Dwight

Most of the time when I have a dye job that went south, . . . blotchy, . . . spotty, . . . uneven, . . . etc. It can usually be traced at least suggestively to moisture. I have since made it policy that water is used in some parts of my process, . . . but never around the dying, . . . as I do not use water based dyes. Think about this: putting alcohol or oil in a jar, . . . then adding water, . . . what do you get? A stinking mess that is good for nothing. I apply that same reasoning to alcohol or oil going on my leather and adding water. May God bless, Dwight

You might also want to put an extra coat of Resolene on that inside face. I'm a person given to very heavy perspiration, . . . and while my Cactus holster only has one layer between me and the 1911, . . . I don't find any evidence of moisture, . . . most of the time. When I do, . . . it's on the dust cover, . . . up near the rear sight, . . . and equally spread around, . . . I've always considered it condensation. Good luck with your project, . . . keep us updated. May God bless, Dwight

If you want to take on the aggravation of trying to dye the front without touching the edges, . . . have a wonderful time. When you perfect the technique, . . . you can make big money selling a book on how to do it. If you dye the front, . . . and the edges, . . . any bleeding dye that would come from the back, . . . will also come from the edges. Long and short, . . . dye the whole thing, . . . save yourself some grief. I have yet to have a customer who even mentioned it, . . . much less wanted it dyed just on one side. May God bless, Dwight

Probably told to you by some tree hugger trying to sell you on the water based stuff. No, . . . it does not bleed if it is properly applied, . . . properly sealed. The single, one, and only bleeder I ever had was from a bottle of the old Tandy water base stuff. I made myself a shoulder holster for a .380, . . . wore it to a funeral, . . . came home and threw away the tee shirt it bled all over. It was their black dye from 5 or 6 years ago. May God bless, Dwight

PM sent May God bless, Dwight

My teacher, . . . John Bianchi, . . . taught me to do it that way. Glue em together (actually use Weldwood contact cement for best results), . . . then treat it as one piece of leather. And, . . . here is one example, . . . my own personal rig. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, Tony, . . . the ending attitude of the handle is more important than the starting. Think of the handle as the minute hand on a big clock. If you were to turn the press to the left, 90 degrees so the handle is out front, . . . you want to wind up with the handle pointing to about 8 o'clock. And that is 8 o'clock as the press contacts the handle holding the stamp, . . . and the stamp laying on the leather. This gives you your best pressure leverage, . . . and the best control. You can take the front bolts off your press and adjust the mesh of the teeth to obtain that result. Takes a few minutes of playing with it, . . . but once it is set, you are all set. There are also youtubes out there showing how to manipulate the press by removing teeth from the bar. I decided not to do that, . . . but you may want to. Just google up youtube: arbor press. May God bless, Dwight

Take a look at these letters, . . . done with the half ton Harbor Freight press, . . . a couple of them actually went deep enough that you could see the impression of the material around the actual stamp. The trick to using the press (for me, . . . this is how I do it) is to first go through the whole line to see how big it will be. You do that by positioning the letters, and measuring how long it is. I then start in the middle and work both ways. Say I wanted to stamp "NORTH", . . . and it measures out 3 inches long. I make a mark at 1 1/2 inches, . . . position the center of the R at that mark, . . . and press the R into the leather. I then remove the R from the handle, . . . and lay it loosely back into the impression. I would then take the T, . . . position it so the edge of the letter touches the edge of the R, . . . and press it. Next I take the O and lay it next to the R so the letters touch and press it. Then I would do the N and the H, . . . again leaving the O and the T to maintain my proper spacing between letters. Be careful to make sure your handle is perpendicular, . . . gives an even stamp, . . . slanted will look uneven on one side or the other. May God bless, Dwight

David, . . . if you want to do simple, . . . point and shoot video's for on-line, . . . get an Ipad or an Ipad mini. You can literally take it home, . . . download two apps, . . . and have a 5 minute Youtube on line in less than an hour, . . . total. Surely you have a friend with an Ipad mini, . . . the only app he will need is named "Capture". I do not know if it is possible to edit those in any way, . . . have never been interested in finding out. OTOH, . . . Cyberlink Power Director 12 is what I use every week to edit our Church service on Sunday morning. I take a raw dvd, burned by a 3 camera / switcher network, . . . load it into CPD 12, . . . add titles, music, edit out certain segments, . . . edit in others, . . . all in about an hour to hour and a half, . . . for a finished product of a DVD about 75 minutes long. I've been doing video for over 20 years, . . . these are the two easiest to learn, . . . and use, . . . I've ever messed with. Just for reference, . . . my first was a Sony 110, 8mm video tape, . . . and I edited in titles with a Commodore 64 computer. May God bless, Dwight

I had a special "dog collar" job a couple years back. This couple has two Boston Bull Terriers, . . . and each has a shock collar to keep them in the yard. Their old nylon shock collars would be found in the yard, . . . dogs on the run, . . . as they had figured out how to bite and pull enough that they could eventually get the collars off. I made one for each, . . . doubled 7/8 oz veggie tan, . . . put together with contact cement, . . . doubled over at the buckle end, . . . actually just one piece, folded, with the buckle in the middle, . . . sewn down the edges with 346 thread on my Tippmann Boss. The dogs never got those collars off, . . . to this day. May God bless, Dwight

Got a hacksaw ? The 1/4 inch will be lost in the detail, . . . just use the commander, . . . or buy the commander and hacksaw the thing. May God bless, Dwight

I never thought I would say it, . . . because I never figured I would see it. But you do make a good looking hybrid. Of course, . . . part of my experience is a guy who looks like he cuts his leather with a chain saw, . . . uses an ice pick to make his rivet holes, . . . and when he's not making kydex holsters, . . . his toaster oven is probably doing "hot pockets", toaster waffles, or strudles. Yours look good, . . . thanks for bringing the kydex idea up to a reasonable standard. May God bless, Dwight

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ THAT is you problem. Bend the thread arm down so the thread is pulling from approximately the center of the spool, . . . and make it turn the spool as it pulls it off. I learned that a long time ago with my machine doing belts. May God bless, Dwight

Let me just say that tools are for the most part either used by the owner, . . . or abused by the owner. I have alphabet stamps that I know are well over 20 years old, . . . and if no one tries to emboss an anvil with them, . . . they'll probably last another 20 years. The stamps Tandy sells are pot metal, . . . but if they are used correctly, . . . they will outlast probably everyone on this forum. Some will break, . . . because they are made by the hand of man, . . . only God makes things perfectly. For only initials, . . . you won't find a better bargain, . . . especially if you get a customer who likes what you did, . . . and wants you to make another just like it. If you hand tool them, . . . no two will be exactly alike, . . . no matter how much care you give it. May God bless, Dwight

For off colors, . . . I dye my own, . . . having a covered 50 foot front porch makes that a "not too hard" project. I just tie off each end, . . . put the dye on a paper towel, . . . walk from end to end squeezing the towel around the string. May God bless, Dwight

I actually bought a thermostat for mine, . . . not built yet, . . . but I like your idea of the cabinet. May God bless, Dwight

That is really good looking, Lobo, . . . nice to have your own digs for the shop. Personally, . . . I was thinking a cigar store Indian would look really cool just outside the main door, . . . but you decorate however it strikes you. May God bless, Dwight

While it does not happen often, . . . when it does, . . . it is a special feeling. Been there, . . . done that, . . . May God bless, Dwight

DCKNIVES has the answer for the single phase motor. If it is a 3 phase, . . . do yourself a favor, . . . buy a single phase and be done with it. Phase converters can be expensive, . . . and it is just one more thing to mess with if you have to move the machine or the shop. Save yourself the headache. Get a Harbor Freight catalog, . . . get an online 20 or 25% off coupon, . . . go buy it, . . . be done with it. May God bless, Dwight

I've had mine basically in my house for a number of years, . . . already mentioned are the big opportunities: leather dust / chemical fumes / cuts and pokes from those sharp tools we use. Dust can be minimized by dampening before sanding, and using a vacuum system to suck it away as it's made, . . . respirators will take care of the vapors, . . . but only your vigilance will keep you safe from the sharps. Quite honestly, . . . I own a head knife, . . . very seldom use it, . . . because truthfully, it scares me. I've always been a bit "phobic" about swords, knives, spears, etc. anyway, . . . and I am just not comfortable with that dude in my hands. I use rotary cutters and razor knives 99% of the time, . . . and it works for me. The one thing I would be most worried about as a young person is the possibility of carpal tunnel trouble, . . . and I would concentrate my efforts to relieve my hands of some of the strenuous effort that will bring it on. Several of my friends who were mechanics were bothered with it. May God bless, Dwight

I leave the leather shop, . . . change hats, . . . and go over to Dwight's model shop. I make a model, . . . change hats, . . . go back to the leather shop, . . . and make the holster. If I keep it up, . . . not too long from now, . . . more of them will be wooden than plastic. May God bless, Dwight

Your answer is similar to "Which is the best football team?" My answers would be Resolene and Pittsburgh Steelers, . . . but there are those who disagree. The steelers will break your heart sometimes, . . . and Resolene will darken your project a tad, . . . but both are still great, . . . and Resolene offers protection against UV which is important to me. May God bless, Dwight

I only use the center presser foot. I generally sew clockwise around the object I am sewing, . . . that keeps everything to the left of the needle, . . . and I can "guide" the flow with my left hand. I also have a home made table that is flush with the sewing surface, . . . they both exit onto my work table which is also flush with the sewing surface. That makes for easier alignment, feeding, directing, etc. I've often thought of my machine as though it were an Irish redhead, . . . hard to get to know, . . . persnicketty, . . . but loyal to the end once you make the connection. May God bless, Dwight

Troy has my process half right. I wet form the holster, . . . let it dry. When I say dry, . . . I'm talking DRY, . . . no less than 24 hours after forming. I then glue it together with contact cement, . . . by applying the cement, . . . letting it dry, . . . inserting the gun, . . . and hand clamping the holster around it so the cement makes contact. Pull out the weapon, . . . flatten the holster enough to sew where it needs to be, . . . reinsert weapon, . . . VOILA, . . . works every time. I kinda hand sew, . . . my Tippmann Boss is hand powered :-) May God bless, Dwight

Sometimes mine becomes slightly curved, . . . but I just bend it back straight. When I get a new awl, . . . I start out taking a file to it, . . . and I make it diamond shape if it wasn't before. I then use a carborundum stone to get a rough edge on it. Then go to my Dremel, . . . get out he polishing compound, . . . make it shine with it. I finish up the "blade" part of it with a little scissor sharpening tool I bought at JoAnn fabric. Little orange colored critter with a white ceramic stick in it, . . . set on the proper angle for a pair of scissors. I run my awl 10 to 15 strokes down that little rascal after all the other work is done, . . . yessir, . . . it is then "sharp". Don't wear sandals using one like that either, . . . you could really wind up sorry if you are a "dropper". May God bless, Dwight