Dwight

No one buys anything because it is cheap and ugly. Cheap, . . . maybe !! Ugly, . . . never !! Leather work is in itself an artistic rendering of a useable product, . . . there will always be the $7.95 Walmart belts that last 3 months, . . . and there will always be the $75.00, double layer, hand tooled, solid brass buckle belt that will last a guy 30 years or an added 4 inches of girth, . . . whichever comes first. This has been going on for something near 3000 years now, . . . no reason for it to change today. May God bless, Dwight

I guess the first really big question is, . . . how are you applying the dye? If you want serious dye color, . . . you cannot get it with any other process other than dip / dunk dyeing. You have to fully submerge the leather in the dye, . . . and the longer you leave it in there, . . . the richer the color will be. With a yellow (assuming you are talking about "caution" yellow, . . . bright yellow, . . . dandelion yellow), . . . it will probably take at least two maybe three maybe even 4 trips into the tank to get the hue you want. You are trying to fully change the color when you go to something like yellow, . . . white, . . . pink, . . . or light blue. Browns, tans, black, or other darker colors can be done in one trip in the tank, . . . no problem, . . . but with yellow, it'll be harder. You also want to start out with the lightest color leather blank you can find, . . . you may have to go to the store and spend a while digging through their selection for a really light piece, . . . and be forewarned, . . . even after you dye it, . . . if it is left in the sunlight, . . . it will darken anyway, . . . it is the "nature of the beast" so to speak. There are other leather like products out there on the market, . . . some are leather with a plastic top coat, . . . that is what I had to use for some special "dress up" rifle slings I made a while back, . . . they wanted "WHITE" ones, . . . and they got em. Best wishes, my friend, . . . you have taken on an arduous task. May God bless, Dwight

Depending on the design of the bag, . . . Tandy sells a product, aptly named, . . . bag stiffener. It comes in a large sheet about 3 ft square, . . . and is a pretty tough product. It is cut with really tough scissors or with a sharp knife, . . . I use a drywall knife. It is also very durable, . . . and is something around $10 a sheet, . . . been a while since I bought it so that is a bit of a guess, today. Stop in a Tandy shop, . . . take a look at it, . . . you may just like it. May God bless, Dwight

Tom, . . . I am no expert on this, . . . bu it is the process I use, . . . and from experience I can answer some of it. I simply "dunk" my hosters, . . . knife sheaths, . . . cell phone cases, . . . trying for about a 3 or 4 second submerged time, . . . but it doesn't always work out perfectly because of the shape, etc. Belts, . . . I drop one end in the tank and snake the rest through, . . . again trying for a 3 to 4 second duration in the tank. I use cake pans, . . . 2 x 9 x 14 or thereabouts, . . . I dump in about a qt of dye, . . . because I never have more than that fixed up at any time. Yes, . . . my experience is that the longer it stays in, . . . the darker it gets. I also cut my dye 50/50 with Feibings thinner, . . . all of em. I tried for a while to do a bunch of shades, . . . gave it up. I do 3 shades for sure, . . . 2 browns and a black, . . . One thing I can tell you for sure about, . . . lay it down flat for the first 30 minutes of drying time. Belts go for 10 minutes on the bottom edge, . . . then flipped for the next 20 on the top edge, . . . then I hang em up. If you hang any piece that has any length, . . . too soon, . . . dye will migrate to the bottom, . . . making a lighter / darker piece from top to bottom. It can really ruin your whole day, . . . and I can factually attest that it DOES do that. May God bless, Dwight

If there is any other way to dye holsters, belts, guitar straps, knife sheaths, cell phone holders, . . . than dip dyeing, . . . you couldn't prove it by my shop. If it ain't dipped, . . . it ain't dyed. ALWAYS rub down your product, . . . if you are using Feibings oil dye, . . . cut it 50% with their thinner, . . . put some water on the edges with a damp sponge after you have beveled them, . . . burnish them, . . . put on the Resolene, . . . you will love the product. That is how I do all my stuff. Edge cote is junk, . . . so is gum trag, . . . IMHO, . . . a simple water / friction burnishing, . . . followed with Resolene, . . . makes a beautiful and durable product. May God bless, Dwight PS: Don't get in so much of a hurry either, . . . then you won't double and triple post on here.

I have a 111W155, . . . sews a full 3 layers of 6/7 with no trouble. Make sure of the full model number of the machine, . . . there is info out there for just about all of them, . . . you should be able to turn it in just a few minutes. May God bless, Dwight

Honestly, Thor, . . . I don't remember, . . . but if you do make slot punches, . . . use a piece of flat stock inside the conduit, . . . you can cold hammer it and make the sides really nice and parallel. IIRC, . . . the 3/4 conduit makes a little over a 1 inch slot punch, . . . and the 1 inch makes almost a 1 1/2 inch punch. I don't mess with trying to harden or case harden them, . . . the zinc coating can screw up your lungs bad if it is burned with a torch or if it gets too hot some other way, . . . and anyway, . . . they sharpen so quickly & easily, . . . Most electricians have some laying around, . . . or you can go to a big box store, . . . get a stick of 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1/1/2, . . . they're all 10 feet long, . . . should last you several years, . . . and should be less than the price of one fancy store bought punch. May God bless, Dwight

I haven't tackled the vest yet, . . . but I've got the machine, the liner, the conchos, and the leather. Wish I had the determination to go do it. Your work looks good, lady. Curiosity, . . . what is the connection to the Viking interest? Mine is from having been a sailor, . . . would love to haul out one day in a long boat,............. May God bless, Dwight

Electrathon gave you the cat's meow answer. Piece of conduit about 10 inches long, . . . lay one end up against a disc sander or a belt sander, . . . go slow, . . . sharpen it on a bevel back up about 3/8 of an inch, . . . take a round file to the inside when you get done, . . . cut your holes in the strap with another piece of scrap leather under your guitar strap. I make almost all my punches out of pipe, conduit, or tubing, . . . figure I've probably saved about $500 or so over the last 10 years. Plus I have some unique punches that nobody but me makes (that I know of). Here are a few of them. May God bless, Dwight

I put a light coat on both pieces, . . . dry them with a heat gun, . . . stick em together, . . . sand the edges, . . . bevel the edges, . . . then I sew the rascal. I have never had a problem sewing anything, . . . from a couple of pieces of really thin leather, . . . to a 3/4 inch piece, . . . Actual time from sticking to stitching, . . . probably 20 minutes at the most. Works for me. May God bless, Dwight

rbrooks, . . . I don't do a lot of shoulder holsters, . . . but mostly when I do, . . . they are "different". This is an example, . . . if I remember correctly it is an M&P 9mm, . . . and it had a laser on it. Nice weapon, . . . pain in the watoosie to make a holster for it. I refuse any and all horizontal shoulder holsters for striker fired weapons, . . . but I will make em muzzle down like this one. Take a look at how I did it, . . . it uses a thumb break for retention. A double mag pouch on the off side makes it ride easier with less shifting. Holler back if you have any questions, . . . more than happy to help. May God bless, Dwight

Terrypen, . . . get your camera out. Most people (myself included) do really well with pictures, . . . it is really time consuming and sometime futile to try to decipher another person's description. Cut the pics to 800 by 600 in size, . . . and post them. We can do a lot more towards helping you then. May God bless, Dwight

I have too many machines to do a lot of hand sewing, . . . but occasionally I have to do it. For example a knife sheath would be glued together, . . . welt inserted, . . . edges sanded, burnished, beveled, etc. I use my stitch gouger on both sides of the piece, . . . then go to the top end and make my first hole, . . . as straight down as I can do it, . . . but I don't go all the way through, . . . just far enough to be able to turn it over, . . . and see where the point wants to come out. If it is not on the stitch line, . . . I pull it back a bit, . . . adjust the angle of thrust, . . . and try again. I keep this up until I have that first hole exactly where it needs to be to look right. I then take my stitch wheel and mark both sides of the stitch gouge, . . . starting with a point in that first hole I've already made. Then, . . . just make the rest of the holes, . . . starting on top, . . . not going all the way through, . . . turning it over, . . . looking where the point is coming through, . . adjust it to come through on the mark you made in the gouge with the stitch wheel. I do all my holes first, . . . then come back and stitch. Probably not the most efficient, . . . but for an old codger like me, . . . it works, . . . that's all that counts. May God bless, Dwight

My belts are all snaked through the dip dye tank after they are fully assembled, . . . sewn, . . . burnished, . . . punched. I then re-burnish the edges, . . . apply the final sealer (mostly Resolene), . . . polish and send. If it has to be a natural inner liner, . . . I accomplish that by dying only the outside piece, . . . then assembling the 2 layer belt. Two layer belts are the only ones I make. May God bless, Dwight

Good looking work, . . . I have the patience for woodwork, . . . housebuilding, . . . electric, plumbing, and a host of other things. Never could create the patience for that kind of metal crafting, . . . Thanks for posting, . . . may God bless, Dwight

In one word, . . . nahhhhhh ! Get youself a can of Weldwood contact cement, . . . I like the gel for suede, . . . the liquid will work too, . . . buy a pint of each, . . . find out which one you like. Put a coat on each piece, . . . and we're talking raw leather here, . . . no parts cut out or anything like that, . . . just one piece of 7/8 veggie tan, . . . one piece of suede. After you coat each piece with a thin and EVEN coat, . . . stand back and let it dry. There should be NO tacky spots at all, . . . anywhere, . . . nada, . . . zero. I use a low setting heat gun to kind of speed up this part of the process. Just remember, . . . you are boiling off a flammable solvent here, . . . and it can smell up the place in a heart beat. Oh, . . . and don't wait too long, . . . couple hours max time before you put em together. When you do, . . . lay the suede down on the veggie tan, . . . get out your favorite rolling pin, . . . and have at it, . . . right / left / up / down. If you have time, . . . put some books on it, . . . go to bed, . . . get up tomorrow and treat it as though it is one piece of leather (it really is by now), . . . and make the holster from there. You will have to sew the edges, . . . and burnishing doesn't work as well as it would with two pieces of veggie tan, . . . but it "kinda" works. Have fun, . . . may God bless, Dwight

I live near a privileged town, Delaware, Ohio, . . . still has a full time cobbler, . . . open 6 days a week, . . . does excellent work. I asked him the same question (want to make a pair of Western boots some day, . . . on my bucket list y'know), . . . and he said you sew a strip of leather to the bottom of the pieces of the shoes, . . . AFTER the basic form has been molded on a form called a "last". The strip is the red color in the drawing, . . . his example was about 2/3 oz, . . . and about 3/4 inch wide. He said to sew that in the position as in the drawing, . . . all the way around the shoe, . . . then take a sewing machine, . . . sew that strip to the sole, . . . putting the shoe together. Hope this helps. The other thing I have done when I couldn't figure out a piece of clothing, . . . go to Goodwill, . . . buy something similar, . . . take it home to your handy-dandy razor blade, . . . dissect it, . . . see how the pros did it. May God bless, Dwight

This is not a very good picture, . . . my apologies, . . . and it IS THE RAW piece of leather with the image on it. Notice down around 4 o'clock on it, . . . I smudged it slightly getting the thing laid down, . . . But the colors are 80% or so vivid, . . . I'm thinking a sealer of some kind will make this thing a keeper. Anyway, . . . take a whack at it, . . . see what you all come up with, . . . I'm kinda excited about it. (edited to say that the fuzziness is the picture's fault, . . . the actual image is in the 80 / 90 % crisp region, . . . very presentable in my estimation) May God bless, Dwight

Maybe some or even all of you already know this, . . . I just learned how to do it. Want a full color image from a photo put on your flat piece of veggie tan???? 1. Get a piece of waxed paper from the kitchen, . . . cut it to 8 1/2 by 11 size. Flatten it out and put it in your printer. It worked very well in my Epson 1100 wide format printer, . . . printing portrait. 2. Find the image you want to use, . . . I did mine on Microsoft Publisher. Reverse the image if there is printing on it or anything else that would need to be reversed. 3. Print onto the waxed paper. 4. VERY CAREFULLY lay the waxed paper where you want it on the leather. YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE. If you try to move it at all, . . . it WILL smear. 5. Holding it so it cannot move, . . . gently stroke it with the edge of a credit card, . . . left / right / up / down. 6. Remove the wax paper, . . . count to 10, . . . it is dry. I haven't taken it any further than this, . . . having so much fun so far, . . . but maybe someone else can add to this and make the process more complete. May God bless, Dwight

Carrieanna1172 Looking at first the shoes, . . . then your attributes, . . . I don't think that would be much of a problem to someone who already sews. I have several "home" size sewing machines (a Brother, . . . couple of Singers, . . . and a White) that would sew that leather with no problem. Get a 16 or 18 needle from JoAnn fabric, . . . some of their tapestry thread, . . . and have at it. Use 8/9 oz veggie tan for the soles, . . . 1/2 oz or 2/3 oz for the uppers, . . . regular bias tape around the edges, . . . you should be good to go. Oh, . . . and do you burn yours, . . . or have you figured out how to use a laser printer to put any color image you want on veggie tanned leather? May God bless, Dwight

First drill a proper size hole in a short length of 3/8 inch hardwood dowel. You can force the blade base into the dowel, . . . then mount the whole thing in the drill press, . . . and later if you change your mind, . . . you have your blade without having destroyed it by grinding it round. May God bless, Dwight

Just wanted to say that I am a happy Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine Co. customer. I bought a Singer 111W155 from a friend, . . . he used it for canvas and "stuff". I want it for leather, . . . and the 1750 rpm motor was just wayyyyyyyyyyyy too fast. Enter Toledo Industrial, . . . and their expertise. I now have a machine that sews fairly slowly, . . . plenty of power, . . . piece of cake to install, . . . and even has an outlet on the back for my machine's sewing light. And the price was very fair. May God bless, Dwight

I guess maybe he'll do the same with the knife that he does with the 28mm cannons he creates, . . . shoots, . . . and enjoys. Sometimes, . . . there is no justification for any of the "things" we do. I'm in the process of building an actual shooting version of an M14, . . . that will shoot rim fire .22LR's. Been at it for a couple years, . . . just brought home the barrel tonight after having it turned down to the appropriate profile. Got a lot of work to do on it, . . . but that is OK, . . . probably be a while before I can afford to buy .22LR's the way it's going now Thanks for all the encouragement, . . . good words, . . . leather work is one of the few things besides eating a good steak, . . . that I have found to be theraputic in nature for my persona. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . here is the finished product, . . . the dye took a bit darker than it normally does, . . . probably the cow caused that, y'know. Anyway, . . . it has been a fun project, . . . hope Bob enjoys using it as much as I did making it. May God bless, Dwight

I don't do a lot of bags, . . . etc. . . . but when I do, . . . they are contact cemented together. Trying to hold several pounds of leather, . . . keep the stitches aligned, . . . make sure you are doing it right, . . . it's too much for me if I'm also having to hold two pieces (or three or four) of leather in the right place. For me, . . . contact cement is as important as the sleigh is to Santa Claus. As for rubber cement, . . . over time, . . . it dries out, . . . turns loose, . . . doesn't hold any more. I've got stuff stuck together with contact cement that's been there over 20 years, . . . still holding on. Stitches can break, become worn & frizzled, . . . but if the CC is still there, . . . it'll keep it together. OTOH, . . . if you only need it to hold long enough to stitch, . . . go for it, . . . rubber cement is great for positioning and stuff. May God bless, Dwight