Dwight

I've been using Weldwood for some 40 years or so, . . . haven't developed a third eye, . . . no extra ears, . . . still got only 8 fingers and two thumbs. Seriously, . . . it does have an odor, . . . and there is a flammable warning on it, . . . but figure a way past the odor, . . . and you have THE strongest of the glues. Some will equal it, . . . none will surpass it. It can be thinned a tad with acetone, . . . works better on really small stuff, . . . and they make a gel that is also neat for putting just that little amount EXACTLY where you want it. You're only out 7 bucks if you don't like it. May God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . I got tired of trying to make the ends right with a mechanical device. I use a punch to knock out the general pattern, . . . and basically where I want it. THEN, . . . it goes to my 1 inch wide belt sander (NOT the orbital), . . . and I make really beautiful belt ends there, . . . or at least they look good to me. Mike has the process down correct, . . . mark, . . . center, . . . whack, . . . but I still like to do that "final" on the sander. May God bless, Dwight

A small pair of needle nosed pliers with large rubber shock handles, . . . makes short work of a needle that wants to be difficult going through the hole. Also useful for many other things too. You may also want to pick up a snap setter, . . . I believe this is the one I use, . . . http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/5/8-heavy-duty-fastener-plier-kit-733006/, . . . on sale, half price until the 19th. I have never seen a tool that does a better job of setting snaps than this one. I did hear one guy complain about it, . . . he bent the handles, . . . it is not made for a ham-handed knuckle head. May God bless, Dwight

I do all of my letter stamping with my 1/2 ton, . . . I use it to impress my stamp, . . . I crack walnuts, . . . I'm still "designing" my way to doing snaps with it. Have not "quite" gotten it where I want it, . . . will post when I do. Be creative, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I would certainly try the bed, . . . when I added one to my Tippmann Boss, . . . EVERYTHING started looking better on the back. There are times I cannot use it for a certain project, . . . but the 90% or so that I do use it on, . . . it looks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better. Then I mounted my Boss so that after sewing, . . . it has a 60 inch table to go out and lay on, . . . it got even better May God bless, Dwight

1. I didn't invent this thing, . . . someone else (I think on this website) gave me the idea, . . . but that is how I made my template. And get the BIG rotary cutter, I think it might be 60mm, . . . around 2 inches in diameter. I have a little one, . . . don't like it anywhere near as well as the big one. Also be careful, . . . they ARE sharp, . . . and will cut you bad, . . . quickly. 2. I start out with a downward slant, . . . probably something near 45 degrees, . . . as i hit the corner, . . . I add a few degrees to each cut, . . . and it works out. I did take out a wedge on at least one pair, . . . then tried just sliding around, . . . it seemed to work as well, . . . and is a lot quicker. I mean, . . . how many judges are going to walk up to a contestant with a pair of calipers and say "Let me measure the width of your fringe, . . . gotta be perfectly equal all the way around". 3. For now it is just eyeball, . . . gimme a couple years, . . . then we'll call it experience too. May God bless, Dwight

As usual, . . . top shelf work. I would have knocked a couple of slots in the back just for the heck of it, . . . just in case someone someday wanted to attach it to a belt, . . . but it wasn't my call, . . . so you did well. May God bless, Dwight

Tex, . . . I don't know what you got, . . . but that kind of therapy is devastating to an old coot like me. Don't get me wrong now, . . . there are times when I eyeball my 16 oz framing hammer while sitting behind a recalcitrant Tippmann Boss, . . . but I usually go get a cup of coffee, . . . chill a bit, . . . finish the project, . . . and thank the Good Lord for my sewing machine / stitcher. And I do enough belts, . . . I'd just quit them if I had to hand sew them, . . . or else the belt price would have to be like Mike's, . . . and seriously raised upward. May God bless, Dwight

On the very few occasions I use USMC black, . . . I dip dye it, . . . and it eliminates the browns, . . . streakiness, . . . and the multiple coats. Other than it being a pain to buff out, . . . it is indeed BLACK, . . . and will give a good penetration for leather that has to hold up to some serious working. Again, . . . I don't like to use it, . . . but it does work, . . . kind of like a snow shovel, ya' know? May God bless, Dwight

C'mon St8line, . . . hands are for hamburgers, . . . machines are for stitching I don't know what "pleather" is, . . . this actually was real leather, . . . just had a hard coat of some sort on it. I looked up "blue leather" some time back, . . . it's not processed correctly, . . . cheaper to make that way, . . . I'm thinking that was what it was as it hit all the description I had found. It wouldn't glue right, . . . it wouldn't sand right, . . . stitching was at best "OK", . . . and that coating was something else to cut It'll work for what I need it for, . . . but somebody will really have to have the next one. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, it wasn't a problem at all to keep it clean. It is some kind of "manufactured" leather, . . . has a real hard finish on it, . . . back and center is blue, . . . all but the outside edge is really soft like belly leather, . . . I bought the piece to do some white slings for a Veteran group, . . . had some left over, . . . like I said, . . . probably first and last. May God bless, Dwight

Just finished this white parade holster, . . . Made out of "blue" leather, . . . junk stuff, . . . super pain to work with. Glad I don't get these ordered every day. May God bless, Dwight

In a clear tub, . . . under my desk, . . . the only "organizational" part of my process, . . . it ALWAYS goes back in the tub as soon as the molding is done. Not a perfect system , . . . but it works for me. May God bless, Dwight

I took the advice of someone somewhere (maybe on here) and made myself two fringe cutting templates. They are clear plexiglass, . . . with lines spaced 1/4 inch apart on one, . . . 5/16 on the other one, . . . lines scratched into the surface. In the center of the piece (about 4 inches wide, . . . 9 inches long) is a cut with a hack saw. I roll a rotary cutter down the hack saw cut, . . . move it to the left to see the cut line covered by one of the scratched lines, . . . and just keep rolling down. I have lines going across it to indicate different lengths for the fringe. Using my system, . . . it's pretty hard not to make good looking fringe. And yes, . . . fringe cutting is THE last thing done. Otherwise, . . . I'd somehow sew some of it up somewhere, . . . somehow, . . . cause I know me. AND, . . . it lets me know that the work is almost done when I'm doing the fringe, . . . I can chill and enjoy the experience. May God bless, Dwight

Chief, . . . you live up to your name. This little indian just does not possess your skill or patience, . . . really good looking. May God bless, Dwight

I had some cases some time back, . . . and I made a yellow pine insert for each one, . . . just the size for the inside, . . . but not too snug. I then added 1/16th inch by 1 inch flat stock steel pieces where the rivets would be set. I used a stick and grabber to stick the rivet in the hole, . . . slid in the insert, . . . set it on another piece of leather, . . . capped and whacked the rivet. Worked perfectly. May God bless, Dwight

I read an article the other day, . . . some gun mag, . . . all about the full shelves in the gun mfg warehouses. They have caught up, . . . maybe even running ahead, . . . and the stocks are full. One LGS i see occasionally has all but quit carrying long guns except for AR's and M4geries, . . . and a couple of shotguns. Lots of handguns though, still. My competition in this area is mainly a handful of people with stacks of kydex and a couple of toaster ovens. They hack saw off a hunk of tandy belly leather, . . . rivet a piece of toaster oven kydex to it, . . . smile and say "twenty bucks please". May God bless, Dwight

Ramrod, the center hole of the holes you punched is the "correct" measurement point. Go halfway around the belt from there, . . . perfect center point for that belt. May God bless, Dwight

The ONE tried, . . . true, . . non guessing way to do it , . . cut out the rough holster,. . . wet the leather, . . Mold the holster, . . . let it fully dry, . . glue the edges together, . . . mark and sew. Never fails, . . . period! And you ca forget worrying about leather thickness, . . . etc. May God bless Dwight

"Beautiful" does not do the work justice, . . . I think "Stunning", . . . kinda like Cinderella stepping out of the pumpkin coach that very first time, . . . describes it for me. Keep up the good work. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks for the good words, guys, . . . been putting it off, . . . finally just DID it. Be wearing them in the parade this weekend probably, . . . Always wanted a pair, . . . finally got em. . . . now to make another pair for weed eating, . . . but out of vinyl. May God bless, Dwight

First off, . . . my dying is limited to holsters, belts, mag pouches, an occasional purse. All kinda flat stuff, . . . all small, . . . and all easily handled. I have two 2 inch deep by 9 by 14 (more or less) cake pans. One is for black, . . . the other is for other than black. I pour a 50/50 mixture of my desired dye into the pan (50 dye/50 reducer), . . . . usually a good pint plus, . . . then begin inundating the item. I dip it straight into the liquid, . . . it get "baptized" so to speak, . . . but not left to soak. Its 4 to 5 seconds at the most. Pull out, . . . belts or long items get laid on their edge, . . . curled, . . . bottom edge down, . . . on a piece of cardboard. Holsters go on their back, as well as purses and knife sheaths, and mag carriers. Let em dry for 24 hours, . . . if they are brittle dry, . . . add a coat of neatsfoot oil to the hair side (thank you Lobo) and let that dry for 24 hours. Burnish as necessary, . . . finish 90+% of the time with 50/50 Resolene/water. The dye is for the most part very predictable, . . . and very uniform. Occasionally a piece will be darker or lighter, . . . but we are playing with leather from different cows, . . . different tanneries sometimes, . . . whatcha expect???? I'm happy as a fat rat in a cheeze factory with my process. May God bless, Dwight

Probably if it were my project, . . . a set of plastic (clear) French curves, . . . and a hand stitch gouger would by my approach. Figure out which part of the curve to use for which lines, . . . lay out the start and end points for each line beforehand with a pair of dull dividers, . . . use a piece of masking tape at the beginning and the ending of each curve to mark where you start and where you end. Depending on the size, . . . that shouldn't take too long that way, . . . and following the French curve, . . . it's hard to mess that up if you take your time and really, really pay attention. Painting in the stitch gouges is kinda tricky, . . . but it would look really nice when it was done. I'd probably use a hypodermic needle and some really thinned down paint, . . . maybe have to do a couple of coats, . . . but just track through the gouge line, . . . emitting a bit of paint as you go. May God bless, Dwight

If you want to make it an easy process, . . . go to a local Tandy store, . . . they have large spools of thread from 346 down to I think 207. Or call Kevin up at Springfield Leather, . . . he'll help you in a heartbeat. May God bless, Dwight

C'mon, Red Cent, . . . you still can't out draw Matt................... And if you did, . . . Festus would get ya......... Not meaning any disrespect or add adverse feelings to anyone, . . . and I do know that sometimes they are probably necessary, . . . but the screw in the bowl washer, . . . with the rubber rings below it, . . . for tension, . . . it just throws the whole picture off for me. Kinda like watching some cowpoke riding along in his Hoss hat, . . . on a purty lookin' bay, . . . got his vest and his chaps on, . . . six gun at his side, . . . rifle in the scabbard, . . . rope hanging off the saddle, . . . saddlebags in the back, . . . and totin' a turquoise transistor radio with the antenna extended up 48 inches, . . . blaring out some old rock N roll Beachboy's tune. But that's just me, . . . probably don't have that effect on everyone. May God bless, Dwight