Dwight

I sewed for years on a Tippmann Boss . . . and did not realize how really slow I did sew with that thing. I finally figured out how to make my Cowboy 4500 go REALLLLLLLY slow . . . and we are doing a lot better together now. I doubt if I'll ever get it up to the fastest setting . . . my sewing ability is just not there. I can watch the needle go down . . . down . . . down . . . down . . . and finally contact the leather . . . then down and down and down . . . I like that kind of control. May God bless, Dwight

In my years of leather working . . . I've mostly used my Tandy store . . . almost an hour away . . . bad part of town . . . But I got to pick my inventory that I wanted . . . And they are really not good for letting you know something is not in stock if you order something and it isn't there. But my real gripe . . . is one of the "nationally known" leather suppliers . . . about an hour and a half away . . . Weaver Leather. Getting there was a 100 mile trip . . . as I did have another place I wanted to go first. Got to Weaver's . . . walked up to the showroom door . . . it's locked . . . little white paper sign on the door . . . we're closed for remodeling. Apparently was closed in 2020 when covid hit it's stride . . . not one word on any of the Weaver site about the showroom being closed. Today . . . go to their website . . . still not one word about it being closed. You make the trip . . . you are out of luck. I had in mind to purchase a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff plus leather . . . wound up buying one hide . . . and I only did that because I wanted to see if Herman Oak is as good as I've heard . . . or if I'd rather play with the Tandy stuff. On top of it . . . I spoke personally to five different people . . . assured me they would address the closure . . . yeah . . . don't hold your breath. Top if off . . . checked my bill . . . I was overcharged . . . not much . . . but overcharge is overcharge . . . Anyway . . . so much for my gripe . . . May God bless, Dwight

I did a bunch of counter tops back "in my day" . . . and Weldwood contact cement was my product. We stuck down pieces 6 ft long by almost 36 inches wide . . . trimmed them . . . and then had lunch or dinner on them. Far as I know . . . some of them are still out there . . . and the first one I did was probably 1970 or so. When I got serious about my leather work . . . it followed me over into it. I don't use glue very often . . . because of the setup time needed . . . to say nothing of "what happens if it moves and you don't see it?" . . . Weldwood does have an odor . . . and just maybe I've gotten used to it . . . but I use it and don't really have a problem with the odor. If I'm doing say several belts . . . as I glue em up . . . they will go hang in the garage . . . or if the weather permits . . . sometimes I'll take the gluing process out into the garage. What I love about it is . . . when I stick something together with Weldwood . . . I can go answer the phone . . . check my UPS guy . . . hit the bathroom . . . go to lunch . . . or any of a hundred other things . . . and when I come back to those pieces I stuck together . . . they are still stuck together and stuck the way I put them. It is my recommendation . . . and the only one other thing I use . . . and it is super rare . . . I've got a bottle of white Elmer's glue . . . and I can't recall when or why I even used it last . . . but I had some kind of project maybe back in 2020 or 2019 where I used it. But that is just me . . . and my story. May God bless, Dwight

There is a "button" on the side of the controller box for the motor . . . on mine it is a little chrome button . . . looks like an old volume button where the knob was yanked off the radio. Mine turns clockwise to the last click . . . where it will not go at all. One click counter clockwise and it is really slow . . . the more clicks CCW you go . . . the faster it goes. You may have a different setup than mine . . . but that is the way mine is . . . I can get you pictures if you like. May God bless, Dwight PS: Just a quick compliment . . . Milt Sparks puts out some great stuff . . .

Just really beautiful work . . . Wayyyyyy beyond my reach . . . May God bless, Dwight

You need to go to Harbor Freight . . . buy one of these . . . https://www.harborfreight.com/1-in-x-30-in-belt-sander-61728.html It is a little 30 inch belt sander. With it you can sand down the edges of your sheaths . . . so they are perfectly flush . . . no matter how many layers you use. Take off the plastic guard on the top roller . . . and you can do the inside of your curves with it. It's the best 60 bucks you will ever spend as far as finishing tools is concerned. I own two of them . . . AFTER you finish sanding the edges smooth . . . take a stitch guide and set our outside stitch line . . . adjust it and set your inside stitch line . . . or use a set of dividers. I prefer the stitch guide as it actually cuts a little trough for the top stitches to lay in . . . but for a knife sheath it is six of one . . . half dozen of another. The other tool is of course is an edger . . . get a #4 for knife sheaths . . . and you can burnish them with a piece of canvas . . . and a little bit of water. I didn't do this sheath . . . but it gives you an idea of what the edge should look like. Notice he has a full length welt in there as well. May God bless, Dwight

Let me second his opinion and decision. "With a little help from my friends" . . . mostly on here . . . I made the same decision . . . and am happy that I did. I almost went with the 3200 to save money . . . but just every now and then I need that extra height . . . glad I spent the bucks now. Yes . . . you can do chaps on this machine. Fact is . . . if you pop a few bucks for an accessory plate made in Australia . . . you can go down to some pretty thin leather on this machine . . . mine will be on it's way in a few weeks . . . If you want to make any adjustments to this machine . . . remove both the pedals . . . move them both to the right and to the rear so the back edge of the pedestal and the pedals are even. You'll have to drill and tap the holes . . . but if you do it . . . you can drop the machine into the lowest position . . . and at 6'2" I can sit down on a kitchen stool and sew with it. Beats the heck out of standing up. Get the accessory kit with it . . . money well spent. Toledo Sewing machine in Toledo, Ohio . . . where I got mine. May God bless, Dwight

Jennifer . . . check this thread

Thanks AzShooter . . . One of the things I really do have fun with. I actually make the pattern on Microsoft Excel . . . Then sit down and bead it up . . . I kinda giggle all the way thru it . . . knowing that Bill Gates would have a fit if he knew what all that coding and programming produced: a beading pattern maker . . . lol May God bless, Dwight

I went looking for these the other day . . . took 2 days to find where I'd stashed them. I read once that some of the native Americans used beads to "sort of" depict things from times past . . . part of their personal experiences . . . I took that idea and ran with it . . . will be my left and right sleeve leaders down over each shoulder toward the front. My navy career . . . my ol Navy uncle . . . are on one of them . . . the most important Bible verse is on the other . . . Just need to get the buckskin jacket made so I can put these on it. May God bless, Dwight

Mmmm . . . I'd love to get on that ship say in New York . . . sail around to New Orleans or so . . . spent 4 1/2 years in the US Navy . . . and didn't get even a glance at anything with a sail on it. Much to my displeasure . . . always thought I'd a made a great sailor 150 years ago. Anyway . . . thanks for the link . . . it was fun to look at. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Chuck . . . I had never really done any before . . . first one I did was enough out of proportion that I did not like it . . . so I did it all over again. Would you believe that my pattern maker is Microsoft Excel?? It actually is. But thanks for the compliment . . . it was a fun project. May God bless, Dwight

And if you really want to go for it . . . Take a look at these . . . May God bless, Dwight

Don't be bashful about dressing them up . . . This was my pair up until I quit riding. May God bless, Dwight

Didn't see a place there on your web site . . . where we could get hold of you . . . With these stinking electronic boxes . . . always needing some advice . . . not sure we could do that phone number . . . I'm used to not having to pay for any phone calls . . . May God bless, Dwight

Just a note . . . I don't know if you can get the product . . . here it is called Resolene . . . it is an acrylic leather finish. Another one we use . . . it is a floor polish . . . called Mop and Glo. Cut either of them 50 / 50 with water . . . and brush the product on your shoes. Might take 4 coats . . . let em dry a couple hours between coats . . . might make those boots last you long enough to work out the cash for better ones. There is a fellow in UK . . . don't recall his name or website . . . makes some of the most beautiful holsters for the old .45 automatic from WW1 and WW2 days. Not sure how he managed to get and hang on to a .45 auto . . . but he shows pictures with it. Good luck. May God bless, Dwight

Couple of questions: 1. Where did you get the leather? 2. When you bought it . . . did it by any chance say "belly leather"? 3. Were there any other descriptive words about the leather when you got it? May God bless, Dwight

Now we go silly . . . I needed a pair of "work" boots a couple years ago . . . but not for anything that would be considered serious work. I bought a pair of lace up . . . high top boots . . . rubber cushion soles . . . think they were like 25 dollars American . . . turned out to be full . . . absolute . . . real leather. Actually a darn good pair of boots . . . and I'm still wearing them. May God bless, Dwight

My original stitch groover I bought from Tandy some 25 or so years ago . . . has the original blade in it . . . it still works fine . . . and all I've ever done with it is use it. I have both the fancy adjustable one and the cheap one designed to be set for one distance . . . that is my baby . . . Actually have both . . . use the fancy one very seldom. The other one is on every belt . . . every sheath . . . every holster . . . and a boat load of other things I've made down thru the years. Try it . . . you'll like it. May God bless, Dwight

I just use what is handy . . . Joann Fabric sells carpet thread . . . not very big . . . easily used . . . and you will just about yank your finger off or cut yourself with it if you try to break it in two. If you use it . . . plan on cutting it if you ever want to change the sewing . . . you won't pull it apart like some of the other threads women sew with. I use it for lots of stuff . . . but it only works in my heavy duty standard machine. May God bless, Dwight

I have one like this . . . and one like the other. The other is only for special projects . . . very seldom used. This one had the extra part of the blade ground off on the non cutting side . . . and the screw set tight as I could get it. It is my groover fro all my holsters, sheaths, belts . . . makes em all perfectly consistent. And it is so easy to use . . . May God bless, Dwight

Looks alright from here May God bless, Dwight

This makes 3 of us . . . I don't do a lot of hand sewing . . . but when I do . . . I don't mess with it. Thread the needle(s) . . . fold it over . . . and go for it. May God bless, Dwight

You can make this stuff as hard on yourself as you want. Or follow the KISS method . . . Keep It Simple Stupid. For hand sewing . . . if it works . . . use it. For machine sewing . . . best advice I ever got came from the Tippmann Boss people. Thread the needle . . . hold your hands about 30 inches or 75 cm apart . . . with the needle in the middle of the string. Lift one hand . . . drop the other . . . build a 45 degree string for the needle to slide on. The needle . . . if properly sized . . . will easily slide down the string . . . switch positions with the hands . . . again the needle should slide easily. Has worked for me for 20 years. May God bless, Dwight

Here is my other machine I spoke about . . . Tippmann Boss . . . good little hand operated machine. I've punched holes with it for stitching almost 3/4 of an inch . . . came back and hand sewed the holes. May God bless, Dwight