Dwight

You can play the math game . . . or you can do it the easy way . . . Determine what would be the smallest you would probably make . . . cut out yellow pine circles that size. Measure and cut the bottom layer . . . then use a dress makers cloth tape measure to measure the outside of that piece. Cut the filler . . . lay it around the piece . . . measure it . . . cut the top piece . . . glue em together around your circle. You don't have to make one of every possible size . . . you could make say a 7 in dia . . . 8 in dia . . . 10 inch dia . . . 12 inch dia . . . and the 12 could be used for anythng between 10 and 12. Easy peasy. May God bless, Dwight

Click the envelope in the top right hand corner . . . then click "compose new" Just like addressing an email. May God bless, Dwight

Move the telephone . . . you can put it on your nightstand . . . lol You'll have fun with that roller unit . . . my son and DIL love the glasses I did for them for Christmas Put their names and an image of their house on them . . . May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . here is the setup . . . Laser 3 is my low powered unit . . . laser 2 is the 10 watt unit . . . and laser 1 shows both in the box I built for them. In the bottom of laser 1 you can see a hole in the box . . . there is a corresponding hole and fan at the other end. I tested it tonight . . . wondering if the fan was powerful enough . . . it runs off a USB port . . . and works great . . . is quiet. I was burning leather . . . and none of the "aroma" slipped out where I was. Anyway . . . that's the setup. May God bless, Dwight

I dip dye exclusively . . . unless there is some mitigating factor that makes me do it otherwise. All projects . . . especially if it is any tan or brown lighter than "dark" brown . . . get a first dressing with neatsfoot oil on the hair side only. And if I remember to do that . . . it is after all the forming and stitching is done (unless it is a "white stitching" project). Depending on the piece . . . sometimes I do the darker brown or black . . . sometimes not . . . if the leather is more flimsy I avoid it . . . if it is more than average firm . . . it gets a dose. Let it set for 24 hours . . . and as much as possible . . . one "kinda slow" . . . but uniform . . . pass thru the dye pan . . . similar to the above picture . . . wipe off any excess with paper towel . . . and then lay it horizontal for about 20 minutes . . . then either hang up to dry . . . or go to the "hot box" . . . as needed. Did a bunch of belts for a show one time . . . dyed em and hung em up to dry . . . and re-dyed em all the next day. The dye had migrated down to the bottom of the hanging piece . . . they were all noticeable darker at the bottom than the top. NEVER did THAT again. I DO NOT have splotchy problems . . . unless I get too near the edge of a veg tan piece . . . where the leather is "harder" there. I can touch that up with a dauber though . . . BUT . . . I use only Feibings pro oil dye . . . and Feibings reducer . . . 4 oz bottle of each . . . mixed together . . . makes my dye. I only do 4 colors . . . normally . . . none of this "can you make it match my aunt's 70 yr old book bag?" stuff . . . learned that is a losing program. May God bless, Dwight

I just finished the doors for my "fully enclosed" work area for both of mine. The low powered one is something less than 1 watt I think . . . actually does beautiful work on shading or outlining . . . will definitely use it. The 10 watt will cut thru plywood (3/16 thick) like it really knows what it is doing . . . and I'm very happy it does. It'll be doing most of my pattern cutting once I get one simple last touch finished . . . gotta put an exhaust fan on it . . . I'll pop up some pics when I'm done . . . maybe even later today. I did some drinking glasses for my son /DIL for Christmas . . . we were all happy with that outcome . . . Will be doing key fobs like they are going out of style later on . . . more than anything else . . . just to use up the scrap . . . maybe make a buck fifty (lol) on the stack of em. One has a 16 x 16 work area . . . the other is 14 x 14 . . . both with adjustable height . . . Glad you are doing well with yours too. May God bless, Dwight

Not meaning to pick on you Thom . . . but compared to my laser cutter . . . yours looks like it was cut with a chain saw. I use a little air compressor with my 5 watt laser . . . and one thing for sure I make is key fobs . . . I wipe the edges of em down with a terry cloth . . . and they are good to go. May God bless, Dwight

I cannot get you in touch with him . . . but If you cut the head off a 3/16 inch bolt . . . thread it into a 1/2 or 5/8 inch piece of wooden dowel . . . you can put it into your drill press . . . and with files and a little patience . . . you can make your own . . . Cocobolo is pretty . . . but your customer will never be able to tell the difference. I've made several . . . they all work great . . . and were a ton cheaper than buying one. You can also use 1/8 inch for the steel shaft . . . and then put that in the end of your dremel . . . works really fine. I wore out one dremel that way . . . hadda buy a new one. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Simplejack . . . I'd of passed them up . . . too good looking . . . Will have to make a trek that direction . . . MaY God bless, Dwight

THAT is one good looking belt . . . would be proud to wear one like that. I'd also love to have the pattern . . . it would definitely make a "distinguished" looking pair of suspenders . . . May God bless, Dwight

Take a look at this one https://pragmaticartisan.myshopify.com/collections/animal/products/quail-1119-engraved-metal-hand-stamp May God bless, Dwight

If you don't find one to suit you . . . I've been successful getting some very much customized stamps from a couple of vendors in China . . . they do solid brass ones . . . and while I'd a liked to do it here the states . . . nobody here in the states would make them . . . They're on Ebay . . . but you need a picture of what you want . . . as well as the dimensions. May God bless, Dwight

I'd like to see a bunch of pictures of it May God bless, Dwight

Did someone get up from the wrong side of the bed today?? May God bless, Dwight

Ain't he one of them Star Wars guys . . . black cape and such . . . May God bless, Dwight

But at the same time . . . if it is wax . . . water may not make it do anything . . . but heat will . . . I'd be very careful . . . but with a heat gun and some serious care . . . I'd bet you can mold it. That would be double if you had a top and bottom mold you could squeeze it into . . . after taking it out of a pan of reasonably hot water. May God bless, Dwight

With so many lasers out there . . . you would be hard put to find one just like it . . . But for those . . . I usually make a pancake . . . mold it so that the inside piece is almost flat . . . and add a piece of light cardboard around the laser . . . as you do not want the holster to turn the laser on . . . draining the battery . . . and pointing a dot on the floor beside you. They're not fun. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome Loren . . . Loren . . . not everyone can view images posted as you did them. Use Adobe Photoshop or some photo program . . . cut them to about 1000 by 1000 size and no more than 500 kb for the best results here. Load them into a "Leather photos" file on your computer . . . save them all as *.jpg . . . go down to the bottom where it says choose files . . . click that . . . it'll take you to your storage . . . select the picture(s) and we can see them here. May God bless, Dwight

If you are dead set on using snaps . . . there are "one way" snaps available. You would put them on so that you would have to separate the two pieces of leather starting at the buckle and working your way back. Pulling on the end would not allow the snap to come undone . . . and while I very seldom use them . . . I do have them . . . and they do work. May God bless, Dwight

You'll need a better definition than that . . . full quiver . . . cheek wrap for the butt stock . . . handguard wrap for foend??? May God bless, Dwight

Belts can get pressure applied to them . . . and snaps can come apart. I quit using snaps on belts some 20 years ago . . . I only use Chicago Screws now With a dab of blue locktite or fingernail polish . . . they do not come loose. Only way I go now. May God bless, Dwight

It's only illegal if the law finds out about it . . . Not encouraging illegal actions . . . Just stating the fact . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you find out the answers . . . let me know . . . May God bless, Dwight

My favorite peeve is buying a beautiful piece of leather (regardless of where) . . . grabbing it later for a project . . . and finding a "hard" place in it . . . just exactly in THE wrong place for the project I've already started cutting for. I work around it . . . but it burns my gizzard. May God bless, Dwight

That's it . . . have run May God bless, Dwight