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

That's several layers above my skill level, . . . really a work of art. May God bless, Dwight

Generally, . . . form it and quit. Open the bag, . . . ease out the mold, . . . hang up to dry. Sometimes (today was one) I had to leave it in for about 60 seconds straight, . . . as the holster is made of multiple layers of leather (not the one in the pics). It usually forms up on about 10 to 15 seconds, . . . My buddy uses this same process for wood forming, . . . has a vac guage/switch/thingamabob that turns his pump on and off, . . . and i thought of getting one, . . . just so far, . . . haven't needed much more than a really good full 1 minute. May God bless, Dwight

I've been asked a few times how I do the vac forming. Here is the process: pretty simple one too. Harbor freight vac pump. 2/3 of a yard of .015 thick clear vinyl, from JoAnn fabric: (it's about 45 inches long) contact cement a 2 inch strip down each long edge, . . . when you fold it over in the center, . . . the cement makes it turn into about a 24 by 24 bag, . . . plenty big enough for holsters. Bag fitting from http://www.veneersup...m-Assembly.html 2 feet of rubber hose couple pieces of pvc or two slats and a clamp to hold the bag closed Put it all together, . . . have fun. May God bless, Dwight

Look up some posts by Lobo, . . . then refine your search to oiling, . . . He's the man to answer that for you, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Another thing you might try, . . . sleeve it with "ideally" a piece of thin sheet metal and some radiator clamps. My wife had a project that needed covered, . . . and it was not until I sleeved it in the thin aluminum that I was able to get mine done, . . . which was lacing it from top to bottom. If thin sheet metal is unavailable to you, . . . perhaps plastic or even cardboard, . . . just be sure to wrap it so that seam on the sleeve is on the opposite side of the cylinder than the leather seam, . . . and be sure to follow River City's idea, . . . otherwise the inside edges will not allow it to come together. May God bless, Dwight

The only difference between cyberthrasher's method and mine, . . . I use a 50 cent bristle hair brush, . . . but I get pretty much the same results. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene is a "final" finish, . . . as in "last thing done". It is not fully "water proof" but it sashays right up close to it. You can (and I do sometimes) apply wax to a product that has been Resolene finished, . . . but it is the same as putting wax on my Ford pickup truck. It makes it shine a bit, . . . but that is all. If you have to oil it, . . . do it before your apply the Resolene, . . . and remember to add oil very sparingly. Leather does not naturally have a lot of oil in it, . . . and like the old saying used to go "a little dab will do ya". May God bless, Dwight

Unless you "really" got heavy on the wax, . . . black should work anyway, . . . at least that has been my experience. If you have light areas, . . . a light sanding with fine sandpaper stapled to a board is what I would use, . . . I have to admit, when I saw the title, I had to come over here and take a look, . . . I had visions of this great big hunk cut out of a full side of leather. Good job, . . . although I personally see no practicality to it, . . . but so much of the leather trade is just that, . . . things people want, . . . not necessary to their lives, . . . but "feel good" items. May God bless, Dwight

We (maybe I should say "I" ) eat a lot of peanut butter at my house. I keep every one of those MT peanut butter jars. Two of them are in my leather finishing area, . . . both marked with lines on the outside by black permanent markers. The lines tell me how full or not full it is, . . . and when it I need to add more to it, . . . they help me make sure I don't significantly change the ratio. One is for black projects being finished in Resolene, . . . the other is for tan or brown projects. I found (the hard way) that black dye will leach off into the resolene as you use your applicator, . . . so I keep them separate. I've used it that way for at least the last 5 years, . . . none has ever "gone bad" that I know of. May God bless, Dwight

Go onto the Tippmann website, . . . leave an email there with the picture, . . . tell them you need Ben to look at it. The guy is a wizard with these machines. I've personally taken mine to him twice, . . . in and out in an hour both times, . . . once at $0.00, . . . May God bless, Dwight

While I have never made collars for humans, . . . I could probably think of some who need them, . . . But I do make dog collars: I line them with veggie tan leather, . . . hair side out, . . . contact cemented together, . . . stitched along the edges. Edges are easy, . . . first, get a strap cutter, . . . cut both pieces (outer and liner) with the same strap cutter, . . . at the same time. Do whatever is needed for the ends, . . . buckles, rings, punchings, etc, . . . contact cement the flesh sides of both, . . . when it dries, . . . stick em together. If you are very careful at putting them together, . . . only a small touch up will be needed on a flat sander, . . . edges will be super. If your products are not expected to get a lot of abuse, . . . or a lot of sweat, . . . you may be able to get away with cement only, . . . or glue only. If they are going to be "used" you'll want to stitch them. Hope this helps, may God bless, Dwight

I use a 50/50 by weight: virgin beeswax and neatsfoot oil for some of the rigs I make, . . . especially if the owner enjoys "period correct" stuff. That (at least I was told so many moons ago) is an ooooold recipe for a leather finish / conditioner, . . . and whether my info is correct as to age or not, . . . I do know it is a wonderful product. If you fudge just a bit on the oil, . . . a bit too much, . . . it can have a consistency similar to wax shoe polish, . . . and works in really nice. Give it a while to set up a bit, . . . hand polish, . . . works great. I do mine in a glass jar warmed in a thrift store crock pot. Try it, . . . you might like it. May God bless, Dwight

Well, Penny, . . . I'm just a lazy old coot, . . . and while there are a bunch of ways of doing belts, . . . the main ones I do are 2 layer, . . . usually run around .220 thick when they're finished, . . . and they are built so an old geezer like me can put a full size 1911, . . . 2 magazines, . . . key chain, . . . cell phone, . . . on it and it not sag. I cut my blanks, . . . do both ends, . . . cement them together, . . . dress the edges, . . . punch the holes in the tongue end, . . . and run em through the dye pan. I use a 9 x 14 cake pan, . . . pour about a half quart in there, . . . run it through like a snake, . . . about 3 to 5 seconds is all it gets. I also cut my Feibings oil dye about 20%, . . . it seems to penetrate better that way. Let it dry 24 hours, . . . don't mess with it, . . . leave it alone, . . . Get an old wash cloth you never want to wash your face with again, . . . and start polishing on that belt, . . . laying flat on a counter, . . . use some elbow grease, . . . rub it hard. When the pigment is not coming off any more (use a white paper towel to check), . . . quit rubbing. I then come back and burnish the edges, . . . and apply the final coat, . . . finish coat, . . . 50% Resolene, . . . 50% water. That belt will not bleed color, . . . will stay color fast for as long as it is a belt. If you buy your dye by the quarts, . . . and cut it a bit like I do, . . . it is not "that" expensive. Though I have never guaged it specifically, . . . I'd say I'd get probably 20 belts out of a quart. May God bless, Dwight

My process either uses a known and proven pattern where the pieces are cut, glued, edged, and sewn before any molding, . . . OR, . . . the pieces are cut a bit big, . . . part of it is cemented (maybe sewn, it depends) and then the holster is molded to the gun. The second process is by far the most common that I do. After molding, . . . it has to dry, . . . and for me that is 24 hours, . . . no short cuts there. I then re-insert the gun, . . . close up the holster with one hand, . . . and mark the edges for cutting. After cutting them, . . . I contact cement the edges together and then comes the dressing process. It starts with a 1 inch wide belt sander, . . . which makes all the leather layers even with the others. That also gives the outside edge it's final "shape" of the silhouette of the holster. After sanding, I edge the whole thing, . . . inside, . . . outside, . . . left, . . . right, . . . top, . . . bottom. Take your time here !!!! Get it right. Sometimes this is where I do a first burnishing of the edges, . . . dremel tool and water only, . . . then when I start with my stitch gouger, . . . it slides along the edge very easliy and I don't have to tug on it. After sewing, . . . dying, . . . and drying, . . . I'll sometimes come back for a second burnish before the finish, . . . other times after the finish, . . . depends on the finish product I am using, . . . Very seriously, . . . not dressing up, cleaning up, burnishing, and making the edges look good, . . . to me looks like a brand new car that just came off the line with no chrome, no trim, and a flat paint job. May God bless, Dwight

Brian, . . . one thing which will help you out immenseley, . . . glue your pieces together before you try to sew them. You can use Weldwood contact cement (my preferred product), Tandy's contact cement, Elmer's wood glue, or a host of other products: just figure out which one you want to use. You can then dress your edges, . . . which gives you a good starting point for your stitch gouge to roll against, . . . and will make your product look SOOOOO much better. Once you have done that, . . . Electrathon has a good idea, . . . personally I hate hand sewing, . . . use a machine any time I can, . . . but when forced to do so, . . . I do my stitch gouge line, . . . run my stitch wheel, . . . get out the awl, . . . whet her up real sharp (my awl is a pointy headed little blonde female awl), . . . and go at it. Now, . . . if you are real persnickity about how it looks, . . . put a plastic cutting board under your project, . . . that will let the awl just peek through the bottom layer. You can then run the awl back through the other way, . . . and the back side will look "very pretty" also. I only do that on projects that have to be "so so" and it is not that often. But that is one way to do it. Good luck, . . . and remember, . . . practice makes perfect. You have completed a project, . . . that means you have scrap laying around. Sew that scrap together, . . . giving you practice. May God bless, Dwight

Jake, . . . go to www.my1stop.com, . . . 800-691-7867, . . . Rita Schroeder was my initial contact person. Let me know if you are interested in getting some of them, . . . I'm going to put them in smaller quantities and sell some of them off on Ebay, . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you do the youtube thing, . . . you'll see at least two different rigs. I know in one (with Kirk Douglas) he wears a simple buscadero black rig with about a 4 inch drop on the holster. It also had what looked like a box of bullets on the belt, . . . and an off center clipped buckle. If you're planning on making one, . . . should be fairly simple. I don't recall any of his movies where the rig was outlandish, . . . but then I'm not an expert on that issue. May God bless, Dwight

No problem, Particle, . . . the first image is the "whole thing" as it comes off the printer. As I said, . . . only have to enter the info in one place, . . . it is situated to automatically populate the other places. I drew lines around the label area so you could ID it in this image. The second image is the label peeled & stuck on the box. The third image is the packing list severed from the original, . . . ready to be inserted. This is my "2013 easy paper flow" solution. The form was the only hiccup, . . . I wanted a 4 x 4 label, . . . in a corner, . . . and the only reasonable buy for these was by 1000, . . . but I'll be set for a while in the "form" department. May God bless, Dwight

I have also done a number of shows. If you are a veteran, . . . have something displaying that you are. Make sure your customers know that they are buying YOUR American Made product. Know what you can make well, . . . make that and take it. I know you may get all kinds of answers for what to make, . . . what not to make, . . . we did a survey of over 1500 people some time back, . . . all told there was something near 1800 weapons mentioned. Of the first 200: this is a quick run down we saw in the survey, . . . it doesn't add up to 200 because I didn't list every one, . . . just the most prolific. 1911's of all flavors = 70 Snub nose .38 / .357 either 5 or 6 shot = 31 Glocks of all flavors = 28 Keltecs = 15 Beretta 92 = 10 Sigs = 15 HK = 12 Surprizingly there was one Ruger Vaquero .45 and 2 Baby Eagles and 16 other makes/models were mentioned, some multiple times. My most prolific models mirror this list, mostly, . . . being 1911's and the plastic wonder 9's. I also take an assortment of belts and mag carriers. That makes for the opportunity for a "package deal" of matching holster, belt, and mag carrier. I very seldom sell only a belt, . . . almost always it is "together". The belts I sell are plain Jane, double layer, 1 1/2, and my customers love them. EDITED: Also, . . . take a comfortable chair, . . . wear comfortable shoes, . . . and be prepared to be exhausted by the end of the day. I pack all my stuff in clear Walmart plastic boxes with locking lids, . . . go in with a 2 wheeled cart, . . . everything is priced / labeled / ready to sell as I pull it out. Get there early enough to get set up, . . . get a cup of coffee, . . . and be FULLY ready to sell at the opening bell. STAY until you see that it is only you and the other vendors, . . . bargain hunters like to hang around until the last minute, . . . and they usually have money burning holes in their pockets. May God bless, Dwight

For the most part, my shipping goes out in the USPS boxes "IF it fits, . . . it ships". A long time ago, I took a look at all the different parameters involved, . . . and for both me and my customer, . . . it is by far the cheapest. Part of that is that I build the shipping price into the product, . . . my customers all know that if they buy my product, . . . the price they see, . . . is the price they pay. I also have just instituted a new wrinkle in my paper flow, . . . when the order comes in, . . . it is entered into the computer once, . . . one sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 paper comes out of the printer. On that integrated form sheet is my production ticket, . . . packing list, . . . and mailing label. I only type in the name, address, and the order items, . . . Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access does the rest of the work for me. When my product is ready, . . . I cut the bottom of the paper, . . . pack the product, . . . peel the label and put it on the box, . . . insert the packing list, . . . mail it. Done. May God bless, Dwight

Bob, . . . it isn't that hard to do, . . . chest armor. The "hard" part is the mold. I made mine literally out of 2 x 8's wrapped in old towels and a Tee Shirt. I used the towels to build up the chest muscles, back muscles, etc, . . . while looking at the Tee Shirt to see that the "body" looked authentic. I happened into Tandy's the right day, . . . they had some 12/13 oz pre dyed stuff that was on a "clearance" table, . . . that is what I made mine out of. Soaked it in the bath tub of hot water (as hot as my hands could stand it), . . . molded it on my "body" mold, . . . laid it on a round roll of chicken wire hanging over a floor register to dry out. Once you get the front and back pieces made, . . . the rest is just ornamentation, . . . you can go Roman, Greek, Mythic, or whatever flavor you want. If you want to make really hard armor, . . . you submerge the leather in liquified parrafin or beeswax, . . . I've only done small pieces, . . . gets really hard, . . . Anyway, . . . go for it, . . . it's fun having your own "alter" ego. May God bless, Dwight

Thank you, . . . Imapeopleperson, . . . I just happen to be getting ready to begin a scabbard, . . . and this certainly looks as though it will help. May God bless, Dwight