Dwight

It would probably be easier to give you the engineering formula for getting 90 miles per gallon out of a 454 Chevy engine, . . . but we'll try anyway. If the choc brown is the finished color you want, . . . buy it, . . . also buy a quart of thinner. Take a glass jar, . . . add a specifically measured (liquid measure) amount of thinner to the jar, . . . then add 1/10 of that amount of choc brown. Try that on a scrap piece. If it is too light after it dries, . . . give it a second coat. If after a couple of coats, . . . it isn't dark enough, . . . throw that scrap piece away, . . . add enough dye to get about a 33% solution, . . . try that. Seriously, it sounds like I'm jerking your chain, . . . but I worked for 3 decades in the automotive refinish paint business, . . . color making, color matching, color imitating is all a trial and error business. Leather color is no exception. May God bless, Dwight

I'd stay away from tractor places, and auto parts, . . . most of their belts will be 4L or 1/2 in wide. What is the width at the top of your pulley? That tells you the width you need for your belt. Getting the length will be tricky, . . . it always is. If you have a mom & pop hardware store nearby, . . . that is where I would go. May God bless, Dwight

To me, . . . those both defeat the purpose of the Ipad, . . . to get disconnected from pen and paper, trash cans, envelopes, filing cases, erasers, staplers, rulers, protractors, . . . and all that other junk that resides upon, in, near, or alongside a desk. There is virtually nothing the pen and pad bring to the table other than a document that needs to be photographed by the Ipad, . . . stored, . . . and the paper tossed. YMMV, . . . but that is WHY I have one, . . . and, yes, . . . I love the freedom. May God bless, Dwight

I did this one for a guy who was involved in some kind of cowboy action shooting, . . . It was a fun diversion, . . . not sure I'd want to do a steady diet of them though. May God bless, Dwight

Sixer: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=26305&hl="hobby%20lobby"#entry165483 When you go there, . . . they have two tools, . . . this is the snap tool, . . . it is FABULOUS, and I'm trying not to shout. They also sell another similar tool that should be hanging pretty near this one, . . . looks a lot like it, . . . about the same price, . . . it does eyelets, smaller snaps, . . . For more info on this whole subject, . . . hit the advanced search button up in the right hand corner, . . . in the search window put "Hobby Lobby" (make sure you use the quotes), . . . down in the author, . . . put Dwight. There have been several threads on this and similar subjects. My tool works equally well on pull the dots and regular line 24. May God bless, Dwight

Mike, . . . if you have ever worked around metal or plastic casting, . . . you know they use a two piece mold, . . . one for the front, . . . one for the back, . . . I use that process for making the "front" for my "Fanceee" molded magazine carriers. Most of my customers are easily pleased with the ones I sew, . . . but occasionally I get one who wants something with a bit more finesse, . . . hence the molded mag carrier. In the picture you see both pieces, . . . I simply lay a flat piece of 6/7 vegetable tanned leather over the female mold, . . . force the two pieces together, . . . clamp with a couple of carpenter clamps, usually overnight, . . . pull it apart, . . . voila, . . . molded leather. Before I put that leather in the mold though, . . . it is absolutely, positively, surely, and completely SOAKED through with warm (not over 130 deg F). You should probably only need the inside mold if you are doing something generally round and not too complicated, . . . stretch it over the mold, . . . tack it down until it dries, . . . trim it and go for it. May God bless, Dwight

Looks really good to me. May God bless, Dwight

Of course you would forgive me if I said all you had to do was make a square one and sand off the corners, . . . but I won't say that. I've never gotten an order for one of those, . . . but if I did, . . . I would treat it the same way I treat handles like that, . . . I simply contact cement a piece of rope in the pre-rolled leather, . . . and I use a shoelace stitch to sew it all together. The thing that makes it fairly easy, . . . I remove the thread from my Boss, . . . use it to punch and space the holes for the stitching, . . . works every time. Honestly, if I had to awl-n-stitch them, . . . uhhh, . . . probably wouldn't happen. May God bless, Dwight

As I worked for several decades for a refinish paint mfg., I learned early on that several light coats of finish will almost always be better than fewer heavy coats. The same rationale works (for me) wiith resolene. I do not like the finish I get with the full strength stuff, . . . 50/50 is easy for me to control, . . . and it has just about a 100% satisfaction rate. It's very seldom that I look at it and just am not satisfied. May God bless, 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"