Dwight

It all looks good from here. I basically use 346 for everything . . . top and bottom . . . Been messing with some 277 . . . dropped down to a 25 needle . . . Forgot to change it when I went back to 346 . . . machine didn't seem to care. I just got my 4500 a few months ago . . . am seriously glad I did. Have fun, may God bless, Dwight

Had a customer wanted a chest holster for his Glocks Wanted it in black. Had to paint a couple of metal keepers . . . but found everything else. My son (Glock fan from getgo) was a bit jealous of it I think. May have to do one for him for Christmas. May God bless, Dwight

For years I had the best little hand press . . . bought at Hobby Lobby . . . and it finally broke. Have purchased 3 since then . . . they were all junk. Just whack em with the mallet and go on . . . May God bless, Dwight

I wish I could help you . . . but I've got something near 300 of them out there . . . finding "that one" would be a real trick. But I'm glad you saw it . . . did I have my hair combed that day??? (lol) May God bless, Dwight

BoxerMel . . . I don't have a tablet . . . and I won't be in Tx any where near soon . . . But I'd be honored to have one of those just for it's intrinsic good looks. Stash it on my desk and use it to remind me of the privilege we have of living here. Thanks for your effort . . . and thanks for posting. May God bless, Dwight

I used to work in a grey iron foundry . . . making mostly pump castings . . . lots of our big jobs were smoother than that . . . whatever it is. May God bless, Dwight

I can see from the picture . . . one of the things you did wrong with the metal one. The blade . . . For years I used razor blades from drywall knives . . . would take a pair of pliers . . . break them in half . . . use them till they got dull . . . get out a new one and break it. Because of the angle of the sharpening process they use . . . it could easily wander off left or right . . . I had to stay on it hard and fast. Saw a blade supposed to be made especially for these at Tandy's . . . wasn't much $$ so I bought it. Had to spend some time getting it SHARP sharp . . . but when I did . . . AND . . . installed it with it's little handle pointing down . . . I haven't had any trouble cutting straps since. The blade has the angle cut only on one side . . . not both sides . . . and because of that . . . the angle tends to push the leather over towards the handle on the cutter . . . making it stay put. It looks like your blade is either sharpened on both sides . . . or you have it in upside down if only sharpened on one side. May God bless, Dwight

A few years back my brother in law found out I did leather work . . . and while we were in his shop he told me to look in that "bottom drawer". There was an aluminum strap cutter . . . obviously old . . . often and well used . . . I had been using a razor knife and an aluminum ruler . . . and this new toy made my life so, so, so much easier cutting straps. This is not the one . . . but it is a very good replication of it. If you get one like this . . . get the blade that Tandy sells for it . . . it has a little handle on it that is always pointed down in the cutter . . . Keep that dude sharp . . . watch your fingers . . . and you will love the results. May God bless, Dwight https://www.ebay.com/itm/194196151453?hash=item2d36fe1c9d:g:i5IAAOSwpElgwDYe

Just a quick note . . . recalling that I have never made one . . . BUT . . . a dear friend . . . and a wonderful lady did make one for me when I was her pastor. It had the edges laced . . . a beautiful image and inscription on the front. BUT . . . somewhere in all the making, fitting, dying, finishing, etc . . . it turned out to apparently shrink almost to where it couldn't be seen . . . but it shrunk anyway. In doing so . . . it broke the spine of my Bible . . . SO . . . be careful and follow the directions . . . it may keep you from doing the same to someone else. She most certainly meant well . . . and tried her very best . . . she just didn't know. May God bless, Dwight

No . . . have enough trouble making holsters and sheaths . . . knives are above and beyond my pay grade . . . (see my website) . . . I do have one I'm going to try to make some day . . . but I don't have my forge finished . . . and it will be a "next fall" at the earliest project. I see in your description that you make knives . . . May God bless, Dwight

I don't have a Cowboy outlaw . . . got a Tippmann Boss that was cloned and called an outlaw from what I could see. Your problem is that your top thread tension is just a tad too tight . . . OR . . . your bobbin needs adjusted. There should be a screw on your bobbin . . . and if it is the same as the Boss . . . a counterclockwise turn loosens it . . . a clockwise turn tightens it. BUT . . . you will probably then have to re adjust your top tensions. Just get a couple of pieces of the same leather you use most of the time . . . glue em together . . . and use it as a place to sample the stitches it is doing. Play with it till you get it right. You also probably need to put 1/4 x 20 nuts on the top of the studs coming up from the top adjusters. Otherwise they will turn as you use the machine. AND . . . once you get it where you need / want it for the most of the sewing you are doing . . . don't mess with it. Have fun . . . May God bless, Dwight

All in all it looks good . . . Just a few quick tips though . . . After you glue the edges together . . . take a sander (I have a little 30 inch belt sander . . . even out the edges . . . then mark your stitch line. Finish your stitching . . . and then bevel the edges. Your finished product will be better that way. AND . . . you said you installed the snap. That is something I only half way do. I'll figure out where I want that male part of the snap . . . and I'll in stall it . . . But I never install the female part until everything else is done . . . and the reason is . . . it is all too easy to put the female part on just a little off kilter . . . and there is no way hardly of fixing that. When you are ready to install the female part . . . fold the leather over onto the male part and with your thumb . . . press down on the leather covering the male piece . . . keeping it where it should be when it is done. When you lift up the top piece . . . look at the bottom side . . . you'll see a small circle imprint of the male piece. Pop your hole for the female piece . . . and unless you really missed it somehow . . . it will always be right where it should be. This is most important on gun holsters and knife sheaths. May God bless, Dwight

I have a habit of kinda ordering and keeping what I have experienced that I needed. Now I do have a couple small drawers full of "stuff" . . . but by experience . . . I know what I sell . . . so I know what to buy. And that way . . . I'm never in any kind of "inventory" problem for the most part. Works for me anyway. May God bless, Dwight

In not all . . . but many . . . and they usually are not top quality knives . . . the rivets were placed there to keep the knife blade from cutting thru the threads as the knife is drawn from or inserted back into the sheath. And by dragging against the rivet . . . it hopelessly dulls the knife blade. They did this to keep from having to put a welt between the top and bottom pieces . . . simply a cheap process. I would not have a sheath with them . . . but that is my personal attitude. This one may or may not have a welt . . . I cannot tell from the picture . . . and if you want to keep the original rivets in there . . . what you may do is start out with a thinner thread . . . start in the middle between the rivets . . . sew up to a rivet . . . then sew backwards to the other rivet . . . then come back to where you started. Finish your stitching in the same hole you started . . . all the stitches will then look to be the same. And if you pull each one tight (waxing the thread with true beeswax will help this) very few people will notice you double stitched it all . . . it will look uniform . . . and you will not have to remove and replace the rivets . . . or the end cap. Truthfully . . . that is exactly what I would do. Go to a Joann fabric shop . . . tell them you want to look at carpet thread . . . it will be very close to what you will want. I've used it on any number of leather projects . . . it's never failed me yet. May God bless, Dwight

What can we say??? Really good . . . no . . . great work. Awesome talent. Take the time some day to pick up some younger person . . . get them interested . . . pass on the talent to them. It's a joy to see your own personal talents / attitudes / work ethic . . . etc . . . being displayed in the next generation. May God bless, Dwight

As Wizcrafts said . . . yes . . . it'll work. I used both my Cowboy and my Tippmann Boss for that. As far as the thread is concerned . . . I've never used it . . . but it should not be a problem . . . the size of the thread and the necessary needle are the factors that should determine that. May God bless, Dwight

Most likely I too would replace the rivets . . . it is just how "authentic" you want it to look. But if you want one color on top and another color on the bottom . . . saddle stitching is definitely NOT the way to do it. Traditional saddle stitching will cause every other stitch to be the same color . . . with the different color in the stitch next to it. You want to do a loop stitch . . . such as a sewing machine does . . . the top thread is pushed down thru the sheath . . . looped around the bottom thread . . . then the same top thread is pulled back up thru the same hole . . . and the two threads pulled together so that the overlap loop is in the middle between the pieces of leather. This is a 20 dollar tool that will make that a much easier job . . . https://tandyleather.com/products/sewing-awl-kit May God bless, Dwight

Is it possible for you to post a picture of one of them . . . or all of them . . . at least one fairly close up view of the affected area? All you do is follow those directions down below . . . where it says "Drag files here...................". Just pick the pictures from your computer. Ideally they should be about 1000 by 1350 or so. May God bless, Dwight

The first thing I would have looked at is the needle. That rascal cannot be "off kilter" or it and the bobbin will not make that stitch. And the fact that you were hitting . . . then missing . . . would sound like it was close to being installed correctly . . . but just maybe off a tad. Check your needle if you have any more trouble. May God bless, Dwight

Tell us what you are looking for . . . Lots of people see this part of the forum as well. May God bless, Dwight

If you want to have some fun some time . . . go to Ebay . . . look up something costing about 50 bucks . . . then have it sorted by price, lowest to highest. If there are 150 offerings or so . . . invariably there will be one in there for $39.95 . . . but it will be after the ones for $79.95. Reason??? They're also charging you $59.95 shipping. I almost got hung on that one day . . . been super careful ever since. May God bless, Dwight

"Something strikes me as just not right with this." is probably an understatement . . . but at the same time . . . there are people who just don't know how to set up an ad or word anything for use out there on the internet. There is a chance it might be a good buy . . . I would certainly try to find out what I could. How far is he from you . . . or do you know where he lives?? May God bless, Dwight

If you are a mechanic . . . don't mind working on your "stuff" . . . it's about a 40% saving over a brand new one. You can buy a bunch of parts for 40%. I'd pop him a text to find out all of what is wrong with it . . . might even ask him for a video of the machine sewing (taken with a phone . . . transferred to an SD card . . . mailed to you). If he's willing to do that . . . it's most likely well worth it. If he is not . . . I'd run away from it. May God bless, Dwight

You might also take up a trick I found out about a few years back. Before you dye the project . . . give it a light (emphasis on light) coat of genuine neatsfoot oil (not compound). I brush it on with a 1 inch bristle brush . . . getting it just wet enough to change color . . . like it was wetted with water. I hang i up . . . and the next day it is back to about 95 % the color it was before the oil. Then I dye. I was having a real time with saddle tan especially . . . have zero problems with it now. Not sure what makes it work . . . it just does . . . and I'm happy. May God bless, Dwight

Before you buy either . . . check em both out first. I'm not sure I would have bought the Cowboy . . . never used it . . . but have seen them . . . would have to be seriously impressed with the Cowboy and it's sewing before I would buy it. Either way . . . have fun . . . and remember one thing about the Tippmann . . . they are really good people to deal with. I've been there . . . done that. May God bless, Dwight