Dwight

That is why I am presently carrying a Springfield 3 inch barreled 1911 in .45ACP . . . If I laid it on a table . . . most gun guys would think it is an EMP . . . it just looks like one. 9mm modern ammo will expand to basically 1/2inch . . . (.19 square inches) putting a hurt on the bad guy. Modern 45ACP ammo will expand to almost 1 inch . . . (.78 square inches) putting 4 times the hurt on the bad guy. I carried a P365 for a while . . . couple different Shield's . . . Ruger p89 . . . Taurus G3C . . . never, never felt secure and comfortable with them. This little baby does the trick. But as Chuck said . . . get what is best for you . . . I like this one . . . and it will never find a home in a plastic fantastic holster. Leather all the way . . . or Mexican carry at certain times. May God bless, Dwight

If you want an inexpensive "best of both worlds" go to Harbor freight and spend 50 bucks for this little sander. Round sanders have a habit of digging in . . . and you have to really spend a lot of time learning how to not allow it to do that . . . and even then . . . if you are not paying attention . . . if you run into a hard bit of leather it will not take off what you wanted . . . if it gets soft on you . . . you will have a half moon indentation in your project. This little belt sander does not allow that to happen any where near as bad . . . especially if you use 120 or higher grit belts. You can remove the little clear plastic piece on the top of the top pully . . . as I did . . . and if you have an inside curve piece that needs sanding . . . that little curve will do it nicely . . . Plus . . . it has a hole in the side for a power vac . . . sucks the sanded leather (mostly) out of your way. I own two of them . . . have never seen anything any better. May God bless, Dwight

There was a thread on here a few days ago . . . but I wanted others to see one way to do this. I did not create this method . . . but it does work quite well May God bless, Dwight https://youtu.be/ELmvtb2SyWo

Well . . . here is how I do it . . . someone else showed me on another video . . . here is my version. May God bless, Dwight https://youtu.be/ELmvtb2SyWo

Your answer is right there in that statement. Light brown. I do not know why . . . only know it happens . . . light browns . . . especially saddle tan . . . have a habit for some reason to like to come out a bit splotchy. The cure I found for that is to get a 1 inch bristle brush . . . some genuine neatsfoot oil . . . put a light but wet coat on the hair side of the leather . . . leave it for 24 hours . . . come back and dye it. I've had no more splotchy dye jobs since I started this. May God bless, Dwight

Whatever you use . . . I would plan on doing the whole table top. I doubt you will get the two to match up . . . using a different product. I'm not familiar with gilding other than I've seen it done . . . And whatever you decide upon . . . were it me . . . I'd plan on masking off all not leather areas . . . and using a small air sprayer . . . I'd spray the finish on . . . rubbing might mess up the gilding I would think. May God bless, Dwight

I was at a Harbor Freight store a couple months back . . . saw a small . . . really stout . . . putty knife. Said to my self . . . wonder if I could make that into a skiver . . . sure would be nice. I did . . . had to seriously put a long angle on it . . . had to strop it really good . . . It works for some of the holster work I need it for. I can also use my round knife for a big job . . . this is for grab an go skiving . . . May God bless, Dwight

My 4500 came with one as a group of accessories. I like it for just about every thing I do . . . which mostly is belts, holsters, knife sheaths . . . and a very occasional billfold. I spent a couple hours making mine quicker and easier to take off and put back on with a couple of 3/8 inch wing nuts . . . I use it most of the time. May God bless, Dwight

It really only gets tough when you try to use 3 needles and 4 different colors Other than that . . . just remember to do whatever you do . . . the EXACT same throughout the stitching. May God bless, Dwight

Gosut . . . try this: 614-781-1700 is the phone number for the Columbus, Ohio Tandy store. Call it up . . . ask for Scott . . . he's the manager. Ask him if he has 15 minutes to chat with a newbie . . . who needs some help. Odds are he will have . . . and I don't know all his schedule . . . other than he is not there on Tuesdays. Tell him what you want to do . . . what your budget is . . . what kinds of tools you think you need . . . ask him for recommendations. Scott will not sucker punch you . . . he is top notch honest . . . and tell him I sent you. Your shipping for whatever you buy will be a bit more than one closer . . . but you can take heart in knowing you are getting good stuff . . . and if you have some kind of ID number that identifies you as a true business . . . you'll get a price break that will help with the shipping costs. He's never sold me any junk leather . . . if I got any . . . I picked it out myself. And any time I've said hey Scott . . . how do I do this . . . he showed me right then and there . . . he's just good people. May God bless, Dwight

You can chalk that up to almost any repair work for today. The greasemonkeys working on cars today go sit down and say "Google . . . why won't my 2013 Toyota lights come on" . . . and either Google or the Toyota website gives them 13 possible reasons . . . with a "More Reasons" below them to click on. Sadly . . . many other repair and maintenance work has tried to go that way . . . with far less success than the auto industry. And guys are buying a 150 dollar set of stickers to apply to their cars to advertise what they do . . . with a bag of tools from Harbor Freight . . . a laptop computer . . . a cell phone . . . and an embroidered ball cap. Adding to the fact that most of the stuff is either totally made to be tossed when it quits working right . . . OR . . . it is component based . . . where you cannot buy just that little spring that broke . . . you have to buy the whole secondary component . . . remove one wire and 3 screws . . . put the new one in and you are ready to go again. Yeah . . . I was one of the best maintenance men in the business 25 years ago . . . they don't make em like that any more. May God bless, Dwight

I don't think it is as much old vs new . . . as it is the X craftsman vs the Y craftsman. You cannot buy a 1920 era 1911 that will outshoot my Springfield Armory 1911 None of the old 03-A3's will outshoot a brand new Browning. The new frames for saddles are fiberglass now . . . as opposed to rawhide and wood a hundred years ago . . . so I'd give the edge to new ones . . . IF . . . and again IF the new craftsman is equal or better than the old fellow from back then. We have sewing machines that will do a more even job . . . the thread used for sewing is much better than the old cotton . . . I think personally you are barking up a tree with no squirrels if you truly believe what you will use today will be better if it was made 100 years ago. Just my opinion. May God bless, Dwight

Limited business with Springfield . . . but it was good. Tandy is my go to shop for just about all I really need . . . 40 minute drive . . . and it goes right by a Dairy Queen Weaver is just to jacked up in their prices for me . . . as well as the last side of leather I got from them almost needed a band saw to cut it. I kept it and used it for certain stuff until I've got it down to a few square feet left . . . supposed to be HO . . . and I didn't use any of it for several weeks after I bought it . . . so I just swallowed hard and have gone on. They are stuck in the middle of Amish country (may be Amish for all I know) . . . and lemme tell you . . . everything you go to buy around there is jacked up in price and I think it has rubbed off on them. I drive up that way occasionally . . . don't bother to stop in. May God bless Dwight

That was always a problem with me and and my holsters . . . I had to sometimes stitch one piece of the holster . . . stop . . . turn it over . . . and stitch another piece . . . so when it was done, the stitching ALL looked right from the "used" point of view. Guess I'll try this next time . . . after I finish getting my 4500 settled on 6 stitches per inch. I don't know how it happened . . . but somehow it got to where it was doing almost 9 . . . and I had not done any adjustments. I ruined a belt I made for a young lady from Hungary . . . had to make her a second one . . . Thanks Bruce for another bona fide "tip" that helps out. May God bless, Dwight

24 hours before you do your dye job . . . take a cheap pig hair bristle brush (I use one app 2 cm wide) . . . give the HAIR SIDE a light coat of neatsfoot oil. Put enough on that it turns really dark . . . but not enough to soak it . . . just one good light . . . smoothed out coat. If you are doing a 40 inch belt . . . it will start to lighten up on the beginning end . . . by the time you get to the other end . . . that is what you want. Lay all belts and similar large objects on their edge or back to "dry". Come back in 24 hours . . . and dye. I use Feibings oil dye . . . and I use the dip dye method. One quick . . . THOROUGH . . . dip in the dye that has been EXACTLY diuted 50 / 50. In other words . . . I used 4 oz of dye . . . and then added 4 oz of thinner. I do not change that ratio unless the customer demands it . . . and they will pay full price for the demanded dye. I have found this will get rid of 90 to 95% of what I call "blotchy" places in a dye job. May God bless, Dwight

Add a real good shot at that reel . . . including model number and mfg . . . I use a cowboy 4500 for almost all my work . . . but would like to be able to fall back occasionally on the Boss for special products. This would make life a big bunch simpler when I do that. May God bless, Dwight

You are a genius my friend . . . Now . . . where did I put my fishing equipment . . . May God bless, Dwight

Take a look at this May God bless, Dwight Or here . . . May God bless, Dwight

How many are you wanting? May God bless, Dwight

Guess I'm the odd ball. Used pencils for long time . . . 80 year old eyes got where I could not see it as well as I wanted to. Started using ball point pen on flesh side . . . made too many mistakes of cutting it backwards. Said to heck with it . . . use ball point pen on hair side . . . ink gets cut off in the edging process . . . AND . . . I can see what I'm cutting May God bless, Dwight

"(giggle)" . . . thanks Bruce . . . I just never could get any results I liked with blue jeans . . . gave up on the idea before I got the "blues" May God bless, Dwight

I always (well . . . 95% of the time) . . . oil every project BEFORE dying. I find it gives a more even dye result. I use a 1 inch bristle paint brush (Harbor Freight . . . about 50 cents each) . . . and I give the HAIR SIDE only a wet coat. Not a saturating coat . . . just a even wet coat . . . it will turn the leather almost dark brown as you put it on. Let it "dry" for 24 hours . . . do not hang belts long ways . . . lay them on their side . . . put all projects on flat surface . . . hair side up . . . not in front of a window near sunlight. This has worked well for me for a long time . . . my specialties are belts, holsters, slings, knife sheaths . . . etc. May God bless, Dwight

And you are right on that bet . . . it really does not go anywhere other than a little slip / slide back and forth on the belt . . .and that is not much May God bless, Dwight

Got a request for a cross draw for a Hellcat with a laser and an optic up on top . . . talking about a challenge. The Hellcat is one "little" gun . . . But we managed to get it done for him . . . he was thoroughly tickled with it. I can make two holsters for an Anaconda or a 1911 while trying to make one of these. . . . May God bless, Dwight

I have always followed John Bianchi's pattern . . . two layers . . . resulting in a belt that is basically 1/4 inch thick (they run from .200 to .240 inches thick . . . depending on the leather I have available . . . The key to keeping it from slipping from around your waist . . . is to make it on a curve . . . if you can vision a bow the length of your belt . . . having about 6 inches from the bow to the bow string . . . dead center of the bow. That is about the curve you want for a 40 inch belt. You wear the curve so the longer side is the bottom edge of the belt. Always measure the gun belt to be 4 inches longer than the belt that holds up your britches . . . . And yes . . . double layers are always stronger . . . simply because you have two "hair sides" of the belt. The hair side is the strength side . . . one 16 oz belt will be no stronger than a belt made of two 6 oz pieces . . . glued flesh side to flesh side . . . and stitched around the whole edge. But now comes the best information . . . Madmaxx got you started . . . trim the belt (sand the edges on a belt sander if you have one . . . they're 50 bucks at harbor freight . . . mine is 20 years old . . . then stitch groove both sides . . . get your 6 stitches per inch or 5 stitches per inch . . . whichever you want to use . . . buy some 346 waxed nylon thread . . . and get a couple of size 22 needles for production sewing machines. Lay a piece of 1 by 4 on your drill press . . . put the 22 needle in the drill press . . . drill a 1/4 inch hole in the middle of that 24 inch 1 x 4 . . . about 1 1/2 inches from the edge . . . and with the drill bit in that hole . . . c clamp the back of the board to the drill press . . . take out the drill bit . . . put in the needle . . . unplug the drill press. Use the drill press to make your stitch holes . . . and I'll guarantee you there are very few people who can use an awl and get their holes as perfectly up and down as you will with the drill press. If they are not 90 degree . . . your back side of the belt will have stitches wandering like a drunken Marine (sailors don't stagger . . . just Marines) Punch the holes down thru the outside finished face of the belt. Next . . . take a couple of 1 x 2 boards . . . about 6 inches longer than the belt . . . sandwich the belt between the 1 x 2's . . . leaving about 1/2 inch of the belt sticking out . . . the part you are stitching . . . c clamp them to the edge of your work table . . . turn on your favorite John Wayne western . . . and start stitching . . . this will go faster than any other style other than machine stitching. One good John Wayne . . . and one Marshall Dillon should be enough to get you at least mostly thru the belt. Have fun. . . may God bless, Dwight