Dwight

Vaalpens, . . . most of us have patterns that over time we have adjusted in such a manner that we can predict with serious accuracy where the stitch line needs to go. When we don't have that pattern, . . . we are forced to "form first - then stitch". I also do that to every gun holster that I don't have a really good pattern for. Stitching first is a shot in the dark, . . . that usually is not to my standards. Try forming it first, . . . letting it dry, . . . testing the fit, . . . then stitching. May God bless, Dwight

It is easy to make anything "two sided" exactly the same: cut off either the left half, the right half, the top half or the bottom half (depending on the pattern) and decide which one is the best. Turn it over on it's back, . . . and outline the other half with it. I learned this trick making sewn leather suspenders, . . . one side fit and looked "right" the other didn't. Pitched the bad side and re-traced it with the good side, . . . works every time now. The other "secret" to good patterns is using a rigid pattern material. The best I have found so far, is called "bag stiffener" and is sold by Tandy. Cuts easy, . . . almost impossible to tear it, . . . edges don't fray, . . . and you can lay it down and trace it with a pencil, scribe, ball point pen, . . . whatever you want to use. May God bless, Dwight

Although I would never have one in my personal stable, . . . Glock 19 and Glock 21 are both fairly popular in Central Ohio. May God bless, Dwight

Now that's some good looking work. Just goes to show the old adage, . . . practice makes perfect. Are you doing any good with your "business plan" now that Wisconsin came around to being a concealed carry state? May God bless, Dwight

I was thinking I saw a post from him a week or two ago, . . . probably down in the holster section, . . . can't find it though. May God bless, Dwight

I've made a couple similar to this, . . . so here's how I would do it; You'll need a piece of vegetable tanned leather about 24 inches long and about 14 inches wide. See the drawing for a rough idea of the pattern. This is a "Somewhat Rhodesian" pattern and only has two stitch lines, . . . both perfectly straight. Fact is, if you allow enough leather, . . . you can do the whole thing with rivets. Leave the bottom open, . . . about 3/4 of an inch below the muzzle of the gun. The gun will lay in the holster, supported by the top edge just in front of the rear sight, and the handle, just behind the trigger guard. Take your time, . . . make a pattern first out of manila folders and masking tape, . . . cut your leather large enough that you can trim back to the right size (cutting it down is easy, . . . making it bigger is a real challenge). Contact cement the front sewing line and the sew line where you make the belt loop. Also, . . . get in the habit of never making hard, . . . sharp, . . . square corners in leather working. 1: they booger up real quick, look like UGH !, and are a real pain to sew around most of the time. Also an inside square corner is an open invitation for the leather to break right there. Make all your corners rounded, . . . inside corners and outside corners. That also aids in the final edge burnishing and finishing of the holster so it looks really nice. (Edit: In the drawing, I mentioned only one sewing line, . . . there are 2, . . . my mistake, . . . belt loop and front of the holster). May God bless, Dwight

I would probably use a spoon modeling tool, . . . that bevel is going to go bye-bye when the border is stamped anyway, . . . so it really is not critical as to what tool is used. May God bless, Dwight

Charles, . . . the effort needed to sew would be similar to the effort needed to pull up a 43 inch venetian blind (the size of mine). That is the down stroke, . . . there is virtually no effort to the up stroke. AND, . . . if you have a friend who is mechanically inclined, . . . it would be no trick at all to put a small air cylinder on the arm, . . . you could make it work with a pedal. I'm actually thinking about doing that to mine, . . . but I have to wait until my new shop is built. We just put the poles in the ground a week ago. For what it is worth, . . . I'm 68 yrs old, . . . have had some arthritic problems, . . . but I can still knock out a 44 inch belt (at 5 stitches per inch) in about 20 minutes. That is just shy of 500 individual stitches, . . . works out to about 25 stitches per minute average. May God bless, Dwight

My belts are generally .160 to .230 in thickness, . . . sometimes both layers are the same thickness, . . . sometimes not, . . . no hard and fast rule there due to the variations of leather thickness from all suppliers. I try to make the longer ones with the thicker overall, . . . makes a longer lasting product IMHO. I cut one piece, . . . turn and cut the other piece right then and there, . . . knowing both are EXACTLY the same width. No curves. Cut, . . . glue, . . . sand, . . . bevel, . . . sew / dye (for dark thread), . . . dye / sew (for white thread), . . . finish. May God bless, Dwight

Most of the saddle work I've done has not involved stitching with a machine, . . . but I did have a guy bring me a really pretty (but old) award saddle he had gotten back in the late 60's / early 70's. He wanted me to stitch up the tear in his wool on the skirts. It was shot, way beyond any repair, . . . just falling apart. I removed the skirts, . . . took off the old wool, . . . pulled out the old stitches (talking about tired fingers,.............ohhhh,......) and glued in the new stuff. My Tippmann just "happened" to be set perfectly for the stitch length to sew that wool back on, . . . trimmed it up afterwards, . . . he was as happy as a Easter Bunny on Sunday morning. Wish I could be more help, . . . but that's about all I got, . . . far as horse tack is concerned. I regularly sew 2 7's or 2 8's together making belts and sometimes 4 5/s plus when doing a holster that is lined. May God bless, Dwight

I'll be number 3 to say I like mine. I've had it several years, . . . been to the shop twice, . . . easy fix for them both times, . . . Ben is as good a phone tech rep as you will possibly get, . . . and he speaks fluent English (just a little friendly sarcasm there folks). I do belts with it, . . . dog collars, . . . holsters, . . . knife sheaths, . . . gun bags, . . . sandals, . . . armor, . . . chaps are a challenge but they can be done. May God bless, Dwight

The product at Tandy's is aptly named: Bag Stiffener. May God bless, Dwight

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, . . . but detail forming a stamped / tooled / carved piece, . . . for the most part, . . . just does not work. The press or the vacuum bag will distort the tooling, . . . and there just isn't much that can be done about it. You can tool, . . . form, . . . and as it is just about dried from forming, . . . take your tools and "touch up" your tooling, . . . but it will not be as good as it was before you formed it. If I had a customer who demanded and was willing to pay the extra labor, . . . I'd make sure he knew he was paying for two toolings and it may not be to his total satisfaction. And I would definitely use the vacuum bag method. A press will work over your tooling like a 2 year old in the chocolate frosting with his fingers. May God bless, Dwight

For that project, . . . I would invest in some soft garment leather: elk, deer, fake deer, goat, lamb, . . . they can be very soft, . . . easily cleaned with a wet rag, . . . and should not scratch your lenses. As said earlier, . . . contact cement the two together, . . . flesh side to flesh side, . . . leave extra around on the lining, . . . sew, . . . then trim (is how I would do it). May God bless, Dwight

Another one of "those" people here, . . . just had to ask what a French stich is. Always looking to add to my skills, . . . would like to see what they, . . . it, . . . those look like. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

I do not do a lot of stamping, . . . only have one small set of dies, . . . but when I do, my "eye" is not good enough to get the job I want. For extended wording this is what I would do: affix a plastic piece of "angle iron" with tape or light clamps so that it makes the bottom of where you want the wording to be, . . . measure and figure out left-to-right how much space you need (size of stamp x number of letters), . . . to get your starting point. Stamp the first letter over on the left side just like you were printing it. Leave it in place, . . . line the second stamp up next to it, . . . stamp the second one, being careful not to hit the first letter again, . . . remove the first letter, . . . bring up the third letter next to the second, . . . strike the third, . . . and so on down the line. Turn over a stamp to use for spaces between letters. Check the little sketch, . . . it'll maybe be better understood than my wording. This works for me,........ May God bless, Dwight

Tex, . . . a friend who reintroduced me to leather work some 20 years ago put me on to glueing it all together before sewing. In the interim, . . . I've probably done a half dozen things without the glue (I actually use Weldwood Contact Cement, . . . exclusively) but honestly, I cannot remember one right now. I coat each "side" where it is to be sewn with a small plumbers brush bought from Harbor Freight (whole bag of em is about 3 bucks) then use my heat gun to dry the contact cement, . . . line em up, . . . stick em together, . . . sew em and be done with that part. Anyone who has sewn in a zipper knows they are not "cake" but can be handled. My secret is making that bottom corner you have to go around (twice) a nice long sweeping turn, . . . makes it easier and looks better. May God bless, Dwight

Tex, This is the best I can do for a pattern. I actually make mine one at a time, then pitch them, for something like this. I use manila envelopes and masking tape (to add back stuff I cut out ). I use about 7 oz leather for mine, . . . but they can be anywhere from 4 to 9 depending on how big the gun is, . . . tooling, . . . lining, . . . etc. My son has the first one I ever made, . . . he might sell the gun, . . . but you can bet the bag will never go anywhere except his safe. Let me know if you have any other questions, . . . but really it is pretty straight forward. One caution, . . . on the corners, . . . make at least a 3 inch diameter curve, . . . otherwise the zipper is one super pain to sew. I sew mine from the middle out, . . . if you sew the other way, . . . Murphy's law comes into play, . . . and something won't be right. May God bless, Dwight

I back stitch (number varies somewhat) and cut as close as I can to the leather after cutting the threads about 3 or 4 inches long, . . . and doing the tug, pull, tug, pull thing to get that final knot seated in the middle. My sharp little pointed scissors goes down as close as I can, . . . SNIP, SNIP, . . . and I'm done. The dye and Resolene usually hide the little short ends well enough for me. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . I don't specify, . . . I've used black, brown, etc, . . . with basically no problems. Never tried neutral, . . . everything I've ever polished, needed that added touch of color for, . . . uhhh, . . . restoration? My favorite is Kiwi scuff coat, . . . originally for kids shoes, . . . I like it. May God bless, Dwight

It is a little late now for this process, . . . but the vinegaroon (use the search function, . . . lots of info out there on it) process gives you a pretty decent black color, . . . and from what I've been told, . . . zero rub off. For your belt you have right now, . . . lay it down flat on a hard, . . . not moveable surface, . . . grab an old tee shirt you no longer need, . . . and start buffing / rubbing it, . . . as though you are trying to rub off that top black color. You won't, . . . but try anyway. Keep turning the tee every few minutes, . . . and when you quit getting pigment rub off, . . . you are done. Final step, . . . and, honestly, . . . don't laugh. Apply Kiwi black scuff coat shoe polish. It comes in a little plastic squeeze bottle with a sponge applicator on top. Polish the front and the edges, . . . let it dry for an hour, . . . turn it over, . . . do the back and the edges again, . . . let it dry an hour, . . . turn it over and put a second coat on the front. If it all works out right, . . . it will look almost as good as the day you first bought it, . . . and your "rub off" days will be over. May God bless, Dwight

Mine mainly stresses 2 points: don't get it soaked, . . . if you do, no heat, no "microwave", no oven, . . . hang it in front of a fan to dry, . . . and, . . . shoe polish can be used to keep it spiffy looking. May God bless, Dwight

I don't do many of these, . . . and I hand lay out each one as the length of each segment will have to change with the overall length of each belt. The "pattern" simply is a part of the outside edge of a circle. The pictured belt has 2 patterns, the one around the belt holes, . . . and the other sorta looks like a fish with two tails. The fish is duplicated 7 times, . . . so go back a couple inches from the last hole in the belt, . . . measure around to the last rivet holding the buckle, . . . divide by 7 and you have the length of that outside edge of the circle needed. Sometimes I use a plate, . . . a pie pan, . . . roll of tape, . . . just what ever will give me the best looking (to me) arc for the belt. Lay it out on a piece of manila folder, . . . cut it, . . . trace it. Take a look at the little diagram. May God bless, Dwight

If your leather shop is so chaotic that you fear to have live ammunition around you, . . . probably ought to think about lessening the chaos. Also, . . . 9mm snap caps are $149.50 for a box of 50, . . . 9mm ball ammo is in the neighborhood of $12 for 50. I use THE size and style (when possible) of loaded ammo in my belts for all my customers, that they will use in their belt. After I weave the loops like katsass recommended, . . . I leave the cartridges in the loops until the loops are almost dry. Take em out too soon and the leather will shrink up, . . . making it very hard to get them in next time, . . . and you usually wind up wallering them into the loop and stretching the loop. The loaded ammo makes sure that THE proper diameter is imparted to the loop. Empty ammo has a sharp edge many times, . . . and you can seriously cut the end of your finger with empty cases. It won't happen every time, . . . but it only takes that once, . . . and you will not want to do it again. May God bless, Dwight

You make a two piece wooden form, . . . male and female. The male would be the back part, . . . and it would be the shape of the back and the empty void you desire in the piece. The female part would be the front, . . . hollowed out to accept the back piece. What you will probably have to do is make the back on a lathe as a round piece and saw it in half. The front will only be done by gouging, drilling, cutting, and sanding, . . . and will take some time to do. Be sure to fully, . . . completely, . . . throughly sand the front piece, as any imperfection will be transferred to the face of the leather. Leave the space between them for about 3 or 4 oz thicker leather than you plan to use. Wet the leather, . . . hand force them into the female part as much as possible, . . . then force the other piece into it, . . . leave it for about an hour with clamps on it to keep it from moving, . . . remove the clamps, . . . air dry. May God bless, Dwight