Dwight

Some 25 years ago when I started in this "hobby" . . . I was given the advice to dilute both 50/50 . . . by men who have by now been in this for well over 50 years . . . or retired. I tried both full strength . . . did not like the results with either. Having said that . . . I dip dye gun holsters . . .belts . . . cell phone cases . . . knife sheaths . . . rifle slings . . . rifle scabbards . . . and everything else I do. Nothing is "brush" dyed . . . Everything will have at least one square foot or more of leather . . . and needs to be finished in an even looking manner. Having said that . . . I also add a coat of neatsfoot oil 24 hours before dying . . . and my dye jobs come out even from one end of a 3 inch wide . . . double layer . . . 56 inch western gun belt . . . all the way to the other end. That cannot be done with a brush . . . piece of wool . . . dauber . . . or any other way . . . other than an air spray gun . . . which lays a couple thousandths of an inch of dye on the surface that is scratched thru the first time the item gets any hard use. So in effect . . . I'm talking from hard won experience. May God bless, Dwight

I'm with you . . . veg tan is where I would go. I would probably buy a 7/8 oz hide . . . and make the whole thing out of it. AND . . . I would be very tempted to make a form and wet form the front of the front pouch . . . perhaps 2 inches dep . . . formed over a rounded over 2 x 10 or something thereabouts. As for the pistol . . . use a flat piece of leather for the back . . . fitted to that carrier portion . . . and form fit the pistol to it on the front of that piece . . . set in the direction you want it to be should you have to grab it in a hurry . . . use the hair side to touch the gun on both sides . . . you DO NOT want a full size 1911 flopping around in a loose pocket . . . it needs to be held down . . . and a really well formed holster like that will fix you right up. Looks like a neat project . . . make sure you pop some pics for us when it is done. May God bless, Dwight

To start with . . . you should never use Feibings dye straight 100% as it is in the bottle . . . always thin it down . . . most do a 50 / 50 dye and thinner. Second . . . apply neatsfoot oil before you dye the project . . . and dip dying is far superior to brush or dauber or sponge or any other way. Third . . . if you are using Resolene . . . give it a once over quick rub off . . . apply Resolene (also a 50 /50 mixture with water) . . . and go on with life. Rub off will not come thru Resolene if it is applied right. Basically you did a lot of work for nothing. May God bless, Dwight

This may sound funny . . . but I go to Harbor Freight . . . they sell little 1 inch wide boar hair brushes . . . that are absolutely perfect for Resolene jobs . . . big or small. You cut the Resolene 50 / 50 with water first . . . stir it up good . . . then just dip the boar brush in it . . . and swirl it around on the project . . . making sure you "bubble up" the liquid . . . and then brush it all down. Never have had a problem with doing it this way . . . brushes will last thru 5 or 6 projects . . . more if you rinse them out real good after each project. May God bless, Dwight

I did that once . . . had just dyed I think 6 belts for a show . . . 5 of the 6 were very dark at the bottom and lighter at the top where I hung them. Ever since . . . I lay the belt on the top for about 5 minutes after I "dunk" dye the belt . . . I then flip it over . . . allowing it to finish drying laying on the bottom edge of the belt. Have never had any problem doing my belts that way . . . all are "dunk" dyed . . . and I only use a certain set of colors . . . works really great for me. I have sat the belts in the garage . . . wood shop . . . leather shop . . . just wherever I have time and place to put them for the night. All my dying is done just before bed time . . . and are dry by the next evening. May God bless, Dwight

Toledo Sewing Machine . . . He's one of he sponsors here. May God bless, Dwight

Obviously it was done "by" or "for" AR . . . and quite honestly . . . my guess is out of a 1 to 10 scale (1 beginner . . . 10 top expert) . . . this maker was at best a 5. The loops were not professionally done. The stamping and tooling was very inexperienced at best . . . Lacing was probably the most well done . . . Something some guy made in his basement over a winter. May God bless, Dwight

Generally speaking . . . I cut a mirror image of the outside . . . glue the two together . . . they become the holster . . . both pieces from the same cow . . . same hide . . . usually right next to each other. Suede liners tend to pick up oil and grease from the gun . . . then grit and dust from the air . . . become sandpaper inside the holster. Don't use suede. May God bless, Dwight

A 50 / 50 bees wax and neatsfoot oil mixture works wonders for softening veg tan leather . . . and vaseline should only be put on winter boots when going out into the snow . . . and you really don't care how they wind up looking . . . so your feet stay dry. That is the ONLY use for vaseline and leather together. I've used the combo it on shoes, belts, billfolds, all sorts of stuff . . . just be careful and don't go crazy with it. Once you've added the mixture to the leather rubbed it in and let it soak overnight . . . use a thin dowel . . . 1/4 inch or so . . . lay it on the leather . . . roll the leather over it . . . (not around it) . . . both with flesh up and with flesh down . . . and you will probably really like the results. May God bless, Dwight

Go to Salvation army or other "giveaway" store . . . you'll get the pattern you want . . . right size . . . etc . . . plus the liner . . . for just a few bucks. You'll not buy actual patterns that cheap . . . May God bless, Dwight

I build steel lined belts . . . and I would have no doubt my steel lined belt would do your job . . . and do it quite well. I wear one often . . . carrying a 48 oz pistol . . . 2 magazines . . . and a cell phone. The steel lined one is the black one . . . the lining runs from the inside most screw down the length of the decoration. The brown belt is a simple double layer gun belt used for the same purpose. I have a friend who has worn one of my steel lined belts for several years now . . . and loves it. Honestly . . . I would hate to have someone take theirs off and use it on me in a skirmish. May God bless, Dwight

I got sick n tired of sewing belts with a Boss . . . started saving up for a 3200 . . . and long story short . . . a "blessing" came my way. I was easily able to buy the 4500 instead . . . and am seriously glad I could. Now if I could just get over this covid and get some work done. May God bless, Dwight

And there is the proof in the pudding . . . the cylinder is covered . . . triggerguard is covered . . . and even though there is not a lot of wet molding . . . it stays put. Thanks Pastor Bob . . . good lookin job there. May God bless, Dwight

Here in the US . . . everything Ikea sells . . . comes with screws that don't fit . . . and generally one broken piece. May God bless, Dwight

For revolvers like that . . . your front piece was way too small. It needs to go up to the back side of the cylinder and 3/8 to 1/2 inch above it . . . and the trigger needs to be covered. When you do that . . . the friction of the molding . . . will make it a really good holster Slick bald sold you a junk pattern. It should look a lot more like the image here. May God bless, Dwight

A good belt is hard to come by these days . . . but it looks like you did it well. I'm wearing a double 7 oz that is nearly 20 years old . . . it is right at .220 inches thick . . . And I make a version like that which has a steel lining for those who need their britches not to sag. Thanks for sharing with us . . . May God bless, Dwight

If y'all find something that works better than Weldwood . . . you will have just hit some kind of lottery. When I put it together with Weldwood . . . it rips the leather if I take two pairs of pliers and pull them apart. Don't use anything else other than the cheap rubber cement kids use at school . . . keep a bottle of it around for special projects. AND . . . I got a bottle of ol white glue for an occasional special project that needs it's special touch. Use it once a year maybe. May God bless, Dwight

If you have some really good ceiling lighting . . . rig up some mirrors on the back side of the machine . . . let the mirror pick up the ceiling light and toss it over to the sewing area. May God bless, Dwight

Actually . . . for my "1 1/2 inch" belts . . . they are actually 1 7/16 inches . . . because the cheap suckers running the pants industries the last few years . . . cut the length of the belt loops slightly. Found a number of britches where a full 1 1/2 is a tad tight going thru . . . but the 1 7/16 slips thru . . . and the missing 1/16 of an inch will not appreciably weaken the belt or make it look out of place. Bui that is just my way of doing things. And don't get me started on the stupidity of the US moving to MM . . . the rest of the stinking world needed to change to suit our inches, feet, yards . . . etc . . . or just get left out in the profit . . . but of course we let the politicians get involved . . . who with appropriate bribes . . . swung us the other way. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks TomE May God bless, Dwight

I got the impression they were not making it any more . . . I used it for the last 15 or more years . . . had a black project last month . . . USMC was all they had. I'd probably give it to someone who drove over to pick it up. For now . . . I just might jump on the vinegaroon band wagon . . . still "contemplating" . . . but thanks . . . I'll check into Springfield Leather as well. May God bless, Dwight

I'm gonna get in here . . . simply because Tandy seems to have done away with their oil base dye . . . nothing but USMC black . . . which I'm going to throw away. WAYYYY to much buffing needed to make it work . . . Need someone to school me on vinegaroon . . . how is is made . . . how is it kept . . . how to apply it . . . what extra steps are necessary to make it work and not damage my leather???? Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

I've made really nice holsters out of back to back 7/8 and had no trouble . . . I'm wearing a double 8 oz belt sitting here . . . 16 oz total is not bad . . . in fact . . . once it is properly formed . . . the holster is really tough. This is my personal rig . . . almost 20 years old . . . double 7/8 for the holster and the belt. Still fits too . . . lol May God bless, Dwight

I don't recall where I first saw the design for my bullet loops . . . but I liked doing them this way . . . have sewn them on before . . . and really don't like it. I cannot tell you the space for .357 . . . but you can figure it out very easily . . . take a micrometer . . . measure the width of the casing . . . plus two thicknesses of your leather. I can tell you for sure that 3/4 of an inch is far to wide for that size cartridge . . . in my personal opinion . . . in order to make it really look right. That measurement is the distance center to center of your slots you punch in the leather belt. When you find the punch you want to use . . . cut your leather for the loops to be a fat 1/16 of an inch wider . . . and wet your leather. Rivet it at one end . . . start looping . . . pull each one tight . . . leave the bullet in there for at least 15 minutes . . . then take them all out and let the leather dry. Make sure you rivet the other end as well. Laying flat on a work bench or table . . . the sides of each round will touch . . . but when it gets slung on the human body . . . which is slightly rounded . . . they move slightly away from each other and it works out really well. The originator . . . said to use 5/6 oz calf leather if you could get it . . . I find it hard to come by so I just use veg tan leather. These are my note pieces I use to refresh my memory when I have another one to do. Oh . . . and yes . . . 2/3 oz for the lining is good . . . 4 or even 5 oz would work . . . just use which ever you have. I cut the outside piece . . . leaving it 1/8 to 1/4 inch too big all the way around . . . use it for the inside lining pattern . . . cut em both . . . cement them together with contact cement . . . . get it all right good and wet . . . and make the shape of the holster by putting the gun down on the leather and bringing them together and doing a rough wet forming. . . . let that dry . . . cement and sew the edge . . . viola . . . holster. May God bless, Dwight

I may be wrong . . . but from what I'm seeing . . . your needle is way too large . . . and if this is the top . . . your bobbin thread needs tightened . . . if this is the underside . . . your top thread is loose. May God bless, Dwight