Dwight

Absolutely a nice job Jarhead . . . but me and Doc are a lot alike. It would take me all of one morning to have that place looking "otherwise" to squared away. My storage idea is while I'm looking for item A . . . I'll see B, C, and D . . . then tomorrow while looking for B . . . I'll remember it's with C and D . . . so if I find any one of them . . . B will show up. Then I only have to remember what the heck I did with A . . . It's worked for me for 50 some years . . . why change now?? May God bless, Dwight

I made a plain one several years ago for a Bersa Thunder . . . as my hands are long and skinny . . . sure helped on the grip. How did you attach your edges together? I laced mine with really thin thong material. And as you can see . . . it was destined to be functional and not necessarily a beautification process . . . lol. May God bless, Dwight

The dye job you get also depends on how you do it. The three levels of dye depth are airbrush . . . daub/swab/etc . . . or dip dye. I won't waste good leather by airbrushing dye on it. If you do a belt or holster or purse that way . . . and if it rubs up against something fairly heavily . . . it'll scrape that leather and the interior leather will show thru every time. Daub / swab / etc generally will give a "non even" coat . . . unless you go over it several times. If you want even and deep dye penetration . . . dip dying is the only way. Mix your dye 50/50 with dye reducer . . . dip it . . . wipe off any dripping excess . . . and lay down to dry. Hanging it up will allow the dye to migrate from the top to the bottom of a holster or purse . . . and even worse on a belt. That will give you an uneven color from one end to the other or one side to the other. It took me a couple years to finally figure this all out . . . and even though I've heard some speak to the "savings" they get on the amount of dye used . . . I just chalk it up to being cheap . . . and quite honestly . . . producing a cheap product. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not particularly a dog lover . . . but I could feed her some kibbles and laugh doing it. May God bless, Dwight

Thru the years . . . I've never found any veg tan leather that really dyes great unless I do one little thing to it first. I give it a light coat of neatsfoot oil first . . . and on the hair side only. A 1 inch or so bristle brush dipped and stroked across the leather until it is all coated evenly . . . and the emphasis is on a LIGHT coat of oil. Then the dyes all seem to be much smoother and more even. The one exception to this is black . . . I don't oil before I dye black . . . black dyes black . . . period. I then buff the heck out of the black . . . and oil it then. All of them then get at least 24 hours afterward for dying . . . and another 24 for finishing. Like Tsunkasapa said . . . deglazer is worthless for virgin veg tanned leather. Just another product you buy that is never needed or useful. May God bless, Dwight

Yep . . . I make a lot of mine . . . those look real good . . . personally like my .22 auto for copperheads . . . May God bless, Dwight

If the holster is an IWB . . . I'd probably use it . . . OWB . . . it won't work. IWB relies a lot on the friction created by the human body and the belt . . . so even if it is a bit loose thru the molding . . . body pressure might make the difference. Plus you could always just run your stitch line a tad closer. May God bless, Dwight

Best way is to put said gun in a sandwich or freezer bag . . . wrap it in the leather for the holster that is the next thing to sopping wet. Stick it in a vacuum bag . . . turn on the vacuum pump . . . use your fingers to mold it as tight or as simple as you and your customer want. That's how I do all my holsters. May God bless, Dwight

Looks like someone is planning on having a lot of fun. May God bless, Dwight

I have two steel wire brushes . . . one standard size like painters use . . . another about the size of a toothbrush. That toothbrush size gets used a lot . . . can't recall when I used the big one last. Both work great . . . would not use anything else. May God bless, Dwight

My Tippmann Boss will also sew pretty much that thick. In over 20 years . . . only had one job that needed that thickness . . . a very special .22 pistol holster . . . it was for a handgun with a scope on top of it. I used the machine to punch the holes . . . then hand sewed the 35 or so stitches. It was a fun project . . . but I'm sure glad I have never had to make a bunch of them. Now however . . . with the Cowboy . . . it would not be as hard. May God bless, Dwight

I agree completely. Clean em up . . . inspect em . . . sell em. May God bless, Dwight

If blue dawn dish soap won't take it out . . . my guess is you are out of luck . . . but I'd just bury it for a week in a box of baking soda first. That may do it . . . if not . . . dawn and hot water . . . will probably deface the leather some . . . but some oil back on it and massaging it . . . you might get it back. I have an outdoor cat for very similar reasons. May God bless, Dwight

It is not glue . . . it is contact cement . . . he folded it . . . it stuck . . . contact cement my friend. May God bless, Dwight

Actually the Boss . . . is only 1000 bucks brand new today. There is not a sewing machine out there for double the price that will do everything it will do . . . unless you steal a used one somewhere. I did belts and everything on mine for 20 years . . . wasn't always happy with the cowboy rigs . . . especially when they were of the "jumbo" size . . . but they paid the bills . . . May God bless, Dwight

Honestly . . . if you used good contact cement . . . applied properly . . . that would probably work. However . . . and this is just a "ME" speaking . . . I'd probably stitch it with some bright white stitching just to frame it. But in answer to your question . . . I'll sometimes take a piece of veg tan that is on the stiff side . . . lay it hair side down . . . and curl it up over a 3/4 inch wooden dowel and pulling it . . . curl it over the dowel all the way down. With a long enough dowel . . . it can do a fairly large piece. It loosens it up a bit . . . makes it a lot more flexible. I especially do that for every belt I sell that goes out of this shop. Most are double layer . . . and just that one treatment makes it feel like a belt you have had for months. May God bless, Dwight

Depending on how mechanically inclined you might be . . . a small air cylinder could be rigged for the stitching . . . a separate one for the clamp . . . would take some thinking . . . and it was my probable path until I fell into a financial help that I could not pass up . . . and got the Cowboy. May God bless, Dwight

Given all you have said, plus my own personal experience . . . i would look into a Tippmann Boss . . . totally hand operated and currently about a thousand bucks brand new May God bless, Dwight

Very good in my book . . . I make holsters . . . but I do not have the patience for that. May God bless, Dwight

Far better than I would do . . . but now if they need a ccw holster . . . May God bless, Dwight

Lots of folks like this one . . . or the 5 shot revolvers. Have to admit I did look at it though. I need more ammo . . . and a bigger punch . . . but that's just me. Good leatherwork there my friend . . . May God bless, Dwight

I got the table attachment with mine . . . loosened up those height adjustment bolts . . . let it ALL THE WAY DOWN. Then . . . I removed the two pedals . . . re-drilled the mounting holes for them . . . moved them as far back as I could on the platform. Got me a stool . . . and life is so much better. I also got this https://www.ebay.com/itm/164394345099?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 to hold extra spools of thread . . . was cheap enough . . . and I've got all my most used threads out front there . . . just grab the end and thread it. You'll really like that if you are any relation to me . . . one heck of a great machine. Holler at me some day if you get interested in doing some smaller stuff and start thinking about another machine. There's an attachment you can get from Australia for a hundred bucks . . . lets you do small cases with thinner thread . . . etc. Makes your machine a WHOLE BUNCH more useful. May God bless, Dwight

Actually you can do it either way . . . I have two different Roman armor pieces (front and back and apron) . . . the black one is molded specifically for me . . . and will be used in a one act play in our church . . . as Cornelius the centurion. I molded it first . . . then dyed it. Molding it first gave it the typical shape I wanted . . . but by later dying it . . . it became wet again . . . and when it dried the second time . . . it was a bit more solid . . . a little harder. I'm just in the process of decorating it . . . the picture shows my inspiration for it . . . Anything you mold that way that you want to be seriously hard . . . dry it with heat. DO NOT go over 140 deg F . . . I have a drying box I use for holsters and stuff . . . they dry HARD . . . Anyway . . . have fun. May God bless, Dwight

Actually . . . either one will work for what you want to do . . . chrome tanned leather is sometimes used for gloves . . . as it holds up to weather a bit better . . . Veg tanned leather is more for things that will be formed to a certain shape (holsters, sheaths, etc) or for stamping (saddles, belts, etc). If you were going to get a tan / brown / etc . . . putting it out in the sun will turn it about as brown as you want . . . with no problem of dye rub off. If you want black . . . vinegaroon does a good job there . . . no dye rub off. Stay away from USMC black from Tandy's . . . it rubs off for the first 100 years or so. A light coating of Resolene will stop rub off . . . but can be rough on the skin. Diluting the dye with solvent . . . and several doses of the diluted dye will also reduce run off. But if the person is sweating profusely . . . you're on your own . . . that's a tough one. May God bless, Dwight

Well first of all . . . if you were making a cape for batman . . . it would not make much difference . . . a bracelet for a 5 year old might. What are you interested in making . . . holsters . . . belts . . . purses . . . hats? May God bless, Dwight