Dwight

I don't remember the number of experiments Thomas Edison did before he succeeded with the electric light bulb, . . . but it was a bunch. The success at the end of the line, . . . erased the failures. Nobody in history class moans or complains about how badly #17 went, . . . or the problems with #35, . . . or the technical obstacles that ended #56, . . . they only remember the last one, . . . as they flip the switch and the light comes on. No matter how bad the screw up, . . . something can be learned from it, . . . or, . . . in some "leather" projects, . . . the original idea can be abandoned, . . . and the pieces used for a different project. I've done that with holsters, . . . and belts. I've even got a holster in my drawer, . . . waiting for a customer. I started making it, . . . got it in the 90% done stage, . . . when I realized my customer was left handed, . . . and I had created a right hand holster. Hang in there. May God bless, Dwight

Paint em, . . . 2.5 oz is just too thin for that big a letter / number. Emboss em first to get the outline, . . . then either paint just the outline, . . . or the whole interior. At least, . . . that is what I would do. May God bless, Dwight

Looking on Google, . . . there are several Tandy stores in the Northern Minnesota area, . . . grab a snow shovel and head over there. Seriously, . . . they can tell and show you more stuff in 10 minutes, . . . than you can read and digest in an hour here, . . . much less the typing required. You also may look up at the right corner of the main web page, . . . the little star wheel is a search function, . . . use key words, . . . you should find lots of good advice there. May God bless, Dwight

I don't make many shoulder holsters, . . . but when I do, . . . they are more or less custom fit to that person who is receiving it. And I don't use sliders, . . . Chicago screws only. I put it on them, . . . adjust it, . . . put the screws in place, . . . we walk, talk, sit, etc, . . . until he/she gets a real feel for it, . . . re-adjust as necessary. Have never had one come back yet. I also did my personal one this way, . . . have never needed to re-adjust it. Holes in the straps are 1 inch apart, . . . giving them a 1/2 inch adjustment for every hole they move. May God bless, Dwight

I've made some for kids, . . . I get em up in the chair, . . . slip the spurs on their boots, . . . take my garment tape measure, . . . and measure pin to pin what I have to make. I then "scale down" some of the dimensions of length / width, . . . to make em look esthetically pleasing. Whatever it turns out, . . . I give them 5 total holes for adjustment, . . . measured to fit on the center one, . . . Haven't had any return but one, . . . she wanted me to "Re-pink" her pink straps that had turned ugly from being worn in the barn. Obviously, . . . she just got a new pair. May God bless, Dwight

Not picking on you Red Cent, . . . just making an observation. When you said laminated, . . . I'm thinking the "Katsass" process, . . . one I use occasionally, . . . cementing two thin pieces flesh to flesh, . . . then treating it as one thicker piece of leather to make holsters. It is an absolute pain to take one of them apart and put it back straight, . . . and that was what I had in my mind you were referencing. Anyway, . . . good luck. May God bless, Dwight

You didn't say what kind of holster and/or pistol, . . . but I'd be taking some "stretching" tools to that holster long before I would take it apart and try adding a welt. It is really a tough process to add a welt after one is finished, . . . and make the final finished product look as good as the oiginal. John Bianchi took a regular claw hammer handle, . . . polished that dude up real nice, . . . and he uses it in his video to open up the inside of holsters for SAA and clones. I use the exact same type tool, . . . found it in a yard sale for probably $.50, . . . it has a special "Don't touch this" space in my tool drawer. Besides that, . . . it is real easy to put too much of a welt in that holster, . . . then it looks like something made by the local prison on craft and show day. May God bless, Dwight

As mentioned, . . . stitch lines leave too much space away from weapon. But, . . . secondly, . . . get rid of the square corners. Inside or outside corners on leather projects need to be rounded. Look at the leading edge of the little black holster, . . . about half way down there is a jagged corner jutting out, . . . sand your edges smooth, . . . graceful lines, . . . all the way around. Inside corners that are square cut are an invitation for the leather to crack, break, and undo there, . . . outside corners that are square become dog eared VERY quickly, . . . and it looks like it was cut from a cardboard banana box. Thirdly, . . . I could not get a real good look at the edge work, . . . but what I saw didn't look like you spent a lot of time on it. THAT is the one place the hand crafter can shine 100% over the Walmart imports and the leather chopper down the street who is just cranking the stuff out. If your edges are beveled, polished, and burnished well, . . . a bunch of other stuff can almost be forgiven. May God bless, Dwight

An 8 or 9 cm flashlight is over 3 inches in diameter. You will want at least 5 oz leather, . . . maybe as thick as 7/8 for a good rugged flashlight holder. Make it like the little drawing. May God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . I am one who also will not make that style holster. When I am asked, . . . I just tell em fall down once, . . . land on that pistol, . . . for the rest of your life you will be wondering how to carry your pistol on your wheel chair. I have fallen on my back at 69 years of age at least 50 times more than I have been in gun fights. Consider rather, . . . a deep cover IWB, . . . with a severe cant of about 35 or so degrees. I can personally attest that it is comfortable, . . . easy to draw, . . . and generally secure. Since you already are competent at making a pancake, . . . simply add straps to the ears, . . . put the whole thing insice your pants, . . . pull the straps up over the top and down around your belt, . . . voila, . . . "Snapcake". Oh, . . . BTW, . . . you need to take Santa out for dinner, . . . that is one NICE looking pistol. If it shoots in your hands as good as it looks in the box, . . . you're in tall cotton. May God bless, Dwight

Picture 6 also showed that I made an exective level 7 decision as to how much to bevel off the corners of the cross. Look at the pencil point, . . . that is where my eyeball said "this would look good right here" so I marked it there. Picture 7 then shows that piece cut off, . . . Picture 7 and 8 both show my technologically improved rounding corner device (a washer) which I used to trace the "roundness" I wanted for the corners. NOTE: When I cut off that first corner, . . . I saved that piece, . . . it is then used as the pattern to cut the other 4 corners of the wider pieces. I then checked and found it would also work esthetically for the other two flaps, . . . so that first piece cut off, . . . is used for all the corners cut, . . . using also the washer to round the corners. Picture 9 shows cutting the corners on the two end flaps Picture 10 shows how the whole pattern looks when it is cut out. Picture 11 is the pattern cut and folded around my Ipad with the top up. Picture 12 is the pattern cut and folded with the top taped down, simulating it being closed and ready for carry. You will find that you need to take your time making this, . . . do not get in a hurry, . . . and you will enjoy the process. I would make my pattern, . . . take it to the leather store of your choice, . . . and have them help you pick out your piece of leather. Personally, . . . I have had good luck with the shoulder leather I get from Tandy, . . . but then again, . . . I don't order it, . . . I personally go in, . . . pick it out, . . . looking at the front, back, and gauging the thickness with a dial caliper. Yes, . . . I'm picky in choosing my leather, . . . but it makes a better product that way. Welcome to the wonderful world of leathercrafting. May God bless, Dwight

On another website, . . . I found the dimensions of a Kindle as: "The size of the reading device is 7.5 inches by 5.3 inches by 0.7 inches". The case you are wanting to make is very simple in it's design, . . . a basic cross that has some shaved corners. If their dimensions are correct for your tablet, . . . the piece of leather you will need will be about 14 or 15 inches wide and about 19 inches long. One of the first rules of leatherworking I use, . . . Always cut leather from a pattern ! And the underline is "Always". So, . . . lets make a pattern: I use manila file folders, . . . get em on sale at the local office stores, . . . even got a box once which had blue, pink, yellow, green, grey, . . . that was a fun time In picture 1, we have laid the tablet down and made sure we have enough file folder to go all 4 directions. I did this by taping an extra piece on the right hand side. Picture 2 shows it outlined. Picture 3 shows the outline, with my Ipad junior that I used for the pattern making. Picture 4 shows a leather working technique, never cut a square inside corner if you can get away with it, . . . punch a round hole and cut away from the sides of that hole. This hole is about 1/2 inch in diameter. Picture 5 shows the whole thing cut out and ready to check the fit. Picture 6 shows the pattern folded and fitting around the tablet. (Go to next post, . . . not enough room to finish here)

Excellent, . . . as usual, . . . but what else would we expect?? Happy New Year, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Plus in addition to the "things that went wrong", . . . now he has to start getting ready for: Year end inventory so he can pay his personal property tax Assimilate all the sales for the last sales tax reporting period (mine is twice a year) File and pay his unemployment compensation Determine which Obamacare he will support this year, unless he gets a deferrment, or a pass, or is dropped until 2015 File his federal income tax File his state income tax File his worker's comp paperwork I probably forgot a few, . . . but then again, . . . that's what lawyers and 'countants are for. Good luck, . . . may God bless, Dwight PS: I'm sorta glad I'm still working on rebuilding my shop, . . . might be able to stretch that out to 2014

And the total, . . . shipped to my door price is:__________?? May God bless, Dwight

My sheath is only sewn, . . . no rivets. If I drop it straight down on the edge, . . . it will cut the threads, . . . but won't mess up the edge with the rivets. I don't use it much, . . . and absolutely hate sharpening the thing, . . . so I take care of it as best I know how. May God bless, Dwight

I saw one tool I would get if I were you, . . . it is called a plastic bone folder. It sells for about 6 bucks. It will allow you to burnish the edges of your project, . . . and there looks like a lot of edge work on that particular type folder. Some folks don't do anything but edge their leather projects, . . . I burnish mine also, giving them a smooth appearance, and making them smooth to the touch, which in the long run will make them much less apt to fray, get rough, and look like a hobo's grub sack. That tool is real easy to use also, . . . after you have edged and sanded the project, . . . lay it flesh side down on your work surface, . . . select the right trough for the leather to ride in, . . . dampen the leather edge with water, . . . rub the tool back and forth, . . . it slicks the edge right nicely. The tool looks (a side view) like the drawing, and it does a really nice job on 8 oz or lighter veggie tanned leather. May God bless, Dwight

My discipline apparently doesn't exist. I finally get my scrap drawer so full that I have to take an hour out and sort and pitch. So that is kinda my program, . . . fill up, . . . sort, . . . pitch, . . . repeat as necessary. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . not thinking about a push pin, . . . but rather the pins that a seamstress uses to hold stuff together. Mom called em "stick pins" when I was growing up, . . . she got all she ever needed from the packages which our shirts came in. With Pop and 4 boys, . . . she bought enough shirts to have a small mountain of pins. They easily slide into the edge of 3/4 oz leather . . . lay the leather down on a flat surface, . . . put a putty knife on it flat side down, . . . insert your pin with the string already attached, . . . voila. OR, . . . rabbit wire will work, . . . just make sure that the side not seen by the consumer is always placed down as there will be lines. I actually dry a lot of my stuff on newspaper. May God bless, Dwight

My first inclination would be to oil the blank hide before anything else is done. You'ld just have to experiment with the oil/wax combo, . . . my guess is it wouldn't work as it is probably too thick, . . . but someone more knowledgeable than myself may say differently. May God bless, Dwight

I would start with a sanding block, . . . and sand both edges, . . . until they all looked the same from end to end. I would then re-dye the edges, . . . VERY CAREFULLY, . . . with a folded up piece of a paper towel being held in the jaws of a clothes pin. I might even be tempted to dye the edges black, . . . it would depend on how uniformly straight the sanding job turned out. The sanding will remove the soap/wax etc from the original burnishing attempt. May God bless, Dwight

I do very little "coloring" of leather projects, . . . but of the few I do, . . . the acrylic paints Tandy sells were recommended highly. I'm told they are basically the same type product as Resolene, . . . but are pigmented to give color, . . . and don't need anything over top of them after they dry. Realizing your firefighter environment is not "genteel" to your equipment, . . . I'd say "Good Luck", . . . but that is the way I would start. Take a look on my website, . . . on the Product Example page, . . . lower right hand corner, . . . an IWB holster done with those paints. May God bless, Dwight

RiverCity gave you the best answer, . . . But you can burnish your edges first, . . . if you only use water. No soap, . . no wax, . . . just water and a burnisher. I usually do that, . . . especially with belts, . . . as they will then "re-burnish" really nicely after they dye dries. What actually happens is that the soap or wax used in the burnishing or slicking process will clog the pores and not allow the dye to penetrate. If you only use water, . . . it will penetrate well. Two cautions: don't dye until well after the edges have dried, . . . DRY, . . . and don't re-burnish until the dye has dried, . . . DRY May God bless, Dwight

This works like a champ. May God bless, Dwight

You need to add a bunch of details, my friend. Are you putting oil on a Roman shield to be used in the arena, . . . a billfold, . . . a cattle whip? Are you trying to use candle wax, . . . Johnson's paste, . . . ??? No, . . . dipping is not out of the question, . . . I personally dip all my dog leashes, . . . for oil and for dye. May God bless, Dwight