Dwight

With my Tippmann Boss machine, . . . I use 277 thread or 346, . . . depending on the "Look" I want, . . . but others use combinations of 277 and 207. The smaller is the 207 and larger is the 346. You will probably have to go to a commercial sewing machine place to get that thread. I buy mine directly from either Tippmann Boss in Indiana, . . . or ST Leather in Missouri. The needle size is easy to figure. Use the needle that has the smallest hole where you can put it on an 18 inch piece of the thread you are using, . . . and holding the string taught between your hands, . . . the needle will slide freely up and down the string when it is held on about a 30 degree angle. May God bless, Dwight

Arbor, . . . go to a Tandy leather store, . . . their vest pack of patterns is on sale for $7.00 now, . . . get it. Buy some of their leather for your vest, . . . the manager can show you what you need. It'll cost you probably in the neighborhood of less than $50. Cut your pieces when you get home, . . . and using rubber cement, . . . cement the edges together, overlapping about a half an inch everywhere, . . . and overlap it so it lays flat, not having to be bent back. Try it on and make sure it fits. You can take the rubber cemented pieces apart and re cut, adjust, etc until you get what you want. Then comes the fun: take a piece of quarter inch copper tubing, . . . about 2 inches long, . . . put it in your small lathe, . . . and take a cut on the INSIDE edge of the tubing so the outside edge becomes the sharp edge. You want to make that a long slow bevel like the edge on a butcher knife, . . . not like a chisel. Take your vest apart, . . . lay face side down, . . . use a straight edge and mark off a grid on all the pieces (stay 1 inch from all edges). Chuck up your copper leather chopper into a battery drill, . . . push the speed button to high, . . . and start cutting your holes in the back side. You will want the leather to be on a very smooth, pine 1 x 6 or something similar. You will probably have to re-sharpen several times, . . . or if you have it, . . . stainless steel works even better. After you have all the holes cut, . . . glue it back together and stich it, . . . VOILA!! I use the copper tube for holes in leather, plastic, foam, etc. and it works great for me. Good luck, . . . post some pics when you get it done. May God bless, Dwight

Use 3/4 oz leather to hold the clip on, . . . just sew it close to the clip and you should be OK. I usually make sure my clips are deep, as I make them so that they can be used on a belt that it made of two 5/6 oz blanks sewn/cemented together. Just pay attention to that detail when you buy them. May God bless, Dwight

Just a couple of comments: one being a question. What is the big deal on cutting the leather? If you are doing a finished project, you will want to sand and finish the edges anyway, so why go into a big sweat on whether the "cut" is 90 degrees or 85 degrees, . . . or even on the line you will want to see as the finished project? Secondly, . . . if you have a Stanley razor knife, . . . you can make an improvised strop for it with a 1 by 4 inch piece of scrap leather, . . . rub it with jeweler's rouge, . . . and keep your razor knife sharp with it. Most of the cuts I make would try the patience of anyone with a round knive as they are sharp curves, etc, . . . so my choice has been the razor knife that I keep "razor" sharp (which is about 3 times as sharp as a new blade right out of the box) with my improvised strop. But, . . . regardless of what you use, . . . if it is dull, . . . it will not cut correctly. A sharp knife, . . . regardless of the kind, . . . is what you need. May God bless, Dwight PS: If you really are dead set on perfect cuts, . . . on the line, . . . etc, . . . contact a band saw blade manufacturer through Google or something like that, . . . those that make custom blades will be able to make you one that has a razor edge on it, . . . you can put it on a regular wood or steel cutting band saw, . . . and you can cut leather as intricate as you want with a little practice, . . . and all your cuts will look great. If you do this, however, . . . you will want to be extremely careful with it, . . . it will take finger tips, knuckles, etc off so fast it is almost unbelievable.

"IF IT WERE MINE", . . . I would very gingerly razor cut the bottom stitches in this photo, . . . and sew the sleeve on the back to take a stainless "holster" clip you can buy at Tandy Leather. The sleeve should be sewn just about straight up and down according to this picture, . . . and you just put a couple of loops of thread through the hole in the bottom of it to keep it from coming out of the sleeve. Then just sew the bottom back together, . . . voila, . . . a working cross draw holster. It will slip onto your belt as you get ready to drive, . . . and off when you no longer need it. Place it on just the other side of the first belt loop to the left of your buckle, . . . should work great. I "open" them up a bit as they are too tight for me from the factory on anything I make. Oh, . . . yeah, . . . I don't have a box, . . . I just keep a plastic 5 gallon bucket under my working desk, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Go to www.pistolsmith.com, . . . scroll down to the holster section, . . . (you may have to sign up, . . . I don't know for sure), . . . use the search function, . . . look for holster presses. There are several pictures on line there, . . . everything from old screw presses, . . . to nice new hydraulic presses. From all the info I could gather (I'm going to build one this summer............maybe) the key to it is the rubber used. It is supposed to be gum rubber, . . . durometer hardness of 40 and can be bought by the square foot from McMaster-Carr, . . . the catalog folks. One fellow on there said he put a gauge on his, . . . used something in the neighborhood of 6 tons of force on his press, . . . FWIW May God bless, Dwight

You can buy Muratic acid at any store that sells bricks for fireplaces and such. The acid is used to clean the brick after they are set. Sulfuric acid in low concentration: battery acid in your car's battery. Oh, . . . and Bree has some good advice on both of them, . . . they will mess you up if you make a mistake, . . . always wear eye protection using them, . . . goggles if you have them, . . . rubber (not plastic, . . . RUBBER gloves), . . . and for what it is worth, . . . wear a pair of jeans you don't want any more. Either of them dropped on denim will make them look like swiss cheese after they are washed (well learned advice from an old Navy battery electrician). May God bless, Dwight

To Lobo, . . . in the words of an old singer, . . . "Thank ya, . . . Thank ya, . . . Thank ya vurry much". My stamp is on its way, Brenda was very helpful, and the whole transaction went smooth as Blue Velvet. May God bless, Dwight

Like most, . . . I too had a time with these problems, . . . but the biggest part of my problem was solved by a friend who showed me a slick trick for keeping your knife sharp. Take a piece of the grey colored porous cardboard that is like the inside of a cereal box. Cut it to a piece 8 or 10 inches long and 1 or 2 inches wide. Rub it hard with several wide strokes of jeweler's rouge. Then just draw your knife blade along it from time to time (about every 4 or 5 minutes for me), . . . watching to be sure you keep the blade angle flat against the cardboard. It keeps a nice sharp edge on your blade as you cut. Be sure to draw away from the sharp edge and look for the black streak behind you as you go. It tells you that metal is being removed from the blade, . . . sharpening it. I usually do 4 or 5 pulls on each side, . . . then go back to carving. May God bless, Dwight

Adding to what has already been said (only for emphasis), . . . a friend of mine wanted to get into the laser engraving business. He and his wife sunk $25,000 into the equipment, training, and a small pile of sample blanks. IT DID DO FANTASTIC WORK !!!!! He also hinted that it was somewhat expensive to operate (no figures just complaints) as it used some kind of containerized CO2 and some other stuff. Anyway, may God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . I know not everyone has the funds to experiment with this process, . . . and if one needs a quick and useable vaccuum source, . . . try your local pick up truck. For a few bucks you can buy vaccuum hose at your local NAPA store, . . . pull a line off your local pick up truck, . . . attach the hose to the bag, . . . start the truck, . . . VOILA, . . . I watched a guy one day pump out my septic tank using this method, . . . he just had a coiled roll of 3/8 inch hose hanging on the side of the big tank, . . . lifted up the hood, . . . started her up, . . . about 10 minutes later the big "HISSSSS" from the pit said it was empty. Paid him $85.00 for the lesson and the cleaning. May God bless, Dwight

If I were doing it, . . . I would probably make that section into 3 pieces: a) above the padded section, the padded section, and c) below the padded section. I would then begin lacing in the center of the "join" between sections b & c, . . . and use the lacing to join them together, . . . transitioning to just an edge lacing up and around to the top, . . . where I would use the lacing to join b & a, . . . then lace on down the other side and into where I started. Just a thought, may God bless, Dwight

Mike, . . . this may not be what you were looking for, . . . but it works to cover a handle with braided or just stranded leather. After you wrap it loosely on the handle, . . . wet it down and start in the middle, . . . tightening up the loops very tight against the handle. Make sure both the straight strands are on the bottom side of the handle and laying side by side in the center of the handle. Pull it up real tight and razor cut off the ends next to the last wrap, . . . May God bless, Dwight handlewrap.bmp handlewrap.bmp

I kicked around a couple different things, including the burnisher John Bianchi shows on his holster making video, . . . but my Dremel tool burnisher seems the best for me. Plus, . . . I don't have to go to the shop, . . . I can burnish on the front porch watching the birds, . . . catching up on the news, . . . and if I had a horse and a plug in on the saddle, . . . while getting my morning ride Mine is made from an oak dowel, . . . using a 1/8" drill bit for the shaft, . . . made both of them in less than a couple of hours. May God bless, Dwight

A: Your temperature is too hot, . . . use water that is nuetral feeling to your hand, . . . which should be somewhere around 100 deg F. B: Just get the leather wet, . . . it does not need to be like a dishrag in order to properly mold. I also tend to let it air dry for a little while, then when I mold it, . . . I don't have to go over it and do it again because it was too wet and the shape slumped out of the way I wanted it. C: Also, if you are using a liner, . . . don't just glue the edges, . . . do both pieces front to back, left to right, top to bottom. I also buy my contact cement at a hardware store, as it is far cheaper there per oz. Tell them you DO NOT WANT water based cement, . . . you want solvent based contact cement used for putting down formica on kitchen cabinets. That's the good stuff, . . . but is extremely flammable and has to have a good ventilation system if you are using very much of it. D: I also stitch all my holsters pretty much at 3/16" and at the most 1/4" from the edge. Much farther away and the layers can open up. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, . . . thanks, Lobo, . . . I normally use regular old carpenter's contact cement, . . . (it does wonders for a stuffy head early in the morning ), . . but I did make one holster one time with Elmer's white carpenter glue. It didn't do to suit me so I ripped it apart, . . . literally pulling the glue off the leather, . . . and that was when I decided that contact cement was my friend and I was "sticking" to it. If I understand you correct, . . . this is the yellowish glue that you used, . . . not the white stuff. I just may give that a try, . . . but the white stuff is reserved for the wood shop and/or paper. May God bless, Dwight

I used 277 on the last one I did, . . . there are some pictures of it on the other thread we were talking on. I have started using 346 on some things I'm doing now, . . . and I really like the way it looks and works, . . . I just may be switching. I've seen where a number of folks use 277 on top and 207 in the bobbin, . . . but that is just too technical for me, . . . gotta keep it simple, . . . one number. May God bless, Dwight

I had a pair of boots I was near to crying about, . . . I had mistakenly used the wrong polish on them, . . . and they had turned a super dark brown, . . . from a nice saddle tan. Finally one day, . . . I decided to either get em fixed, . . . or pitch em, . . . couldn't stand looking at them any more. I took paper towels and Tandy's dye solvent, . . . and scrubbed and rubbed all the old polish off. In the process, . . . it cleaned em up real good, . . . but they were seriously dry looking and kinda scruffy. As a final touch, . . . I brushed them with a 50/50 mixture of Resolene and water, . . . and I have practically a new pair of boots. They actually look like something worth wearing for the first time in several months. Hope this helps, . . . may God bless, Dwight

You wrote: "Let me know what you feel needs improving and what you would have done differently." First, . . . that's a pretty good job for the first one, . . . mine was no where as good. But: already been said, . . . get the stitch lines closer to the weapon, especially the trigger side, and don't be too concerned about making it too small. I've had to do some shoving, tugging, and pushing on some that wanted to be too small, . . . but in the end, . . . leather does stretch, . . . Secondly, . . . get rid of the points on the outside edges, . . . and add smooth curved flowing lines to it. The straight cut across the front has little appeal. Thirdly, . . . also been said, . . . tighten up the belt slots a bit, . . . they may not be big, but in the picture they have that appearance. You want the belt to go in with just enough clearance that it goes in without shoving. The holster will then adjust to the belt as you wear it. A big "Yessir" to the sight channel, . . . I mold mine with a 3/16 inch dowel taped to the top of the handgun so I get a good sight channel. You might also take the time to learn to mold more of the weapon to the outside, . . . leaving the back (inside) flatter, . . . it makes it MUCH, MUCH more comfortable. Finally, . . . face the flesh side into the inside (next to the human body) on the back piece on a pancake holster, . . . it makes a better looking rig, . . . and it doesn't move around any where as much. Last point, . . . you did one of my favorite tricks that others do not do, . . . that is to mold in the safety to the back tang. I think it is very important as it will keep the safety on and not slide off, . . . which is very important for me in anything but a 1911. May God bless, Dwight

Scott, . . . take those Tandy snap setters, . . . give them to your Uncle Bill to use for fishing weights, . . . go to Walmart and get one of their snap pliers. Mine have kinda dark blue handles, a red ring to hold the male part of the snaps in place while being set, . . . and I found them in the sewing section, . . . next to the needles, snaps, thread, etc. When I bought mine, they came with a half dozen size 24 snaps that said .45 Colt on them, . . . and it is one super tool. It has a realy easy learning curve to it, . . . just remember that the flaring point needs to be in contact with the snap as you begin to squeeze the tool. I think they cost about 8 bucks, . . . great investment, . . . I average ruining about one snap in 30 or 40 with them, . . . maybe 1 in 10 with the Tandy tools, . . . and the doing of the snaps is about 1/10th of the time. Additionally, . . . they have a rounded smooth piece that protects the top of your snap. Sometimes my Tandy done snaps looked like I had beat them on both sides. May God bless, Dwight

I'm probably out of the ordinary on this, . . . but I always plan on sanding the edges smooth, . . . and when they happen to line up right, . . . it's a pleasant surprize. I used to try, . . . and fail regularly, to get it all to line up, . . . finally figured it wasn't worth all the hassle & worry when I've got at least 7 different sanding tools and a trash bin. Now I just sand it 'till it's right, . . . or pitch it and start over. May God bless, Dwight

Thasssss a good job, Freedom. May God bless, Dwight

That's a big CONGRATULATIONS, . . . glad it is working out for you. May God bless, Dwight

I did this one last year, Jordan, . . . using techniques garnered from Gormley and John Bianchi. If you see or get a chance to see John's 3 tape series on making Western gun rigs, . . . absolutely and positively well worth the 6 hours watching. Take MANY notes. Both the holster and the belt are 5/6 oz double shoulder leather, . . . two layer, . . . contact cemented and stitched together. I sold the cross draw holster, . . . but am keeping the right hand holster and belt (unless someone makes me an offer I cannot refuse, . . . Don't forget to post pictures when you get done, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I'll second the motion by shorts, . . . resolene. If you don't have the equipment for spraying, . . . put some in a pint jar, mix it with an equal amount of luke warm water, . . . shake it well, . . . get a small, cheap, horsehair brush and go for it. You want to be sure there is no more "leatherwork" to be done, . . . but keep buckles, and stuff off for now. Saturate the whole project, . . . front, back, left, right, top, bottom, inside, outside, straps, . . . the whole 11 yards. Then go back immediately with a lighter layer, . . . brushing right and left & up and down. You want to make almost a froth on the project, . . . then keep brushing till the froth is basically gone. Hang it in the sun, . . . or another "warm" place. YOU DO NOT WANT A HOT PLACE, . . . just "warm" if available. If you aren't satisfied with the first coat, . . . do it again, . . . same process. May God bless, Dwight