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

Shhhhhhh,...........don't believe it. Three biggest lies: The check is in the mail,........... I'm from the government and I'm here to help,.............. The customer is always right,........... Oh, . . . and good job, . . . on all of them. May God bless, Dwight

Respectfully disagree, . . . customer has the money, . . . and the business, . . . but he is not always right, . . . and I'm not afraid to tell him so, to his face. Many have no real clue what will or will not work, . . . but want to be "different". I refuse to make SOB holsters because I hate seeing people in wheelchairs, . . . I also do not make horizontal shoulder holsters, . . . as I hate to see innocent people shot because they were standing behind trigger happy Tom as he pulled out his piece from his shoulder holster. This particular holster will fall apart with daily use in less than 6 months. Once a pair of 2 inch slots are cut in that leather, . . . there will be less than a 1/4 of an inch between the slot edges and the stitches, . . . the P229 is a heavy gun, . . . it will bounce around and will stretch the leather, . . . and it will fail. This is not to disparage the maker, . . . for an early piece, . . . it is good craftsmanship, . . . but design and craftsmanship are two totally different aspects. The most beautifully carved, stamped, edged, molded, dyed, antiqued, and bilnged holster ain't worth two cents if it was designed to be worn upside down hanging between your legs. This design if flawed in many respects, . . . and fortunately for the maker, . . . they are the early mistakes that we learn not to make later on. May God bless, Dwight

Once you punch your slots, you will probably find in about a month or two of wearing, . . . there is not enough leather to hold together for such a large and heavy gun. Secondly, . . . your stitching needs to get closer to the weapon, . . . it will loosen up pretty quickly. Third, . . . super softy will degrade, . . . scruff up fairly quickly with repeated holsterings and unholsterings. Another layer of veggie tan is far superior as a liner. Fourth, . . . the sweat shield should never be behind the actual handle of the gun, . . . it makes accessing the weapon a pain if it has to be done quickly. Most of the time, a proper grip will not be made, . . . guns go flying, . . . not a pretty sight. Now the good news: the leather work looks good, . . . stitching is REALLY good, . . . from what I can see of the edges, . . . that too is good. You do want to be aware, though, of any sharp corners. Those two pointy corners on the outside of the holster will become ratty real quick, . . . it is just one of those things that occurs with leather. Round all corners is the "rule". May God bless, Dwight

I guess I do belts a bit different: for dying, . . . I pour about a pint of dye into a 11 x 14 cake pan, . . . and snake my belt through the liquid allowing it to remain perhaps 5 seconds in the dye, . . . always face up throught the dye, . . . then hold it with both hands and watch the excess dye on the top of the belt migrate down into the leather. I then lay the belt on a piece of cardboard, . . . in a 20 inch or so circle, . . . resting on the bottom edge fo the belt. About 20 minutes later, . . . I flip it to the top edge, . . . give it another 20-30 minutes, . . . hang it up by the buckle end to finish drying. It hangs for the balance of 24 hours. I wish the best to any and all who are thinning their dye with water, . . . the dye is basically a petroleum based product, . . . the oil simply will not mix with the dye, . . . and the same goes for wetting down leather before dying it. The water displaces the dye, not allowing it to penetrate, . . . thereby giving a blotchy result. May God bless, Dwight

Mike, . . . You will never be able to "beat" the Walmarts of this world. Don't bother with trying. Your product is in the fact that it IS a quality product, . . . you stand behind it, . . . it is "custom made", . . . and your buyer knows you, . . . all made from quality raw materials, etc. etc. etc. Like everyone else, . . . starting out, your price will be your "drawing card" to a certain extent. If you flub the dub on a holster or belt, . . . you can easily say excuse me, . . . fix the situation, . . . and go on with life. If you are John Bianchi, . . . you cannot flub and no one expects you to, . . . and he gets top dollar. I am considered by many to be a tightwad, . . . so I use it to my advantage. Would I pay that $$$ for that item? If I would not, . . . then I get it down to where I would, . . . and there is the price. But again, . . . I use my little formula first to set the price point. On thing I will guarantee you, . . . if you are too cheap, . . . they'll break down the door to get there, . . . and you will be busier than Santa on Christmas Eve. It is OK to use price to ease your work load. Making one holster for $75 is a whole lot easier than 3 for $25 apiece, . . . and you'll probably have to make 4 at the $25 mark, . . . to see the profit of the one at $75. And while no one but me is willing to say this, . . . I don't want to work for people who do not think my work is worth my price. They have already devalued me in their opinion, . . . I'm not going to devalue myself just to keep up with them, . . . and that is what you do when you allow yourself to be beaten up by the price game. At a gun show, . . . I sat across an aisle way one time, . . . a guy had a toaster oven, some scrap leather, and was making CCW holsters "for your gun" on the spot for $20 each. They looked it too. No edging, . . . junk leather, . . . kydex riveted to a piece of leather, . . . couple of belt loops to hold it in place. I didn't sell as many as he did, . . . but I am pretty sure I took home more cash that day than he did, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Stomper, . . . Well, . . . my labor cost as well as my profit, . . . comes out of that 2/3 of the overall price. It becomes an incentive to learn how to do things as well but quicker. I'm not bragging, . . . but every where I have ever worked, . . . people have always been impressed with my ability to delete extra steps, . . . buy or make a tool to do things better / quicker, etc. Your tooling question is a good one, . . . easily answered, . . . I don't do very much tooling at all. If it is a simple stamping, . . . say 3 initials, . . . it's free gratis, and builds customer relationship, . . . doesn't cost anything, . . . but can be a deal maker down the road, . . . especially when they ask someone else who charges $7.50 per initial. One of the biggest mistakes young business people make is not looking at their product through the eyes of the customer. An involved, researched, practiced, special tooling addition is one thing, . . . a few simple stamps is something else altogether. And the customer can see that 99% of the time. Anything "decorative" or above and beyond the simple form, . . . is an additional cost, . . . as it then becomes a really custom job. It will generally command about $40 an hour for the last, final, finished carving / stamping work. My health insurance, utilities, etc. are virtually no change for me whether the business thrives or starves, . . . they are built into my "living" budget from other income sources. The only tax is sales tax, . . . charged to the customer as applicable. I have a chart I made up which tells me how much I'm spending for leather, dye, finish, conchos, etc. Thread, needles, machine repair all comes under THIMS. It's not a perfect system, . . . but it is a good skeleton from which I've been fairly successful since 1968, . . . lost my kiester on a few jobs, . . . but then so did Edison, . . . I just count myself to be in good company. The real key, though, is finding a system that works for you. Mine has worked in plumbing, electrical, carpentry, leather, and all kinds of other work I've done down through the years. May God bless, Dwight

Pardon the pun, . . . but the saddle looks like it was made for them, . . . Good job, again, . . . May God bless, Dwight