Dwight

Don't get me wrong . . . I am interested in the final answer . . . but let me ask you a question . . . Why did you decide you need this attachment . . . why do you need to use it??? My reason for asking is simple . . . I do the same things . . . holster, belts, knife sheaths . . . etc. I put the flat table attachment on my machine . . . leave it on all the time. It works great for me in every thing I do. Just finished up two cowboy buscadero holster belts and one holster . . . did it without the attachment. Lemme know . . . I'm really curious. May God bless, Dwight

I'm no chap expert . . . but the few I've done were straight cut . . . and worked well May God bless, Dwight

I have used OTB for the past 25 years on and off . . . as needed. I once had fairly high esteem for Weaver's as well . . . and that went out the window about a year ago . . . I'll buy from someone else if there is any possibility . . . the last leather I got from them should have been returned to the cow . . . Their staff used to be warm, helpful, happy . . . my last trip there was anything but . . . May God bless, Dwight

I personally found it and Etsy to be well stocked with folks who were 110% competitive with every one else . . . and for the most part . . . seemed to be folks I did not want to deal with. Every now and then I'll inadvertently wind up there . . . mostly when I'm looking for an image . . . and they'll let me have it for only $29.95 . . . or if I sign up and agree to a monthly charge of $9.95 with a maximum of 30 images per month. I steer clear . . . and I think you made a really good decision May God bless, Dwight

Hobby Lobby . . . and hardware stores . . . sell stencils . . . and of course . . . there are all sorts of fonts on programs like Word . . . As previously mentioned . . . you can produce those letters to the size you want . . . Tape them down over your leather belt . . . and use a razor knife to just cut the paper . . . and go about 1/16 of an inch into your leather. A swivel knife going into that slot will give you a nice valley . . . and you can then get acrylic paints . . . paint it up to the edge of that little valley . . . and you are good to go. May God bless, Dwight

Whenever the subject of fanning comes up . . . I always remember the old Wyatt Erp (Hugh O'Brien) segment where Erp calls out a cowboy . . . and I disrecall exactly the details . . . But the guy was up on the boardwalk . . . Erp was in the street . . . carrying that Buntline of his . . . the dude whipped out his pistol and fanned it IIRC . . . 4 times before Erp got off a shot. Erp shot once . . . dropped the cowboy. And they were something like 12 ft apart in the scene. As small as O'Brien was . . . it was a bit illogical to think the dude could miss 4 times at that range . . . But then again . . . it was TV . . . not the History Channel. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Chuck . . . I knew some of that . . . but nothing near it all . . . May God bless, Dwight

You do not say whether you are going to use a semi auto or a revolver. Revolver's are obviously harder to do. But if you wanted a steel lined holster . . . I'd go find me some 22 or 24 gauge galvanized sheet metal . . . some 8 or 9 ounce stiff veggie tanned leather . . . and a SMALL ball peen hammer. Wet and mold that leather to your gun as best you can . . . two pieces . . . one on each side . . . mold it flesh side to the gun . . . . Let it dry . . . bone stinking dry . . . then cover it with 3 or 4 coats of 50/50 resolene and water on the hair side only. Brew up yourself a nice big pot of strong coffee . . . put away your cussing dictionary . . . cover your gun with those leather pieces . . . one side at a time . . . lay down a piece of that steel that's a good 2 inches bigger all the way around . . . and begin to slowly and carefully mold that sheet metal to the gun . . . using the ball peen hammer and little bitty hammer blows. Hold the steel in place with the off hand that has a glove on it. Don't expect to be done in time to watch your favorite show on TV tonight . . . maybe tomorrow nite either. Seriously . . . it can be done . . . but it is a pain. You then mold a 6/7 oz piece of veggie tan to the gun . . . hair side to the gun . . . and when that is dry . . . contact cement it to the inside of the metal pieces that you have trimmed to fit. When trimming . . . use sharp metal shears . . . take off small pieces . . . until you get the two pieces of leather and steel to match together with the gun in the middle. Don't cut the leather until you have perfectly done the metal . . . just pull it back from the leather . . . you will need the leather to be bigger than the metal . . . so you can sew this inside liner to the outside of the leather holster. Oh . . . and sewing it all together will also cause you to recall some of those words from your cussing dictionary. An alternative to the steel is Kydex plastic. You can use something like 3/64 or 1/16 inch kydex . . . and instead of a ball peen hammer . . . you use a heat gun . . . slowly warm it up . . . and with your off hand . . . wearing a glove . . . you can shape it to fit your weapon . . . heat the kydex until you can mold a little bit of it . . . mold that . . . then using a paper towel and cold water . . . "FIX" that molding by immediately cooling it . . . then move a little bit farther down on the gun and mold another piece. Neither the steel or kydex will make a perfect . . . glove fit . . . but for "quick draw" and stuff like that . . . this process will work. Mold another piece to the outside of your metal or kydex pieces . . . then contact cement the whole rig together . . . sew . . . dye . . . finish . . . and then ask yourself why you didn't just buy one . . . sure would have been simpler. May God bless, Dwight

Make sure you post those shoes . . . we need to see good things like that. I'm making a pair of "sort of" moccasins maybe this winter . . . cutting the tops off a pair of my worn out favorite tennis shoes . . . adding buffalo suede tops . . . if I can figure out how to do it. My feet are cold abuot 330 or so days a year . . . want to try and change that a bit. May God bless, Dwight

In one word . . . no . . . Resolene is an excellent product if applied correctly for a particular purpose. I use it on 90+% of belts I make . . . same for holsters . . . gunbelts . . . knife sheaths . . . It is just the berries for products that are molded . . . and you want something to help the molding stay molded . . . it's great for that. I made a book carrier for a college student once and used resolene on it . . . and it became way too stiff for it's intended purpose. She hung on to it . . . tossed a flower arrangement in it . . . took it to the county fair . . . won a whole handful of ribbons with it . . . because it held up the flowers . . . But in answer to using it . . . make it the last thing you put on the leather item you are making with the exception of shoe polish. I would never have thought twice about my shoes in the military if I'd had resolene . . . shoe polish over it makes one super shine. . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you have a small drill press . . . you can chuck up your punch in it . . . and there should easily be enough force generated by the downward push of the chuck . . . to easily punch your holes. I would try it first without the machine running . . . then for kicks n giggles . . . with it running on the slowest speed it has. An alternative would be an arbor press . . . drill out the ram . . . the diameter of a hand punch you buy at Tandy's or wherever . . . set also a allen head screw in the side to keep it from falling out . . . and you can punch all day and the worst to happen is your arm get tired . . . This press is less than 70 bucks on Amazon May God bless, Dwight

Looking good . . . May God bless, Dwight

I've never seen anyone wear buckles inside May God bless, Dwight

Most threads are listed as TPI or Threads Per Inch . . . Count the number of threads . . . I counted 11 . . . and interpolate that into a 1 inch length . . . from what I can see on the screen . . . it looks to me like 22 TPI Good luck. May God bless, Dwight

ALL western gun belts that are made correctly have a curve. Those that don't are NY gun belts. If they tie together in the front . . . they're Chicago gun belts. May God bless, Dwight

For sure . . .

I have stayed away from Barge . . . based on the simple fact that if applied correctly . . . Weldwood cannot be pulled apart. If you believe you have succeeded . . . take another look. You pulled fibers of leather off both pieces . . . in effect . . . ripping the leather apart. Barge cannot do any better than that . . . period. Reading the MSDS for Barge . . . . that stuff ain't coming in my shop. May God bless, Dwight

Dip dyeing and air brush will both give you an even coat. Dauber and wool may . . . but I've never been as successful as I like to be. Air brush though I do not use . . . the coat is so thin with a normal air brush routine . . . scratch it and you will generally go thru the dye . . . dip dye stops that. Buy a box of latex or vinyl gloves . . . use a 9 by 14 baking pan . . . I've got one for black . . . one for browns . . . I pour out of a quart bottle . . . I've mixed my dye in it . . . 50/50 dye and reducer . . . start one end in the dye . . . push it to the other side . . . grab it with the glove . . . tap it to get the excess off it . . . lay it down . . . flesh side down . . . to dry . . . or if it is a sheath or holster . . . set it out for about 10 minutes . . . then into the hot box if I'm doing that. The gloves are the best bet . . . After finishing the dye job . . . put a funnel in the neck of the dye bottle . . . pour the leftover back into the bottle . . . use two paper towels to wipe the pan out . . . toss the gloves and the paper towels . . . cleanup is complete. Dye job is done . . . and you will find out that you CAN use different than a 50/50 mix . . . but more dye and you have to mess with a bunch of dried pigment . . . more reducer and the dye job can bleach out in the sun. I have a holster and belt set that was a really beautiful medium grey . . . the black bleached out . . . it is now a "kinda" grey tinted brown. Anyway . . . have fun . . . may God bless, Dwight

Beautiful work YinTx . . . don't know about you . . . but I got to the point I needed a pair. I can't do your quality work . . . and I didn't try . . . but I got a pair that works . . . Mine will be tossed . . . your heirs will be arguing over who deserves yours the most . . . Anyway . . . here's my cheap version of needed suspenders . . . some Tandy make believe crockagator lined with some 1/2 oz black garment leather . . . glued, trimmed, and cowboy sewn . . . next to my red nylon work suspenders . . . these are good for me. I had held off until because I didn't like the alligator clips. . . a customer asked me to fix his pair that had the trigger snaps . . . from there on out I was sold. Even ordered a set for my red nylon work suspenders. May God bless, Dwight

My Tandy store is much the same with the same kind of manager. It's a joy to deal with them. May God bless, Dwight

I don't recall who it was (somewhere on the internet) . . . but after I bought mine back in 2000 . . . I had the same questions. At that time I was messing with 277 and another size . . . I was thinking it was 307 or somethere thereabouts. Anyway the advice was thread the needle . . . stretch a piece of the thread about 18 inches (or 45cm) long . . . put the needle on the edge near your right hand . . .hanging loose. Stretch the string tight and start lifting your right hand . . . the needle if sized correctly . . . will be the smallest number that will allow the needle to slide down quickly and easily before your riight hand has the needle up at a 45 degree angle. That has worked for me ever since . . . But it was not too long . . . maybe a year at most . . . I began using 346 size . . . and it is basically what I use for everything. I do belts, holsters, and knife sheaths mostly . . . mag carriers and cell phone carriers too . . .I like the looks of the 346. Here is a little chart . . . Tippmann came up with: 415 Thread with a Size 250 Needle Commonly used in rated products like logging, mining, and military nylon webbing and strapping. 346 Thread with a Size 230/250 Needle Commonly used for mule and other heavy duty tack. Also used in boot and shoe applications. 277 Thread with a Size 200 Needle Is the most commonly used thread size in leather crafting from saddle and tack, boot and shoe, gun and knife, and all other kinds of craft and industrial applications. 207 Thread with a Size 180/200 Needle A favorite size thread for saddle bags, purses, and other thin material crafting. 138 Thread with a 160 Needle Used mostly in belts, billfolds, purses and other thin material crafting. 99 Thread with a 130 Needle and 69 Thread with a 110 Needle Is seldom used in leather applications unless the stitch is not to be a major part of the final design. This combination is more commonly used in fabric, vinyl, and other thin material applications. Note: Your bobbin thread tension will require readjustment when using smaller thread diameter May God bless, Dwight

This is how you do it on that style holster . . . May God bless, Dwight

I have never had any real problems with acetone . . . provided you don't dump a boatload of it into really thick old weldwood. Normally . . . I keep my weldwood in a glass commercial jelly jar . . . and watch it for thin / thick consistency. When it start getting a tad thick . . . I'll put in a tablespoon or two . . . stir it good with a screwdriver . . . wipe the screwdriver . . . and go on. Works well for me. May God bless, Dwight

Tandy leather does not have a finish of any kind on their veg tanned leather. You are only looking at the leather itself. Don't waste good money on deglazer . . . First thing you do with veg tanned leather . . . especially if it is going to be a tan, light brown, or other lighter color . . . Give it a light coat of neatsfoot oil the day before. LIGHT is the appropriate word . . . on the hair side only . . . just enough to be sure you got the whole surface covered. Do not use that junk neatsfoot oil compound . . . use the real stuff. Let it dry for 24 hours . . . it actually does not "dry" it just saturates evenly throughout the project. Next day . . . dye it . . . if you are cheap and don't care about your customers . . . use an air spray gun . . . it will put a coat of dye very evenly on it if you are good . . . it will be very thin . . . and if the project gets a good scratch . . . it will scratch off the dye . . . revealing bare leather. I prefer dip dyeing . . . and it comes out more uniform than any other process I've ever tried . . . as you can only dip dye something by dipping it. Thin down the dye using a 1 to 1 ratio with Feibings dye reducer. Again . . . playing with the ratio will get weird colors . . . and going very light . . . will allow the sun to bleach the dye color out of the project. I prefer to lay my project down on the side not seen . . . or seen less. Do not hang belts up to dry . . . the dye will drift to the bottom . . . making it dark on the bottom end . . . lighter on the to end. Let it dry for 24 hours. Finish to suit yourself. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Doc . . . I'm all for it . . . Get the list out here for all to see . . . I just don't like someone coming on here . . . doing a dozen posts . . . then taking up the next month with all the junk/stuff they build, sell, market, etc. Get enough of that everywhere else in our community of life. May God bless, Dwight