Dwight

Eirewolf, . . . I'm going to go out on a limb here, . . . but it is supported by several years of past experience: you simply are applying the dye and the resolene wrong. Especially the black dye, . . . cut it 2 to 1, . . . 2 thinners to 1 dye if you are using Feibings Pro Oil dye, . . . and let it dry, . . . 24 hours minimum. Then get an old wash cloth you never want to put on your body again, . . . and buff that piece of leather like you are shining your shoes, . . . buff hard, and seriously. THEN, . . . cut your resolene 1 to 1 with distilled water (or some water that has VERY low chlorine in it). Use a 1 inch, . . . cheap, . . . bristle brush (about 49 cents at a hardware store), . . . and lightly brush on a full coat of the resolene, . . . when it is dry, . . . 24 hours later, . . . buff it good just like you did the dye. Then add a second, maybe third coat. Experiment, . . . you may need a 4th coat. I don't do more than 2 for belts and holsters and they hold up great. Resolene and dyes are not made to be used full strength from what I've experienced, . . . so I really think that is your problem. There is another finish you can try, . . . and I really like it for some of the stuff I do, . . . it is a mixture of beeswax and neatsfoot oil, . . . it makes a very nice finish, . . . doesn't allow bleed through of the dye if it is done right, . . . but is a more time consuming finish. Anyway, . . . let us know how you make out. May God bless, Dwight

Vegetable tanned leather is what you will want if you want to dye it, stamp it, decorate it, etc. Blanks can be purchased through Tandy Leather, or almost any of the other suppliers. Go to a Tandy store and pick it out yourself. A belt is a good project for a "first one" and the folks there can get you started out at least mostly correct. I personally use Feibings pro oil dye and Resolene for a finish on all my belts. Both are cut 50/50, . . . dye with thinner, Resolene with water. May God bless, Dwight

My wingtips are all little holes punched in the leather, . . . so get a little punch, . . . and punch holes in the leather, . . . you'll have to make the pattern to suit you, . . . mine are a couple different sized holes. Stain the whole thing brown to start with, . . . then being very careful, . . . dye the edges only. May God bless, Dwight

Mine has some very small parts to it as is easily seen, . . . and is made of a plastic, . . . someone correct me if I goof this one, . . . I believe it is called Delrin, . . . ??? Anyway, . . . white tough plastic, . . . has held up well, . . . would recommend it to anyone. May God bless, Dwight

Google Ohio Travel Bag, . . . open their on-line catalog, . . . if they don't have it, . . . I always pretty much consider it not being able to be found, reasonably. By the way, . . . if you have a slow internet connection, . . . it will take a little while to load, . . . but in the long run, . . . it's worth it usually to wait. May God bless, Dwight

Here's mine: as a pastor, and a leather worker, a guy named Dwight, who lives in Waldo, Ohio, . . . it tells all of that, . . . which is what I wanted. May God bless, Dwight

I have no idea, . . . as I don't know the designer of the pattern or belt, . . . what I can show you is how I do mine, . . . see the enclosed diagram. From what I could see, . . . it looks like a pattern for a rough out, money belt style. Is that what you are making? May God bless, Dwight

I line any spur strap I make that has conchos / spots / any metal decoration, . . . to protect my customer's boots. I do not want to get a bill for a ruined $500 pair of Plesiosaurus skin roping boots. But I also don't want those boots harmed by my work, . . . if the cowboy rips off his heel doggin' a doggie, . . . that's his problem, . . . I just don't want to contribute. That said, . . . I use pig skin, . . . contact cement it, . . . sew it, . . . full covering over the back and the tongue, . . . and it is all done before the dying and staining process starts. AND, . . . I also back and sew the matching piece of the spur strap. May God bless, Dwight

There are some "ways" of doing a saddle stitch that are easier or faster than other "ways", . . . but no matter how you cut it, . . . it is all hand work, . . . beautiful when it is done, but none the less, . . . all done by hand. May God bless, Dwight

Greyhawk, . . . I'm sending you a couple pics of my saddle, . . . and yes, . . . I've ridden in it, . . . and I love it. Bought it out of a pawn shop in Denver, Colorado. It has seen a lot of better days, . . . but it may give you some ideas if you look at it closely, . . . colors, textures, worn spots, etc. As for stamping it "after the fact", . . . it was commonly done years ago, . . . cowboys with home made stamps (from 20 penny nails and a file), . . . used a small hammer, stamp, and a piece of firewood from what I've been led to believe. Mine has that appearance, . . . plenty of places there are stamps that the original maker just did not do. Just remember, . . . it IS, . . . YOUR, . . . saddle, . . . treat it like YOU want to. I had planned to refurbish this old relic when I first got it, . . . wound up making a few changes to make sure it was sound enough to ride with, . . . and will do some cosmetic things later on, . . . but for now, . . . it is the entrance hall highlight of my leather shop, . . . and I like it. Not meaning to disparage your saddle, . . . but I would not trade with you, . . . I like mine so well. You can make yours to the place YOU like it too. May God bless, 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