Dwight

This is my version of a pattern I use. Full size, . . . for my boots, . . . this needs to be printed on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. It will then be full size, . . . no needing to tweek it. You will have to cut this out, . . . and play with it to see if the off side strap is long enough for your boots. I do have one pair of Red Wings that this pattern will not fit. May God bless, Dwight

JWP, . . . for your pictures, . . . resize them to something like 800 x 600, . . . save them as a jpg not a jpeg. That should work. May God bless, Dwight

I needed that rounding effect on my holsters and belts, . . . so necessity being the mother of invention, . . . I "fixed" my edger. First, . . . it is a #4 edger, purchased at Tandy's. Second, . . . I took a piece of (I think 3/16ths) round wooden dowel and impregnated it with valve grinding compound. Using very small nails only at each end, . . . I nailed it to a larger piece of 1 x 4. Third, . . . I pulled that edger across that dowel a couple hundred times (seemed like it any way). It rounded the underside of my edger. Fourth, . . . I made a board with a piece of leather and "edged" it with my newly reformed edger. The leather sticks up between two pieces of wood about 3/16ths of an inch, . . . and is heavily impregnated with jeweler's rouge. Fifth, . . . I use that board & leather to resharpen my "rounded" edger. Anyway, . . . that's how I did it. May God bless, Dwight

Looks good from here, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Seadog, . . . I have two machines, . . . and seem to have some of your same problems. One machine (Tippmann Boss) is hand operated, . . . so it can never speed away from me, . . . but it simply will not do some of the intricate, thin leather things I would sometimes like to mess with. Others may be different, . . . but mine just doesn't like thin leather work. OTOH, . . . my little Singer electric (have no idea of model number) will sew the thin stuff, . . . but you need to be awful careful with the foot switch. Just one sneeze or cough at the wrong time, . . . you've got a stitch line right down the middle of your project. I have been fully tempted though, . . . to try out the walking foot machine they have at Harbor Freight. It was in the $750 range last time I looked, . . . and the manager of my local store told me he'd order it, . . . I could take it home, . . . use it for up to 30 days, . . . if I couldn't get it to do what I wanted, . . . he would take it back. I would be very much interested if any of our associates have used the Harbor Freight machine, . . . and how it worked out for them. May God bless, Dwight

That looks like one of those "winter projects" for when one just has to do a little welding, cutting, woodworking, . . . just to keep in touch. May God bless, Dwight

The vinyl is to use to make the bag. Fold it in half like the drawing, . . . after you have a 2 inch wide path of weldwood contact cement down each long side. Their vinly I think was 45 inches wide, . . . I bought a 2/3 of a yard piece (24 inches wide) when the bag was folded and made, . . . it was basically a 23 by 24 bag. The $15 was for the bag valve, . . . I cannot tell you the number of times I've used mine, . . . no problems so far. Forgot to tell you there is one problem, . . . getting the pump adapted to the hose for the bag can be a headache. I needed mine to turn 90 degrees off the pump and be able to come apart readily, . . . the brass fittings cost me more than the bag did. Anyway, . . . make your bag, . . . have fun. May God bless, Dwight

Sounds like a good one to me, . . . my press, the ram comes out the front with 4 screws, . . . would be neat to have the flat foot on one end, . . . drill chuck on the other. Drill one end, . . . tap it for the threaded stud to hold your chuck, . . . you're good to go. May God bless, Dwight

Another thing you can do, . . . I've only done it once, . . . boil parafin wax, . . . dunk it in the boiling parafin, . . . leave it for just a few seconds, you don't want to cook it, . . . shake all the loose drops off it when you pull it out, . . . hang it up on a string to cool and harden, . . . leave it for at least several hours so it colls through and through, . . . UGH, is it hard. I was told that some ancients used this technique to mold their leather "sunday go to meeting" personal, fancy, armor. Got it all cut, trimmed and ready, . . . dunked it in liquid beeswax, . . . actually laid it on the "owner" and formed it to his body. Not something I would like to do, . . . but the one item I did was seriously hard being parafin infused as it was. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Shooter, . . . if you look on my website, . . . the holster in the upper left hand corner of the sample work page, . . . that IS my carry holster. I have others, . . . but this is the 95% most likely one. When I make these, . . . during the dye process, . . . I use a small pine board to simulate the 1 1/2 inch belt most folk will use, . . . while the leather is moist with the dye, . . . I fold, bend, and mold those straps to the general shape they will be when the item is done. Mind you, . . . the female part of the snap is not on the strap, . . . that is the last thing I do, . . . so they "spring" back some after molding. After the dye is dry, . . . generally a good 24 hours later, . . . I apply the resolene 50/50 mixture, . . . and I like the end product. The single downfall to Resolene, . . . it does like to wrinkle, . . . but as the kids say, . . . "ain't to biggee" ! Hope this helps, . . . whereabouts in Buckeye land are you? I'm within 10 miles of Marion. May God bless, Dwight

I do it on a custom basis (what few I do), . . . take a searmstress tape measure, . . . put it in the belt loops, . . . measure and note where they should be, . . . put them there. And the one pair of jeans that she has, . . . will probably be different from some of the others, . . . and if she wears guy's jeans, . . . that is different too. Good luck. May God bless, Dwight

Weldwood contact cement from the hardware or lumber store. Much better product (IMHO). I like the gel, especially for belts, . . . I get a uniform application with it, . . . sometimes get puddles with the liquid. May God bless, Dwight

Tim, . . . most spring clips will open up and not be as tight, . . . but in just about every case I've ever seen, . . . it was because the owner/wearer pulled too hard on the opening end. The will not tolerate constant abuse. But if you do get one that is pulled out too far, . . . put the closed end in a small "C" clamp, . . . tighten down slowly, . . . check it often, . . . and you can usually pull them back into their proper "springyness". There are also Kydex clips available, . . . but I don't know where. I'm not a "plastic fantastic" lover, . . . so I don't use it, . . . but if you contact the suppliers who advertise on here, . . . I'd imagine at least one or two of them have the Kydex clips. There are too many guys using them out there for all to be making their own and they look so much alike. May God bless, Dwight

Kevin, . . . I used to work in a factory, . . . and we were all the time making "jigs" to do a specific / certain problem. This is a perfect candidate for that type work. The one I would envision is like this little drawing, . . . two retangular guides to position the belt, . . . a block above it made from small pieces, . . . with square holes for the stamps. Don't make it out of aluminum, . . . it will over time begin to leave a greyish color on some of the leather it touches. Use steel, . . . paint it with a good spray paint, . . . and you should be good to go. You can tack weld the pieces together or solder them, . . . since there is no real stress on them, . . . either should work. May God bless, Dwight

Tandy Leather Factory, . . . if you are using only one clip use their number 1239, . . . if you are using two (one on each side) use their number 1240. Those are the ones I use. May God bless, Dwight

To keep them lined up, . . . put a gear driven clamp around them, . . . put the clamp on the end of a stick, . . . pull down on the arbor press, . . . done !!! May God bless, Dwight

I did a similar one for a full size 1911, . . . they are a challenge. Good job on the SP, . . . I like it. May God bless, Dwight

To me, . . . the easy way would to buy both a black one and a blue one. You will get THE perfect thread that way. Take the blue one with the black thread, . . . sell it on Ebay, . . . chalk up the difference as the price of having the "blues" in your car May God bless, Dwight

The way I would make that item is to mold it in one piece, . . . no seam at the corner. You need to make a wooden form to do that, . . . and the first few seem hard, . . . but you should quickly catch on. Basically the male form half is the exact shape and size of the INSIDE of the piece, . . . included rounded and shaped corners. The female form half is the exact shape and size of the OUTSIDE of the piece. Be sure to sand this piece carefully so there are no burrs or ridges to leave marks on your leather. Putting the two together in your hand, . . . you should see the differenct between them as just a little over the thickness of the leather you want to use. I usually make mine out of southern yellow pine, . . . just one 8 foot 2 x 8 lasts me a long time making these forms. The most important tool you need is a good router and router blades, . . . PM me if you have any trouble figuring it out. You will really be impressed when you take your first one out. Just soak your leather really good and wet, . . . make sure to cut it plenty big, . . . lay it over the male piece, . . . squeeze the female piece down on it, . . . clamp it for an hour or two, . . . gently separate them, . . . hang it up to dry, . . . you'll love it. May God bless, Dwight

I have a friend whose two Boston Bull terriers would go out in the yard with their commercially made nylon collars on, . . . the ones that carry the little plastic shock boxes. These had both a buckle and a keeper under which the tongue end was kept. Usually it took them all of a few minutes to have both of them off, . . . and be running the range free of the shock boxes, . . . and seeming to enjoy it. One would bite at the loop on the other ones until they magically pulled the right way, . . and the collar & shock box hit the ground. I made him two leather collars, . . . stained with pro oil stain, . . . finished with Resolene (50/50 mix) and last time I saw them all, . . . they had not taken those collars off. Those are my only experience, . . . but they worked well. May God bless, Dwight

Sent pm, . . . but answer is ciminodw@gmail.com Thanks again, may God bless, Dwight

Not me, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I dip dye, . . . 9 x 14 x 2 cake pan, . . . one for browns, . . . one for black ONLY. I have very few customers who want stitching different from the belt. I make sure they know that if they get white stitching, . . . it WILL get dirty and won't look as good. When they insist, . . . dying and stitching get reversed in the order. May God bless, Dwight

Sorry guys, . . . should have explained. When I dye the belt, . . . all that is left to do is finish it and deliver it. I found out early on that sometimes the inner liner would like to buckle a bit if I tried to curve it after it fully dried. While it is still wet with dye, . . . wearing latex gloves, . . . and being very methodical and careful, . . . I bend the belt between my hands. That makes something like a 8 inch or so diameter curve in it, . . . end to end, . . . as I bend it, . . . then allow it to staighten out a bit. Laid out flat on a table covered by newspaper, . . . when it is done, . . . it will generally lay in a big circle with the ends even or maybe overlapping a bit. I always lay my belts down on their bottom edge on newspaper for the first hour or so after dyeing them. I'm going to someday make a "curver" to do this with less wear and tear on 68 year old hands, . . . but for now it makes the belts a better product, . . . less wrinkles in the liner, . . . and yes, . . . it also works for dog collars. Had to make a couple last year, . . . worked great. May God bless, Dwight