Dwight

I made my own armor for my "Centurion of Capernaum" alter ego, . . . sandals, skirt, lined a steel helmet, made a shield, . . . if the Romans ever resurrect the 6th Legion of Megiddo, . . . I'll be ready Sounds like you are in with a bunch of fun people. I'm gonna dabble a bit in some blacksmithing (hopefully) beginning this spring, . . . can't find a hawk I like, . . . can't find a knife I like, . . . just figgered I'd up and make one. FWIW, . . . gimme a holler if you get stumped or whatever, . . . take a look at my website www.dwightsgunleather.com and you can see some of the stuff I do, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Tim, . . . most leather workers I deal with are pretty much "self" taught. By that, I mean that they have purchased a couple of say "Al Stohlman" books, maybe the Bianchi video series, or taken a couple of classes at a Tandy shop. They then take what they are shown and run with it. Leather work is far more akin to having a picture and a 20 pound bag of Lego blocks than it is a recipe for fudge and a kitchen to make it in. There simply are no "recipes" in leather works, . . . just more or less a compass pointing in a general direction, . . . you have to figure out how to get around whatever obstacles jump up. If you happen to be one of those people that believe there should be a school for every thing, a precise recipe, a perfect trip route, etc, . . . then basket weaving or snake handling will be better for you than leather work. I haven't the foggiest notion of what SCA stuff is, . . . hope it isn't contagious If you are going to do knife sheaths, belts, holsters etc, . . . the first thing you will need to learn to do is make patterns. If you can make a good pattern, . . . you can make a good product. If your patterns are less than optimal, . . . well, we both know where that will wind up. Start in holsters with a simple pancake, . . . go to gun shops and inspect them hanging in their plastic bags on the wall. Look at how that craftsperson put it together. Then go look at Al Stohlman's holster book, see how he showed making one similar. Knife sheaths are the same way. You can also get some good tips and ideas at flea markets and yard sales. Buy a holster or two that you might like, or a knife sheath, . . . take it home, . . . use a razor knife to cut the stitches, . . . tear it apart, . . . see how that other guy made it. Then in YOUR mind, . . . figure out the steps needed to make it. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE VARIATIONS, . . . DON'T make the fatal mistake many do starting out in leather work, . . . buying cheap leather scraps, . . . bargain hides, etc. Buy good leather, . . . and resign youself that you WILL throw away a couple hundred bucks worth of leather learning how to do this stuff. Tools? Start out buying ONLY what you need for THIS project. There are tons of "kits" out there, . . . most have tools that will never be used again, or couldn't be sold any other way. As you move up, . . . your tool inventory will increase, . . . you will know what you have, . . . you will know how it works, . . . and you will know how to use it. Finally, . . . don't be afraid to ask questions here, . . . most of these folks are of the Southern "good old boy" cut, and are more than willing to help out. May God bless, Dwight

If you are at all handy with tools, . . . a piece of steel 15 to 20 mm wide, and 1 to 2 mm thick could be bent into the exact size circle you want, . . . welded together, . . . and the edge sharpened to form a "cookie cutter" tool. I have taken galvanized electrical conduit and made several of these type punches, . . . though smaller than you need. They work great, are easily sharpened, and certainly did not cost a high price. May God bless, Dwight

My apologies, . . . started to do this a long time ago, . . . got busy eating cookies or something. Anyway, . . . here is "my" burnisher. The tool on the end of the shaft is the same as the one used for those cloth polishing wheels, . . . you just use a longer bolt. I actually bought mine in a truck stop, . . . they sold them over where the wheel & rim polish and wax was, . . . for them big sooper truckers and their Cragar chrome wheels. Find a 1 inch or 1 1/4 in dowel, . . . drill it down the middle, . . . same size as your bolt, . . . you want it snug. Fit the whole thing onto a 1/4 hp motor, . . . 1725 rpm, . . . put a switch on the motor, . . . bolt it to your work bench, . . . grab a hand full of round files and a couple of flat files, . . . go to work. Turn on the motor, . . . first thing to do is take a flat file and make the whole thing round. When you drilled the hole, . . . it was off center, . . . and the wood is wobbling, . . . NEEDS FILED DOWN SMOOTH. Next, . . .file grooves in it to match the curves of the edge of your belts. SAND EM SMOOTH, . . . uhhh, . . . in case I didn't say it before, . . . SAND EM SMOOTH, SLICK, USE STEEL WOOL TO GET IT "NICE" SMOOTH. Take a little beeswax, . . . scrap leather sewn together, edged & beveled, . . . practice & have fun. Now all the way out on the end away from the motor is one trick I didn't plan, . . . but it sure is slick. Notice the big washer on the end, . . . it allows you to lay something up against it, . . . and use the flat piece of wood there to really polish a flat surface. Somtimes I have to use a thick welt, . . . leaves a flat place in the edge of the holster, . . . this little shelf is perfect for polishing those flats. Run the back edge of the holster lightly up against the washer, . . . and burnish to your little heart's content. Total cost of this tool (excluding motor) is around 20 bucks, . . . and is IMHO well, wellllllll, worth it. FWIW, . . . I can burnish a 52 inch fat boy gun belt in all of about 10 minutes on that rig. Used to take me about 30 or 40 when I was only using my Dremel. May God bless, Dwight

One quick note, . . . if you have a piece of thick glass, . . . might want to use it. CC comes off of glass, . . . but some other smooth surfaces it just wants to "hang in there" on it. Otherwise, . . . super-duper idea. May God bless, Dwight

Every now and then, we accept a challenge, . . . and some become CHALLENGES, . . . this was one for me. I love the final product, . . . just thought I would share, . . . first crossdraw I've done in a while. May God bless, Dwight

This was not meant to be as high polish as the OP example, . . . just an example of one I finished on Saturday. It has only one coat of Resolene on it. I started to do 2 coats, . . . but one came out to suit me, . . . so I quit early. I hope my customer does not lose this either, . . . it was one of the toughest holsters I've ever done. May God bless, Dwight

For all my lined holsters, . . . sewing is a two part process: before forming, . . . and after forming. The mouth, toe, thumb release, frontal decorations, stiffeners, etc. all get sewed before forming. The holster is at that point flat, edged, burnished, and stitch gouged. Stitches are gouged as much as possible on both sides. The function for gouging is to allow the stitches to be level with or below the surface of the leather itself, . . . so they are not subject to as much abrasion as they would otherwise be. The holster is then wetted, formed, and hung out to dry. Once dry, . . . it is cemented together, . . . new edges are sanded, edged and burnished, then again gouged on both sides, . . . final stitching is done. That's my process, . . . YMMV. May God bless, Dwight

Using two needles makes for a "stronger" stitch, . . . in that if one side gets busted, . . . you can pull it out, . . . and the other thread will hold your product. Using the single needle, . . . making a machine type stitch, . . . is faster, at least for me, . . . but if the stitch breaks, . . . the whole thing "can" pull out. Personally, . . . I don't think it makes a tad to me, . . . I use a machine, . . . but even if I didn't, . . . I still put everything together with contact cement, . . . in many cases, . . . the stitches do more decorating than they do anything else. May God bless, Dwight

One of the easiest (and easiest to adjust if left a little loose) is this simple idea. Punch holes and add the tie pattern, . . . works great for purses, possiblity bags, belts, . . . whatever needs to be adjusted from time to time. May God bless, Dwight

There is a guy in England makes holsters that look very much like that one, . . . thin leather, . . . high polish, . . . lots of detail. He does both horsehide and veggie tan cowhide, . . . owners say they are super and super stiff. If I were going to try to emulate that, . . . I'd start with about 5/6 leather, . . . soak it in fairly warm water, . . . do the molding bit, . . . and then several light coats of Resolene, . . . cut 50/50 with water. Two tricks to that, . . . dry it in a 125 to 130 degree drier box if you have one or can build one, . . . and make sure it is DRY before you start the Resolene treatment. May God bless, Dwight

Edge, . . . if you have a Tandy store close by, . . . go buy one good 7/8 oz double shoulder of leather. Don't buy the lower grade, either, . . . buy a good one. You are looking for a double shoulder that doesn't have a bunch of scratches, scars, or bubbly wrinkles. Turn it over, look on the back, . . . if it has a bunch of stringy trash hanging down from it, . . . put it back and pick another one. The back should be flat and smooth and no boogers hanging down. You can make belts, fobs, holsters, purses, knife sheaths, slings, pouches, all sorts of stuff from it. Start out making yourself a single layer belt, . . . there are several stickies on this forum about how to do it, . . . or get Stohlman's book on belts. Buy just a couple of stamps, . . . and decorate it a bit, . . . don't get too fancy, . . . just something other than a hunk of old dead cow's hide, . . . flowers, horse head, leaves, whatever. You need a sharp knife, . . . a couple of different punches, . . . an edger, . . . one small bottle of saddle tan oil dye. Wear that belt, . . . wear it proudly, . . . YOU MADE IT !!! Then pick something else, . . . maybe make you wife, girl friend, or mother a purse, . . . nothing fancy, . . . just a purse. You keep making different things, . . . sooner or later something will click, . . . who knows you may be the next "Mr. Saddle". May God bless, Dwight The reason I told you to buy

Marcos, . . . google Harbor Freight, . . . search vacuum pump. They have two and either will do the trick. May God bless, Dwight

Edge, . . . The belt and holster in my avatar are both done in Resolene, . . . unless a customer seriously objects, . . . it is what I use. I like it because it more or less encapsulates the leather, . . . and defends it against oil, sweat, water, etc. Not that those products cannot hurt your item, . . . but a splash or dip will not harm them. Additionally, . . . it has a UV blocker in it, . . . so your item can go to the beach without any extra concerns. I apply mine like already said, mixed 1 to 1 with water, . . . but I brush it on with a cheap bristle brush, . . . lay it on, . . . spread it out, . . . add a little more usually, . . . brush up, brush down, brush left, brush right, . . . keep brushing lightly until all the bubbles are gone. Add additional coats if you will, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Sinpac and I agree on that ruler. Mine may be a different mfg. but both are cork backed, . . . and I have no trouble with them moving. I also use a strop sharpened drywall knife that stays "touched up" for most of my cutting. If I can use my strap cutter, I will, . . . but that's only for belt blanks, etc. The "sharpness" of your cutting instrument is the key to it for me, . . . dull knife and I start making boo-boos. STOP ! Strop ! Continue. May God bless, Dwight

Steel staples from the hardware store, . . . since they are basically encapsulated by the finish, . . . should never be any problem with them. I use three of them, . . . punched with an awl, . . . bent inward with a pair of needle nosed pliers. My keepers all float. May God bless, Dwight

My belt process is: Cut the blanks, punch all the holes for the buckle end Rough cut the tongue end Contact cement them together Sand the edges Use the sander to finish cut the tongue end Stitch gouge Bevel all edges Sew it up Tamp down the stitches Punch the holes at the tongue end Dye the belt Dress the edges Apply finish Apply hardware Inspect for dufus mistakes The only time I dye first then sew, . . . is when my customer wants white stitching. I generally try to dissuade them, . . . but sometimes folks just want what folks want, . . . and like Jimmy Dean, . . . we just aim to please. This works for me, . . . as I usually only do a dark reddish/brown or black belts. When someone wants a "tan" one, . . . I generally give it a coat of neatsfoot oil, . . . let it dry, . . . then finish the belt. I only use Resolene on my CHL belts. May God bless, Dwight

If you are stitching through the hair side and the back is the flesh side (almost all my holsters are like this) you reall don't have to stitch groove on the flesh side. Simply dampen (NOT SOAK) the back side, . . . and roll over it with a wallpaper seam roller, . . . or the tip of a really wide tablespoon. You can also take a very flat faced hammer and pound the threads down into the leather. On the hair side, . . . use 1/16 inch plexiglas, . . . make the template for the stitching you want to do, . . . then follow the template. It will take 10 minutes to cut and sand the edge where you want it, . . . but then you have it for any other project that needs that line. May God bless, Dwight

Not meaning to sound gruff, . . . but if you are using a utility knife with a brand new blade and are taking multiple passes to cut 5/6 oz veggie tan shoulder, . . . well you just aren't putting enough effort into it. I regularly cut dry 8 oz and more with one swipe, . . . razor clean, . . . no ragged edges. I also very often strop my utility knife blades, . . . take a 3 inch by 12 inch strap of 7+ oz leather, . . . rub it down with jeweler's rouge, . . . on the hair side, . . . NOT the flesh side, . . .it makes a good strop if you have a flat table to lay it on. Do 25 passes on the blade each way, . . . ewwwwwwww, . . . that's sharp ! You also need to start out standing up cutting leather. Most people who sit down do so because they are lazy, . . . they're even too lazy to hold the knife straight up and down, . . . and the cuts they make in their leather show it. That sounds gruff, too, . . . but I teach leather crafting, . . . and I watch my students. Yeppers, . . . they do it. You will also learn by experience that you really do not want to cut your pattern very, very close, . . . because you need a little sanding, edging, burnishing room, . . . and if you go too far in on your cut AT ALL, . . . there isn't any real way to fix that in many cases. Cut it a bit big, . . . then trim it to where it really needs to be. May God bless, Dwight

Ben, . . . welcome to the AWL forum (that is the Addicting World of Leathercraft,.......lol). I teach a holster class from time to time at a local leather distributor, . . . it is a lot of fun, . . . get to meet some really neat people. My first lesson I do with them emphasizes two maint thoughts: 1) if you can make a good pattern, you can make a good product, . . . but if you are sloppy with your pattern, . . . the end product will reflect it 2) Finish the project. Unless you "know" what you want for the finish, . . . play with some scraps, . . . different dyes, finishes, techniques, . . . as each one will have a different final effect. While you are finishing, . . . learn to properly square up the edges, bevel, sand, burnish, . . . etc. Use the proper size snaps, buckles, rings, etc. All of the hard work you did patterning, cutting, sewing, finishing, . . . can really be thrown under the bus by getting almost done, . . . and then just saying "Close enough" and quitting. Finish the project. I'm a little picky, . . . granted, . . . but if the job is worth doing, . . . it is worth doing right. May God bless, Dwight

I've never tried it with leather, . . . but I've had some wonderful success with the iron on transfers one uses for tee shirts, sweat shirts, etc. Call Mcg Paper LLC, . . . 215-679-8163 or check their website www.mcgpaper.com . Ask for Mark Labate, he helped me out with my last couple of orders. Before I sent in my last big order, I asked him for some "samples" and he sent them to me for the price of the shipping, I think it was like $7.00 May God bless, Dwight

FYI, . . . Tippmann has a $300 off sale going on right now (I think ??? ) Unless someone just doesn't want the hassle, . . . they usually sell on Ebay for almost $1000, . . . sometimes more. As close as you are, it might be worth your while to drive over and get one, . . . ask for Ben, . . . he'll help you get started. I looked on Google, . . . seems to be just about 320 miles one way for you. If I have a problem I cannot solve, . . . I load my machine up, . . . grab a cup of coffee, . . . and while I am just under half the distance you are, . . . it is still well, well worth my time for the information and help I get. The really are a stand up company, and Ben is one really good guy. May God bless, Dwight

That's beautiful work. And a beatutful knife. May God bless, Dwight

I had a young lady all of 4'1" tall tell me that she wanted her spur straps pink, . . . she didn't care what color they came out as just so long as it was pink. I used some Eco Flo Dusty Rose Pink, . . . and I watered it down just a bit, . . . wish I had taken pictures of them, . . . they were absolutely beautiful, even if I did do them. She was super pleased. Play with it, . . . do some practice pieces, . . . don't forget to put your finish on it too, . . . it'll work out. May God bless, Dwight PS: I didn't turn in my man card, . . . heck, . . . I even got a hug out of that deal.

The kids use a word to describe things they really like, . . . "awesome", . . . and it certainly is that. My makers mark is three crosses on a hill, . . . so you got my attention right away And as a pastor also, . . . I can see someone in many years to come, . . . lovingly looking at a piece of his physical history, . . . and his spiritual history, . . . and counting himself blessed. Now, . . . you've also given me a gift idea for a son and daughter in law, . . . thank you. May God bless, Dwight