Dwight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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