste a dozen rivets and some scrap leather doing a little practice. It will pay great dividends in the long run. May God bless, Dwight

If I had done it, . . . the ends would be inside, . . . well glued, . . . If you look carefully at the top piece, . . . you can see where it was seriously folded backward by the crease line between the two stitches. In all probability, . . . the whole thing was pretty loosely sewn, . . . until all the stitches up there were in place, . . . then tugged and tightened, . . . the ends pulled down into the void between the pieces, . . . clipped, . . . glued, . . . and done. At least that is how I would do it. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, . . . all in all, . . . good one for the first try. Your panels look really good, . . . and I still cannot do basket weave. May God bless, Dwight

I use a bag punch, . . . it's about 3/4 of an inch long, . . . after I punch out the one full length punch, . . . I add about another half, . . . so in all it is about an inch and 1/8 or an inch an a quarter, . . . I test it by folding it over, . . . straightening out the buckle, . . . lifting up the tongue. For me it needs to go straight up with no problem, . . . if not, . . . I whack it again until it does. But with my little template I made, . . . that isn't very often, . . . just maybe when there is a new style buckle, . . . but even then, not very often. May God bless, Dwight

Like all hobbies, . . . when we get to be ground temperature, . . . it won't affect us as much any more, . . . but until then, . . . ya just gotta give in and have at it. My wife thinks I have too many hobbies, . . . I'm still looking around to see if there is anything I am missing May God bless, Dwight

When I am making a pattern for chaps I've not done before, . . . I get my handy, dandy JoAnn Fabric coupon (presently either 40 or 50% off on one item, . . . one cut of material is one item) and I go back to the back where they have their heavy duty vinyl with the canvas back. It closely approximates about 2 oz leather in feel and function. It's now around 20 bucks a yard, . . . and depending on your husband's size, . . . you'll need 1 1/2 to 3 yards. I'm 6 ft 1 inch and 185, . . . I make my size patterns out of 1 1/2 yards. That turns out usually to be about $15. The coupons can be found on line, . . . and once you get signed up, . . . if you want, they'll put you on THE LIST and send em to you every now and then. If I was making woolies, . . . I'd start with Bob at klendasaddlery, . . . I got his patterns for both Arizona styles, . . . and I would think the #33 might be OK, . . . he has another one that he does not show a pattern for, it's a #6503, . . . call him up and talk to him, . . . he's a super guy. http://www.klendasaddlery.com/chaps.htm May God bless, Dwight

As rawr66 said above, . . . from the buckle at one end, . . . to the "most used hole" on the present belt they wear. And YOU measure it, . . . otherwise you will "re-do" about every other one or every third one. I had a "client" who wore 36 inch Wranglers, . . . and wanted a 36 inch belt. When I finally got his old belt to measure it, . . . turned out he really needed a 41. His Wranglers had slowly but surely stretched as his girth did, . . . so he never really paid attention I guess. Anyway, . . . measure it yourself, . . . personally. Also, I think it is a better deal for my customers to give them 7 holes, . . . but that is something you will have to work out for you and your customers. And, from the last hole at the very end of the belt, . . . add 3 1/2 inches to the tongue, . . . out to the end of the belt. May God bless, Dwight

i've done it both ways, . . . and it's kinda like twins, . . . they get old at the same rate, . . . get wrinkled and ugly about the same too. But then again, . . . I dip dye, . . . so my dye is a bit deeper penetration than some of the surface dye jobs I've seen. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks for the giggles, Lobo, . . . sometimes something is said that takes us back to our "voice of experience" lessons. Your last line above is a sure winner in that department. May God bless, Dwight

The last one I did like that, . . . I dip dyed the two outside layers in black before assembly, . . . made one purty, purty holster. My only "mistake" was the leather I used was just a tad on the heavy side, . . . actually wound up with a holster that could be used as a weapon, . . . it is so stiff and hard. But it shore is purty. And, . . . yes, . . . as mentioned earlier, . . . a good coat of neetsfoot oil will do good for both the holster and the gun inside it. I also do not put any finish on the insides of those holsters. May God bless, Dwight

Salvation Army, . . . Goodwill, . . . any place that sells used stuff, . . . sometimes see a football i there. May God bless, Dwight

Go ahead and use the eyelets, . . . just put a "tongue" under them, . . . like in a shoe. Make it big enough that the panel hides the stitches, . . . and you'll have to make it kind of "T" shaped, . . . with the trunk of the T going up under the panel, . . . then the top of the T being the actual tongue itself, . . . allowing the laces to rest against it. The other thing you might do, . . . Velcro, . . . it's wonderful stuff. May God bless, Dwight

Pretty much the same as wig190861, . . . except I have a punched out template made many moons ago from a manila folder. I lay it on the top of the belt, . . . pencil, pen, nail, punch, . . . use something to mark the front to back location of the holes. Then I lay it on the table, . . . belt point looking directly at me, . . . lay my hole punch back side on the mark I made, . . . adjust it left or right as my eyes tell me what is centered, . . . punch it. I learned a long time ago, . . . if I cannot see any error in the location, . . . nobody else will either. I just eyeball and punch. May God bless, Dwight