Dwight

With the thumb hole sling . . . you can take a small dowel rod about 3 or 4 inches long . . . tie a string to it or thru it in center . . . long ways . . . tie the string to your belt loop closest to your belt buckle . . . put the dowel thru and then sideways of the thumb hole . . . and the weight of the weapon then is on your belt . . . holding up your britches on one end . . . the gun on the other. Makes for carrying the gun and stuff in your arms a lot easier . . . such as a cinnamon roll and a cup of coffee . . . It is especially useful for a heavy gun that is receiver heavy. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not an expert either in the burnishing department or in the tooling . . . but for what I do . . . I have not really found any big difference. TTFWIW May God bless, Dwight

Hmmm . . . that meeting you mentioned was a meat portion of my message at church last Sunday . . . so many there we all want to either meet . . . or rejoin. And sadly . . . the older we get . . . the more of them that are there and not here with us. I also have one of those women you mentioned . . . and yes . . . it does make for a good life. Best wishes on your finishing of the house . . . hope you will bless us with pics of the finished product . . . they've gotta be good. May God bless, Dwight

Lookin good, Pastor Bob . . . always enjoy that kind of work . . . too bad it is such work . . . lol May God bless, Dwight

My apologies . . . didn't catch the political part earlier . . . Yep . . . keep the politics somewhere else . . . we're all getting far too much of that these days with the election coming up . . . uggghhhhhhh May God bless, Dwight

Didn't sound political to me . . . more like a disatisfied customer. You all can have Weaver Leather too if you want em . . . nothing political . . . just one unhappy customer. Hell will probably freeze 6 ft solid before I'd buy from them again. May God bless, Dwight

IF IT WERE ME . . . and that is only an IF . . . the rivets / snaps / etc . . . I'd list it as "this is what you get" . . . put a price on it . . . with a "or best offer" and sit and see what happens. But for the stamps . . . I'd put them out there individually at first . . . because I am not sure who will buy 100 of em . . . right off the bat. Most of us would like to see what you have . . . stamp wise . . . and if they are price right they will sell. What ever is left over in the stamps a month from now . . . put them up as a "this is what you get: . . . price it . . . OBO . . . and you are done. That is how I'd handle it. May God bless, Dwight

Look up the Tippmann company in Indiana . . . they are some of the most helpful people I've ever dealt with. They make, sell, and service clickers . . . and should be able to give you the straight dope. They are one of the advertisers here . . . keep watching the upper banner . . . they'll come on . . . and you can get their info. Their banner came up as I left this post . . . number is 1-800-286-8046 May God bless, Dwight

I get stuck with enough ads . . . and commercials . . . everywhere else I roam . . . would be nice not to get hammered by them here. May God bless, Dwight

While I've never done it this way . . . and would only do it for a very special piece that needed perfect sewing/stitches: I would lock my presser foot to the highest position . . . pull the top thread back out for about 3 or 4 stitches . . . change the bobbin . . . pull the bobbin thread up by threading it up by hand . . . hold it out to the side . . . re-position the item . . . lower the presser foot . . . pull all the loose upper thread back thru the tensioning . . . and SLOWLY, SLOWLY . . . begin stitching. Know for sure you will have one undone bottom stitch . . . but you may get away with it . . . leaving the top side looking like it should. May God bless, Dwight PS: it would have to be something super special for me to undertake this . . . I normally cut em both . . . start back about 3 stitches . . . double stitch it . . . and go on with life.

Generally speaking tooling leather and molding leather are kinda like wives and girl friends. You cannot have both unless you are in for heartaches and heart breaks. You gotta decide which one you really want. Best thing I have found that you can do is tool whatever you want tooled . . . let it 100% fully dry . . . and I'm talking FULLY DRY. THEN . . . very carefully . . . with latex gloves on . . . use a sponge and slightly . . . starting 90% from the flesh side . . . dampen the leather . . . bend it with your thumb and forefingers . . . VERY CAREFULLY . . . and let it take on the shape you want / need. But also remember . . . these are wedding shoes . . . worn for pictures and taken off . . . worn for rehearsal . . . taken off . . . worn for the wedding . . . taken off. They are never gonna be worn much over a total of 6 hours. I have gotten away with a few things this way . . . but I do my best never to get caught so to speak . . . with my wife and girlfriend together. May God bless, Dwight

Mmmm

Ohio Travel Bag: Wholesale Purse, Leather & Repair Hardware https://ohiotravelbag.com Leading hardware distributor to handbag and leathercraft, repair, costume and pet supply industries since 1908. Bulk Order Discounts.

Just be careful with facebook . . . they have a pricing strategy that can get in your pocket real quick . . . with no results. And they can drain a full pocket quick. At least when Ebay and some of the others get in your pocket . . . it is AFTER the sale. May God bless, Dwight

If you are making a specific item (plain jane belt for example) . . . Ebay is a good place to start. You photograph each item several times . . . put it on it's own page . . . brown on one page, tan on the next page, black on the next page . . . and you are done. You don't have to have it made if you tell them up front that you don't . . . and if you build in a shipping cost . . . folks flock to "free shipping" . . . Second thing it will do is begin to build a customer base . . . they will come back looking for other things if they really like your work . . . or you can put a flyer in the box with the first item . . . telling them about other items. I will be going back on there later this fall . . . the order comes in . . . I get it ready . . . package it . . . and ship it. Holsters are a different breed . . . up front they have to know it is a 2 week lead time. Lady's purses take even longer if you want to go there. But Ebay is your friend. Your cost is up front . . . and I have found them to be at least fair when it comes to disputes. I've won all but one (because I'm honest and ethical) . . . and the credit card company took care of the one Ebay didn't. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene put on full strength will crack, break, peel, and go away. Dilute it to 50% is what I've done and have had no problems since. May God bless, Dwight

That's good lookin stuff there. May God bless, Dwight

Good job on both . . . May God bless, Dwight

Thanks for the clues . . . May God bless, Dwight

Not quite sure I would spend that much time on a gun case . . . but by golly . . . it is a beautiful case you made. I'd also like to see some targets that thing shoots . . . and the ranges you shoot at. It looks awesome. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Doc . . . I don't particularly love doing business with China . . . but I (like you) needed a couple custom stamps. I went on Ebay . . . found a place in China (there are a bunch that advertise on Ebay) . . . it came in the mail about 2 weeks later . . . made out of brass . . . and the detail was superb. Don't know if this one is the one I used (it was several years ago) but here is one . . . and this is just a little more inflated price than I paid. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141593199313?hash=item20f79cc2d1:g:jecAAOSwEeFVIaxR&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4GNBdGmF8BYW1Hi47oM4B1Z1jHAuNREe493EWyuwH%2Fm757V37BoOgOTTm43TDGMsGKfpHVeL17d0JIyR9vNzAyZokPXdvQf4t2Od577T%2BhA3mfm%2BHsPSj9kdlEgzYSkddeIZENFMTgRbnZ5pVmO1usmjmPhK52H9EtsmFtNIFISSupzf0hVAlPdli3x%2Bjk95z5Mi92Ui7h0MHSzklcEfXhZsu6k8OAGFwt9kHDdnjU%2B6CFs1SIVNed5KW1uk2b%2B3yPESfBclhK27jPJO7G1u6vjCJrDSR%2BrV24ZakMUdMZqI|tkp%3ABk9SR6ytjqvrYA You will need to give them a picture . . . drawing . . . something to go by . . . the picture is the ones I got . . . there is a hole in the back . . . came with a little metal rod to screw in the back . . . I guess to use to pound on . . . I use these with a little 1/2 ton arbor press I got from Harbor Freight . . . and use them to make key fobs. Have fun . . . May God bless, Dwight

THE advice for making a sheath . . . absolutely NEVER put even one rivet in the sheath that is anywhere near the blade edge. WHY? . . . Because you . . . just like all the rest of us . . . will one day pick it up . . . swing it at a piece of wood . . . halfway thru the swing we will remember that the sheath is still on it . . . and when contact is made . . . the blade will be ruined wherever those rivets were. In the place of the rivets . . . put a welt . . . and sew the welt. If you don't sew . . . thong the thing . . . use a drill press . . . 1/8 inch holes . . . leather lacing . . . tie a knot in it before the first hole . . . tie another knot in it at the last hole. It won't be as pretty as the riveted one . . . but it will protect your hatchet / axe far, far longer and greater. May God bless, Dwight

Those both look really good . . . especially the color . . . you should be proud of yourself on those. I did one several years ago . . . a .22 Ruger semi auto . . . bottom welt had to be 3/4 of an inch thick. My Boss sewing machine didn't like sewing stuff that thick . . . but it DID punch the holes . . . and I finished the sewing with a needle . . . 346 thread . . . and a BIG pair of pliers. Hopefully you didn't have that kind of hassle . . . May God bless, Dwight

I'm not as good as I would like to be at wallets . . . so I bought one almost exactly like that. But yours is seriously better looking. Good job. May God bless, Dwight

Good looking belt . . . and I must say. you certainly have a ton more patience than I. My "grumpy . . . aggravated . . . exhausted" meter would have been pegging half way thru the belt. May God bless, Dwight