Dwight

Q1: can you use acrylic paint? It colors really well and I've never had to us more than 2 coats. Q2: is it water base, oil base? I'm thinking if it is oil, . . . it should dry and not be a problem. May God bless, Dwight

No, . . . but it wouldn't be any big trick to rig up a test piece, . . . paint it up, . . . put on the finish, . . . your answer will lay right in front of you. I also have no idea what you call a "candie" color. May God bless, Dwight

Rob, . . . the old fashioned 50/50 (by weight) neatsfoot oil and virgin beeswax, . . . melted together, . . . will give you a really nice shine, . . . but the trick with it is that you have to work to get that high polish, . . . and it is a fragile finish, scratches fairly easy. If you are thinking show collar, . . . on for the ring, . . . then back in the box till the next show, . . . with a little buffing in between, . . . it should work for you. But, again, the initial "shine" takes some elbow grease. I cut the time a bit when I use it by rubbing it on, . . . going over it with a heat gun to melt the wax into and on the leather, . . . buff, . . . add some more product, . . . more heat, . . . more buff, . . . till I get it where I want to quit. May God bless, Dwight

Following up on what Renee said: do a search for Brazos Jack as author, . . . you will have to go down through the list, . . . you are looking for 4 separate posts, . . . one for the holster, then it's instructions, . . . another for the cartridge box, then it's instructions. Have fun, . . . I haven't made mine yet, . . . and the operative word is "yet", . . . May God bless, Dwight

That only works to a certain degree, . . . as the bag will mush up against the tooling and scramble it. I have come to the conclusion that I can have a formed holster / knife sheath, . . . OR, . . . I can have a tooled holster / knife sheath. Asking for both is asking for kids and peace and quiet, . . . it's either/or, . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you are waiting for the oil to soften and make the leather supple, . . . you have about 2 or 3 gallons to go. Take the belt in both hands, . . . and roll it like the little drawing. DO NOT roll it with the flesh side out, that will cause serious wrinkling. I even have a small steel rod that I will lay down on my work bench, . . . and roll it back and forth inside the belt to start breaking it in. I do this before dying, . . . after dying, . . . and after the final finish. That way my customer doesn't get a leather plank they have to try to wrap around their body. Oil alone will do it, . . . but there will be so much oil in the belt, . . . it will ooze out onto the customer's clothing, . . . will not be a happy scenario. May God bless, Dwight

I've had mine for several years, . . . and have to say, yes, . . . it can be finnickey. It can be a pain. But then so can a Ford, Chevy, or an Austin-Martin. No, . . . the stitch on the back is not as pretty as the one on the front, . . . but it is a working stitch, . . . not intended to be the back side of a show piece in a museum somewhere. If you want a working machine you can take anywhere, . . . get one. If you are a whiney, grouchy, perfectionist crab, . . . probably need to get something else. As for their customer service, . . . my experience has been tops. My machine clunked on me twice, . . . both times I took it to them, . . . Ben cleared off his bench with only a couple hours notice, . . . fixed me up both times, . . . at minimum charge. Hand sewing, using two needles and saddle stitching will be a lot prettier if you are into esthetics, . . . personally, I'm not. And in all the belts, sheaths, holsters, etc. I've sent out to paying customers, . . . none of them has come back and wanted it dressed up. Anyway, . . . getting off the unpaid advertisement box, . . . good luck on your decision. May God bless, Dwight

That is one beautiful rig. I've got a west Texas nephew LEO, . . . I can just see him in that rig. I'm gonna email him the pictures, . . . and I can hear him wanting one even now, . . . but I'd bet that the department would frown seriously on it. May God bless, Dwight

Expanding on Electrathon's post: go on a diet, . . . when your shape from rib cage to thigh is similar to a telephone pole, . . . your belts will no longer become "bent". Seriously, . . . your body heat, . . . sweat, . . . and the pressure of your body attempting to escape the confines of the belt, . . . all add up to a modification in the shape of the belt. Same thing happens with your billfold. Buy a new one, . . . nice and flat, fits that skinny little box like it was meant to. Put a couple hundred bucks worth of 20's in it, half dozen credit card type items, a few business cards, some family photos, . . . two days later the shape is changed. May God bless, Dwight

The first problem is I believe, the size of the plate. That much surface area needs some serious pressure, . . . and a solid bottom under it. Foam, wood, etc. will not do it, . . . steel would be preferred, . . . cover it with masking tape to prevent rust, etc. Secondly, . . . properly case the leather. Give it a good dunk in water, . . . submerge it for a good 15 seconds in water that is warm enough to feel warm, but not hot enough that you cannot keep your hands in it comfortably. Third, . . . cut the pieces a bit bigger than the finished product you want (I assumed you are making beer coasters). It makes for a whole lot easier handling as well as the water gets into the leather where it needs to be quicker and easier when cut into smaller pieces. When they are cut, . . . put them in the water and bend them back and forth a couple of times, . . . it works kind of like squeezing a sponge in water when you want to get it wetter, quicker. After you bring it out of the water, . . . lay it on a towel, . . . flesh side down, . . . let it return in color to just almost natural leather color, . . . it will be properly cased for your job, . . . put in under the press, . . . go for it. May God bless, Dwight

Everything I would have said, . . . has been said. Glue it, . . . stitch it, . . . go on with life. May God bless, Dwight

Another thing you can do is add a little alignment bar to the stamping tool. Take a collar with an allen head set screw, . . . solder a piece of a paper clip to one edge of it. Angle your collar onto the tool so that it is parallel to the edge of the belt while stamping in the configuration you want, . . . that way you only have to line up the direction, and the tip placement of the stamp. Works like a champ. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Toolingaround, . . . thank you for the update. I have stayed away from NF simply because it DOES darken, . . . and if you want to keep the shade simple and clean, . . . can't do it with that. But the fact that they advertise it as non darkening, . . . i WILL be getting a jug of it. Gonna play with it, . . . and some day, if I live that long, I want to make a saddle for a special young lady (great niece), . . . and it will be as natural as I can make it. Thanks again, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . I can't understand the 3 piece part, . . . one piece is how I do them, . . . plus handles if desired. You can add pouches, mag carriers, handles, hanging straps, etc. But the basic rifle case is one piece of leather and either a button for an end opening one, . . . or a zipper for a side opening one. May God bless, Dwight

Leather will be darkened over time just by simple light, . . . daylight does it, . . . look at any older saddle, . . . and there just isn't much that can be done about it. The one single product I know of that will help, . . . Resolene, . . . as it has a UV blocker (the part that darkens the leather), . . . but it's not guaranteed forever. I did some "samples" a few years ago for a show, . . . one only had Resolene on it, . . . it is still pretty close to the original veggie tan color. Good luck, may God bless, Dwight

I think it is just awesome, . . . especially since I prefer a seat like it. May God bless, Dwight

I sorta use Red Cent's technique, . . . but if suede is involved, . . . it goes on my belt sander, . . . suede up, . . . I then take a good sharp beveler to the veggie tan, . . . and the edges come out really nice and clean. My drum sander is an oscillating one, . . . and it don't like suede. It can be burnished, . . . but it's kinda like riding a unicycle, . . . ya just gotta learn how, . . . and the only way is to practice. Take some scraps, . . . glue em together, . . . treat it like a project, . . . and practice with it. I usually use an oversized slot for burnishing, . . . then hold the leather slightly crossways, . . . hard to explain, . . . but it works. May God bless, Dwight

PM sent

For the most part, . . . I use the thread I buy at Tandy on large spools, . . . about $25 a spool, . . . I use only 346, . . . and it becomes whatever color is attributed to it in the dying process. Blacks become a very dark grey, . . . and browns always seem to take on a "one shade lighter" look, . . . but it is presentable, useable, and I really don't have any serious complaints from the customers. The 277 thread simply doesn't work for the look, feel, and quality I want out of my machine, . . . a Tippmann Boss. May God bless, Dwight

It's OK, Andy, . . . I used to be razzed for being a "bird legs" kind of guy. Still so at 6-1 and 175, . . . We can ride either yours or mine, . . . them fat legged guys won't be able to. But mine is not one you slump down in and head out for a 10 mile ride like you were in a rockin chair. May God bless, Dwight

I don't know where to look on mine for a year, . . . heck, I was tickled to find out what kind it was. Pretty much have decided to leave well enough alone. Gonna clean it and oil it, . . . plan on riding the July 4th parade with it, . . . it's an office ornament right now in my leather shop, . . . lots cheaper than paintings, . . . and a whole bunch more practical. Someone added a lot of stampings to it, . . . I look at those and just have to wonder, . . . sure wish it could talk. May God bless, Dwight

I don't have a lot of experience embossing, . . . but the last belts we did, . . . we lightened the pressure a bit, . . . made everything so much better. We wanted really deep impressions, . . . but it gave us other problems, . . . like you mentioned. May God bless, Dwight

Personally, I don't do it, . . . never had one come apart yet. SOMETIMES, . . . it adds to the look, . . . but especially if you are hand sewing, . . . lots of extra work for a minimal return. May God bless, Dwight

Well, I suppose one could follow that line of thinking, . . . but the overall effect would I think be minimal. The down side is that it also makes the overall holster longer, . . . which can be a pain, trying to fit it exactly where you want it on a belt, considering the belt loop placement. Diagonal slots take up more belt room, . . . leaving less for adjustment. Plus, . . . I think if you look at most of the production makers, . . . they're really close to parallel, . . . if they aren't. May God bless, Dwight

Good holster for your first one, . . . the initials on the back is a nice touch, . . . as well as the model, . . . some folks need that. On your sweat shield, . . . you beveled the hair side, but not the flesh side, . . . so when you burnished it, . . . a hard lip formed on the gun side of the sweat shield. Take a spoon, . . . put your thumb in it, . . . and work out those hard lips. Believe it or not, . . . after finishing them really good, . . . they can be sharp enough to cut you. The only other thing I saw is a common one for new pancake makers. Your slots are not parallel. Both are angled in so that they sort of point toward the muzzle of the gun. It usually is not a problem, . . . but if the length of your slots is "just enough" for the belt, . . . it will put the belt on a bind behind it. It also makes it very hard to put on if the slots are only "big enough" for the belt, . . . May God bless, Dwight