Dwight

Absolutely beautiful . . . thanks for the look May God bless, Dwight

Beautiful leather and metal work . . . but I'd love to see the knife May God bless, Dwight

When I do zippers . . . I use Weldwood and contact cement them into place . . . Works great. You just have to be sure to use two coats most of the time . . . May God bless, Dwight

Kydex is the word there. With a heat gun . . . you can virtually form it into almost any shape you want. Give it a good sanding before forming it (whole lot easier while it is still flat) . . . and then you can contact cement your liner and your outer cover to it . . . holds good. May God bless, Dwight

My gun belts are all of 7/8 oz leather . . . exactly 8 oz is 1/8 of an inch . . . so a double layer is 1/4 inch if both pieces were a full 8 oz. Usually the leather I get tends to be a bit shy . . . so my total thickness usually runs in the .200 inches or thereabouts. I generally cut both pieces from the same hide . . . if there are any small blemishes . . . they go to the inside. And yes . . . if the money belt were curved . . . it would fit better. The last couple I made were of 5/6 oz and I did them rough out . . . so they would cling a bit better to the wearer. Again I did not get any complaints . . . but I'm sure I know what happened . . . they cinched them up good and tight to start with . . . and the body heat and perspiration tended to re-mold them . . . similar to that which occurs with regular work belts. I've played a bit with using two different thicknesses . . . and never really liked the feel or the look . . . just one of those things on me. The big aggravation is that using a thinner lining . . . it will tend to bubble and buckle . . . looking wrinkled . . . I try to stay away from that look. May God bless, Dwight

It is probably the same product as Deanr mentioned . . . Tandy sells a "bag stiffener" . . . I've used it on numerous projects . . . strong, lightweight, not extremely expensive, cuts with a razor knife . . . It can go inside your liner . . . and / or can be fabric covered for a "different" look inside the bag . . . as well as making little pockets to attach to it for ink pen, scissors, compass, envelopes, credit cards, or whatever. May God bless, Dwight

I learned to make gunbelts and holsters from John Bianchi . . . a premier leather worker. I watched his lessons on making western drop down gun rigs . . . and while he told you how to do it . . . he did not supply any pattern ideas. I guess he figured if you were hoss enough to jump into it . . .you'ld figure it out. I had to do a bunch of "print screen" shots . . . then print them . . . and measure them and scale them . . . to figure out how to do a bunch of things . . . the belt curve was one. I made a pattern as you can see in the pictures . . . that will open up for bigger or smaller patrons. Look at the edge of the big picture . . . and you'll see the numbers that correspond to the size belt I'm making at the time. For your example . . . I picked a 42 inch belt . . . which is the gun belt size for a person whose normal belt size is 38. In the close up . . . you can see that there is a 4 1/2 inch difference on the curve. I have used this pattern for 20 some odd years now . . . never had anyone complain about it . . . And yes . . . you can save yourself some stitching by making money belts . . . and I've made a few . . . and the sorry things would never stay up like I really wanted them to . . . unless I put them on like a girdle trying to hide 50 lbs of pig fat. They are not one of my favorite items to make. You also have to glue the moneybelt layers together just like a regular gun belt . . . or otherwise it will roll and flop up and down if you are in a truck or car seat. Making a full open money belt might be "authentic" of a few folks from back then . . . but certainly not many. AND . . . I don't make gun belts that are anything but lined. I started that way . . . plan on continuing. May God bless, Dwight

You can do wallets and some purses with this . . . forget belts and holsters. It only takes a 17 needle . . . and 92 thread . . . holsters need a minimum of 207 thread . . . and that is the BARE minimum . . . I do 346 on both belts and holsters . . . as do others. You need a Tippmann Boss or whatever the Tandy Leather equivalent is for that . . . and you are basically looking at 1000 bucks new . . . and whatever used. They are both hand machines . . . one pull on the handle and the push back . . . gets you one stitch. A 40 inch belt at 6 stitches per inch will cost you 500 pulls and 500 pushes . . . and about 1/2 hour. 10 minutes per side with a 10 minute break at the tip of the belt. I did a bunch of em. The single most important question you need to ask whoever is selling you a machine is the maximum thread size . . . if your thread ain't big enough to do the job . . . you will just waste leather and time . . . get frustrated . . . and quit. Oh . . . both of these machines can come with a littl horse looking mount . . . takes up about the space of an end table . . . and none of your apartment neighbors would probably even know you have a machine in the place. May God bless, Dwight

Good job May God bless, Dwight

Never had that problem . . . I use a cheap 1 inch bristle brush . . . slop it on . . . brush it up into a bit of a foam . . . brush it left / right / up / down / crossways . . . until I've brushed out the bubbles . . . never have had any streaking on anything I've ever done. AND . . . I always use it reduced 50/50 with water. May God bless, Dwight

My heavens and OUCH . . . have to wait until I sell some more stuff before I can order it . . . May God bless, Dwight

You quit too early on the Resolene . . . I have armor for my Centurion of Capernaum and the Ceaserean Centurion both of which I built . . . and multiple coats of Resolene have protected both. I haven't had any real problems with either one. May God bless, Dwight

When I get done with a project . . . there will always be at least parts of it that need softened up a bit . . . Belts for example . . . get rolled over a dowel . . . and it usually only takes a couple of passes . . . the new owner always appreciates it being "pre" broken in. Straps on my shoulder holsters are another that get the same treatment . . . And no . . . I don't use chemicals . . . if I do, it is only neatsfoot oil . . . and that is in very very limited quantities. My holsters (pancakes) get the eyes worked over with a board I have that simulates an 1 1/2 belt . . . makes putting it on the first time and wearing it . . . make it feel more natural. It's fairly easy done . . . and works for me May God bless, Dwight

Ya did a good job on that billfold . . . and you took care of my only criticism . . . the corners. They'll get dog eared in a hurry. A number of years ago . . . fellow asked me to re-create a billfold he had had since his daughter was very small . . . and he could not find one anywhere like it. I told him the only way I could do that was if I had the old one to go by . . . he started pulling cards . . . cash . . . pictures . . . yanked it all . . . handed me the old one and asked how long. A short time later it was in the mail . . . and he loved it. This was my practice piece I did first . . .to see if I had it all "right" . . . before I made his and shipped it. I had asked him if he wanted any changes and I got a very quick "NO" . . . so I left the corners square like his original. May God bless, Dwight Dwight

I generally do the key fob thing with my scraps . . . If it's too small for a key fob . . . I don't have much else I can do with it . . . but thanks Bruce . . . the zipper pull thing I never thought of . . . basically because I don't use them. Never have big enough scrap for coasters . . . except for one job that I did 3 times last year . . . and hung on to the 1st two sets of pieces . . . they'll turn into something some day. Like every one else mentioned . . . thanks Bruce . . . we need your expertise. May God bless, Dwight

Forget the idea of only 2 pieces. Cut 3 pieces . . . front . . . back . . . and one piece which is the bottom and both sides. Stitch the edges . . . or lace the edges . . . makes a pretty bag. May God bless, Dwight

Not in my lifetime. May God bless, Dwight

Thank you Sir . . .

Thanks, Bruce . . . could not find anything on Ebay . . . and Amazon listed them but "out of stock" . . . Was just hoping someone here had em. Thanks again . . . Dwight

I'm looking for a set of DVD's (or VHS) on John Bianchi's "The Art of making Western Holsters" If you have them and would like to sell them . . . let me know. May God bless, Dwight

What he ^^^^^^ said May God bless, Dwight

If you are using Feibings oil dyes . . . 24 hrs before using the dye . . . a light coat of neatsfoot oil on the flesh side . . . and laid out flat to absorb the oil evenly . . . will just about guarantee a very very smooth and even dye job. Also cut the dye 50/50 with thinner . . . That is especially with some of the lighter tans . . . saddle tan being one for sure. Took a long time to catch on to that trick . . . but it is one that virtually every time works. May God bless, Dwight

Not sure who encouraged the hot water before dying . . . never heard of that idea before. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks maggie . . . it is as a matter of fact . . . . May God bless, Dwight