Dwight

Uhhh, . . . Resolene is a FINAL finish, . . . as well is BAG KOTE. I'd do an either/or, . . . but not both. And remember, . . . anything you do after Resolene or Bag Kote (if it is done completely and correctly) will largely be wasted if it is anything more than some kind of wax / polish / shine enhancer. May God bless, Dwight

You and I share a common anomaly, . . . can't do the edge thingy. FWIW, . . . I gave up, . . . just plain quit. I sand my edges smooth, . . . use my edging tool(s), . . . and using a little water, . . . (emphasis on "little" ), . . . I burnish with either a 1 horsepower / 1725 rpm motor with a 3/4 inch wooden rod, . . . or my Dremel, . . . or a combination of both. If I cannot get it to lay down like I want it to, . . . I very sparingly add some virgin beeswax, . . . or cake/bar glycerin soap. My edges are very clean looking, . . . polished, . . . just not colored. Once I add my usual finish of Resolene, . . . they look very good, . . . and in most cases the burnishing process itself causes the edges to become a shade or two darker than the original, . . . but that is never a guarantee, . . . sometimes it reverts back to the dyed color. May God bless, Dwight

There is a set of VHS tapes commissioned I think by Tandy, . . . using John Bianchi as the teacher, . . . showing you the proper method to follow if you want to make a gun belt of his style. It is better than anything I've seen on youtube, . . . and goes into so many other things that I feel are necessary to produce a quality belt. I do use the trick from Will Ghormley about lacing the cartridge loops through the belt, . . . I won't spend all that time sewing one, . . . when I can lace it in about 20 minutes, . . . and know that it will never come apart, . . . no stitches to break, . . . etc. I understand there is now a DVD copy of that (heard thru the grapevine), . . . and if you can find it, . . . it will help to keep you from making some ugly mistakes, . . . or should I say, . . . at least it did me? May God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . I've never been much of one to mess with conditioners, etc. The tanned leather that is on the commercial market is a prepared product, made to be used in a similar manner as lumber in a lumber yard. You buy it, . . . cut it, . . . fit it, . . . stain or dye it, . . . finish it, . . . and use it. If you have a product you want your customer to be able to use for a long time, . . . one light coat of neatsfoot oil, . . . followed by a full day for it to dissipate into the leather, . . . apply your finish and you are good to go. I really believe that a lot of the "stuff" shown and done to leather products is kinda like the makeup applied to many of the "stars" of TV and the big screen. They paint and powder themselves up to where they look good, . . . but they only vaguely resemble their original selves. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene is a water based acrylic FINISH. You can put it on before stitching, . . . your stitches will stay the color they are on the spool. You can put it on after stitching, . . . your stitches will yellow slightly, . . . heavy on the slight, but noticeable to most people. If you stitch first, . . . the resolene will also help protect your stitches as it will also put an acrylic finish on the outside of them. Anything you put on over resolene is wasted product, as resolene seriously seals, finishes, protects, and insulates the leather from further incursions by other products. Any product that will do anything to the leather after resolene, . . . must first attack and dissolve the resolene. I have found my best results in a 50/50 mix with water, . . . brushed on with a cheap bristle brush, . . . I put enough on to get a small "lather" of suds, . . . then keep brushing until there are no bubbles left. Resolene is NOT for suede, . . . and I have ruined suede with it. Very carefully use it on the edges where the veggie and suede come together, . . . it will seal that joint, . . . but you really need to practice that trick before doing it on a customer's piece. I use the tip of my brush, . . . lightly moistened to apply resolene to the edge of suede. It will harden the suede and make it just plain ugly if you get it on the wrong place. May God bless, Dwight

dkbutcher, . . . the first thing you want to do to "learn" the belt craft, . . . is go to Tandy and buy a belt blank. You obviously bought a "cheap" piece of leather, . . . and as mlapaglia said, . . . probably some neck or butt and some belly, . . . maybe was cut around the cow instead of the length. Start out with their blank belt straps, . . . punch your own holes, . . . don't use snaps (it's a bad habit to break), . . . put em together with Chicago screws, . . . buy good buckles, . . . measure it so the middle hole to the outside of the belt buckle is the dimension of your waist or your customer's waist. Also, . . . punch 7 holes for adjustment instead of 5 (like at Walmart), . . . Very few belts need neetsfoot oil to start with, . . . dye it and use one of the Tandy finishes, . . . I personally prefer Resolene, diluted to a 50/50 mix with water. Ask questions, . . . challenge yourself, . . . practice, . . . have fun. May God bless, Dwight

That is some neat gun leather there, camano ridge, . . . I'm always interested to see what other people do/did with their gunleather ideas. Mine are far more on the "plain Jane" scale, . . . Don't think I'd want to tangle with the wearer of the center rig Handstitched, . . . you didn't say whether your client gave you 2 3/4 or 3 inch shells, . . . might want to put a measuring stick on them. Also, . . . from personal experience, . . . when you make that shotgun rig, . . . go with 2 inch buckles and belt tongues. A waist full of shotgun shells is heavy, awkward, and unruly. The bigger buckle will give you a larger belt tongue to put through it. You may also want to use a two layer, stitched tongue, . . . they hold up longer, better, and are also more stable. I use them on all my big gun rigs, . . . have seen some where they used single layer, . . . the leather stretched, bent, got hard to use. May God bless, Dwight

Hadn't shared anything for a while, . . . These are heading for TX come tomorrow morning. Basic boonie gear on the 4 wheeler. May God bless, Dwight

You can make a very quick and easy cell phone, ipod, pager, etc. case with this little diagram. It's held to the belt or waistband by a metal clip, . . . two side pieces are sewn or riveted to the round piece. The top strap holds it in the case, . . . with a snap. It's a "snap" to make. May God bless, Dwight

Handstitched, . . . thanks for the exercise, . . . guy needs a mental challenge early in the morning. On things like this, . . . somewhere along the line you have to make some kind of assumptions and hope they turn out correct. I took a set of calipers to your lone cartridge, . . . assuming it to be a .45 Long Colt (bottom base diameter is .505, cartridge itself is .470 and went from there. If my calculator and brain worked together like they should: The belt is 2 inches wide, . . . the buckle is an 1 1/4, . . . the "edge of one buckle to edge of the other" in the front picture is about 7 1/2 inches, . . . and the front piece is just short of 3 inches tall. Checking it against the other pieces we can see, . . . that should work out good, as it is a lined belt, . . . and seems to be made of 7/8 oz material. Personally, I've never seen one like this. Thanks for sharing. May God bless, Dwight

When it comes to getting in a hurry, . . . trying to do multiple things, . . . katsass tells us never to try holding a cat and an operating dust buster at the same time, . . . let me also add never to try to "hurry" the project by putting a wet holster in a microwave oven. Ain't tried the cat thing, . . . but wayyyyyyyyyy back in my plebe days at leather U, . . . I did try the microwave, . . . nahhhhhh wasn't a good idea. May God bless, Dwight

If you are using this just for a cuff, . . . punch the holes in the strap, . . . put it on your wrist, . . . mark the holes in the cuff through the strap, . . . set your rivets there, . . . and you should have no problem. If you are going to use this for a watch cuff, . . . your friend will probably be back in a couple of days with the pins broken that hold the strap to the watch. Those pins will almost never work this way. The pins for a watch cuff need their own loops. See the little diagram below for how to attatch straps for a watch cuff. May God bless, Dwight

If you go down to the holster forum, . . . the third one down on the pinned list is an excellent pattern for an ankle holster. I have used it to make one for a friend, and it is a very good pattern / idea. As far as material is concerned, . . . Tandy Leather Shop will have all you need. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome, . . . or should we say welcome back? This is a fun site, . . . lots of good people, . . . most are willing to share. May God bless, Dwight

In practice, . . . it is a hand stitch. Go down through the front, . . . come back under the previous stitch, . . . back up through the hole you came down from. You do not want to run out of thread with that type of stitch. Figure on measuring the full length of stitching you have to do, . . . cut a piece of string about 5 times that length. Oh, . . . and good luck. Personally, . . . I'd machine stitch it, . . . or his price would be significantly more. There are machines that produce a very similar stitch on bags of feed used for horses, cattle, etc. May God bless, Dwight

Admittedly, . . . I do very little hand sewing, . . . but when I do, . . . I take my 346 thread off my machine and use it. You can get it from a Tandy store, . . . it's really strong, . . . extremely versatile, . . . is coated with some kind of parrafin product which will keep the stitches tight. I use it for wallets, holsters, gun cases, belts, dog collars, . . . the whole 9 yards. May God bless, Dwight

You will have to either make the band bigger or the leather thinner. Lay a piece of carpenter's twine inside the band before you sew, . . . and be careful not to sew the twine. Also, . . . make the band several inches longer than the finished product, . . . and taper the leather down on one end to almost a point. Punch a hole in the tapered end, . . . tie the carpenter's twine to the hole, . . . and gently but firmly pull it back through. Oh, . . . and good luck, . . . it's easier said than done, . . . but it can be done. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . you don't. I have contact cemented holsters together in the past, . . . wet formed them, . . . let them dry, . . . dip dyed the rascals (touch up the forming and details while the dye is wet), . . . let it dry again, . . . sew it with that pretty "clean" white thread. I use only Weldwood contact cement, . . . it has never let me down yet. May God bless, Dwight

There is a product, . . . called Teslin, . . . I believe it was originated by PPG. It thicker versions, it resembles leather, . . . and can be dyed any color you want. You CANNOT tear it with your bare hands (as a joke, some guys get business cards made fromit, then dare you to tear them up). Anyway, . . . you could cut it with scissors, . . . sew it, . . . wash it, . . . the whole deal, . . . and a lot of folks would not know the difference. May God bless, Dwgiht

I don't know, . . . but I'm posting on this thread so I can get the answer too. I just invested in some of this product, . . . may have to re-consider it. May God bless, Dwight

Looking forward to seeing the finished product. May God bless, Dwight

If you make a wooden form the shape of the inside of the quiver, . . . vegetable tanned leather can be wetted, stretched, and formed to the shape of that form. Vegetable tanned leather can be shaped into some unbelievable shapes, . . . decorated, . . . and used for all sorts of things: bags, boxes, purses, holders, etc. Actually making the leather part of the quiver is probably one of the easier parts of replicating that rig. May God bless, Dwight

In picture 9130379, the one in the upper right hand corner, a billfold with flowers (top row, 2nd picture) Bottom row, right hand picture, the belt / key case. I would be interested in those two, . . . but not in the rest if you decide to break up the group. May God bless, Dwight

Electrathon is correct, . . . you will have color issues later on if there is any wear or flexing of the stitches. Belts for example, . . . will lose some of theirs, . . . but most holsters don't lose a lot of it. It depends on what you are using it for. May God bless, Dwight

Ahh, . . . yes, . . . welcome back kind sir. Doctors can be good, . . . really good, . . . or bad, . . . or really bad. I've had all four, . . . and like you related to the old ticker. Don't take no for an answer from them, . . . I did and it could have turned out really bad. Anyway, though, . . . welcome back, . . . keep grumpin and hand stitchin, . . . May God bless, Dwight