Dwight

Leather is measured in ounces, . . . and those ounces translate each to 1/64th of inch. One full inch of 64 oz equals 25.4 mm. Breaking it down further, . . . 8 oz would be 1/8th of an inch or just a tad over 3 mm thick. Most of the leather sellers offer their leather in like a 7/8 oz or 6/7 oz, . . . which means it is not absolutely perfectly uniform from edge to edge, . . . some will be very close to 6 oz while the rest will be closer to 7 oz in the last example. If I made a suggestion, . . . it would be to go with a piece of 7/8 oz, . . . and order the piece called a "single shoulder" if your supplier offers it. Shoulder leather is good tough leather, makes good holsters, belts, cuffs, wrist bands, spur straps, . . . it usually tools nicely also. Back leather isn't usually as tough, . . . is softer, . . . belly leather is even worse. Good luck, . . . and welcome to the wonderful world of leathercraft. May God bless, Dwight

The main thing I saw missing was the sweat shield. There are too many rough edges, sharp corners, etc. on most semi-autos to not have a sweat sheild to protect the old body from rubbing and chafing. I'm not fat by anyone's standards, . . . but I have just enough of a "roll" that your holster would chafe my side, . . . Otherwise it looks good. May God bless, Dwight

Because it is two pieces of leather, . . . I stitch the outside edge of my holsters all the way around. The parts that don't become the folded together edge get stitched last. BUT, . . . I contact cement the pieces together, . . . I sand smooth the edge before stitching, . . . bevel both sides, . . . and stitch gouge both sides. It takes a bit of practice, . . . but it can be done, . . . and it protects the stitches a bit more. I then do whatever folding has to be done, . . . cement the edges after folding (also usually put in a welt for western holsters), . . . sand them smooth, . . . edge bevel, . . . stitch gouge both sides, . . . and sew. If I wander a bit on the backside out of the gouge (virtually never do) it is no big deal, . . . the rest of the stitches being protected is more important than whether I wandered 1/3 or 1/4 of the way out of the stitch groove. PLUS it is on the back side, . . . dyed, . . . finished, . . .and practically un-noticeable. Quite honestly, . . . if a customer did notice something like that and complained, . . . I'd hand him back his money, . . . . with a smile, . . . retrieve the leather goods, . . . and wish them a great day. Hand made leather goods will always have some sort of irregularity, flaw, mis-step, . . . that is what makes it personal and unique. May God bless, Dwight

He said it well, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I wanted a Western rig like that for myself, . . . my formula was 90% Feibings thinner, . . . 10% black oil dye. It makes a very dark charcoal grey, . . . but it also does not fully cover in 1 dipping. I was looking more for a "worn" look, . . . weathered, etc. Got what I wanted. The picture here was just after I got it done, . . . the oil in the finish I use darkened it some, . . . that has since gone away, . . . it's a real nice dark charcoal now. May God bless, Dwight

Good looking work, . . . simple, graceful, elegant. May God bless, Dwight

I don't carve much, but I also don't have the patience to pound, stamp, hammer, and decorate like that. Great job, . . . it would take me a week, . . . pound of coffee, . . . 4 dozen dougnuts, . . . and a trip to the Dr for blood pressure meds. That's why I do plain Jane's, . . . but your's is indeed fantastic. May God bless, Dwight

John Bianchi left a little tip on making this type of holster out of two pieces. Cut both pieces to size, his example used 7/8 oz leather if I remember correctly, . . . take the INSIDE PIECE and determine the 1 inch wide area that would be the front of the holster, . . . where the sight track would be. Skive that area down about 1/3 to 1/2 its normal thickness, . . . skiving out of the flesh side. Then, . . . glue or contact cement the two together, . . . flat, . . . and allow it to dry for 8 to 16 hours. You can then wet it and form it any old way you would like to do with it, . . . no puckers / no wrinkles / just a very good looking holster. I really can't remember how many I have made this way, . . . every one worked like a champ. The vas majority of them were Western type cowboy rigs. May God bless, Dwight

Leslie, . . . I suspect you are using a tool not really designed for copper rivets. The rivet setter and anvil on the left in the picture is made for little metal capped rivets and is often given away inside big bags of Tandy rivets. It is really hard to use for copper rivets. The tool on the right is the copper rivet setter I use and it works fantastically. Look in the end of it you will see a hole on the left and a domed impression on the right. The hole sets the copper washer down on the rivet, . . . snip off the extra copper with a pair of side cutters, . . . peen it a little bit with a small ball peen hammer to get it started, . . . then lay you work on a solid metal plate. DO NOT USE your marble slab, . . . the force needed to dome the rivet correctly will crack your marble slab. The domed impression is where you make the pretty little ball on top of the rivet. On that steel plate, . . . you don't whale it, . . . just tap it real good, . . . 10 to 15 times, . . . you are literally forming the little ball on top of the rivet above the washer, . . . and it takes a bit of practice, . . . and you will eventually harm your maul. Get a ball peen hammer, . . . works better for this. I have a piece of 1/4 inch steel that is about 12 inches square that I usually use under my copper stuff. Works great. Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

Lobo, . . . looks like no one else out there, . . . give him my email, . . . ciminod@midohio.net. I've made a couple using wooden models that I made from drawings, . . . worked well enough to satisfy the customer. Worst thing that would happen, . . . I've got another "model". Be more than happy to try it. May God bless, Dwight

I use it 50/50 with water. Brush it on with a cheap bristle brush, . . . put enough on to get a simulated lather as you brush. Don't be an artist with the brushing either, . . . sorta like brushing a fence, . . . hit it and get it. Brush left, right, up, down, oblique left, oblique right, . . . NO SWIRLS, . . . just keep brushing until all the little bubbles are gone. Lighten up on the stroke as the bubbles dissapear. Best thing to do, . . . cut a practice piece, . . . dye it half brown, . . . half black, . . . play with the instructions, . . . Yes, . . . you can add coats of the stuff, . . . but there is a point where it becomes so thick that it WILL crack, . . . and you will be unhappy. Yes, . . . you can wax over top of it, . . . just give it 48 hours or so to cure before waxing. For my holsters, wallets, belts, etc. Resolene is the last step, . . . when it's done, . . . I'm done. May God bless, Dwight

Woodyrock, . . . got any pictures you would care to share? I'd personally appreciate it. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

If I make a large sheath for a knife, . . . especially if they want a buckskin or suede one, . . . I line it with rawhide, . . . and like you said, . . . incredibly strong and durable. This pic is my first one, . . . talking about a pain to sew, . . . but I was really glad how it turned out, . . . customer loved it. I also have a set of batwing chaps I have to make some time this summer, . . . will probably use it there. I saw a pair of old chaps on Ebay some time ago, . . . they were batwing / working chaps, . . . used snaps and "D" rings, . . . gonna try a little 2013 re-creation on that pair. May God bless, Dwight

It'll cost you a 20 maybe more, . . . but a good pair of Klein lineman's pliers will chop them babies right now. I used to do electrical work, . . . kept the tools, . . . you don't need to guess what I use. You also may be using them wrong, . . . you need to get that rivet down as far into the cutting slot as you can. Your max pressure is down there. The "ideal" tool is a pair of angled side cutters, . . . also made by Klein, . . . but unlike the pliers, you would only use them for rivets, . . . the pliers would have a few other uses, . . . side cutters, not so. May God bless, Dwight

Stunning, beautiful, well done. May God bless, Dwight

I would not do anything more than one stitch every 10mm, . . . saddle stitch should be fine, . . . if you want to preserve it for an extra long time, . . . take the thinnest leather you have, . . . use it in the inside seam and the outside crease. Personally, . . . I'd use nylon, . . . but that is what I use all the time anyway. May God bless, Dwight

You would be well served to use the search window on this forum, . . . it will give you many more answers to your question, and proably help you more. May God bless, Dwight

Pancho and the US Army together didn't have a rig that good looking. May God bless, Dwight

Texas Jack said it well enough for me. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene is one, . . . Bag Kote is another. I'm not really a big fan of Bag Kote, . . . but I use it occasionally, . . . Resolene is good stuff, . . . can be tricky and aggravating to apply at times, . . . but then so is a BLT with no mayo. A light coat of Resolene will be more satin, . . . two or more coats can approach plastic looking, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Go to my website, . . . go to the belt page, . . . diagram there will give you the best way I have found to measure a belt for a customer. (actually, . . . the customer does the measuring, . . . so if it is off, . . . you are not on the hook for bad measuring) I look at the "client" or at least at the weapon size, hoster design, IWB vs OWB, and I'll add anywhere from 1 to 3 inches depending on the factors I see that make it a requirement. May God bless, Dwight

I tried burning the ends, . . . too often I got a ball of hard crust that would lace you open like a 14 year old with a switchblade. I quit, . . . and I found out that once you apply a good finish onto those stitches, . . . they aren't going anywhere for a looooooong loooooooong time. I cut em as close as I can with my little snippy nosed scissors, . . . and call it a game. I do make sure that the ends are double stitched though, . . . sometimes just going around the project (holster) coming back to the same starting point, . . . doubling the stitches there. Sometimes starting out one direction, . . . doing 3 or 4 stitches, . . . turning and going back over them and finishing out the project at the other end of the stitch line, . . . again doubling my last 3 or 4 stitches (belt). May God bless, Dwight

Hey, friend, . . . congratulations, . . . welcome to the wonderful world of runaway sewing machines. Couple things you will come to understand: You almost never make an extra hole or two where you didn't want it hand stitching, . . . machines do that on any given day you look out the window. You never have to check out the amount of thread on the bobbin when hand stitching. Hand stitching never needs taken apart, . . . cleaned, . . . greased, . . . oiled, . . . put back together, . . . then taken apart again because you put it back together wrong the first time. You never have to send your hand needles back to the factory for calibration, testing, or adjustments: not so with machines. But other than that, . . . machine sewing is fun, . . . quick, . . . and if you are like me, . . . machine stitching tends to look much more "uniform". On my holsters, belts, even wallets, . . . I use 346 thread almost exclusively, . . . 277 only on special projects, . . . never drop down to 207, . . . and have been known to bump up to 406 if the project needs the beefy look of the fatter thread (which is not very often). I get mine from Tandy, . . . it has some kind of coating on it, . . . parrafin I suppose, . . . anyway, it works good. May God bless, Dwight

If you start out leaving about 6 or 8 inches of thread before the first stitch, . . . and end by cutting another 6 or 8 inches, . . . you can then go back with a single needle and hand stitch the ends, . . . wrapping around the outside, . . . giving that appearance. On a personal note, . . . though it is cute, . . . the 4 stitches on those outside edges, . . . they are the 4 stitches that will wear the most, . . . therefore breaking first. I would stop short by one or two stitch lengths, . . . that is what I do. May God bless, Dwight

Our prayers go up for you. Honestly never been there, don't want to ever go there. But it is REALLY heartening to see the positive attitude, . . . An old poster we used to have showed an airplane seeming to struggle as it left the runway. The message on the poster said: "Your attitude determines your altitude". Keeping a good attitude will get you back up. Keep us on your "informed" list as you recover, . . and let us know if there is anything we can do to help. May God bless, Dwight