Dwight

I made a sheath for a fellow once . . . lined it with rawhide . . . put it together with weldwood contact cement . . . that was several years ago . . . have not heard any negative comments since. He made the knife . . . I put the fold in the back . . . so he could pull it out without cutting the stitches . . . he was big time tickled with it. Did a matching bag for his rolling block 47-70 . . . with the attached EGA (EGA had 2400 beads in it) . . . May God bless, Dwight

LatigoAmigo . . . and Lobo . . . Thanks for your information . . . I was also looking at "prices" and was swallowing hard after I saw some of them. And I know there will not be a large market for the services . . . like Lobo mentioned . . . but I do have one call . . . one project . . . and kicked it around a bit to see if I wanted to go further into it. Since I very seldom cut anything at all as thin as 4/5 oz . . . even the cutting idea looks like a bust. But again . . . thanks for the information . . . May God bless, Dwight

Kinda thinking about "maybe" getting into laser engraving of leather. Then maybe stepping up to laser cutting out of parts. Would definitely appreciate any first hand good news on both. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

Don't care for the gun . . . but the leather work is great . . . Whoever gets that should be proud. May God bless, Dwight

It also depends on the paint you use. I've done it in the past with no problams . . . but the paint HAS TO BE DRY . . . May God bless, Dwight

I just happened to see in my earlier post the other thing I wanted to tell you . . . and forgot. Make the item . . . and get it where you can actually "strap it" onto yourself. Then wet the rascal . . . and I'm serious about the wet . . . dunk it in a pan of water for at least one full minute . . . I usually gauge it when I don't see very many bubbles coming up . . . and just wear it while you are out doing something. It'll take 45 minutes to maybe an hour and a half . . . to "take a set" . . . but that will get it pretty much in the shape you want it. Then . . . into the hot box . . . or if you want to . . . turn on your oven at the very lowest setting you have . . . put a thermometer in there wherever you want to lay this . . . and don't let it get above 140 deg F . . . It'll dry out faster that way . . . and much more rigid. If you want the outside to be fairly rigid . . . a leather store selling Resolene . . . buy a small bottle of it . . . mix it with an equal amount of water . . . apply coats of it with a 1 inch bristle brush . . . and with 4 or 5 coats . . . it'll be pretty firm. May God bless, Dwight

When I read the label . . . I had to come look at this. I was really wondering how you could make a shoulder holster for both a 1911 and a Colt Python . . . But this isi a good job. May God bless, Dwight

Personally . . . I would not try to overthink this as a project. There is in my opinion no "special" leather that would be needed. In fact . . . I would go straight to a Tandy Leather shop or some other large leather supplier . . . and I would get regular vegetable tanned leather . . . and just looking at it from what I could see in the pictures . . . I would probably go with something in the 10 oz or 12 oz category . . . and for reference 12 oz is 3/16 of an inch thick. That is some serious strong leather. Cutting 1 1/4 inch wide straps . . . provided you didn't go over that 300 lb weight you were talking about . . . it should be sufficient without the webbing. My guess is the webbing was sewn on to the leather to keep it from stretching under the load. The other really nice thing about vegetable tanned leather . . . you can cut the general shape of what you want . . . then wet the leather and shape it to what you want . . . let it dry . . . and it will retain that shape. If you dry it in a "hot box" or something similar . . . (do not go over 140 deg F) . . . and it will not only retain the shape . . . but it will become very hard as well. I make a few holsters that way . . . when I do not want any or at least very little flexing . . . I hot dry them . . . they get hard. Adding a couple coats of neatsfoot oil to the straps will make them very soft and supple . . . easy to work with. Have fun . . . I wish you were a lot closer . . . I would love to see that project . . . May God bless, Dwight

Very Good . . . May God bless, Dwight

I've still got mine . . . I would carry it until the anvil in my pocket would get to be too much . . . I'd get something else. Then a job would come up where I wished I would have had it . . . would go back to it . . . Later it would become the anvil again . . . Cycle repeated itself bunches of times. It wound up in my junk drawer for the last 30 years or so . . . but it is actually a really great knife. Final replacement has been a Kershaw flip folder . . . whole bunch lighter and thinner. May God bless, Dwight

Fellow has an older Buck 110 folder . . . said his sheath was falling apart. Had one in the drawer that was over 50 years old . . . was going to send it to him . . . decided to just make a new one. For what it's worth . . . here it is. May God bless, Dwight

I don't know . . . but I'm gonna get in here so I can find this again and find out when you do . . . May God bless, Dwight

I wouldn't touch mine with a file or sandpaper . . . load up my cotton pad . . . spinning on the motor . . . with green polishing compound . . . roll it around the outside of the punch. And you won't have to worry about any burrs . . . then take a piece of 16 or 18 oz leather . . . load it up with the same compound . . . punch a dozen holes with it . . . it should be super sharp after that. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Alamo . . . believe me . . . if I can figure it out . . . get a knife that will skive off about one oz at a time . . . anybody can do it . . . and I did it. I watched that video I sent you . . . went to work on it . . . and so help me . . . I think I could come close to dissecting a fly's chin whiskers. I am VERY careful with it . . . didn't used to be before . . . and almost never used it. Now it is the first knife I think of . . . May God bless, Dwight

I was never able to get the "sharpness" I wanted until I followed these guys. May not work for you . . . but sure did for me . . . I've used that round knife more in the last month . . . than the first 10 years I owned it. May God bless, Dwight

Go to Joann fabric . . . buy a half yard of their thick boating vinyl . . . experiment with it for your pattern. I've got several yards of it here . . . that is my final pattern for something complicated. Works like a champ . . . as it imitates leather in many respects. Neat part about it . . . if you cut it off wrong . . . tape it back together with drywall tape and re-cut it. Check for coupons . . . can get up to 60 % off on one item . . . which would be your vinyl. But what you want to do is cut a piece about 30 inches long and 6 inches wide or so . . . lay it on a buddy's shoulder . . . and you take a pair of scissors and cut away the excess until you get the piece you want. May God bless, Dwight

I paid 1K for mine over 20 years ago . . . have gotten my money back and then some . . . I have sewn holsters, vests, belts, knife sheaths, scabbards, chaps, one hat that I recall . . . and probably a bunch of stuff I don't remember . . . ahh . . . yes . . . and sewed up the driver's boot for an over the road trucker who wore out his right boot . . . gas pedal and all. Seriously . . . if the machine works good and I needed another one . . . I'd pay 800 for it . . . but I also know the people who made it . . . they are wonderful folks to work with. Mine needed some pro paws on it a couple of times . . . they cleaned off their work stations . . . fixed me right up. (I don't know them as friends . . . just as business acquaintances . . . but again, they welcomed me with open arms . . . I drove my machine up there to get it fixed in Ft Wayne Indiana). Best wishes . . . may God bless, Dwight

Sorry, Scott . . . I didn't see this until today . . . may be late . . . but something maybe for the future. Use latex glue on the hair side . . . glue the leather to a very flat board and make sure you do a really good glue job. Set the powered electric jointer so it does not take off more than 1/64 of an inch or .40 mm . . . run it slowly thru the jointer . . . and it should take off one ounce at a time. Now I've never actually done this myself . . . but having worked with power tools for 65 years or so . . . I can usually figure out these things. Take a piece of scrap and try it first to see how well it works. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome from about 35 miles to your northeast . . . Waldo area . . . been doing leather now for somewhat over 20 years . . . mostly belts, suspenders, knife sheaths, and holsters. I have a somewhat smaller one . . . and there are times I cannot get it on a product like I would like to . . . so it doesn't go on. Might be worth making smaller . . . but only time and experience will prove that to you. Glad to have you aboard . . . do you shop the Tandy leather store over on Morse Road? May God bless, Dwight

I don't have their addresses off hand . . . they are on Ebay . . . Chinese / Taiwan . . . they've made a couple brass stamps for me . . . both about an inch and a half long and 3/4 inch high . . . I press them into key fobs . . . they were in the $40 range . . . shipping included . . . I did a quick search . . . here is one of them . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/193035135579?var=493334175204&hash=item2cf1ca6a5b:g:uVsAAOSwwRBcvRdi I doubt this is the one who did mine . . . but I got a couple done . . . will probably get more as time goes along . . . they work really great. Ask this guy if he can make the stamp you want . . . I'd bet he can. May God bless, Dwight

Call The Thread Exchange in Weaverville, NC . . . 800-915-2320 . . . I did and Jasmine sent me a card with their waxed bonded nylon . . . and they'll send you one if you ask. Tell them what you are doing . . . and what you want. Personally . . . I have bonded nylon I bought from Toledo sewing machine and from Tandy . . . and I will use it up hopefully . . . but I'll never buy it again. It is slick, slippery, flimsy, . . . and an absolute pain in the rear to put thru a needle. And that says nothing about it touching anything hard . . . including a piece of hard leather . . . it will fray and come apart . . . you will have to stop the machine . . . cut the thread . . . trim the thread off your project . . . back up 2 or 3 stitches . . . and start up again. And that is after you have spent 5 minutes trying to get the whole thread thru the eye of a size 25 or 26 needle. It usually is 2 minutes . . . quit . . . go get a coffee . . . drink half of it . . . and try again. OR . . . if you really have a special project where you want to hide the double stitches . . . you will have to "un sew" all you have done. No . . . it does not happen often . . . but it DOES HAPPEN . . . and it can be frustrating as the devil. Other than that . . . the thread "will work" . . . but my opinion on a 1 to 10 scale is about a 2. And if anyone wants to buy it . . . because you like it . . . PM me and we may work out a deal. But back to the main topic . . . DanaStanley . . . call those folks up at the Thread Exchange . . . I have not bought anything from them yet . . . will later this month . . . but so far they seem to be a really good outfit. May God bless, Dwight

Looks darn good from here . . . You really also need to do a special shoulder strap for the girl's dad . . . to put on his shotgun . . . would compliment the grooms well. (lol) May God bless, Dwight

Take those dimensions . . . go out to your wood shop . . . build a wooden replica of the weapon. THEN making the holster is a piece of cake. Couldn't tell you how many I've done that way . . . have a gun mold box that has almost as many wooden ones as it has blue plastic ones. That is why. May God bless, Dwight

Lowes here in Ohio has plenty of it . . . or did last time I looked. And there is always this store: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274078509549?epid=7026733944&hash=item3fd05a29ed:g:uhUAAOSwiGViVpEM A pint goes and awful long way . . . May God bless, Dwight

And another welcome . . . Glad to have you aboard . . . May God bless, Dwight