Dwight

Just a couple of quick answers, . . . dip dyeing for me is very simple. I use two dyes (black and cowboy tan) at their 100% full strength. Another one I cut 50/50 with Feibings thinner, . . . because it produces a special color I like. I use a 9 inch by 13 inch by 2 inch deep pan to dye in, . . . pouring in the dye, . . . the submerging the leather. I have two of them, . . . one for browns and one for black. I use Feibings Oil Dye, . . . black and cowboy tan, . . . and another one that is a spirit dye. I have tried air brushing, . . . have not become comfortable with it yet, . . . and really do not like the idea that they dye is only on the very upper layer of the product. Anyway, . . . as electrathon said earlier, . . . it is quick, . . . uniform, . . . and predictably good. May God bless, Dwight

Provided of course, the sewing and clearances are in the right places, you should be able to make some molding changes: but only if you are correct and there is no real finish on it. If it is actually finished and sealed, . . . you may not make out so well. If you do try it (it's only pocket change if it doesn't work........) make sure you come back with a good acrylic finish, like Resolene (50/50 mix with water) and you may even want to give it a couple of coats. That should harden it up quite a bit. Also, when you try this, . . . make sure the water is at least 110 degrees, but not over 130. If you have a floor register or other means of drying it over low heat (absolutely not over 130 degrees), . . . that will tend to harden it a bit too. May God bless, Dwight

I just wanted to chime in here, . . . saying thank you to all the comments, . . . I have a custom saddle here in my living room right now, all disassembled so I can put new sheepskin on it, . . . belongs to a friend of mine at church. I was just hoping I could find out "anything" about this, . . . as this saddle had maybe a dab on the front and rear lower corners, . . . and that was all. The whole sheepskin on both sides was loose as the skin on a fat groundhog. It seemed that the maker used some kind of cement right at the edges where it was sewn, but nowhere else hardly on either side. My Stohlman books said rubber cement, . . . but I just wanted a "second opinion" and you guys came through. Again, . . . thank you to all, . . . May God bless, Dwight

jsb, . . . a few years back I got pretty good at daubers, sponges, etc, . . . but never really did get it as I wanted it. Especially repeatabilty, . . . used the same dye twice, but the items came out differently. THEN,........... I started dip dyeing EVERYTHING. It has made all the difference in the world. Takes more dye, but is done in only a few seconds, . . . is uniform, . . . is repeatable, time and again, . . . And, . . . my blood pressure stays down during and after the process May God bless, Dwight

Bach, . . . There are four pieces to the line 24 snaps, . . . a male piece with its associated post, and the female piece with its associated post. If you have never done snaps, . . . the post with the pretty top is for the female piece. Start with the male piece and its post. Punch a hole in a piece of 6/7 leather, just big enough for the male post to go through it. You DO NOT WANT any free play around the post, . . . you should not have to force it into the hole, . . . but again, no free play around it. Put the male piece in the hole with the flange on the flesh side of the leather. Place the male piece onto the protruding post. The end of the pliers that gets the post is the white nylon end, where you have two choices of settings. For this post, use the setting that also has a little post in the middle. The other end of the pliers has a black rubber ring and a nail looking pin in the middle. You also need the red plastic doughnut ring that just barely fits around the male snap half. Put the doughnut ring in the pliers and center the pliers around the male piece, slide the bottom into place and squeeze the pliers. You will take the pliers off, then remove the red plastic ring, look down into the middle of the snap, and find if you did it right, that the post is neatly split and set against the center of the male piece. Next, punch the necessary hole for the female piece. Put the female post with the pretty top in the hole, with the top on the hair side of the leather. Put the female part of the snap onto the post, flip the white piece on the bottom of the pliers so it has the dished nylon piece there, place the post head in the pliers, make sure the red doughnut piece IS NOT in the pliers, center the spreader in the post and squeeze the plier handle. Remove the pliers and the female part should also be attached by a split and bent post. I find that about 2/3 of the line 24 snaps are pretty hard to snap the first time, . . . so I set em with a whack of a rubber hammer. Doesn't hurt the finish, and gets them understanding what I want them to do. Try this, . . . let me know how it worked out for you. May God bless, Dwight

Old axiom: if you make good patterns, . . . you make good holsters. If you make junk patterns, . . . you make junk holsters. I use a generic template for the back, . . . pretty straight forward, . . . but certain steps are necessary to get the proper cant, . . . stitch line along the sight track, . . . etc. Stitch the two pieces together in the front half of the holster. Wet the outside piece, . . . and wet mold it to the weapon. When it is dry, . . . re-insert the weapon, . . . lay it face down on a cushion, . . . squeeze the back and front leathers together, . . . mark it with a pehcil, . . . remove the gun, . . . cut the leather, . . . glue, . . . sand edges, . . . bevel edges, . . . stitch groove, . . . sew and finish. Just that simple, . . . don't over think it. The first couple or so, . . . or if you try to do it without a pattern, . . . you will waste some leather, . . . but you WILL make a nice holster. After a short while, . . . you get a real feel for that outside piece, . . . the shape, . . . the size, . . . and the pattern you make. I make reall good patterns, . . . pride myself in doing so, . . . but I still cut the outside piece a little big, . . . I want to trim that outside piece to match the back. That is how it works for me. I don't have the luxury of perfect cutting tools or a clicker template, . . . mine are individually cut by hand, . . . one at a time. May God bless, Dwight

You didn't miss anything, . . . that IS how I do it. I have made pancakes that are nothing more than a stitched bag with slots/straps in the front or back, . . . they are not as comfortable (for me) and don't always turn out as "true" as this method is to forming it real good and close. They are equally formed on the front and back, . . . and as a personal thing, . . . I just don't like them as well either wearing or making. I make the back, . . . it is done when I lay it down, . . . stitch the leading edge and sight track stitches, . . . wet and form the holster, . . . allow it to dry, . . . finish stitching, . . . then do the dye/finish process. Works for me. May God bless, Dwight

That is exactly how I make most of my pancakes, . . . they are super comfortable, . . . have good retention, . . . release well, . . . and my customers keep coming back. Must be doing something right anyway. May God bless, Dwight

Take a couple of pieces of scrap 6/7 or 7/8 leather, . . . put them in place for your sewing, . . . flesh side to flesh side. You need about 5 inches of thread from the needle and the bobbin. Take the thread out of the needle, . . . and sew a "line" of holes into the leather. Inspect the leather on the bottom, . . . looking for marks from the downward pressure of the presser foot. They should be there, . . . faint, . . . but should be there. Turn your machine around, . . . pull the plastic piece off the back. Look in the upper left hand corner, there is a rod there going left to right, and it has a collar around it. That collar has to be spaced so there is a 5/8 inch blank piece of shaft to the left of the collar. This needs to be pretty precise. After you have done all this, . . . check your bobbin, . . . looking down into the bobbin holder, . . . pull the string, . . . it should turn the bobbin counter-clockwise. Check your needle, . . . there should be a trough on the needle's left side, . . . and the thread hole needs to be 90 degrees perpindicular to the travel of the leather when being sewn. Now, . . . re-thread your needle, . . . leave out about 5 inches on both needle and bobbin, . . . grasp it in your left hand, . . . and begin sewing with your right hand. Gently, . . . with about the same pressure you use to turn on your turn signals in your automobile, . . . really very little pressure, . . . but gently apply pressure to the leather you are sewing. Push it away from your as you sew. That should give you some decent stitches. If all that does not solve your problem, . . . loosen the bobbin tension screw, . . . and unscrew the two top tensioners. Take off the thread from the tensioners. Start screwing down the adjusters until you see contact made with all the tensioner parts. Use a black sharpie and make a mark on the top of the knurled knobs so you can tell where you are, . . . turn both down 1 1/2 turns. Try some stitches, . . . you should get good stitches, . . . but everything pulled up to the top of the leather pieces. Tighten the bobbin screw up until you feel it contact, . . . turn it in one full turn, . . . try some more stitches. They should now be below the surface of the top layer. Adjust until you get tight stitches on the top, . . . tight stitches on the bottom, . . . and the meeting of the two threads should be very near the middle of the two layers. Let us know how this worked for you. May God bless, Dwight

I am looking for a set of letter stamps, . . . 1 1/2 inches tall. Anybody got any kind of line at all, . . . however remote, . . . holler back, please. May God bless, Dwight

There is an old axiom that says that "form follows function" and quite honestly, my friend, . . . I don't see any function there that two leather straps with snaps at the top won't do and do better. Not meaning to be mean or cantankerous, just trying to get a handle on why you would make a holster like that. Now if you mounted the top of the clips to the bottom of the holster, . . . so you pushed it down over the belt or pulled it up to get it off, . . . I could understand that, . . . makes getting on or off easier & quicker. The leather work does look good though, . . . but you also might put the back side of the nuts inside the two pieces of leather, . . . doing so will protect them from rust, . . . protect your body and undershirts from rust. May God bless, Dwight

Newdude, . . . Try the numbers again, . . . both of them, . . . I'm home......... May God bless, Dwight

If you have a Hobby Lobby near by, . . . go there, . . . and ask where the "sewing" things are. When you get there, . . . you are looking for the wall with the scissors, needles, thimbles, etc. and you will find two tools there, . . . both with blue handles, . . . and they are snap setting tools. One is basically for line 24 size and the other one will do it all, . . . they look like funny shaped pliers. Either tool is about 25 bucks, . . . I have ruined maybe 6 snaps with that tool, . . . in about 8 years of using it. One tool is their sku: 304733 and they call it their gripper plier kit, . . . it is the "do em all" tool, . . . and looks almost identical to the other one. I usually find them hanging together or very close proximity of each other. Nothing I have ever seen at Tandy, . . . or anywhere else for that matter, . . . will do a more efficent job of snaps than this tool. May God bless, Dwight

I would like to at least take a look at it. I'm just outside of Waldo, . . . 10 miles north of Delaware, . . . 10 miles south of Marion. You can see some of my work at my website, . . . www.dwightsgunleather.com May God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . I would probably refuse the work to put a suede lining on a cowboy rig belt. I might line the holster, . . . but he'd certainly get the Katsass lecture before I agreed to do so. A western rig that does not move a bit is about as uncomfortable as sitting across the table from both your mothers' in law (current and ex). Riding a horse, . . . walking, . . . sitting, . . . bending, . . . that inside layer has to be able to scootch around a bit, . . . and if it doesn't, . . . well it's just UGH ! As far as it's "de-bonding", . . . you can forget that if you use Weldwood contact cement and stitch the edges. It basically becomes one piece of leather. I don't use any other product, . . . and if you can find it, . . . the gel is the better of the two products IMHO (gel and liquid). May God bless, Dwight

Eric, . . . You probably will not like the finished product, . . . as traditionally belt blanks generally run 8 oz. Doubling that makes a very stiff belt that is a full 1/4 inch thick. I'm wearing one right now, . . . but only because it carries my full size all steel 1911 for me. You want, for a woman, especially if it is going to be for 1 1/4 belt, . . . to be down in the .140 to .180 range for her doubled belt, . . . and a lot of ladies don't like it that thick. May God bless, Dwight

Renegade, . . . I don't have the same tools you have, . . . but I do have these (see pics) and they do a wonderful job for me. Obviously, . . . they are home made. I generally will sand all edges "flat smooth" with a belt sander I have, . . . or sometimes (not very often) I'll do the sanding with the little drum sander you get for a Dremel. It can get aggressive at times, . . . or if you sneeze, . . . it won't be pretty. After sanding, . . . I bevel using Tandy # 2 or # 4 bevelers (depending on effect desired, . . . thickness, . . . etc). I then dampen, . . . and the key word there is dampen, . . . not wet, . . . just damp. The best way to see what "just damp" is like, . . . make up a 4 inch piece of 8 or 9 oz leather, . . . two nice straight edges, . . . bevel them, . . . then lick them. Yeah, . . . human saliva ! Turn on your Dremel, . . . about 1500 to 1700 rpm's works best for me. There very often is a grain direction in your leather, . . . it will come out pretty if you go left to right, . . . not so pretty if you go right to left. Look for that. Press lightly, . . . like you are running your finger around the rim of a coffee cup looking for a crack. Your leather will turn darker brown as you get the fibers laid down, . . . and if you do it right, . . . when the piece dries, . . . the color will be very near the original hue, . . . not the darker burnished brown. I go on then to dying, . . . inspect my edges, . . . sometimes touch up the burnishing here, . . . then I put the final finish on it. Depending on what the item is, . . . I sometimes come back and do a "final" burnish / polish, . . . and at this place, . . . I'll lightly rub on some natural beeswax before burnishing. I have almost always gotten compliments on the edges using this process. May God bless, Dwight

Considering that hands were made for hamburgers, . . . machines made for stitching, . . . I don't do much of that "hand stitching" thing. But when I do, . . . I use the sewing tool with the little spool on it, . . . and the wooden handle. Aboard my Navy ship it was called a sail needle. Anyway, . . . never put the thread on the spool bobbin, . . . just cut off a hunk of string 3 times as long as needed for the stitching. Pull it through the first hole so that 1/2 of the length is on each side of the first hole, . . . Then I take the first 3 inches of the thread, . . . it is always the piece shoved through the new hole first, . . . it is the piece that gets ugly, groadie, grubby, dirty, what have you. I've never done a full belt this way, . . . but I've done big stitch jobs, . . . and my string is still pretty white when I get done. But then again, . . . I also only use the coated string sold at Tandy's, . . . that may be part of the difference. May God bless, Dwight

I bought my rafter square at Harbor Freight, . . . $1.99 maybe, . . . it is basically a 6 inch long x 6 inch wide triangular square. It has all kinds of neat degrees, angles, and other markings on it. It's main qualitys, though, . . . first it is "square", . . . and one of the sides has a lip off each way. I lay down a piece of leather I need squared, . . . use a straight edge to make the first straight line. I lay that straight line on the edge of my work desk, . . . run the square up to it on the outside, . . . and bump the square's lip against the edge of the work desk. The leather lays between the square and the work desk edge, . . . with all three of them lined up, . . . the lip the desk edge and the leather straight edge. Off to the right is the cutting edge. Take a look at this little drawing, . . . says it better than I can. AND IT WORKS !!!! May God bless, Dwight

Whatcha makin' glockanator? Pouch holster to me is a bag from Walmart that had my lightbulbs in it. They are especially useful for High Points. May God bless, Dwight

One of the "nice" features about an Avenger holster, . . . you can add reinforcement around the mouth, . . . which will very effectively strengthen your holster. I have a Rhodesian IWB I made some time back with no reinforcements at all from just barely 6 oz, . . . it stays open for re-holstering with no problem. I do, however, use Resolene as my finish, . . . I finish both the inside and outside of these type holsters, . . . which does help make them fairly stiff. When I first made this holster, . . . I vacuum formed it around my commander size 1911, . . . slipped it out, . . . let it dry, . . . and have been very satisfied with it. I would say your 4-5 should work if it is up in the thicker side, . . . say up around .075 thickness. May God bless, Dwight

I used a press for a couple of years, . . . heard about vacuum, . . . tried it, . . . sold the press, . . . end of story. My vacuum bag and pump just work wonders with leather that cannot be done on most presses, . . . including a full length impression of a rifle or shotgun for a custom leather gun bag. But, . . . to each his own, . . . and to the OP, . . . good looking press, . . . I did mine out of 2 x 4's and steel plates, . . . there's some pictures on this site, . . . just search for press or me, . . . you should be able to see it. May God bless, Dwight

Generally, . . . I make the belt, holster, pouch, . . . whatever, . . . it is fully "manufactured" so to speak. I then dye the thing, . . . but I do a quick burnish on the edges first. Dye it and let it dry, . . . usually leaving it at least 24 hours before I mess with it again. Again, . . . burnish the edges, . . . using mostly a Dremel and the tools in the picture. I also have a similar rig on the end of a 1725 rpm motor, . . . used mostly for long pieces like belts, . . . works faster that way. I do a final check out after the item is finished, . . . and usually "touch up" the burnishing. I only use water and beeswax during the earlier processes, . . . will use whatever is used for the final finish, . . . finger applied, . . . for any final touch up burnishing, . . . Resolene, Bag Kote, whatever is used. I have never had a complaint on any of my edges. May God bless, Dwight

I don't often encounter that problem, . . . but have in the past. Being an old model maker / carpenter / woodworker, . . . I have successfully made an LCP, . . . a Smith model 29, . . . a Glock 35, . . . and a little Keltec. You need basically a side view, . . . top view, . . . and butt view, . . . a pair of calipers, . . . a good printer, . . . a calculator, . . . and a little luck. You will have to "mine the internet" in some cases, . . . but there are sites that will give you the length, width, weight, thickness, etc of just about any weapon out there. Look long enough, and you will usually find one with a cartridge or other item in the picture where you can get a hard cold dimension, . . . and all other measurements are just multiples of that one. It is your base, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Turn your machine around, take off the back. Up top is a steel round rod, . . . with a collar on it. That collar has to be 5/8 of an inch from the left side, . . . no more, . . . no less. Somehow, mine had slipped, . . . it was about 3 inches to the right of correct position, . . . would not sew. Ben and I talked on the phone, . . . finally wound up driving it up there, . . . he took the back off, . . . "Here's the problem" May God bless, Dwight