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Dwight

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Everything posted by Dwight

  1. If you are referring to this particular armor, . . . archer's would have to leave off the shoulder pieces, . . . or at least cut them down some. Looking at your deadline, . . . if it were me, . . . I'd make a front piece, . . . back piece, . . . and the belt to hold it all together. If you did it out of 10 oz leather (my suggestion) you could pretty much tool all the designs in rather than making the separate pieces. A little antiquing, . . . creative dye work, . . . it should look good. Make it out of veg tan leather, . . . make a "dummy" out of old shirts, . . . boards, . . . what have you to resemble your bodily makeup and shape, . . . soak it wet, . . . mold it to shape with your hands, . . . be sure to "flare" out all openings so it doesn't chafe and eat you up. Once it is shaped pretty good and dried, . . . lightlydampen the top layer of the leather, . . . and you can tool in the details. Looks like a fun project, . . . I'd offer to come help if you'ld pay my way to the Gold Coast, . . . we could sit on the beach and tool leather Here in the states, . . . you are probably looking at 120 dollars worth of leather, . . . +/-, . . . a good razor knife, . . . swivel knife, . . . mallet, . . . a rough backgrounder, . . . a couple of bevelers, . . . and two or three full days of work adding the designs to the front plate. I'd attach a robe to cover the back, . . . you could then leave it plain. The belt, buckle, everything can be made of leather, . . . proper dying and/or painting and it will pass inspection for what you are doing. May God bless, Dwight May God bless, Dwight
  2. It depends on the armor you want to make. Reply with the time frame, . . . description, . . . type, . . . etc you want. St8line showed one type of Roman armor, . . . My armor for my alter ego: Centurion Salvatorus Antonio, of the 6th Legion, Centurion of Capernaum, was far easier than the other two examples. The orange picture is the really tough one to do, . . . the pinkish looking one is mostly sewing, and is done with thicker garment leather, . . . mine is really thick and somewhat heavy, . . . but was the easiest of all to do in my opinion. May God bless, Dwight
  3. The first indicator I look at is the back side, . . . if there is a lot of strings and stringy stuff hanging off the hide, . . . forget it. What you want is a smooth, flat, clean back side that almost feels like very, very fine sandpaper. You don't want the one that feels like a piece of felt or worse yet, thick flannel. Final test for me is then the front side, . . . scars, fence marks, brands, cutouts, gouges, etc. A premium hide will have little of this, . . . the more it is blemished, the less valuable hide you have. If you have a Tandy store nearby, . . . go look at a cheap 7 oz side, . . . compare them to a "European tooling bend" piece. You'll see the difference. May God bless, Dwight
  4. The cliff note version: 1 oz of leather thickness = 1/64th of an inch. IOW, . . . 8 oz = 1/8th of an inch,.........16 oz = 1/4 inch,........... Most leather is sold as a "range" of thicknesses. If you bought a piece of 7/8 oz leather, . . . it would range from 7 oz to 8 oz across the piece. May God bless, Dwight
  5. THANK YOU, jlaudio, . . . I've got a couple of little cowgirl customers, . . . they will LOVE that little pink trick. I have used oxblood, mostly use it with black to make a black cherry that can really turn out beautiful. May God bless, Dwight
  6. A couple of things you can try, . . . because I don't know your definition of "light". One simple and quick pass with a brush of neatsfoot oil darkens it somewhat. The same goes for one coat of Resolene, though the Resolene is only about half the oil. You can also lay it out in the bright sunlight, . . . that will darken it some. Personally, . . . I don't like doing browns, . . . it is really hard to match 1 for 1 unless the pieces all came from the same hide, . . . dyed the same day, . . . out of the same bucket, . . . etc. May God bless, Dwight
  7. It's too bad you live clear over on the left coast, . . . we could start a class of 2 I've researched it back and forth, . . . looked at different models, makers, etc. and have determined one thing for sure, . . . there is no such thing as a "standard" chap, . . . although they all look somewhat alike. So far, I've made only one pair, . . . have orders for 3 more (but they're patient folks and don't demand much). I used the 13 year old sister's chaps as a pattern for the 11 year old, . . . and if all my customers become as happy as that 11 year old cowgirl, . . . I'll be OK. There are a couple of cd/dvd offers here on this site, just use the search function. There are also patterns available. This is the one pair I did. May God bless, Dwight
  8. Matt said, "Don't be afraid to ask questions, make mistakes or accept constructive criticism. Above all have fun." The last 4 words are the most important of all. An inexpensive but yet very rewarding way you can build your confidence and skill is to take on a small project such as making little leather snap bracelets for a Sunday School class, . . . for some old folks in a local nursing home, . . . for the kids in your child's class. You will learn to cut, stamp, burnish, trim, how to add snaps correctly. Most important of all, . . . you will be able to see your progress from #1 to #20 if you do them one at a time. Finish them in different ways using coffee, tea, shoe polish, etc for stain, . . . sharpies to do background, . . . be creative. May God bless, Dwight
  9. Just remember, . . . opinions are like dirty socks, . . . everyone has a couple and the all stink at one time or another. But since you asked, . . . I prefer flat, . . . more comfortable, . . . harder to make, . . . and does not have the retention of the molded back. May God bless, Dwight
  10. A hole saw and a drill press is THE ticket to this problem. First cut a hole in a piece of 1 x 6 long enough to clamp on to the table of the press, . . . sandwich the leather between the top board with the hole, . . . and another board below, . . . remove the center drill bit from the hole saw, . . . cut to your hearts content. May God bless, Dwight
  11. I started with a tool I was familiar with, . . . the old Stanley carpenter's razor knife. I have a circular knife that I seldom use, . . . as well as other tools, . . . razor knife works the best for me. May God bless, Dwight
  12. I use Will Ghormley's basic technique for the ones I build. These aren't the best pictures, . . . but you'll at least get the general idea. Pics 1 and 2 show the front side and back side of both 44 and 22 caliber examples. FWIW, these are my 3 dimensional notes from me to me on how to do this. May God bless, Dwight
  13. You could lessen the probability of looseness in the front if you did away with that extra half inch of leather between the straps and the sight channel of the weapon. Secondarily, . . . move more of the gun into the back piece. I make an IWB that is positively flat on the back, . . . super comfortable, . . . but if worn OWB, . . . it flops like a fresh caught catfish. It'll work and is designed for putting on quick and making a 7-11 dash as an OWB. Most pancakes that hold the gun in tight to the body, . . . have a lot of the gun molded into the back piece, . . . and I's suspecting from the looks of yours, . . . it doesn't. Anyway, . . . to the OP, . . . the craftsmanship is really good, . . . you make a fine looking product, . . . good luck with the "snapcake". May God bless, Dwight
  14. I'm going to take a shot in the dark on the belt fraying and please don't take this personally, . . . but that just looks like cheap leather to me, . . . and possibly some ragged edges on the inside of the buckle you are using. I use Tandy leather "most" of the time, . . . double shoulders mostly, . . . and I just do not have that problem. Fact is, . . . my belt I've had for 5 or 6 years doesn't show that much fraying. The cracking problem I found was by using too thick a final coat of the finish. I use Resolene almost exclusively, . . . and have ony ran across that same problem a couple of times. I also do all the necessary bends in the leather while the Resolene is wet (buckle end of the belt blank for instance) and just as soon as it is dry to the touch, . . . I start breaking it in by doing some short bending. After you bend it wet, . . . you have to touch up the finish with your gun or brush, as it will leave fingerprints in the finish if you don't. For a rifle sling, . . . I would never put any thing but resolene on it, . . . 24 hours or so after a very, very light coat of neatsfoot oil on the hair side only. And I would never put gum trag on the flesh side of anything that comes in contact with the human flesh. It is abrasive and nasty on the skin. Others may advise differently. May God bless, Dwight
  15. Borrowing from a current buzz phrase, . . . "think outside the pocket". This is my personal phone case, . . . something in the 5 years old bracket, . . . lotsa hard miles. I personally detest my pockets having a bunch of stuff in them, . . . as well as carrying anything in my hands. Maybe some sort of OCD I put snaps on the bottom so I don't have to take my belt on or off to remove the case or put it on. May God bless, Dwight
  16. It is a simple reinforcement piece, . . . I make the body out of one piece of leather, . . . wrapped around the form, . . . coming together at 12 o'clock. The fortifying strip, or reinforcement, . . . again one piece of leather, wrapped aroung the form, . . . comes together at 6 o'clock, . . . so the seams are opposite each other. It makes it beefy, . . . but it also provides some pretty heavy duty protection for the phone. I'm pretty hard on all my tools and toys, . . . so I have to think about protection, etc. May God bless, Dwight
  17. Good lookin' rig, . . . we both chose the same buckle pattern, . . . Yours is a bit more BBQ than mine though, . . . shows you have more patience May God bless, Dwight
  18. Pretty hard to see in the pictures. I'd simply take those pics to a Tandy shop, . . . talk to the folks there, . . . if you have one close. My store would have an answer for you in a heartbeat, . . . they are really knowledgeable and helpful. May God bless, Dwight
  19. The guaranteed fix: go out to your wood shop, . . . create a blank piece of pine the size of the phone, . . . wrap it in a plastic bag, . . . force it into the holder. Do not wet or steam it, . . . leave it dry, . . . wake up 12 hours later, . . . remove the pine, . . . try the phone. If it doesn't work the first time, . . . put 2 bags on it and do it again. By bags, . . . I'm not talking about those throw away things from Meijers or Walmart. Use a good quality freezer bag. We do this all the time with holsters and other items. By the way, . . . that is a good looking case. I make cases also, . . . but mine are more the heavy duty, . . . rough service types. They're usually 7/8 oz leather, . . . and have a fortifying strip around the top. Yours is much more the "genteel" variety. May God bless, Dwight
  20. Thanks, Frank, . . . I have a project that just "may" need that exact tutorial. May God bless, Dwight
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. Tandy sells two sizes, . . . I got the bigger one, . . . the little one is of no use to my work. May God bless, Dwight
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