Dwight

I have never built a saddle before, . . . this would be my first. It would be for a 15 hands high quarter horse gelding, . . . 5 years old. The horse may change, . . . but I'll keep the saddle, . . . probably passing it on to either a niece or nephew in a few years. I really like the look of the one Tippmann has on their website, and I copied that picture for here, . . . although there are some cosmetic changes I would make. Anyone here have an idea where I could get a reasonably priced tree like this? I'm particularly fond of the high, straighter upward swept back of the saddle seat. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

Just in case you are haveing a bad day, . . . take heart, . . . it could be worse. Customer came in today, . . . we chatted, . . . he ordered, . . . left, . . . I started. I had 2 belts, 2 holsters, and one mag holder to make. I made the right hand holster for a lefty, . . . the left hand holster for a right hand, . . . the mag carrier should be for a lefty, . . . yep, reversed it too. I'm anxiously awaiting the belts, . . . Said to heck with it all, . . . got a piece of strawberry rhubarb cobbler, . . . cup of coffee, . . . kicked back, . . . tomorrow is another day. May God bless, Dwight

Make this little tool, . . . use it for your corners, . . . it will not only help your corners look better, . . . it will choke down some of the frustration. May God bless, Dwight

Yeah, . . . pictures would help, . . . don't quite understand what you are trying to accomplish. May God bless, Dwight

I am 6'1", . . . long legged, . . . and like Cascabel, . . . I use one of those nice swiveling, 5 roller, office chairs. It has a high back (I can kick back and take a snooze if I want to, . . . don't have to hit the couch). Unlike him, . . . I have both (2 similar chairs in my work space) all the way up as high as they will go. Easier on the old legs that way. One is well over 15 years old, . . . kinda rickety, . . . but very comfy, . . . the other is getting broke in as it is just over 10. May God bless, Dwight

Some things I do differently, . . . but since most of my awl punching is done for small stuff, . . . I've gotten into the habit of using the edge of my work bench. I've got a couple of small holes punched in there, . . . and I can lay that small piece up against the bench edge, . . . punch straight through, . . . and it is always 90 degrees and right on the money. I actually don't do as good a job other ways, . . . this is my "preferred" position, . . . unless it is awful big. May God bless, Dwight

Your best friend is your computer, . . . with your customer, . . . and Ebay. Search for Fanny Pack, . . . go down the left side and select "Used", . . . then further narrow it down by price, . . . say $1 to $15. You will get hundreds of choices, . . . buy the one your customer likes for 10 bucks or so, . . . take it apart, . . . Voila, . . . May God bless, Dwight

It would help if we knew where you were, . . . one of us may be just down the road so to speak. May God bless, Dwight

If you can't afford a poundo board from Tandy's or something similar, . . . go to Walmarts and buy the smallest and cheapest white polyetheline cutting board they have back in the kitchen stuff. It is not the "very best" backup surface for punching holes, . . . but it is good. It stops the punch from going way too far (which can easily happen if you use another piece of leather under your punched piece), . . . and does not dull the punch cutting end. Next, . . . keep your punches sharp, . . . a dull punch is worse than dating your ugly step sister, . . . very little good ever comes of either idea. And don't forget to use the wax. i kinda "roll" the cutting edge in the wax about every 3rd or 5th hole, . . . makes it all soooooooooooo much easier. May God bless, Dwight

Good question, . . . maybe not so good an answer. A friend loaned me his 3 VHS tape set on how to make holsters featuring John Bianchi. It was all about making a western rig, . . . and John spcified in his teaching that the cartridge loops needed to be of calf skin. Why? I really don't know. I have had good results with both veggie tan and calf skin, . . . and since my personal supply of calf has dried up, . . . I am doing all of them in veggie tan now days. I do not sew mine in place, . . . I use only the "in and out" in the same hole process, . . . and really have never had an issue with it. May God bless, 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