Dwight

I had my heart set on one of those earlier this year . . . and was about 2 weeks away from going up to get it in Toledo Ohio . . . Was talking to a friend . . . one who knew I did leather . . . we got to talking about it . . . Thanks to that conversation . . . I was later given a "gift" amount to help me get the thing . . . and when I went up there . . . fell in love with the 4500 . . . got it and never looked back. I'll be in debt to my friends for years . . . but it was so much fun . . . sewing 4 belts the other day . . . and not doing them on a Tippmann Boss. May God bless, Dwight

OK guys . . . I'm impressed as I can be . . . and about equally confused. Honestly I'm looking to laser engrave the back of billfolds . . . some belts . . . purses . . . etc. Would like also to be able to do some on metal . . . like initials on a belt buckle . . . etc . I'm thinkng looking at some of the models offered on Ebay . . . they do 400 by 500 mm or so . . . was thinking of doing the first 400 mm of the belt . . . move the leather and have the laser pick up where it left off by some imaginative designs. Thinking of deer hunting scenes . . . deer . . trees . . . meadow . . . etc. How powerful a machine would I need to only do stuff like this? AND . . . will I have to buy special software . . . or can they take my "picture" or drawing and do it from there??? Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

I built a 22 by 14 dedicated craft / reloading / computer / lounge / etc . . . room. My wife has never said "thank you" . . . but she was happy to see all that stuff get out of her house . . . May God bless, Dwight

Glad to see you got it under control . . . Nice looking bag . . . May God bless, Dwight

I did similar to a shoulder holster one time. After messing with it for way too long . . . It went into the trash . . . garbage man carried it away . . . along with the trouble it would have continued to cause me. May God bless, Dwight

If you give it a good coat of Resolene . . . you don't have to go thru all that. Never had a dye rub off after I had rubbed it down and given it one coat of resolene. May God bless, Dwight

20 some odd years ago . . . I made a .45 ACP magazine former . . . the knife was snug . . . but it worked. Cut a piece of leather . . . get it wet . . . lay it over the make part . . . force the female part down on to it . . . smack the ends so that it is snug . . . put 3 "C" clamps on it for about 20 minutes . . . take off the clamps . . . hang up to dry . . . Cut out the piece you want tomorrow and pitch the rest. Sew it up . . . you are done. May God bless, Dwight

I like it . . . My knife would be mad at me if I tried to put her anyplace but my right front pocket . . . but you did a great job with that. Happy "Boss" working . . . mine has seen some 20 plus years of work May God bless, Dwight

It's definitely beautiful work . . . but I got lost in trying to figure out what it is for. At first I thought it was a wallet . . . then a book cover . . . now I just don't know. May God bless, Dwight

Here is the rest of it.

I did this one for a fellow in Tx . . . instead of a double radio like the black and white picture . . . he got one radio and a place for a cellphone and a notebook. May God bless, Dwight

The best possible way to keep rivets from damaging a knife or gun . . . don't use em. My boyscout leader back in '57 or 58 totally discouraged their use. I've been doing that ever since. May God bless, Dwight

If you do not want your liner to wrinkle . . . Tool first . . . LET IT DRY . . . LET IT DRY . . . LET IT DRY Make up the inside piece . . . cut it about 1/2 inch too big all the way around . . . Bend your outside piece by rolling it on a tee shirt with a 3/4 inch or so dowel . . . bend it around the dowel . . . and by rolling it back and forth several times will cause it to take a curve. Once you get the curve built into it . . . lay your liner inside it . . . take an ink pen and trace around the outside onto the liner . . . glue up the liner . . . glue up the outer shell . . . let them dry (using contact cement) until they just get past "tacky" dry . . . Lay the outside piece on some thing that will hold it steady with both sides pointing up . . . Bend the liner in the middle . . . push it down into the center . . . taking your fingers on one hand . . . pinch it onto the sides of the outside piece . . . check your outside lines on the liner you marked . . . make sure you are down in where you should be . . . Use that same 3/4 inch dowel to roll the liner up against the outside piece by rolling it as you did earlier. Trim . . . edge . . . bevel . . . sew . . . and admire your handiwork. May God bless, Dwight

I "sorta" had the same problem early on with Resolene . . . found out if I cut it 50/50 with water . . . it looks a lot better. But I have to admit . . . I had a bottle of it once . . . could not get it to do what I wanted . . . it's gone. Got a bottle of tan kote a month or two back . . . gonna play with that a bit . . . but I am a dyed in the wool Resolene and Aussie wax user. May God bless, 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