Dwight

Pancho and the US Army together didn't have a rig that good looking. May God bless, Dwight

Texas Jack said it well enough for me. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene is one, . . . Bag Kote is another. I'm not really a big fan of Bag Kote, . . . but I use it occasionally, . . . Resolene is good stuff, . . . can be tricky and aggravating to apply at times, . . . but then so is a BLT with no mayo. A light coat of Resolene will be more satin, . . . two or more coats can approach plastic looking, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Go to my website, . . . go to the belt page, . . . diagram there will give you the best way I have found to measure a belt for a customer. (actually, . . . the customer does the measuring, . . . so if it is off, . . . you are not on the hook for bad measuring) I look at the "client" or at least at the weapon size, hoster design, IWB vs OWB, and I'll add anywhere from 1 to 3 inches depending on the factors I see that make it a requirement. May God bless, Dwight

I tried burning the ends, . . . too often I got a ball of hard crust that would lace you open like a 14 year old with a switchblade. I quit, . . . and I found out that once you apply a good finish onto those stitches, . . . they aren't going anywhere for a looooooong loooooooong time. I cut em as close as I can with my little snippy nosed scissors, . . . and call it a game. I do make sure that the ends are double stitched though, . . . sometimes just going around the project (holster) coming back to the same starting point, . . . doubling the stitches there. Sometimes starting out one direction, . . . doing 3 or 4 stitches, . . . turning and going back over them and finishing out the project at the other end of the stitch line, . . . again doubling my last 3 or 4 stitches (belt). May God bless, Dwight

Hey, friend, . . . congratulations, . . . welcome to the wonderful world of runaway sewing machines. Couple things you will come to understand: You almost never make an extra hole or two where you didn't want it hand stitching, . . . machines do that on any given day you look out the window. You never have to check out the amount of thread on the bobbin when hand stitching. Hand stitching never needs taken apart, . . . cleaned, . . . greased, . . . oiled, . . . put back together, . . . then taken apart again because you put it back together wrong the first time. You never have to send your hand needles back to the factory for calibration, testing, or adjustments: not so with machines. But other than that, . . . machine sewing is fun, . . . quick, . . . and if you are like me, . . . machine stitching tends to look much more "uniform". On my holsters, belts, even wallets, . . . I use 346 thread almost exclusively, . . . 277 only on special projects, . . . never drop down to 207, . . . and have been known to bump up to 406 if the project needs the beefy look of the fatter thread (which is not very often). I get mine from Tandy, . . . it has some kind of coating on it, . . . parrafin I suppose, . . . anyway, it works good. May God bless, Dwight

If you start out leaving about 6 or 8 inches of thread before the first stitch, . . . and end by cutting another 6 or 8 inches, . . . you can then go back with a single needle and hand stitch the ends, . . . wrapping around the outside, . . . giving that appearance. On a personal note, . . . though it is cute, . . . the 4 stitches on those outside edges, . . . they are the 4 stitches that will wear the most, . . . therefore breaking first. I would stop short by one or two stitch lengths, . . . that is what I do. May God bless, Dwight

Our prayers go up for you. Honestly never been there, don't want to ever go there. But it is REALLY heartening to see the positive attitude, . . . An old poster we used to have showed an airplane seeming to struggle as it left the runway. The message on the poster said: "Your attitude determines your altitude". Keeping a good attitude will get you back up. Keep us on your "informed" list as you recover, . . and let us know if there is anything we can do to help. May God bless, Dwight

If I were attempting that, . . . air brush is the only thing I would think of. I'm not really good with it, . . . and there are some folks on this site who do some fantastic stuff, . . . especially holsters, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, guys, for the vinegaroon info, . . . I can definitely see where that could make a dent in my production costs as a lot of the stuff going out my front door is black. I briefly email / chatted with Will on vinegaroon a couple years ago, . . . but just haven't had the time to begin another new process. Just may do that this summer, . . . IF, . . . and that's a big IF, . . . I get my new shop. Looking to relocate the leather work. May God bless, Dwight

Uhh, . . . 9 x 14 aluminum baking pan works real well. Pour the dye into the pan, . . . drag the item through the dye, . . . hang it up to dry, . . . pour whatever is left back into the bottle, . . . I gave up on sponges, brushes, applicators, etc, . . . mainly because I am a bit picky. If I am dyeing something, . . . I want the color to be uniform and predictable. Other than my baking pan, . . . an air brush was all I ever found that would do those two things, . . . and my ability to use it is pretty limited right now, . . . so I dip it. One caution on dipping, though, . . . if you are doing a belt, . . . lay out enough newspapers that you can lay the belt on one edge for the first 1/2 hour of the drying process. If you don't, . . . sometimes, . . . the dye will drift to the bottom end of a belt hung vertically right after dyeing. You wind up with a dark end and a lighter end, . . . UGH ! May God bless, Dwight

Yep, . . . correct assumption. When I first got started, . . . my "mentor" told me to use calf skin, . . . and sew them on, . . . and made it look easy. Because I had previously owned a sewn on one, . . . and didn't like it, . . . I went looking for another process. This process I use makes the loop in the same hole (in and out) which makes it very crowded in there, . . . and actually results in the leather getting "stretched" so to speak, . . . plus as I pull the loop tight, . . . I thumb the bullet left and right, . . . making the leather crease between the layers. I rivet the one end, . . . grab a coffee, . . . take a deep breath, . . . and 10 or 15 minutes of grunting, stretching, and pulling, . . . I'm smacking the other rivet, usually. Then, like I said earlier, . . . let it dry down a bit, . . . but not completely dry, . . . and very gingerly and carefully remove the cartridges. Then let it finish drying. May God bless, Dwight

Fred does that (a friend of mine), . . . his process follows mine (see above) except for the sewing machine part. He gets out his thread, . . . needles, . . . gloves, . . . scissors, . . . wax, . . . coffee, . . . doughnuts, . . . and most important, . . . his wife. Together, they hand sew cowboy action belts. It is about a 4 hour process so he said (I don't have the heart to watch such torture, . . . so I've never seen it). My machine and I are about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, . . . depending on the, . . . uhh, . . . "girth". Seriously, . . . I suppose if you only cemented them with Weldwood, correctly, . . . they would "probably" stay together for a long time, . . . but in my opinion, . . . it is worthwhile to sew them. I personally would not sell one not sewn, unless the client knew in no uncertain terms up front that he/she was participating in a test lab situation. May God bless, Dwight

Rob, . . . I've never used vinegaroon, . . . what is the total process one has to do to get it right? Thanks, May God bless, Dwight

This is the way I learned to do bullet loops. I've tried sewing (ugh), . . . double punching (they fall out after a while), . . . and I even saw where one guy put a rivet between each loop, . . . I'm not doing that one. Anyway, . . . this is the first way I ever did one, . . . tried others, . . . came back to it, . . . quick, easy, works every time. I use 6/7 oz, . . . wet it pretty good to start, . . . actually use the bullets I'm making it for, . . . and I leave them in the loop after it is made until the leather is just damp. That usually is about a half hour after I finish the lacing. It makes a good solid loop. About that belt: don't worry about the inner piece, . . . cement it on, . . . sand and burnish the edges, . . . stitch gouge it, . . . stitch it, . . . finish it, . . . and wear it. My first one had some tiny little wrinkles in the liner for a while, . . . but my fat carcass (at the time) warmed it up inside, . . . and ironed out all of those wrinkles. It was as pretty inside as it was outside. I was at a gun show later, . . . a guy wanted to buy it, . . . his wife was pestering him for a belt, . . . he bought mine for himself, . . . gave the other one to his wife, . . . or at least that was the story I got. The only thing I do different for my own stuff, . . . I like a 3 inch wide belt, . . . most of those I make for other folks are 2 1/2, . . . they seem to like them better. May God bless, Dwight

I have always looked for a "use and care" sheet with pretty much anything I buy, . . . so I extend that to my customers. A "Thank You" letter, . . . plus a "use and care" sheet of do's and don'ts. May God bless, Dwight

I was in your shoes back about 6 or 7 years ago . . . when I saw my first Tippmann Boss. Cliff notes version: I've had one ever since, . . . love it, . . . and so far, I have not been disappointed in what it will or won't do. True, . . . when I get an order for a 55 inch belt, . . . I wish it had a motor, . . . but otherwise, it does all I want. I am looking for a chap machine, . . . electric, . . . as the Boss is a bit of overkill for chaps and billfolds, . . . but there are very few holsters it won't handle, . . . and pancakes are easy as pie on it. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Stitchwizard, . . . fellow Buckeye here, . . . and I've got a question for you. You list machine stitching of leather goods, . . . I'm in a pickle, . . . I need to add a sewing machine to my shop, . . . and my funds are definitely limited. I only need a machine that will do two things: one sew 4 to 5 stitches per inch (can't have that 6, 8, 10 spi stuff), . . . and it has to go through two layers 3 oz suede, cemented together. I have a machine that will do just short of 6 spi, . . . but it's only good on long runs, . . . I can't coax it slowly around a corner, . . . which is I guess a third requirement. Have you got a recommendation you could throw my way? Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

What I usually do is lay out the piece I perceive as the "top", . . . and cut it. Then I look at it real good to make sure I want to keep it as the top. Then I just turn it over, . . . and use it as the pattern for the back. Punch, gouge, rivet, . . . whatever, . . . and contact cement em together. They are a bit stiff at first, . . . but you get 3-5 pounds of iron and ammo hanging off a cowboy who is sweating pretty good, . . . it'll warm up, . . . loosen up, . . . and feels good. May God bless, Dwight

Here in the states, we call that "blowing smoke". That is they way they have developed "their" products over the years, . . . and don't want to change for your product. There are some in the US who use for example 346 on top and 277 on the bottom. Mostly (I think) the justification falls in that they don't risk running out of thread in the bobbin as often, . . . as the bobbin can hold a lot more 277 than 346. Some also just like the effect, . . . I don't like it for my stuff, . . . I use 346 or 400 top and bottom, . . . Good luck, . . . may God bless, Dwight

I couldn't see your mentioned flaws, . . . so it looks good from here. As a personal note, . . . you said you nicked the belt trimming the liner, . . . you won't do that if you trim the whole thing on a sander. I use a little $50 belt sander I bought (have 2 of them now) from Harbor Freight, . . . my sanding and trimming for one belt that used to take an hour, . . . now takes 3 or 4 minutes, . . . much better job also. I have also used a little $3 cheapie 2 inch round sander that goes in a drill. I mounted it it a drill press, . . . made a little wooden rip fence for it so it couldn't dig in real deep on my belts, . . . that actually works very well also. May God bless, Dwight

OK, Grizz, . . . what is the brand name of the green, . . . and the white? I've never really gotten into knives & such, . . . but I do have one project coming up where I will need to polish and sharpen one up real nice, . . . this (if I read everyone correct) just may be the ticket for that job. Appreciate the help, may God bless, Dwight

I am not an expert on tooling, . . . many others here are far better, . . . but my first observation is that you are making a couple of typical mistakes that are more or less universal with all of us as beginners. 1. You were working your leather while it was wet, . . . not when it was properly cased. "Wet" leather will spread out when tooled, like pouring pancake batter on a hot griddle. 2. From the looks of the backgrounding, . . . it looks like you are whacking it pretty hard. The tooling, truthfully, is more "sleight of hand" magic, . . . than truthful depictions. You give the appearance of an effect of depth, . . . or shading, . . . or rounding, . . . and you really do not have to pound it to get it there. You also need to have a very hard tooling surface, . . . a piece of marble, a piece of 6mm or thicker steel, . . . something that is both heavy and not yielding. Table tops and counter tops are simply too bouncy, . . . will not give you the desired end product. Take another piece of leather, . . . 150mm or so long, . . . make a piece as wide as your belt, . . . lightly dampen it on the hair side only with a wet paper towel, . . . and trace out your design. Let it dry. Lay it on the tooling surface, . . . go over the face of the leather with a wet but not sopping or dripping paper towel, . . . ONCE. You want the "dark" color of wet leather to be uniform all across it. Go find something else to do, . . . peeking back at it from time to time, . . . watch it until it comes back to almost dry color. Lay a piece of dry leather near it so you can see for sure. Test it, especially with your backgrounding tool, . . . it should make finely defined peaks and valleys, . . . and they should not collapse in your properly cased leather, . . . but will only make an indentation in the dry leather piece. It is very unpredictable how long this will take, . . . temperature & humidity of your house, . . . how wet you originally get the leather, . . . etc. But you will only be able to determine when it is proper to tool (that is called being properly "cased") by experience and trial. Goodl luck, . . . hopefully others will chime in with some other suggestions, . . . this works for me though. May God bless, Dwight

I regularly glue up very narrow areas. I use plumber's acid brushes purchased from Harbor Freight, . . . http://www.amazon.com/Harbor-Freight-Horsehair-Bristle-Brushes/dp/B006ZBD95Q I use straight Weldwood. Just take your time, . . . it'll work out. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene is as stated, probably your best bet. I've never applied it over sheen, . . . so I cannot vouch for that. I use resolene on the vast majority of all holsters I make, . . . they become water "resistant" and Resolene has a UV blocker, . . . negating any undue influence from the sun's rays. I cut it 50/50 with water, . . . apply it with a bristle brush, . . . brush it on, . . . left / right / up / down , . . . first brush up a slight lather, . . . then brush out the bubbles, . . . makes a beautiful finish. When you finish brushing, . . . hang it in a warm place to dry and leave it alone for about 20 to 24 hours. May God bless, Dwight