Dwight

If you call the Tandy store in Columbus, Ohio, . . . ask for Scott, . . . he can give you some good advice. I just happened to overhear him and a customer talking about it the other day. Their phone number is 614-781-1700, . . . he'll laugh when you tell him Dwight gave you the number. May God bless, Dwight

Jeff, . . . in his videos, John Bianchi advocated using a set of dividers to make an impressed groove into which the stitches fell. As I recall, he only did one side. He then sewed, . . . moistened the stitches and surrounding leather, . . . and used a tool that was about an inch wide, 3/8" thick, and long enough to hold in his hand. It was rounded at the end on all four edges and highly polished. He used it to force the stitches to lay even with the leather (so the thread was better protected?????). Anyway, . . . my technique is to replace the dividers with a stitch groover, . . . front and back, . . . if the edges are properly done, the needle will come down square center of the stitch groove. I then use my tool similar to John's to flatten out my stitches too. I do sometimes use his "divider" technique, . . . but only in certain applications, . . . and I use it front and back. May God bless, Dwight

Depending on the holster itself, . . . 5 to 7 oz, . . . but mostly, . . . whatever I made the holster from, . . . and I try to make it with a piece of leather that was cut very closely (physically) to where I cut the other pieces. I have made IWB from thicker leather, . . . but I try not to as it adds too much bulk IMHO. I never go above 7 for the straps though. May God bless, Dwight

I had a lot of problems getting the sewing to look how I wanted it to, . . . and a fellow (whose name escapes me) from here gave me his phone number, . . . we talked for about an hour on my nickel, . . . and he walked me through a couple of answers that made most of the difference in my stitches. First, . . . lose the round needles, . . . use them for vinyl or fabric or hat pins, . . . but don't try to sew holsters with them. Second, . . . as you round the corners, slowly turn the leather as you are doing the stitch, . . . and plan your route so that you don't have issues with the holster being all bunched up in the middle of the machine. I use only 340 thread, top and bottom, as well as for the CCW belts I make also. Makes it easy to figure which one to put on next, . . . and what is in the bobbin. I set my top tension so it will pull the thread all the way to the top of two scraps of leather I am sewing, . . . then slowly tighten up the bobbin tension (usually a half turn at a time) until it pulls it halfway down in the piece. I like my stitching to be tight, and I very often use a stitch gouging tool on both sides, . . . then use a special rubbing tool I made when it is finished, . . . dampen the leather at the stitches and rub the thread down even with or below the surface. Don't use a stitching wheel with your Boss, . . . adjust the stitch length with the adjuster in the front of the machine, . . . once you get it where you want it, . . . remove the adjuster and put cardboard spacers behind it so you can lock it down from vibrating loose. Then just let the machine make the stitch lengths for you. Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

If you have a faster internet connection, . . . go to YouTube, . . . get a large iced tea (lemon and sugar for sure ), . . . sit back, . . . and enjoy. There is so much there, . . . you will think died and went to some kind of leatherworker's Valhalla. May God bless, Dwight

The belts I make are for concealed carry or for commercial work belts. They are double layer, cemented together. flesh to flesh, and machine stitched around the edges. All are finished with a light coat of neatsfoot oil followed by one or more coats of 50/50 Resolene/water solution. On the rare occasion a customer wants only a single layer, . . . he gets one that has everything else done the same way. Resolene effectively blocks any dye transfer from what I have seen, . . . and protects the belt from other liquids that would mess with it. Just my $.02 May God bless, Dwight

Another trick I use, . . . the stylus needs to be sharp. Not sharp enough to go through the plastic, . . . but sharp enough to make a good indentation in the plastic. Take your time the first time you trace the project, . . . being careful to get some really good pressure all over the lines. Next time you want to use that pattern, . . . simply lay it on the leather, . . . take a flat plastic scraper, . . . rub the pattern, . . . voila, you have it transfered to your dampened leather. It will not be very deep, . . . but it beats having to trace it all over again, . . . especially on bigger stuff. May God bless, Dwight

Ganonymous, . . . if you want to use the hole saw, . . . use a grinder first to take off the teeth, being careful to just take them off. Don't grind any farther once you have a cylinder with no teeth on it. Put it in a drill press at a fairly fast speed, . . . use a file (wear gloves and safety glasses) against the outside edge, . . . and take your time. Once you have it down to a rough sharp edge, . . . staple a piece of plumbers cloth, 120 grit, to a board, . . . use it to finish making a really nice cutting edge. When you use it, . . . rub the cutting edge first with beeswax, . . . makes life a bit easier. Slow the drill press down real slow, . . . it will then cut your circles for you, . . . quickie too. A cheaper route is to use different sizes of electrical conduit, . . . they are good quality galvanized steel, . . . I make all my punches out of it (it doesn't cost me anything for the conduit ). It helps that I also have a 12" round sander to do my rough sharpening, . . . but I refuse to pay the high price when I can produce one myself that works every bit as well, . . . for about 20 minutes labor. May God bless, Dwight

I had never given any of my work for Christmas, . . . changed that this year. Julie (daughter in law studying to be a nurse practitioner ) needed a book bag. I saw the "pattern" done on a smaller purse at Tandy's and just could not resist. The bag itself is about 10 high and 16 inches wide. Sandi got the little purse to take back to Hungary with her (she's a missionary). It's about 9 inches wide and is a copy of my wife's purse I bought for her back in about 1972. Sandi's husband got the ranger belt. He, likewise is a missionary in Hungary. May God bless, Dwight

Katie, . . . tell your husband to give you a big hug, . . . you deserve it!!!! Your handbag is great, . . . I had seen one similar on the internet, . . . was looking for the pattern of the tooling, . . . may make one for my daughter in law for Christmas. I couldn't really copy the other one as well as I wanted to, . . . and here you are with just EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank yuh, . . . thank yuh, . . . thank yuh vurry much. FWIW, . . . go to YouTube, . . . Fort Worth Leather--The Making of a Leather Purse, . . . it's the same purse. May God bless, Dwight

Like Lobo, . . . I like Feibings dyes also, . . . and usually dip dye, . . . after the piece is more or less completely made, . . . stitched, . . . formed, . . . etc. But I have been known to grab a wool dauber and just daub the thing until it fairly well drips dye, . . . I do that mostly on one custom color I like, . . . I call it sunburst. My finish is Resolene, . . . mixed 50/50 with tap water. I brush it on with a camel hair brush or a foam brush, . . . and usually let it dry in the sun or near the wood stove (it all depends on the season). I really like the finish it gives when it is brushed on. I worked in a paint plant for 30 years, . . . could not care less if I ever saw another spray gun of any kind, . . . plus I do most of my work inside my house, . . . and my wife would not be happy with some kind of overspray leaking out of my work area into her kitchen. That is why I have developed ways around spraying anything. May God bless, Dwight

Some in the cheering section will definitely boo my idea, . . . but I absolutely detest hand stitching with a passion. On the few occasions when I do any, . . . I first use my Tippmann Boss to punch the holes, . . . and they go where they need to go. Not having a Boss, . . . I would go out to my shop, . . . get my handy dandy little $49.95 drill press, . . . put the awl needle in the chuck, . . . and use it to make the holes. If your leather projecte is laying flat on the drill press table, . . . the holes will be perfectly perpendicular to the leather, . . . and will be much easier to keep in a nice row on both sides. Oh, . . . and no, . . . you don't turn on the drill press, . . . you use it for the leverage and the perfect angle you get by making it make the hole. AND, ..................... if you want to get fancy with it, . . . use a sewing machine needle, . . . so the eye is at the bottom, . . . thread the thing up, . . . use a second, regular needle below, . . . and you can get a stitch that is for all tense and purposes, . . . just like a sewing machine stitch job, . . . it will just take you a bit longer than it would with a stitcher or sewing machine. May God bless, Dwight

Madmax, . . . just thinking out of the box, . . . if you want some help with stitching, how about a small drill press??? You don't even have to turn the thing on or plug it in, just use a sewing needle or an awl needle, . . . and use the leverage of the drill press to force the needle down where you want it. Occasionally I want a certain piece I'm doing to look different from my stitcher's stitching, . . . I use the stitcher to make the holes, . . . then hand stitch the item. It works the same way for me as the drill press would for you. Harbor Freight and other "cheap tools.com" folks can sell you one for 40 or 50 bucks, . . . and we see them from time to time at yard sales for 20 or so. May God bless, Dwight

A couple of years ago over on 1911.com, this same subject came up. One of the guys from Milt Sparks Holsters chimed in with an experiment he did. He took a mild steel rod and wrapped it with chrome tanned suede, . . . stuck it in a locker, . . . and left it. If my memory is correct, . . . several months later he took it out to see how it was going. The leather had made no change at all in the steel, in fact I took from what he said that it may have prevented what would have otherwise been surface rust from just being exposed to the air. FWIW, . . . long and short of it, . . . I have used pig skin as well as suede, . . . have never had a customer give me any grief about it. May God bless, Dwight

I just wanted to voice my personal opinion that I liked the old "Leatherworker.net" format much better than the "New & Improved" one. I am sure someone, . . . somewhere, . . . looks at the new one and gets all warm and fuzzy about all the changes they were a part of here, . . . how the new pages look, . . . how the new format is laid out. The problem is that there are some folks here in the good old USA that are stuck with no option other than dial-up, . . . and in my case, . . . EACH and EVERY page change that occurs takes anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 minutes and 45 seconds. I love leatherworking, . . . I love the banter and chit chat we have here, . . . but I simply do not have the time nor patience to spend an hour here doing what I previously did in 4 or 5 minutes. I am also very much disappointed that it seems like another "down home" place has gone Wall Street with no apparent regard for the consequences. May God bless, Dwight

When I make this holster, I use 5/6 oz leather. It is fully lined, and has an integral loop going down the back (invisible in this picture). Before I sew the flap together, I put in 2 Chicago screw female parts to hold the front holster strap. I then cut my strap, press it into the screw parts, punch the holes, and install the male screw parts to hold on the holster front strap. When it is done, you cannot see any part of the Chicago screw, and there are no stitches on the back of the belt loop. I do this because I have never quite gotten my hand stitching to be a pretty as I would like it to become, . . . and the Chicago screws do a great job of holding it where it needs to be. Just remember to add a small drop of clear finger nail polish into the female screw part, . . . it'll keep the male part from backing out. May God bless, Dwight PS: Edited to add: Attatch the front strap without the holster being in the loop. Tighten the screws real good. Cover the screw heads with a long piece of masking tape. Wet the holster real good (not quite soaked, . . . but close) and carefully, with clean hands, with careful hands, bend the holster and force it into the strap. Pull it down into the loop, and then form the holster with the gun, mallet and rod, . . . whatever. Don't forget to pull out the masking tape, . . . it just keeps the Chicago screws from marking up the back of the holster below the belt loop. Hope this helps

A couple of years ago, . . . just for kicks and giggles, . . . I made a suede & veggie tan copy of the USMC type soft cap. It has a bill and all, . . . similar to a baseball cap. I used two pieces of 3/4 oz leather for the bill, . . . cemented together with contact cement, . . . finished the edges really well, . . . it has held up with no problems at all. I would use a piece of veggie tan between your garment leathers, . . . again, just contact cement the whole thing together and finish the edges well, . . . I think you will like the result. You might try a small version first to see how it works for you. May God bless, Dwight

I only mold my holsters so far with 2 thumbs, several fingers, a couple antlers, a black sharpie, and a few assorted other thingamabobs. I don't use a press On my mag cases, . . . I have a two piece, wooden mold, . . . one that acts as the magazine, . . . the other that forms the leather over the magazine. I press the two together with my fingers & thumbs, . . . (after soaking the leather in HOT water), . . . put on a "C" clamp to hold it while it dries overnight, . . . and, . . . voila, . . . one more mag case for me. Always cut the leather for the case top a bit long, . . . trim it after it dries. Anyway, . . . that's how I do it, . . . no complaints so far. May God bless, Dwight

I am no expert on gun belts, . . . but John Bianchi's method basically is to take the customer's belt that is being worn today, . . . lay it down flat, . . . measure from the inside edge of the buckle (pin on a cowyboy buckle), . . . to the hole that is currently being used. Add 4 inches to it. Make the gun belt so that the distance from the inside edge of the buckle to the center hole in the strap is that new dimension (belt + 4). Of the few I've done, . . . this worked perfectly. All my gun belts I've made were 3 inches wide, . . . ranger style. May God bless, Dwight

yldbill, . . . looking at the link, . . . the bottom picture (silver scope on belt mounted holster), . . . is the model of one I made some time back for a fellow to use his Ruger .22 auto with a scope. The problem I had, . . . he had one of those big green plastic front sights on his pistol, . . . as well as the scope, . . . and I had to work around both. I wound up building a holster similar to the picture, . . . with the front of the holster cut out far enough down that the weapon actually had to be tilted into the holster, . . . muzzle first. Point the weapon to the ground about 5 feet behind you, . . . in goes the muzzle, . . . tilt back and straighten up the weapon, . . . and it positioned itself so that the entire weight of the weapon was held in place by the front of the trigger guard. I fully lined it with suede leather, . . . contact cemented and machine stitched, . . . and finished it with an "over the top of the grip" snap strap that holds the weapon in the holster. The strength of the whole thing came from the bottom of the holster, . . . from where the trigger guard meets the grip all the way out to the muzzle end, . . . the holster was just shy of a full inch thick. I used my Tippmann sewing machine to make the holes through the leather, . . . but I had to end up hand sewing it, . . . the machine could not work on that thick of leather, . . . kept breaking my thread. I forgot to get a picture of the thing, . . . wish I had, . . . because I really believe it was one of the prettiest ones I ever made. Good luck, . . . it is a project, . . . but it can be done. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, guys, . . . the leather "brush" I made was out of 5/6 or 6/7 leather, . . . and no, . . . I never clean it. After enough (read quite a few, . . . ) applications, . . . it may need replacing, . . . cut a piece of scrap, . . . replace, . . . done. I really don't mess with trying to clean the rascal. Besides that, . . . once I dip it again in the cement, . . . it kinda loosens up and flexes just the way I want it to do. As far as application, . . . don't be too picky about how it looks, . . . but again, . . . no big "puddles" laying around like Lake Erie next to Phoenix. I have never thinned the stuff, . . . just "slap" it on, . . . and if it is a bit thick, . . . that has never hurt, because no one ever sees the glue job any way, . . . they only see that the item stayed together BECAUSE of the glue. The only times I mess around with roughing up a smooth piece of leather, . . . is if it is real shiny. Other than that, . . . it is rough to smooth sides for most everything I do, . . . and the Weldwood holds. May God bless, Dwight

I use DAP Weldwood contact cement for all my holsters and belts. In fact, . . . if I'm going to sew it, . . . I cement it first. Buy the solvent base product, . . . the water base is not as good. Just be careful to use it in a well ventilated area, . . . and no smoking around it, . . . it is flammable with a capital F. I built a leather flap "brush" with a small piece of leather (1 1/2 by 3/4 inches) held into a slot in the end of a dowel, . . . and it works wonders. Lay on an even coat on both pieces, . . . don't puddle it, . . . make it pretty uniform throughout. Most important part: let it dry, . . . again, . . . let it dry. You should be able to daub a cotton ball all over the cement and not lose one fiber of it to sticky glue when it is ready to go together. I use a small hammer and scrap leather to "smoosh" the pieces together, . . . unless it is a double layer belt, . . . I use a rolling pin there. Other glues will work, . . . do the job, . . . but for putting stuff together to stay, . . . this is THE product that holds it together. If applied correctly, . . . it can be pulled apart later, . . . but there will be a layer of leather come with the pulled off side, . . . it doesn't just "come apart at the seam" like most other glues will do. And "No" this cement does not seem to be affected by any of the Tandy dyes I have used. Just be sure to first let them dry and buff off the surface real good before using the cement. And you may want to "rough up" the smooth side a little if when you buffed it, it comes out real good and shiney. May God bless, Dwight

In the absence of a groover, a large set of dividers, . . . with both points dulled fairly well, . . . makes an acceptable replacement tool. Set the dividers the width from the edge you want the stitches to lay, . . . lightly moisten the top of the object where you will be stitching, . . . and "groove" it with the dividers. John Bianchi favored this technique highly over using a stitcher, . . . but he also taught using a smoothing tool after all the stitching is done, . . . it flattens out the back side, . . . runs the stitches down into the groove made with the dividers, . . . and makes a really good looking product. May God bless, Dwight

Joe, . . . whenever I sew leather for a sheath or a holster, . . . I use the method taught by John Bianchi. Take a pair of long (10 or 12 inches long) dividers, . . . blunt, round & sand the points to get rid of scratches. Decide how far from the edge you want to sew, . . . and mark that line using the dividers. One end goes over the edge, . . . the other drags and scores the leather where you want the sewing to go. I usually do it twice, . . . once for position, then with a bit more pressure to make an indentation into the top leather piece. Sew the thing, using the machine (mine is a Tippmann also), . . . make sure you use a leather needle, not a round point needle. When you are done, . . . lightly moisten the back with a sponge or something, . . . and here you will need a special tool, but you can make it easily. Take a piece of steel or brass (NOT ALUMINUM) that is 6 or 8 inches long, about an inch wide, and 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Round the whole tip of one end so it is REALLY SMOOTH, . . . make a handle of duct tape on the other end. Where you wetted the leather, . . . lay down the rounded flat tip and literally rub the stitches down into the leather, . . . and at the same time, . . . it kinda like "erases" the marks made by the needle coming out the back. Don't forget to do the front also, . . . and if you did well with the dividers, . . . this tool will lay your stitches down in the groove really beautifully, . . . and later on you will find you don't need the groover or stitch marker. Anyway, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Although I have done some differently, . . . usually I sew, . . . final form & bone, . . . dye, . . . then finish my holsters. My last process is the same as Lobo, . . . an acrylic sealant, . . . and I use Resolene, in a 50/50 solution of Resolene and tap water. I apply it with a camel hair brush, . . . usually two coats. It takes about 20 minutes for a medium size pancake holster, . . . as you keep brushing and applying, until all the bubbles are broken down and the finish is smooth. It is similar to spit polishing shoes with Kiwi shoe polish. I have never had dye come through the Resolene, . . . May God bless, Dwight