Dwight

What I usually do is lay out the piece I perceive as the "top", . . . and cut it. Then I look at it real good to make sure I want to keep it as the top. Then I just turn it over, . . . and use it as the pattern for the back. Punch, gouge, rivet, . . . whatever, . . . and contact cement em together. They are a bit stiff at first, . . . but you get 3-5 pounds of iron and ammo hanging off a cowboy who is sweating pretty good, . . . it'll warm up, . . . loosen up, . . . and feels good. May God bless, Dwight

Here in the states, we call that "blowing smoke". That is they way they have developed "their" products over the years, . . . and don't want to change for your product. There are some in the US who use for example 346 on top and 277 on the bottom. Mostly (I think) the justification falls in that they don't risk running out of thread in the bobbin as often, . . . as the bobbin can hold a lot more 277 than 346. Some also just like the effect, . . . I don't like it for my stuff, . . . I use 346 or 400 top and bottom, . . . Good luck, . . . may God bless, Dwight

I couldn't see your mentioned flaws, . . . so it looks good from here. As a personal note, . . . you said you nicked the belt trimming the liner, . . . you won't do that if you trim the whole thing on a sander. I use a little $50 belt sander I bought (have 2 of them now) from Harbor Freight, . . . my sanding and trimming for one belt that used to take an hour, . . . now takes 3 or 4 minutes, . . . much better job also. I have also used a little $3 cheapie 2 inch round sander that goes in a drill. I mounted it it a drill press, . . . made a little wooden rip fence for it so it couldn't dig in real deep on my belts, . . . that actually works very well also. May God bless, Dwight

OK, Grizz, . . . what is the brand name of the green, . . . and the white? I've never really gotten into knives & such, . . . but I do have one project coming up where I will need to polish and sharpen one up real nice, . . . this (if I read everyone correct) just may be the ticket for that job. Appreciate the help, may God bless, 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