Dwight

The classes I teach, . . . are really, really basic. The student winds up with a simple pancake holster after 5 1 hour sessions. I charged $40 per student, . . . usually working with 5 students, . . . which gave me a gross of about $40 an hour, . . . In addition, there was no charge for the dye and resolene finish, . . . and I allowed those who were "brave" enough, . . . to try their hand at using my Boss machine to sew their creations. I found, truthfully, . . . very few who would ever pursue it beyond their own personal use. They were looking to ramp up their own personal skill set, . . . and it was quite a lot of fun. Hope this helps, may God bless, Dwight

If you had not owned up to a mistake, . . . I would not have known it, . . . I would have thought that you did it that way for a reason. Good job, too, . . . and I'll echo some of the others, . . . it's far above my food chain permit. Sewing, cutting, sanding, molding, even designing, . . . I can do, . . . this, thankfully others like yourself are talented at. May God bless, Dwight

I try to use calf skin when I can get it, . . . but otherwise, . . . our processes are the same. Once they are almost dry, . . . I slip out the cartridges, . . . VERY CAREFULLY, . . . and finish assembly of the belt. Once it is all assembled, . . . it gets dip dyed. 24+ hours later, . . . I'll begin to add the beeswax / neatsfoot oil paste, . . . using the cake itself, rubbing it on / in / over / above, etc, . . . interspersing light touches with a heat gun to help melt the wax into the belt and the loops. I usually allow it to dry for several hours after that, . . . then give it the "buffing". Sometimes I only buff it lightly it for a softer look, . . . sometimes I buff the heck out of it for a "polished" look. For my CCW customers, . . . I almost always do Resolene, . . . but for my old west gunslinger pards, . . . it's beeswax and neatsfoot oil only. May God bless, Dwight

I have used a scroll saw, . . . and quite honestly, . . . I did not like the results. The blade's up and down motion would put little grubby marks on the edge of the leather, . . . plus the edge was uneven, . . . just UGH ! HOWEVER, . . . I recently bought one of those $99, . . . table top, . . . 12 inch band saws. It is not the "cats meow", . . . but it is a ton faster for my everyday holster work than even thinking of doing it with a knife. It only has about a 1/4 inch wide blade on it, . . . and it IS FAST. Hope this helps, . . . may God bless, Dwight

You have a private message, . . . double click the red box in the upper right corner. May God bless, Dwight

Looks really good, . . . I was thinking it was a shame to punch holes in that beautiful art work, . . . then I saw two of the holes. That was a neat moment, . . . as you blended them well. May God bless, Dwight

I would love to see a close up, . . . but what we can see, . . . they look really good. I am really curious about the belt detail, . . . I tried to enlarge it but just could not see it. But it sure looks like your customer was very well pleased. I just finished my first pair of chinks, . . . going to do a bat wing next, . . . then a pair of shotguns. May God bless, Dwight

I would suggest you simply go down to your local court house, . . . let them give you the "particulars" involved. Years ago, I started a little sign shop, . . . saw the clerk down at the court house, . . . got a vendor's license that allowed me to collect sales tax (couldn't sell without it in Ohio), . . . and of course there is the record keeping and tax filing, etc. It was really simple, . . . and with today's computers, on-line tax, the state accepts credit cards, . . . it's a simple little process. Like Bruce said, . . . once you are a declared business, . . . there are "write off" and other deductable items to help you along. Mileage alone on your vehicle can be a huge help if you happen to travel to shows etc. I don't do a lot of em, but I could not afford any of them with today's gas prices if I didn't get that write off on my federal tax. Again, go talk to the court house folks, . . . they'll steer you in the legal direction. One last thought, . . . become a good record keeper, . . . develop a system that you can use, find, keep up with, etc. If you do not do that, . . . guaranteed trials and tribulations will come your way. May God bless, Dwight

Sometimes you make a left handed holster, . . . sometimes it is a right handed holster. All my patterns have it written on each face, . . . RH or LH, . . . knowing when I lay it down with the letters facing up on the hair side of the leather, . . . it is right. Now if I forget to read it, . . . well, . . . that's another story for another time. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks to all of you for the encouragement, . . . unfortunately they won't get worn this year, . . . we had a funeral in our neighborhood, . . . And thanks, Tree Reaper, . . . yeah, that's almost like one of my kids, that tree. Sickly little rascal when I planted it, . . . almost lost it to the mower a couple of times before it grew enough to be seen and not hit. Now my big worry is someone will bring a chain saw and get em a Christmas tree. Again, thanks guys, may God bless, Dwight

PM inbound Double click on the little red box in the upper right corner of the screen, . . . that is where your private messages are May God bless, Dwight

I have never had a complaint of dye rubbing off when I used Resolene as my final finish, . . . even USMC black. I normally use Pro Oil black and cowboy tan, . . . with no trouble with them either. My "budd" down at Tandy swears up and down that their new water base dyes WILL NOT rub off, . . . but I cannot vouch for it yet. Honestly haven't had a job where I could use it, . . . but I'm looking. May God bless, Dwight

This is one of those "sore spots" for me. Couple of years ago, . . . went yard saleing with a buddy, . . . stopped at one where the guy was moving across country after just finishing their new house and selling it (one of those job transfer deals). There were two beautiful mahogany colored 30 inch by 4 feet pieces of "scrap" there on the side. I saw it, . . . recognized it, . . . put it in the back of my mind to grab on the way out, . . . just flat out forgot, . . . they were mine just for loading them up and hauling them away. Yeah, . . . UGH ! May God bless, Dwight

Using Bob Klenda's pattern, this is the first pair of chinks I've made, . . . hopefully they'll be worn in her parade this weekend. They definitely are a lot more work than appears just looking. May God bless, Dwight

The easy way is to find out what other folks used, . . . go to a "meet" where they are, . . . take a set of calipers with you, . . . ask some of the participants if you could measure the thickness of their armor. Leather is measured in ounces, . . . 1 ounce = 1/64th of an inch, . . . or .0156 inches. 4 oz = .0625 8 oz = .1250 etc. My armor for the Salvatorus Antonio, Centurion of Capernaum, of the 6th Legion of Rome is about 10 oz, . . . but is only used for costume, . . . no war games. Use vegetable tanned, . . . buy it from Tandy for the better price, . . . it is kind of a waste to use good leather on armor, . . . IMHO. When wetted, veggie tan can be molded just about any way you want to do it, within reason, . . . and armor looks good made from leather. May God bless, Dwight

I used to teach holster making, . . . and I always told them, . . . "Hands are for hamburgers, . . . machines are for stitching". Then I would produce my Tippmann, . . . and part of the class would be giving them the opportunity to try the machine. If they didn't want to do it, . . . I would sew their holster for them, . . . but they did the cutting, edging, burnishing, patterning, etc. Truthfully, . . . If I had to hand stitch everything that goes out of this shop, . . . I'd probably go into the coaster business. But that is my opinion, and there are others of a totally different take on the subject. May God bless, Dwight

I use only clear or "almost clear" plastic for my images. I place that image on the wetted leather, . . . it may not have dried to the point it would be called "cased", . . . but you most surely can call it wet. I use the pointed end of a stylus tool that rubbs the plastic but doesn't cut it, . . . transferring a drawn image to the wetted leather. I use those impressions in the wetted leather as my pattern, . . . and the image can be used over, over, and over again. I got a really good deal some years back on some 8 1/2 x 11 transparency sheets used for computer printing. I'm still working on that box, . . . but almost any thin, clear plastic will work. AND, . . . if the leather is WET instead of just CASED, . . . the plastic will lay down and not move on the leather while you are tracing your image onto the leather. May God bless, Dwight

Let me be one that re-recommends the Tippman Boss, . . . I have one, . . . later model, . . . aluminum case, . . . and while you cannot say I jump up and down every morning at the prospect of using it, . . . I do enjoy using it. 1: it is faster and easier on your body than hand stitching, . . . and YOU determine where and when each and every stitch is placed. 2: it is manufactured in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, . . . very near US 30 on the East Side. They are very accomodating people, . . . back their product to the hilt, . . . I have called up on a Tuesday morning, . . . Ben said to give him 2 hours to clean off his other work on his bench, . . . bring it up to him. He personally has "fixed" my machine for me twice. 3: occasionally, . . . you will find one on Ebay for sale for a decent price. There was one on here a few weeks ago. Anyway, . . . it may not work for you, . . . just offering some info. May God bless, Dwight

From an old sailor turned pastor, . . . good work ! It is uplifting to both disciplines. May God bless, Dwight

When I started this several years ago, . . . it was knowing I was retiring from the "factory" and would like to stay active doing something I liked to do. I became an avid fan of leather work as a teenager in the late 50's. Now, . . . yes, . . . it is a business, . . . I pay my taxes, file my forms, keeping the "gubment" at arms length, . . . have a website (very basic), . . . have sold on Ebay, Gunbroker, etc. I try to satisfy my $$ requirements as well as my customers desires, . . . but also pay homage to the fact that I haven't done like many of my friends who left the "factory" and now are either passed on or vegitating in place. That alone allows me the luxury to offer a quality product at a decent price, . . . and I constantly ask myself if I were the customer: "Would you pay that much????" I have to be able to say yes, . . . or the price comes down. I take my business model idea from my grandfather, Will Webb, who was a pastor like myself, but also was a farmer and a blacksmith. May God bless, Dwight

My own personal cowboy rig, . . . and any rig I make for someone wanting it close to period looking and feeling, . . . I use a 50/50 concoction of beeswax and neatsfoot oil (weigh each ingredient, . . . it is 50/50 by weight). Cook it up in a jar in a crock pot, . . . pour it out into muffin papers in a muffin pan, . . . makes nice little patties that are easy to use. It is a little harder than regular shoe polish, . . . but it goes on similar, . . . on your rig, I'd put it on with a cloth and stroke it carefully with a heat gun to get the wax to melt and the oil to soak in better. Give it a half hour or so to dry, . . . buff with an old diaper, . . . you'll like it. Take a scrap piece, . . . diddle a little bit of stamping and tooling on it, . . . try it, . . . you might just like it. Not only is it simple to make and use, . . . it is also bunches cheaper than almost any other finish. If you stay with it long enough, . . . you can make it real shiney, . . . but not plastic shiney. I use it front, back, edges, inside, outside, . . . the whole thing. May God bless, Dwight

And here are the ones I was trying to design the other day when I saw your post, . . . May God bless, Dwight

You are a credit to the profession. May God bless, Dwight

Go to my website, . . . on the sample page, . . . bottom center. It is actually my favorite of all I have ever made. May God bless, Dwight

Like above, I don't do a lot of these, . . . but I have done several. I make the tip fit snug, type snug, . . . as oposed to loose type snug. It has to be forced in with both hands. I use my razor knives, . . . a belt sander, . . . and skiving tool to get it this way. The key I have found is in the trimming, . . . take your time, . . . be very careful how you cut the tip so it goes in and fits as near perfect as possible. The one thing that will destroy your good job is if the tip is loose. Then it'll wiggle and wrangle till it comes off. I don't drill mine, . . . I just tighten tht screw down as tight as I can with my small tipped screwdriver, . . . then use my Dremel tool to flatten the back and remove any burrs that could scratch the front of the belt. It's worked so far. May God bless, Dwight