Dwight

Isopropal alcohol is I believe what some folks here use . . . personally I use a dedicated thinner made by Feibings . . . because I use their dye exclusively. The key is to find a line of products that you like and that works for YOU . . . you may have to do some experimentation to get it down . . . but once you find the good thing . . . mark it down and then don't deviate from it. Your products will then be uniform . . . and easier to duplicate when the need arises. Just be careful you don't wind up like the English man of a couple hundred years ago . . . traveled to the Orient and became infatuated with a pure white cup he saw. He asked the maker how to duplicate it . . . the maker would not tell him. He went back to England . . . started experimenting . . . weeks led to months . . .which led to years . . . and became his greatest pursuit . . . and then ONE DAY . . . he achieved his goal . . . the cup came out of the oven . . . beautiful pure white. UNFORTUNATELY he had not written down how he mixed this product before putting it in the oven. The rest of his life he was never able to duplicate. Long story . . . but one that all who make individual items for other persons needs to remember. May God bless, Dwight

Any and all oil should be applied either before cutting the leather . . . or to the completed project before any dyeing or finishing is done. Otherwise . . . it may not go in . . . and it certainly won't do the job you bought it for. Second . . . don't apply your dye directly from the bottle or can . . . all I've ever used needed to be thinned first . . . usually equal parts dye and thinner. Then when you find the formula that works for your project . . . always use that same formula to get the same color time after time. The best application is dip dying . . . dip it in . . . pull it out . . . use paper towels to sponge off the extra . . . if it is a belt, or long something . . . lay it on it's side . . . or the dye will migrate and be darker at the bottom end . . . lighter at the top. May God bless, Dwight

All holsters I've ever run across will have at least a short piece above the gun that keeps it from rubbing the flesh of the wearer. Up near the top of that . . . around the hammer area . . . six stitches will hold a suicide strap with no problems. Do them in a box pattern 2 down each side . . . one at the top . . . one at the bottom . . . Also all holster I've ever run across will have a place . . . usually just in front of . . . the trigger guard . . . where there is no weapon . . . but there is some room there between the front and back of the holster. Find a wood piece you can shove in there . . . keep it tight . . . and punch the hole for the snap. You then muscle in the male piece for the inside part of the snap . . . up thru the hole . . . and take that same piece of wood . . . covered this time with a piece of steel . . . shove it down tight so the snap part won't move . . . add the other part of the snap . . . punch it down . . . and hit it a couple extra times . . . and you can make that inside piece flat enough to look like skin on the inside of the holster. Add the female part of the snap to the suicide strap . . . call your customer to come get his holster. If you don't want to use a snap . . . use fredk's same principle to sew a round piece of leather that will allow you to first attach the male part of a snap . . . then sew it into place . . . after you have contact cemented in place. A but tedious . . . but it works. If he's a friend . . . good customer . . . no charge . . . May God bless, Dwight

There is a simple answer to this one kcenderjim . . . don't use pre dyed leather . . . especially black. You can see what you are doing on any light color . . . and best if it is not dyed at all. Dyeing is an easy process . . . and dollar for dollar . . . it is about the same price to let them do it . . . or DIY. The ease of dyeing is only complicated a little bit sometimes by the dye choice. USMC black is one you want to stay away from like it is the plague . . . distributed under the Feibing name. May God bless, Dwight

This is done as a finishing step . . . or "corrective" step. Either way . . . finished, dry, ready to be used . . . just a little tight until you do this. May God bless, Dwight

Yessir . . . what he ^^^^^^ said. May God bless, Dwight

One thing always remember with knife sheaths . . . holsters . . . mag carriers . . . and a few other items. If when you make it . . . it's a tad tighter than you want it . . . simply stuff the gun, mag, knife, etc . . . into a thick freezer bag. Then stuff that down into the sheath, mag carrier, holster . . . leave it over night. Get up the next morning . . . take the gun, knife, mag out . . . remove the bag . . . try the fit now. It will always be a tad lighter . . . And that is how I'll fit just about every holster I make. Works every time. And I'm sure it would work super on this one if it needed a little less retention. May God bless, Dwight

Your imagination is your only limitation on that question. And the word "best" only defines that idea in the mind of the one who will be wearing them. I made mine out of suede . . . loved em. If you go to google and call up "rodeo chaps for sale" you will see a plethora of different ideas. May God bless, Dwight

Well, Kenny . . . I'm a "nothing ventured . . . nothing gained" type of guy. And for sure the only guaranteed way to fail . . . is to not try. That said . . . I've never messed with a lot of re-dyeing projects . . . But you just need to ask yourself if it is worth the $10 worth of dye and thinner and time . . . OR . . . you might carefully sand the outside . . . scrub it with a wire brush . . . take another piece of leather and just re-cover the whole thing . . . OR . . .cut out heart / flower / cartoon, etc. shapes and glue them over the worst parts. There are cures for those things that are just plain ugly . . . and the cosmetic counters at Walmart and other places are living proof May God bless, Dwight

Cheek pieces . . . slings . . . sample holsters . . . zippered up rifle carry bags . . . knife sheaths . . . AND . . . when you make these . . . personalize them . . . stamp them . . . let it be known that all kinds of decorations and personalized work can be done as well . . . I make money on the "plain jane" stuff I sell . . . but I MAKE money on the pieces that are personalized. One of the favorites that happens a lot is the USMC logo for the Marine Corps . . . lots of guys were jar heads . . . are proud of it . . . same for USN, Navy . . . And what ever you do . . . make sure you go over it with a fine tooth comb . . . no shortcuts . . . no mistakes. Those are display items . . . folks will spot a mistake or wrong doing in a NY heart beat . . . send only your best work over there. May God bless, Dwight

I cannot see from the picture the kind of detail I would like to see . . . And when I first looked at it I thought it was a belt . . . turns out to be a bracelet from the above posts. You can have a similar effect with a piece of leather say 24 inches long . . . with two cuts in it that are 22 inches long . . . and of course neither one goes out the end. The ends are left whole. Make the strips even in width . . . and by lifting one strand . . . putting the end under it and pulling it semi tight (still able to lay flat) and then lifting the other strand . . . pulling the end under it . . . and so forth all the way thru . . . you wind up with a 3 strand braided belt that is really quite pretty and also useful. Practice with it and have fun May God bless, Dwight

And if that conditioner rubs against the steel parts of a beautiful gun . . . in short order . . . you will be doing whatever you have to do to get rid of the RUST the conditioner caused on your gun. Conditioner is for handbags . . . shoes . . . boots . . . and sometimes belts. NEVER for a holster. May God bless, Dwight

32 caliber is twice the size of .22 long rifles. You don't need measurements for making bullet loops . . . you punch a hole in your belt . . . an oval slot . . . pull a piece of leather thru the slot . . . around the bullet . . . then back thru the same slot . . . leather needs to be wet . . . use 3/4 oz . . . when it gets mostly dry . . . pull the bullet out and let it finish drying. Making bullet loops is very easy. May God bless, Dwight

Saddlemaker I once knew . . . went to an auction . . . there was a little hand crank splitter like the one you have . . . got it for 65 bucks. That was several years back. But it is the best info I've got I'd give a hundred for the small one . . . not bat an eye doing it. May God bless, Dwight

OK . . . I'll get in this fray . . . What makes Eddington thread any better than someone else's thread? Just curious . . . because Tandy used to sell a brand of leather that had something like a wax coating on it . . . and I really loved it. They changed suppliers and the thread they sell now is dry as asphalt on a sunny July afternoon. Would like to go back at the coated thread. May God bless, Dwight

I'm simply gonna go out on a limb . . . and say you need to learn how to set rivets. I've used a hammer . . . a standard setting tool . . . (cheap one at that) . . . and a little steel plate . . . or the reverse setting tool (depending on the effect I wanted) and NEVER have any problems with the rivets I buy from Tandy. NOW . . . I do like their all brass rivets better . . . truth be known . . . but the other ones work . . . never had a customer holler at me about his rivets popping off . . . been almost 25 years since I got involved in this. May God bless, Dwight

An old boy scout teacher . . . told us never to put rivets in hatchet sheaths or knife sheaths . . . UNLESS . . . the blade especially is protected by a substantial welt. As the leather gets older . . . it will always loosen up . . . allowing the blade to come into contact with the rivets . . . which will dull the blade in a NY minute. That advice is more or less 65 years old . . . I still do it that way. May God bless, Dwight

Never be ashamed of "missing something" . . . that's just life throwing you a curve to see if you can hit it. Sometimes we need a coach. I just purchased 1k$ worth of drone and accessories . . . am in the process of learning to use it. Bought an Ipad to control it . . . knowing that there are a small few of them that will not operate with an Ipad. After 13 days of trying unsuccessfully I was all set to return the Ipad the next day when my 14 day return policy would die. My youth pastor at church took a look at it . . . asked me if I had tried using both of my normal email addresses . . . and of course the answer was yes. Funny thing . . . when he tried the other one . . . drone started working. I simply must have mis spelled it or something. Feel dumb?? Sure did . . . happy I asked for help?? Sure was . . . but never ashamed of it . . . he and I hit that curve ball out of the park. May God bless, Dwight

OK . . . with baited breath . . . we ask the eternal question . . . Is it fixed? May God bless, Dwight

I have one about that size . . . USMC . . . and the only way I get a good impression on that is with my 6 ton press . . . going around it a bit at a time. A 1 ton arbor would probably only do very light impressions . . . unless they were very sharp edged . . . and I'd wonder about it even then. May God bless, Dwight

Good job . . . May God bless, Dwight

That's good looking work . . . May God bless, Dwight

And if you do that . . . it will leach out to the outside of the holster . . . making it soft as well. Besides that . . . conditioners will also shove moisture up against a metal weapon . . . rust and corrosion are then the problem. May God bless, Dwight

Excellent . . . lots of things I can do . . . that stamping ain't one of em . . . ya did great. May God bless, Dwight

Sand off the "big" pieces . . . then make sure the interior also gets a good coat of Resolene . . . Works for me. May God bless, Dwight