Dwight

So far, . . . price has been a non issue with my customers. It's almost one of those: If you have to ask the price, you cannot afford it, . . . type deals I guess. I have raised my prices a couple of times, . . . for various and sundry reasons, . . . and have yet to hear someone gripe seriously. A raised eyebrow now and then, . . . but that is all. One of the things I've found out about the "leather" industry, . . . these are not your typical Walmart shoppers, . . . and none of them are looking for the weekly leatherwork coupons. They pretty much are savvy enough to know leather is what they need, . . . vinyl won't do, . . . and kevlar is for plastic fantastic shooter bangers, . . . so they come to us. Good industry in my book. May God bless, Dwight

From my perspective, . . . and historical data, . . . you had fun with your dog. I've made em from about 30 inches long to somewhere north of 55 inches long, . . . but I cut both pieces (only a 2 ply belt, . . . with bullet loops sandwiched between) EXACTLY the same. Then glue em all together, . . . sew em up, . . . and they work like a champ. I'm thinking that you are very much over thinking this project, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Lobo laid it out pretty good there. One thing he didn't mention, . . . and I've been successful at least once, . . . Ebay. Go looking on there for something similar to what you want. I bought a Hunter shoulder rig on there for $9 (I think ????) several years ago. I disassembled the thing, . . . got my steel clip, . . . used it, . . . and also salvaged the elastic strap, . . . pitched the rest. As long as you are not in a hurry, . . . and it is a "one of a kind" product for you, . . . you may get lucky as I did. May God bless, Dwight

Russell, . . . an old tried and true pattern obtaining method: go to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army store, . . . buy a product that is very similar to what you want, . . . take it home, . . . disassemble it. Voila, . . . you have the best pattern you could possibly get for that project. It also allows you to try it on, . . . and if it is too long here, . . . cut it down, . . . too tight there, . . . add a little. It is also the lazy man's way of doing it, . . . but it pays good dividends. May God bless, Dwight

Some leather is sold by the square foot, . . . some is sold by the hide, . . . but there is a sneaky little way to beat both of them. Leather is generally measured as "Ounces", . . . 4/5 oz, . . . 6/7 oz, . . . 9 oz, . . . 12 oz, . . . etc. What that means is that if you cut out an exact square foot of that leather, . . . it would weigh that many ounces. Therefore, . . . if you get a $20 digital fish scale, . . . hang it up, . . . put a clamp on the bottom of it, . . . you can weigh your piece of leather you just bought from Ajax Leather Emporium, . . . when you cut off a piece for a project, . . . re-weigh the big piece, . . . subtract that from the original weight, . . . you then have a fractional figure you can use to comprehend how much this project is going to cost you, . . . down to the exact penny. It won't take long until you will have a fairly good handle on what it is costing you for each product you do. BUT, . . . the really big advantage is not in every day use, . . . it is in the "one of a kind" pieces you will do, . . . that take so much 8 oz, so much 4 oz, and a hunk of that 12 oz stuff too. The weight factor will nail your cost far closer than any other way. What Chief said is also good, . . . taking nothing away from his process, . . . but it is only applicable if you buy it by the foot. Weight will take care of all of it, . . . including different types of leather. I am in the process of finishing up a very special gun bag for a friend, . . . one which I am basically doing for cost. It has concho's, buckles, veg tan leather of two different thicknesses, chrome tan leather, and sheepskin is also involved. If I did these for a living, . . . weight would be the only way I could see for sure what my up front cost would be. May God bless, Dwight

Talc is used for a lot of things, . . . easy way to see it used, . . . put some Johnson's baby powder on your hands, . . . rub em together. Slick, . . . smooth, . . . that's what talc does (among other things). Also used in paint. May God bless, Dwight

The best way is with a punch, . . . you can use a clamp to squeeze it down and cut the leather. If you don't have a punch the right size, . . . get a piece of hard board or metal, . . . the size of the circle you want. About 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick is best. Clamp it to a table, . . . with a cutting surface under it, . . . your leather between the circle and the cutting surface. Strop your razor knife really sharp, . . . Run your razor knife around the outside. ONLY GO ONE WAY !! I know it sounds foolish, . . . but if you try going both ways, . . . most of the time you'll wind up with a "tail" on your circle. Going only one way erases that, . . . most of the time May God bless, Dwight

As always, . . . good looking stuff. You could call it eye candy. May God bless, Dwight

You may also have a "soft spot" in that blade, . . . that has now come up for air. Work on that tip with your stone and/or sandpaper, . . . if it is a soft spot, . . . a little farther back, . . . you should be allright. May God bless, Dwight

I have also used paraffin, . . . it works, . . . while I never have done a side by side test comparison, . . . my money would be on the beeswax for a harder hold, . . . it is a harder wax though not by a big bunch. Soy, . . . I haven't a clue............... May God bless, Dwight

Kansan, . . . generally speaking, . . . I do all the stitching and sewing except for the trigger guard seam(s), . . . and that is when I wet mold. Most of the time I just hand mold and bone it, . . . sometimes I do put it in my vacuum bag, . . . depends on the gun / customer / look I want to achieve, etc. Then, . . . after 24 hours of drying, . . . I contact cement the edges, . . . put the weapon back in there, . . . squeeze it together exactly where and how i want it to lay, . . . pull out the weapon, . . . sew and finish. Just my old redneck way of being different, . . . and it does take longer, . . . but when I get done with that final stitching seam, . . . it is right. Ummm, . . . well at least most of the time it is,................. May God bless, Dwight

I always put that piece out there, . . . and part of the reason is that it makes a wonderful place to add some personal touch: initials, . . . logo, . . . etc. I've even done a two tone by dying the holster one way, . . . the stiffener another. This was one I was especially proud of having made. May God bless, Dwight

I bought a spool of "made in India", . . . brown lacing to use on the occasional laced piece I do (maybe one every other year). It keeps "catching" in the lace holes and the side of it rips. Then it not only looks bad, . . . but will break in about two more holes or three, . . . and I have to hide another splice. I just got frustrated, . . . had to re-lace a 4 inch section of simple overhand looping, . . . 4 times because the lace ripped. Question: Is it bad lace? Am I doing something wrong (re-lacing an old purse, . . . probably 40 years or so old) ? Is there any "prep" to lacing other than setting up the needle and punching the holes? Honestly, . . . never ran into this before, . . . but again, . . . I'm a stitcher, . . . not a lacer. May God bless, Dwight

You don't say what it is you are making, . . . but FWIW, . . . I have had excellent "hardening" success by melting the wax and dipping the object in it, . . . allowing it to remain there, . . . fully submerged, . . . for several seconds, . . . pulling it out and letting it dry. I did that originally with a test piece of about 12 or 14 oz leather, . . . and wound up with a thin, leather colored "hockey puck", . . . it was HARD. May God bless, Dwight

Most likely the wax/oil, . . . but then again the answer is tainted as those are about the only two I use. Kind of an either/or situation. I have used bag kote and don't really like it, . . . the spray stuff doesn't do it for me either, . . . There really isn't anything that perfectly is water proof that I've found, . . . they all are "water resistant" to one degree or another. Both of these are pretty good. May God bless, Dwight

I'll be the first to say it was a freak accident, . . . one in a million at least, . . . but it happened. An elderly guy had a striker fired pistol, . . . and a badly worn leather holster. He sat down in his car (passenger side) and somewhere in the wiggling around getting seated and getting the seat belt all cinched up, . . . a piece of the worn holster slipped into the trigger guard and fired his weapon for him, . . . while he was seated. IIRC, . . . he was lightly wounded, . . . hole in the seat, . . . hole in the bottom of the car. Literally hundreds of thousands of those weapons are used each day around the world without incident, . . . but there is the opportunity, . . . much worse than say a Python (revolver) or a 1911 (pistol) as other examples. That is why I am extra careful around striker fired weapons when I make a holster for one. May God bless, Dwight

When I bone a striker fired pistol, . . . I never go as deep in the trigger guard as you did. That looks like an XD which also has a grip safety, . . . but the Glocks and others don't, . . . and anything in there, including an errant piece of the holster, . . . can trip the trigger, . . . and that will ruin the whole day. But, . . . that's just my policy, . . . if the buyer wants something else, . . . I send him somewhere else. May God bless, Dwight

The advantages to this method: a more uniform dye job overall, . . . the colors from item to item come out closer than other ways (at least I think so). May God bless, Dwight

In the "old" days, . . . bees wax and / or oil alone were the only things that could / were used on leather by the majority of makers. Bees wax and neatsfoot oil make a wonderful paste that I use by itself, . . . even with black, . . . had have had no real serious bleeding problems. That is not to say it will never happen, . . . and I wouldn't wear that black belt for at least the first 10 times with a pair of white pants. But my "cowboy" holster is made that way, . . . no problems. My "recipe" is a 50 / 50 mix of neatsfoot oil and virgin bees wax, . . . measured by weight, . . . boiled together in a jar suspended in a crock pot of hot water until it all liquifies, . . . pour it out in muffin papers, . . . use it like Kiwi shoe polish. But if the item will allow it, . . . I prefer Resolene, . . . it is my first choice. May God bless, Dwight

I would ask him first, . . . he has asked for raw, . . . that is what I would give him, . . . After a few gigs on a Milwaukee stage, . . . it ought to have it's own personalized color bands May God bless, Dwight

When I get in a pickle like that, . . . a wool dauber, . . . resolene, . . . finishes off the pickle. May God bless, Dwight

If it were mine, . . . I would cut the pieces, . . . they look to be about 3 inches wide, . . . dip dye them, . . . buff them like there is no tomorrow, . . . burnish the edges, . . . and apply a light coat of Resolene, . . . cut 50/50 with water. Then I would weave them onto the chair, . . . I'd also make a little grabber out of two small pairs of vice grips, . . . and a turnbuckle in the middle, . . . they will pull it every bit as tight as you could ever want it. Truth be known, . . . you CAN put the leather on there wet, . . . and when it drys, . . . it will be taut, . . . but the first time anyone who is, . . . uhhh, . . . ummm, . . . "not undernourished" sits in the chair, . . . all that special planning and stretching will be for naught. It will loosen up and sag a bit, . . . that is the nature of leather. May God bless, Dwight

In the chap work I've repaired and fixed in the last couple of years, . . . the upholstery thread sold at JoAnn's fabric shop has been super. A spool of it is only a couple of bucks, . . . and it comes in many different colors. May God bless, Dwight

Weaver Leather in Berlin, Ohio can make the cutters for you, . . . they will cut the shape out to the "zinth" degree from what I have heard. They are not cheap, though, . . . I have also heard. THEN, . . . go to the stamp, . . . have it cut from delrin or another plastic, . . . line up the stamp, . . . press it, . . . you should be done. I believe delrin is the name of the plastic I have for my maker's stamp, . . . it has held up well for the 5 or 6 years I've been using it. May God bless, Dwight