Dwight

The three things I find the best are: 1) For first patterns, . . . new patterns, . . . patterns that may not be used very many times, . . . good old manila folders. Manila folders, a pencil, masking tape, and a razor knife simply ARE my pattern making kit. 2) For a pattern that I anticipate using many times, . . . OR, . . . I am thoroughly pleased and happy with THIS pattern, . . . I'll transfer it from manila folder to the bag stiffener material sold by Tandy's. It surpasses cardboard like a Lamborghini passing a VW bug, . . . yet is not adversely expensive, . . . and is as easily worked as cardboard, . . . but will hold up many times the life of the cardboard I have gotten in the past. 3) For a pattern that has to have the "feel" so to speak of leather, . . . or the "body", . . . I keep cloth backed vinyl on hand. For instance, my chaps pattern is made of this material, . . . so I can "see" how they will hang, what needs to be adjusted, which way, etc. That doesn't work as well for me with paper or cardboard. I get the vinyl at JoAnns by watching the paper and using their 40 or 50% off cupon. For $8 I get a piece that is 36 by 45, . . . and you can cut several patterns usually out of a piece that big. May God bless, Dwight

I've never used it, . . . what little painting I do, . . . it's with EcoFlo, . . . and not much of that. I think I might be tempted, . . . at least I would try it, . . . first dye the whole thing to the color of red you want, . . . then go back like Cyberthrasher was saying, . . . with a sock or towel, . . . blacks cover stuff up pretty good (you don't need to ask me how I know that, either), . . . but again the Achille's heel is in the white. That would just be "Tedium Infinitim" for me, . . . the white painting. May God bless, Dwight

Just seeing that old belt was worth getting up today, . . . sometimes you hold something like that, . . . and just wish it could talk, . . . knowing the stories it could tell would make your day. Thanks for sharing. May God bless, Dwight

From what I could make out of it, . . . I would make it from 8 or 9 oz vegetable tanned leather, . . . it looks to be about 1 to 1 1/4 inch wide. You can go to a Tandy leather shop and get a 2 inch belt blank or a 3 inch strap blank used for saddle work. That piece can then be split into the proper size blank you need, . . . and you won't have to buy a full side or double shoulder. Stay away from the latigo leather, . . . if you want to paint it the same colors. If I were making you one like it, . . . I would first impress the letters very heavily using an arbor press, . . . and tool in the logo. I would then dye the whole thing black using Feibings pro oil black dye and thinner about a 2 thinner / 1 dye ratio. Next I would paint the red letters with Tandy Eco flo paint, . . . then come back with their same paint in white for the outline work. If you have never done that, . . . it is TEDIOUS and nerve wracking, . . . to say the least. I would then finish the strap with an old fashioned finish, . . . beeswax and neatsfoot oil. It would take at least 4 applications, . . . and can be a pain to get it right, . . . but with some elbow grease, . . . it would look every bit as good as the one you have, . . . it is darn near waterproof, . . . and if it gets a bit scuffed up, . . . you have the finish right there, . . . it's kinda like polishing your shoes, . . . just a whole bunch harder. May God bless, Dwight

I love the tennis ball idea, . . . but never tried it. A piece of old carpet WILL deaden the noise, . . . flip it upside down and it will be easier on the finish on your desk. May God bless, Dwight

I have had real good luck with some of my home made punches, tools, etc. You can easily make one just for that job, . . . or similar ones. I start with a piece of galvanized EMT tubing (electrometallic tubing, . . . or conduit as it is called in the electrical trade), . . . comes in 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 2 inch. I sharpen the outside of it by holding it up against a disc sander, . . . then cut, bend, form, . . . whatever necessary to get the shape I need. They sharpen fairly easily with a file & sandpaper, . . . putting a piece of scrap leather under the piece I'm punching helps safeguard the cutting edge, . . . and while you may not be able to make it a "perfect" shape, . . . at least it will always be the same imperfection, . . . and you can "fix" it from there. I use a piece of steel, . . . a pair of pliers, . . . end of an anvil, . . . first one thing then another to get the shape the way I want it. One of my favorite successes is in the upper left corner, . . . it makes an oval, but doesn't cut it completely out. I make two parallel cuts from the opening of the oval, . . . about 6 inches long, . . . it puts a tail on the oval, . . . makes a gorgeous hammer thong for Western holsters. Another one in there is only 1/4 of a circle, . . . makes the slickest rounded corners around (no pun intended), . . . and in the total, . . . I've probably got a $2 cash investment. May God bless, Dwight

Just holler if you need a more detailed diagram. May God bless, Dwight

This can be made out of a couple of 2 x 4's a couple bolts, and if you have any kind of shop at all, . . . about a half hour of work. Basically, . . . the brown leather is placed on the mat, . . . the red imprint is made by pushing down on the handle. It wouldn't take too long to figure out about how much pressure, . . . and once you get that "touch", . . . they should all be pretty much uniform. Approximate cost: $5 May God bless, Dwight

Manny, . . . what are you going to do with the strap? What size is the strap, . . . long vs wide? That can make a difference. May God bless, Dwight

Actually in one of John Bianchi's videos, . . . he put the whole holster and belt down in a heated oil bath, . . . pulled it out, . . . let it dry. I've always been under the assumption that the oil is often bleached out of the leather by the molding and dying processes, . . . so I add some to most of my stuff to keep it from drying out, cracking, and prematurely ending it's useful life. So far it has worked for me, . . . one light coat with a paint brush, . . . go over it once, . . . get away from it, . . . let it dry, . . . add the finish. Others do it differently. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Benlilly, . . . I went through a bunch of electronic devices before I settled on the Ipad mini, . . . and I actually wish it was just a bit smaller. I'd love to put it in my suit coat, sport coat, or shirt pocket. The shoulder holster was just my way of compensating, . . . I totally detest carrying things in my hands, . . . mostly because I lay them down and leave them. This allows me to carry it under a vest, jacket, whatever, . . . handy to get to, . . . but not in my hands. I also used 9 oz drum dyed leather, . . . I think it could take a 6 foot fall to the concrete and not hurt it. May God bless, Dwight

Yessir, . . . good looking work. May God bless, Dwight

John Bianchi did a couple of videos on VHS, . . . and I suppose by now they are on DVD, . . . and what he shows you is really, really worth while if you want to make a Western rig or two. I make all of mine according to those instructions, . . . double layer belts, . . . double layer holsters, . . . the only thing different I do, . . . I use a laced cartridge belt instead of a sewn one. So far, . . . no complaints from any of my customers. May God bless, Dwight

Eric, Shoot me an email at ciminod@midohio.net, . . . I'll send you some info. It is the basic "how to" that I hand out to my students when I teach the holster making class at Tandy's. I would do it here, . . . but it is rather large, . . . don't want to tie up the facilities, so to speak. May God bless, Dwight

One of the easiest patterns: a flat backed pancake. You basically make the back, . . . glue & stitch the leading edges together, . . . mold the gun, . . . let it dry, . . . glue and stitch the trailing edges. Instead of slots for a belt, . . . you put loops on that attach to your belt. I know, . . . that is the cliff notes version, . . . if you are interested, . . . I can send you some better info. May God bless, Dwight

You will find that a 20 ton press is FAR more than enough to press holsters, . . . I did it for years with one made out of 2 x 4's and used a small 6 ton bottle press, . . . it gave me way more pressing ability than I could ever use. The bottom and top plates can be made out of 3/4 inch plywood, . . . a double layer, . . . screwed & glued wil be quite sufficient. The reason that the latex rubber is used, . . . it does not mar the surface. ANY foam that is not perfectly flat, . . . no bubbles, . . . WILL mark the leather. I gave up using a press a couple of years back, . . . I get much better results with a vacuum bag, . . . less space taken up, . . . and I never have to worry about the possibility of messing up a gun when I use the vac bag, . . . Make one extra, too many pumps on the press, . . . break a gun or somehow mess it up, . . . and a $50 holster profit just became a $1000 business liability, . . . to say nothing of the bad press he'll give you. May God bless, Dwight Take a look here: http://leatherworker..."holster press"

One is for a S&W K22, . . . the other is a shoulder holster for my I-Pad Mini, . . . I hate to carry things in my hands

There is probably a plastic "seller" or "distributor" somewhere close to you. What you are looking for is a high density polyethylene, . . . it is what you get when you buy a white or light grey cutting board. I paid $40 US for a 3 foot by 4 foot piece that is 1/4 inch thick, . . . have used it for about 6 years now, . . . it doubles as my desk top. I'm planning on moving my shop to a different location, . . . and I'll just turn this piece over, . . . get a few more years out of it. What is really nice about it, . . . the leather does not slip, . . . the plastic is "self healing" sort of where it is cut, . . . and it wipes clean with Windex. Rubber will dull the tip of your cutting instrument very quickly, . . . also will drag against your cutting tool also, . . . I'd shun it like the plague. May God bless, Dwight

Just in case you missed electrathon's post, . . . dye the whole belt black. Carefully paint in the red letters. One caution with USMC black, . . . make sure you BUFF that belt from end to end, . . . edges, . . . both sides, . . . then do it again. USMC black is a good dye, but it leaves a ton of unused pigment on the surface of you item, . . . it has to be buffed off. Go to the tandy store, . . . get some Eco Flo red, . . . be sure to put whatever top coat you are using on the belt, . . . then paint in the red. You should be good to go. May God bless, Dwight

I cannot tell you where I saw it, . . . but it was just so "right" that I cabbaged it onto my website. Look at the belt page, . . . it will tell you how to measure for a belt, . . . and "almost" never go wrong. The one time it did not work out right, . . . was a western style gun belt for a rather plus size customer. In the time it took to make his belt & holster, . . . he had gained 3 inches of girth, . . . and complained that it didn't fit Fortunately, . . . I was able to remake the tongue, . . . and got away with that one. May God bless, Dwight

She certainly has my vote, . . . and I think the word is "creative", . . . that is something that cannot be taught, . . . cannot be learned, . . . but can be squashed by those who don't understand it. ENCOURAGE her to go on with it, . . . she'll need to refine it a bit, . . . but that is really neat. Oh, . . . and by the way, . . . if that was MY daughter's first one, . . . the devil would be handing out ice cream cones in 27 flavors before I would give it away. Her friend's dad could get the 2nd one, . . . but NEVER that first one. May God bless, Dwight

In a one word answer, No, , , . if you want to form and tool, . . . you have to form first. After tooling, leather should virtually never become wet again, . . . the tooling will suffer in varying degrees, . . . mainly attributed to the degree it gets wet. I have had "some" success, . . . limited at best, . . . by only seriously "dampening" the inside of the leather I wanted to form after tooling, . . . and it kinda, sorta, almost maybe worked out. I ONLY do it when I have a customer who is adamant that he/she wants a tooled & formed piece. Good luck. May God bless, Dwight

You're certainly welcome, Tassie, . . . but I can't take full credit. I learned how to do that watching a video of John Bianchi's on how to make Western style holsters. Just out of curiosity, . . . are you near the Gold Coast, . . . south of Brisbane? I had the privilege of spending the better part of a week there one time, . . . and it was great. May God bless, Dwight

Some time back, I picked up my alter ego, the "Centurion of Capernaum", and had to create my own armor for that. I used the three different styles I've pictured to get an idea of where I wanted to go. The black one and the tan one are both made up of strips of leather, . . . they are laced together up front and in the back, . . . and use tabs that are secured by the rivets you see next to the lacing taches on the front. The tabs are separate pieces of very supple (like suede) leather, . . . Those styles are very, very, comfortable, . . . easy to move within (I guess that's why the Romans love it so well). As you can see I chose the red roman style, . . . the one pictured is made of very thin, supple leather, . . . mine is made of about 14 oz leather, . . . treated with resolene finish, . . . heat/water molded, . . . and is really stiff. Have fun, . . . don't get in too much of a hurry, . . . To add to what immiketoo said, . . . if you go to a Tandy shop, . . . they sell a product called bag stiffener, . . . it's kinda like cardboard, . . . but much, . . . so much better for making the type pattern you will need. It can be riveted, buckles put on it, you can REALLY see what this piece of leather will turn out to be like pretty much if you use that product. I would also just caution you a little on the second choice (the dummy, not the lady), . . . THAT piece will be pretty stiff and unforgiving if you do not make it spot on for fit, . . . and if you gain or lose any appreciable amount of weight, . . . I would bet it would be troublesome to you. But this is not a perfect world, . . . and we are here to have fun, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Sorry, Tassie, unless you have a patch machine or something of that nature, . . . you pretty much have to do it by hand. I make double layer "cowboy" belts that also gets a keeper sewn into the buckle end of the belt, on the back side. The way I do it is I put my keeper in between the layers, on the bottom of the belt, with the outside of the belt facing up. I remove the thread from my needle, . . . and use the machine to make about 5 holes before the keeper, . . . all the holes for the keeper, . . . and 2 or 3 after the keeper. I pull the belt out of the machine, remove the keeper, put the thread in, pull out an extra 10 inches of bobbin and spool thread, then begin my sewing process. I sew starting at the last hole I made by the keeper, . . . around the buckle end, . . . and this time when I come to the keeper on the top side of the belt, . . . I sew it in place (I have also previously added contact cement so it is ready when I put it together). Then I continue sewing the belt all the way around to the keeper on the other side, . . . then stop within about 2 holes of the keeper, . . . pull out 10 inches of bobbin thread and spool thread, . . . cut the threads, . . . remove the belt, . . . and hand sew the 6 or 8 stitches it take to put it into place. Review what I said: there is an extra 10 inches of thread before and after the keeper, . . . I hand sew the keeper on the bottom both ways, . . . making a double stitch at the keeper. This not only camoflages my overlap, . . . but gives me a secure place to lock the stitches, . . . Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight