Dwight

Thanks, Frank, . . . I have a project that just "may" need that exact tutorial. May God bless, Dwight

An old fashioned "recipe" for an old fashioned finish: it is a really good finish too. 4 oz (by weight) natural beeswax + 4 oz (by weight) of neatsfoot oil. Melt the beeswax in the oil, . . . I use a glass jar in a crock pot, . . . usually takes about a half hour. Pour into muffin pan with muffin liners. Allow it to harden It makes a product that is a little stiffer than Kiwi shoe polish, . . . and can go from a very dull to very shiny appearance, . . . depending on how many coats you apply. Rub it onto the surface, . . . lightly go over it with a heat gun, . . . melts it into the fibers. Polish with a soft cloth when is is dried and cool. May God bless, Dwight

This is another one of those "some do, . . . some don't" situations. I usually do if I use one of the spirit dyes, . . . because it usually does feel dryer. But if I used oil dye, . . . especially the black, . . . I very seldom do that. There is a catch 22 deal there, . . . the oil "should" prolong the life of the leather, . . . but it also softens it, making the item less useful if not useless. One maker who is on here sometimes said he gives it one light coat, . . . on the hair side, . . . then allows that to fully absorb before he does anything else. It's not a "must do" either way. May God bless, Dwight

That's how you do it. Contact cement the two together, . . . treat em as one piece. John Bianchi teaches to slightly relieve the thickness of the leather at the bend, . . . it creates far fewer wrinkles, . . . but as often as not I haven't done it and it really does not detract from the holster. May God bless, Dwight

Frank, . . . great work as usual, . . . personally I enjoy just seeing the patience others posess. Your work is definitely a credit to your person. Thanks for sharing. May God bless, Dwight

Tandy sells two sizes, . . . I got the bigger one, . . . the little one is of no use to my work. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . ya gotta promise not to throw something at me. I use a mallet and an oblong punch, . . . or a round punch. I first lay my template down and mark the back side of my holes on the top of the belt. Then I lay the belt on a piece of scrap 7 oz leather, on top of my big marble slab, pick up my mallet, and "WHACK", . . . I've got a hole. I start at the hole farthest away from the tip of the belt, . . . center my punch in the middle of the belt, . . . and seriously, I just whack it. Now my bench does not move, . . . it is solid, . . . and the marble slab makes sure there is no movement. And most of the time I am going through two layers of 7/8 oz leather that has been cemented together, sewn, dyed, and Resolened. I use the cheap kit with screw on nose pieces for my punches, . . . I have both sizes that Tandy sells, . . . Some people also wet their leather before punching, . . . I don't, . . . but you might try that. May God bless, Dwight

Melly, . . . might just want to take the question down a few forum lines into the saddles and tack section. Bunch of really good guys & gals there, . . . probably get a better answer quicker. May God bless, Dwight

A wonderful lady from the Pacific Northwest (if I remember correctly) gave me this formula several years ago, . . . I love it. I've never heard of mineral spirits being used with this, . . . You have to work to get a "shine" with this, . . . it can be done, . . . Try it, . . . you might like it. BTW, . . . I put it on with my fingers usually, . . . just smear it real good, . . . hit it with the heat gun, . . . back off, . . . let it chill, . . . buff a bit, . . . looks good. Make sure to send us pictures, . . . I'm always up for a good hat. May God bless, Dwight

An old fashioned "recipe" for an old fashioned finish: 4 oz (by weight) natural beeswax + 4 oz (by weight) of neatsfoot oil. Melt the beeswax in the oil, . . . I use a glass jar in a crock pot, . . . usually takes about a half hour. Pour into muffin pan with muffin liners. Allow it to harden It makes a product that is a little stiffer than Kiwi shoe polish, . . . and can go from a very dull to very shiny appearance, . . . depending on how many coats you apply. Rub it onto the surface, . . . lightly go over it with a heat gun, . . . melts it into the fibers. Polish with a soft cloth when is is dried and cool. May God bless, Dwight

If you have a Tandy store nearby, . . . ask for their bag liner material. It is used to stiffen hand bags. I use it often for patterns, . . . and to mimic leather. AND cutting it up is a whole lot cheaper than cutting up veggie tanned cowhide. Also, . . . while the strap idea is good, . . . cloth flexes a lot more than leather generally, . . . it would depend on how "flippy-floppy" you want it to be. When I did my armor, it was for one of my other personas: that of Salvatorus Antonio, . . . the Centurion of Capernaum, . . . 6th Legion, Ferata, . . . 39 AD. I did not want the shoulder plates shifting, . . . that is the reason for the "T" plates. May God bless, Dwight

I've only made one set of armor, . . . imitating the Roman stuff around the time of Jesus, . . . this is how I did the shoulders, . . . and it worked real good. May God bless, Dwight

I have no idea what is in the plastic wrap, . . . but the two small tan pieces look like generic bees wax to me. Bees wax makes a beautiful edge burnishing material. May God bless, Dwight

Denster, . . . he said it. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . honestly, I have stitched first, . . . sanded and beveled, . . . burnished. BUT, . . . by getting the outside edges done first, . . . it gives you a really good edge from which to gouge your stitch line (which I almost always do, . . . ) and then your stitches will naturally be the proper distance from the edge with no trouble. I have occasionally ran into a bad piece, . . . wrinkle, . . . whatever in sanding the edge, . . . and had to go deeper than I planned from my original edge. Since I had not stitched, . . . I'm the only one who knew. If I had stitched first, . . . uhhh, . . . it would have been ugly. My reasoning isn't perfect, . . . but it works to save me time and leather, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Best thing I can suggest, . . . buy a bag of rivets, . . . punch holes in some scrap leather, . . . spend an evening practicing. Honestly, . . . my first copper rivets didn't belong on a mule strap for a coal mine, . . . but it did hold. Once you learn the ball peen thing, . . . you need a SMALL ball peen for this, . . . it gets better. I kinda go around the edge, . . . and there will be a little "point" left in the middle when I get done, . . . that's when I get the mushroom tool. It also helps if you drive the washer down real firm. If you don't the copper rivet can bend, . . . lean over, . . . all sorts of nasty stuff. ALSO, . . . I do my rivets on a 12 x 12 x 1/4 inch steel plate on my work bench. Having that "unmoveable" object under the rivet makes a world of difference. Fact is, . . . I won't even start one if I don't have something like that as a anvil. Those little Tandy anvils aren't good for this, . . . IMHO. Truly, though, . . . practice it a bit, . . . the price of a full bag of rivets is a whole lot cheaper than ruining a really nice project. May God bless, Dwight

Invasion, . . . I am not sure how you are doing your project, . . . but there are a couple of things you need to pick up on. 1. Most, . . . indeed the MAJOR majority of all leather projects should be cemented or glued together before they are stitched. You did not mention this. 2. You cannot successfully cement or glue these pieces together until the dye is fully 100% dry. 3. Many people put stuff together without glue or cement, and most of their stuff can be found in the bargain bin at Goodwill or on the free table at the local flea market. 4. You also need to bevel and clean up the edges before you stitch the thing together, . . . and again, that is made possible only by cementing or glueing, . . . which must wait until the dye is dry. On a personal level, that is one of the reasons I don't dye most of the time until the project is completely assembled. Anyway, . . . welcome to the forum, . . . have fun, . . . don't take leatherwork seriously, . . . keep it fun, even if you are working at it. May God bless, Dwight

A properly measured belt will put the buckle's tooth into the center hole of the 5 or 7 holes in the belt (you can look on my belt page of my website for proper measuring for a belt). It doesn't make any difference if it is a ranger belt, . . . guard belt, . . . rassler's trophy belt, . . . that is still the proper way to meaure for a belt. Most jeans have a loop dead center of the back, . . . 180 degrees opposite the center of the buckle. When I put a name on a belt, . . . I start at that center space, . . . and work to my left, . . . one letter at at time, . . . backwards for the first name. If they want their last name, . . . leave space for the loop, . . . put the last name on one letter at a time, . . . going forwards in the name. Just the way I do it, . . . nothing set in concrete says it has to be done that way. May God bless, Dwight

Cyberthrasher beat me to my rule, . . . overnight. May God bless, Dwight

Awesome is the word that comes to my mind. You have talent and patience, my friend, . . . consider yourself blessed. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Cogs, . . . I've never been accused of being a guitar player, . . . but I can beat one into submission in a quick G, C, D7th order. Have him simply undo his strap, . . . turn it 180 degrees clockwise, . . . re-attach and the strap should be flat. May God bless, Dwight

I would hazard a guess that it is done with a clicker and dies. It is literally a bent piece of steel, sharpened on the down edge, arranged to be a closed loop that IS the shape of your object. If you can think of cutting biscuits with a milk glass, . . . it is the same concept, . . . except it uses very sharp steel made into a design, . . . and either an air powered or hydraulic powered press. They're not exactly inexpensive either. The words: Norfolk, Captain, Firefighter, Fire/Rescue, . . . those also could have been done with a pantograph engraver, . . . another expensive little toy. If I were going to attempt to do that type of work, . . . my first choice would be to go to someone like Weaver Leather, . . . or maybe Tippmann Company (makes the Tippmann Boss sewing machine), . . . and ask them about clickers and dies. At the same time take a look at this youtube, . . . while he is doing this in wood, . . . the same concept can be adapted to leather: In the leather work, . . . the letters would be actually left standing, . . . the background would be eliminated by the router cutting blade. I've done a little work with a router on leather, . . . it does and awesome job if your tool is really sharp. May God bless, Dwight

If you want to, mail me one that is complete, . . . except for the rivets, . . . and a couple of extra barrettes, . . . at least one of em will get whacked the wrong way. I'll PM you the address. May God bless, Dwight

My apologies, Montana, . . . I missed the etsy connection. From the looks of the clip, . . . I'd bet that a little jig could be made like this drawing, . . . bottom is 1/4 inch steel plate, . . . maybe 4 inches square, . . . the two supports would have to be 3/8 or 1/2 inch steel, . . . and they would be as long as the plate is wide. You could then lay several side by side, . . . rivets pointing up, . . . cap em and clinch em. The bottom would not be rounded, but that does not make any difference if you are using capped rivets. In the drawing, the brown is your leather, . . . two curved black lines are the barrete, . . . the blue is all the jig to hold it. We used to make things like this all the time in the factory where I worked. Do you have someone who could make that for you? May God bless, Dwight

Keplerts, . . . send an email to Will, . . . he usually answers fairly quickly. He and I have kicked around a couple of topics, and I've found him to be most helpful. Rory, . . . explain how you are sewing that the thread gets frayed, . . . I used to have that problem, . . . but one little change solved it when I was doing more than my share of hand stitching. May God bless, Dwight