Dwight

Hey, Toasty, . . . been using this stuff for something near 30 years, . . . and I'm not having any new issues. 1st: make sure you have good stuff, . . . if it is gooey at all, . . . not runny, . . . pitch it. 2nd: when you use it, . . . make sure to put the lid back on, . . . tight, . . . also if you use a lot of it, . . . buy a quart, pour it into a half pint container, use out of the half pint, . . . it'll stay better longer that way. 3rd: there is no canned time limit on how long it should take to dry. Temperature, humidity, product, . . . all have an effect on IF it is ready yet. The very best test is to pat the piece with a piece of newspaper. If it don't stick AT ALL, . . . AT ALL, . . . then you are ready to use it. 4th: if you have a heat gun, . . . you can use it in a VERY WELL VENTILATED area on smaller pieces, . . . less than 2 square feet is my rule, . . . to hasten the drying process. Laying the piece, glue side up, in a window where the sun can hit it will also work to dry it quicker. 5th: even when it is done perfectly, . . . enough force, . . . will pull it apart. It has been my experience that it takes quite a while for the process to fully bond, . . . permanently, . . . but letting it dry correctly is 95% of getting it right. Also if you are doing belts or anything you can get a rolling pin onto, . . . do that, . . . roll it with a rolling pin, . . . and put some force onto it. I also use a very flat faced hammer to put my holster edges together, . . . or a wallpaper seam roller. Just sticking them face to face is not enough to complete whatever the chemical process is that happens there, . . . need to add a bit of force. Anyway, may God bless, Dwight

The original stirrup leather was a 2 1/2 in wide strap of 14 oz leather. To the back of that where the Blevins buckle adjusts the length of the stirrup, . . . there was a piece of 5 oz leather sewn to reinforce the punched out hole area up and down the stirrup strap. It was sewn on in the original, and when I replaced the original, I sewed one on the replacement just like it. May God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . to most of you all here, . . . no biggie, . . . but I finally got to break the ice. Fixed some other things here and there, . . . but never got to do the machine sew until this little lady brought her Billy Cook barrel racer in for some work. Her stirrups were tight, . . . one stirrup leather needed replaced, . . . whole thing needed a bath and oil, . . . had to make a special pair of hobble straps for her saddle, . . . did all that and gave it a good layer of Bag Kote, . . . shined up like bald headed deacon on Sunday. Thanks to some on line help here, . . . she walked in, . . . took one look, . . . did the Ooooh, . . . Aaaahhhh thing, . . . all is good. Thanks for all the advice, . . . help, . . . encouragement, . . . y'all are great !! May God bless, Dwight

If you were to use a 3/4 to 1 in wide strap, . . . you could use a bag punch, . . . put 4 holes in a row down the outside of the holster, . . . weave the strap down through it, . . . fillet or fray the end to make it look like part of the decoration, . . . you would be able to adjust it up and down to whateve you wanted to do with it. May God bless, Dwight

A friend of my son asked me to fix her saddle, the stirrup leather on the mounting side had broken over half way. It was a fairly nice Billy Cook barrel racing saddle I believe. It seemed simple to replace a 2.5 in wide strap of 14 oz leather, . . . sew on a backer strip, . . . punch some holes. I started to remove the old stirrup leather, then is when it became fun. IS THERE A TOOL that saddlers have tucked away in the recesses of secret areas that assist in un-screwing the conchos? I was only able to get them off because I have excellent finger strength, . . . and just grabbed them and hogged em out of their holes. Just lookin for some direction, guys, . . . in case this comes around again. May God bless, Dwight

Electrical conduit is not very often aluminum, . . . although it looks like it, . . . it is really galvanized steel. And it can be a bit on the rough side inside the pipes themselves. I've used enough EMT in one lifetime to be sure I would not use it for this job. I am no expert, . . . have never made one, . . . but if I had one of them high dollar cues, . . . I'd probably think seriously of putting it in a suede lined PVC pipe. Just some thoughts. May God bless, Dwight

When I make that type holster, there are 5 pieces of leather: front, back, re-inforce piece, left loop, and right loop. My procedure is: burnish the loops and the three sides of the reinforcement that are not on the top (at the opening). Glue and sew the reinforcement to the front piece (all my reinforcements end squarely at the sight channel of the weapon, . . . which allows me to machine stitch it on and be done with it. Punch and snap the loops to the front. Pre-mold the front and let dry. Glue front w/loops to back, . . . sand, . . . edge, . . . burnish, . . . stitch groove, . . . sew. Final mold and bone. Finish. May God bless, Dwight

Better yet, go to a hardware store, ask for a can of Weldwood Contact Cement. Also get some plumber's "acid brushes". You brush on a light coating to both sides, . . . let it dry, . . . stick em together, . . . and if you do it right, . . . it ain't gonna move. I have a friend who wears a holster I made several years ago that still doesn't have one stitch in it, . . . still works. One small warning, . . . do not get it where you do not want it to be seen, . . . dye and other finishes will not penetrate the cement, . . . will NOT !!!!! It is the best, . . . I use it for belts, sheaths, gun bags, shoe soles, holsters, . . . even use it for cabinet work (which of course it was originally designed for). Get an account with Harbor Freight, . . . buy your acid brushes from them, . . . a whole bag of them is only a couple bucks. Edited to add: the contact cement you buy from Tandy's is junk. It isn't fit to carrry the name. They used to sell a fairly decent product, but the stuff they've been pawning off for the last little while is just overpriced junk. May God bless, Dwight

Most of my IWB have a reinforcement piece on the mouth. I sew it on while everything is nice and flat, after burnishing the edges of it that I will not be able to burnish later on. I do not use any kydex, steel, or aluminum "stiffener" as I have never had one collapse on me or any of my customers (of which I know). Maybe you just needed to rant today, . . . sometimes I get that way, . . . mostly though when I am out of coffee May God bless, Dwight

All I would have had to see were picture # 2 and # 3, . . . I'd just said "Yep, . . . Lobo's at it again". Seriously, . . . good looking leather, . . . timeless style, . . . just a classic. You also have a lot more patience than I, . . . just never have had enough patience to get to where I can basketweave to suit myself. May God bless, Dwight

If you were my customer and gave me the requirements as stated in your first post, . . . I would tell you that you are asking a lot. But,............it is not beyond reach. Dual purpose holsters are often hard to get, . . . instead of being a great hip holster or a great shoulder holster, . . . it becomes a mediocre, half baked, compromise of both expectations. Start out with the hip holster: define where you want to wear it. Some folks wear your style weapon high, so the cylider is basically level with the belt ( that's my preference ) and others like it hanging lower, . . . some even down so far that it looks like an Old West rig, . . . or a thigh rig like the military uses. Once you have the "Where" figured out, . . . you need to define belt attachment: I prefer a simple, large slot of leather behind the cylinder through which I pass my gun belt, . . . others prefer folding down the back of the holster, sewing it, and making it the belt loop, . . . while others want a slot fore and aft, . . . like an OWB pancake. Once you have the holster, . . . do the belt. For a gun your size, . . . at least 1 3/4 inches wide, . . . and I prefer 2 1/2 myself. If it is for hunting only, . . . I'd put a couple of speed loader pouches on the off hand side, right above the center of the off hand britches pocket. Doing these two projects first, . . . will give you a good measure of how willing you are to take on the shoulder holster. Hip holsters are very forgiving, . . . can often be altered a bit if necessary, . . . but shoulder holsters need that "fine touch" to get em right, . . . and it takes experience and patience. You can begin to develop them if you do the hip holster and the belt first. If you decide to do that, . . . PM me with the style you want, . . . we'll go from there. I'm including a picture of one of my all time favorites for wearing out in the bush or for hunting. May God bless, Dwight

Just a thought, . . . I bought a little dedicated compressor, . . . made just for air brush applications, . . . Harbor freight, . . . got change back from a $100 bill. It stays on my work bench, . . . never needs adjusted, . . . won't be in the "wrong place when I need it" scenario. It is all set up for just that job, . . . If you have the funds to put into one, . . . I would definitely go that way, . . . then get the bigger one later on for the other projects. I actually bought mine in reverse order, . . . but when I got the big one, . . . I wasn't doing any air brushing May God bless, Dwight

Hatcreek, . . . whatever pressure you used to get is adequate pressure for what you want to do.If you are looking to get the outside to pick up all the details of the weapon, . . . you literally will be disappointed. All a press is used for is to make the contact against the weapon in the "inside" that makes for good retention. The outside details are produced by boning the object after the press work has been done. I use 40 durometer gum rubber, purchased from McMaster-Carr on my press, . . . but I am about to change that, . . . as the work I am doing now does not need the press. If anyone is interested, . . . I would probably sell my rubber plates, . . . as I really don't use my press much at all anymore. I have used my 8 ton press for several years now, . . . using blue guns, . . . have never hurt one with it. May God bless, Dwight

Some time ago, I saw a picture of a "Rhodesian" holster by Thad Rybka, . . . lost the info, . . . Frank from up Wisconsin way forwarded it on to me. I used it to make a new carry holster for my newest piece of handgunnery, . . . Just thought I would share, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Tat2edcowboy, . . . thanks for your service, . . . I had to see the pics enlarged before I could discern the flames, . . . and that would also look good on a horse named Peterbuilt or Kenworth. Seriously, . . . good job, . . . I'm waiting for my grand-daughter or grand-son to come along. If one comes around that is into horses, . . . I'll be making one saddle, . . . if not, . . . well.......................... I've always wanted to take a whack at it, . . . just never took the plunge, . . . glad to see someone who did. Keep up the good work, . . . looking forward to seeing # 2. May God bless, Dwight

Sometimes I dye before I stitch, . . . to get one color of stitching on a different leather color (white stitching on a black belt for example), . . . but I personally always stitch before I put on the final finish. The reason I do that (especially if I am using Resolene) is that the Resolene will then also protect the stitches. Resolene is one hard finish, . . . it will keep your stitches cleaner much longer than they would if they don't have the Resolene finish on them, . . . it will protect them somewhat from abrasion, . . . and it will help to tuck in the ends, . . . making it much harder for the stitches to "undo" themselves. The proceedure is something akin to: cut out the pieces, . . . glue them in place, . . . mold and form, . . . do all the edging and burnishing, . . . dye then stitch / OR / stitch then dye, . . . apply final finish. There are exceptions to doing holsters this way, . . . but it is more or less the process I use on all of them I make. Just my $.02 May God bless, Dwight

I don't have an up to date catalog, . . . but Weaver's used to advertize the rainbow in threads. They are in Northern Ohio, . . . Amish country. May God bless, Dwight

I use a Dremel (maybe 5% ), . . . a drum sander mounted in a drill press (maybe another 5% ), . . . but 90% of all my sanding is done on a cheapie belt sander I paid either 40 or 50 bucks for at Harbor Freight. It does my holsters, . . . mag pouches, . . . and OoooLaaaaLaaaa, . . . does it ever do belts. I would quit making belts if I had to use much of anything else. I can even up a 40 inch belt blank in all of about 3 minutes with it, . . . maybe 5 minutes on a bad day. Like earlier said: it eats leather for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, . . . you need to be careful with it. I, too, use 80 grit on mine. It also is impossible to keep clean, . . . even with a vacuum pulling all it can while you sand. That is just a hazard you learn to work with. May God bless, Dwight

Scott, . . . I use my sewing machine for these projects, . . . but when I do have to sew by hand, . . . I either stand up over my work, . . . or I place it in the front of my work bench where I have a place where I can punch my awl through the leather into a hole especially placed in the edge of the desk for that purpose. Using either method, . . . my holes are 90 degree perpendicular to the leather, . . . making it all work out right. If you have a small drill press, . . . putting the chisel in it, . . . DO NOT TURN IT ON OF COURSE, . . . and use the leverage of the arbor to punch down through, . . . straight. In any of the above ways, . . . you first glue the pieces together, . . . then work on it as though it was one piece from the beginning. Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

If you go to Harbor Freight, . . . get the manager to open up the special order catalog, . . . they have what looks like a pretty good looking walking foot machine. How long it will last and what is the quality is anyone's guess, . . . but last I heard it is real close to your budget, . . . and is supposed to sew up to 3/8" of dry veggie leather. I started to buy one (manager told me to order it, . . . pay for it, . . . take it home and use it for up to 29 days, . . . if it didn't work out, . . . he would take it back) but so far my Tippmann does every thing I need, . . . and more than this one would do. I was going to buy it for belts, . . . but I'd rather be the holster guy, belts on the side. May God bless, Dwight

Another thing you might do, Jerry, . . . get yourself 3 or 4 wing nuts at the local hardware store. They should be 1/4 x 20 threads. Put one on each of the top tensioners above the tensioner wheel itself, . . . and use it to lock the tensioner. I have never been able to get mine to stay where I put it until I did that. Oh, . . . and the 3rd and 4th nuts are to replace the ones you drop onto the floor and can't find. Go to your Tippmann box where you stashed # 3 and # 4 and get a spare May God bless, Dwight

I just took a pair of calipers and measured my 12 -15 year old, . . . $8 wallet I bought in a dime store. The back measures .033 thick, . . . which would translate to 2 oz leather. The pockets inside are in the .04 range which is about 3 oz. Use what you want, . . . but there is no way I could make and use a wallet that was thicker than 4 oz on any of it's pieces, . . . unless I wanted to do some "serious" stamping and tooling. May God bless, Dwight

Kbar, . . . get yourself a cheap, . . . DIAL caliper from Harbor Freight tools or someone like them. Don't get the digital, . . . too much trouble to use for this. When you lay the two pieces of leather together, . . . flesh side to flesh side, . . . you then measure the overall thickness. For a sturdy "dress only" belt, . . . you want to be in the .165 to .200 range, . . . and kind of think about the length. For a 48" belt, . . . you definitely want to be in the .200 thichness range, . . . for a 28" belt, . . . then the .165 is good enough. If the person is wearing a gun on it, . . . then I use .190 as my minimum, . . . and .250 as my max. I have never had any problems with them, nor have my customers complained. The reason I stress using a dial caliper, . . . 6/7 leather is just that, . . . somewhere between 6 and 7 ounces. That "somewhere" can range from .093 all the way up to almost .120 and still be "legally" correct. I've found that using the caliper to buy my leather, . . . and check what I'm using for a particular project, . . . has saved me from some real aggravation. One final note: use vegetable tanned leather for both pieces, . . . contact cement them together, . . . flesh side to flesh side, . . . and either get a 32oz mountain dew or a "large" coffee when you go to stitch that thing if you don't get someone to stitch it for you on a machine. At 5 stitches per inch ( a good standard ), . . . you are talking in the neighborhood of 1100 stitches in a 36 inch belt, ...................... ugh! May God bless, Dwight

I also suspect that you are trying to do the boning with the leather in a pretty wet condition. For the boning to really look good, . . . you have to be patient and let the leather get back to a good "cased" condition, . . . At least that has been my experience, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Years ago I had an old Marine cover that had turned white on the outside, . . . still OD in the inside. I cut it apart, . . . very carefully, . . . and used it for the pattern for my suede hat. When I first saw myself in the mirror, . . . I thought it looked just like McArthur when he waded ashore in the Phillipenes, . . . hence the name. May God bless, Dwight