Dwight

If you soak rawhide real good . . . you can then shape it pretty good. I did that for a knife sheath some time back. After it dried out . . . I glued the rawhide to the suede . . . with the rawhide seam so that the top of the blade was at that seam. The sharp part of the blade found a solid piece of rawhide . . . My customer was super happy with it. He also got the beadwork on the 45-70 rifle case as well. May God bless, Dwight

Here are my two . . . a Cowboy with a 16 inch free opening for sewing larger projects . . . it'll sew 3/4 inch of veggie tan . . . and yes, I tried it . . . it'll do it. You can only see a piece of it in the picture . . . the black blob to the right of the Cowboy . . . is a Tippmann Boss . . . and if you only are doing hobby stuff . . . let me recommend this machine . . . 100%. I've had mine 20 years . . . it has been back to the shop twice . . . fixed for free both times . . . it is a bit of a pain doing belts . . . takes a while . . . but for holsters, sheaths, and an occasional purse . . . it'll do you great. Tandy has flooded the market with a machine that was badly cloned from it . . . and in my opinion is junk . . . the Boss is a good machine. A couple years ago they were in the 1400 dollar range . . . Tandy's junk has pushed the price down to about a thousand brand new (price I paid for mine 20 years ago) . . . and used ones on Ebay are even less. Have fun . . . may God bless, Dwight

No . . . I didn't do the alteration . . . but I've got an extension I made for a Glock barrel . . . needed a full size . . . only have the next smaller one . . . added the barrel . . . made the holster . . . shipped it . . . he was happy as a lark. I also made a model of a S&W 29 to get a holster for another order. Sometimes ya just gotta go with what you have or can get quickly . . . May God bless, Dwight

Glad to see I'm not the only redneck on here This makes at least 3 of us . . .

Well . . . by golly . . . just a big up and "THANK YOU" . . . I have a very serious case of neuropathy in my feet . . . at times I can barely even wear shoes . . . found one style of tennis shoes I can wear . . . own 4 pairs of them. They are colder than anything I've ever worn. I have played a bit trying to come up with something that would work to keep my feet warm . . . easy on and easy off . . . and light and comfortable. There is one less of those books on sale today . . . will be delivered sometime next week. Again . . . thank you for the pointer. May God bless, Dwight

Cut the round one off . . . screw on a piece of pine . . . and shape it on a belt sander . . . Piece of cake. May God bless, Dwight

If you use Weldwood contact cement . . . and roll it out flat after putting it on there . . . you will have no need for staples . . . the contact cement will hold it. It holds kitchen cabinets together for 20, 30, or 40 years . . . with no problems at all. It can darn sure do your little leather project. And as well . . . I have a roman shield . . . leather bonded to plywood . . . that was bent into a curve . . . been on there for a number of years . . . still looks great . . . no droops . . . no bubbles . . . pretty as the day I first carried it. Stapling it will only ask for it to fail . . . leather is heavy . . . and with the cooling and warming of years ahead . . . it will contract when cold . . . expand when warm . . . and eventually a droop will form in it . . . you will not be able to stop that. The only reason that doesn't happen to paintings . . . the paint is stiff and will not let it even begin to droop. But either way . . . have fun. May God bless, Dwight

Unique . . . and good looking . . . May God bless, Dwight

Crimson trace only builds lasers for the grip panel if I have been told correctly. That being the case . . . you only need the model that fits the gun itself. CT is negligible as far as influencing the holster. The only thing you may need to do is make a tunnel for it if he is a lefty . . . and make sure the place where the switch is turned on . . . is not contacted by the holster. That switch is in the grip panel . . . out front . . . under the trigger guard . . . and typically turned on by pressure from the middle finger. May God bless, Dwight

Check with Toledo Sewing Machine . . . (419) 380-8540 . . . Bob is the man you want to talk to . . . And yes . . . you can tell him Dwight sent you. I've bought an sewing machine . . . and a servo motor for another one from him . . . May God bless, Dwight

A couple of light coats of Resolene . . . 50/50 with water . . . makes a very nice inside on belts. May God bless, Dwight

This may sound silly . . . it is not meant to be. Buy a piece Herman Oak or Wickett and Craig . . . 8 oz leather . . . 1/2 a square foot. Cut it down the middle . . . contact cement the pieces together . . . scribe a line 1/8 inch from the edge all the way around . . . get some 277 or 346 thread . . . couple needles . . . saddle stitch it all the way around. Then buy a 1 sq ft of 7 oz W&C or HO . . . cut it in 4 lengthwise pieces . . . glue 2 of em together . . . flesh to flesh . . . then glue them together . . . hair side to hair side . . . so you have a stack of 4 pieces of 7 oz. Scribe it 1/8 of an inch around . . . saddle stitch it all the way around. If you pass both of those tests . . . you may do alright . . . if not . . . you need to go to floral carving and give up holsters . . . or practice on your sewing . . . The two 8 oz represent many holsters you will make . . . the 4 7 oz are for some of the lined holsters you may make. Personally I have several thousand dollars invested in sewing machines . . . and if I had to sew holsters by hand . . . I'd be floral carving purses starting next weeks. But on the outside . . . welcome aboard . . . have fun . . . ask quesions . . . we'll see what we can do to help you. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, everyone . . . got some stuff to try now . . . never used Tan Kote . . . it is on my shopping list. May God bless, Dwight

Long as he is paying the bills . . . any style . . . any texture . . . any color . . . It's called full employment . . . May God bless, Dwight

Just a refresh . . . maybe y'all missed the question

Honestly . . . I have a couple knives in my kitchen that I could use doing leather work . . . as I believe in sharp knives. AND . . . get down to it . . . most kitchen forks can give you a pretty consistent spacing pattern of 5 stitches to the inch . . . if you happen to not have another tool there at the time. And I have to admit . . . I'm one of those guys who will use whatever works . . . sometimes something else works a lot better . . . but it is $79.95 plus tax and is 45 miles away. So I'll just use this other thing that belongs in my automotive tool box for now. May God bless, Dwight

That particular holster was built for my wife's uncle in Ky . . . he did a lot of ginseng hunting . . . always packed his .22 revolver. Because of his age . . . to make it easier for him . . . and his arthritis . . . was the spacing reasoning. They can be done closer . . . My little model in the picture above is pretty much how I've done them in the past . . . never had any problems with them . . . and that "tad" of extra leather between each one I figured would help keep the rigidity of the belt. And besides . . . if you did em up touching each other . . . on a 30 inch belt . . . you would have over 60 cartridges . . . May God bless, Dwight

It is really pretty easy to do . . . you simply punch holes with an oval punch . . . and thread the bullet loop material out . . . then back thru the same hole. Not sure who first showed me this . . . but it's about the only way I do them any more. Here are pictures of my little models that have all my notes on em. The most important thing is when you cut the leather for the loops . . . cut it a 1/16 of an inch wider than the hole. You also make sure it is wet when you do this . . . not sopping, drippy wet . . . just a tad more than "in case" for stamping. Pull it thru . . . make the loop . . . slip a cartridge in the loop . . . pull it tight. I leave the cartridges in there for a good 1/2 hour . . . then gingerly slip them out . . . You can see of course that I do 2 layer belts . . . but you can simply put this together . . . and I'm of the opinion you would not "have to have" the liner . . . although it looks better. Anyway . . . have fun . . . PM me if you have any quesions. May God bless, Dwight

THIS is the way to do .22 loops . . . and I do all my other loops the same way . . . stitched a few here and there . . . stitching never works as well for me. This process . . . I can do the loops in about the same time either way . . . but this makes a better project in my opinion. May God bless, Dwight

For a while . . . I was having trouble with some shades of lighter browns not being uniform across the project . . . Got the tip to apply a very light coat of neatsfoot oil to the project on the hair side only . . . with the emphasis on VERY LIGHT. It cured the dying problem . . . 100%. That is what I do now . . . stamping comes first . . . molding comes first . . . shaping comes first . . . stitching comes first . . . but as soon as the project is now a true belt or a true holster etc . . . it gets the oil treatment. Let it sit for at least 24 hours . . . then I dip dye the project . . . and am happy with the results I get. May God bless, Dwight

I'm going to be doing a purse for a lady this spring . . . probably some floral carving on the front and inside the flap. I want to use a soft finish . . . nothing like Resolene . . . and I'll actually fold and bend the veggie tan leather so it is very pliable for her . . . There will not be any colorizations at this point . . . just stamping and mabye . . . maybe . . . a little antiquing . . . Just need to keep the Saddle Tan stain from rubbing off on everything. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

Thanks tsuniasapa . . . left my brain on the kitchen table I think . . . Anyway . . . this is it.......... https://www.ebay.com/itm/401619926644?hash=item5d8269be74:g:SeAAAOSw52NdHXAP May God bless, Dwight

I know . . . it's not the same . . . it's not traditional "saddle stitching" . . . All I can say is "so what??" Hundreds of belts are sold each week with sewing machine stitching . . . which is the same stitching one gets from this kind of tool . . . and the thread will be as white on the first stitch as it is on the last one . . . which on a 50 inch long belt at 6 stitches per inch . . . that's 600 stitches . . . I often sew things with one of these . . . and I'm always satisfied with the end product. May God bless, Dwight

Wallets are good too . . . in the storeroom of my "goodies" I have a billfold made by my biological father . . . It is the only attachment I ever had to him . . . sometimes just get it out and hold it . . . wonder where all it went . . . all the conversations it heard . . . They can become special keepsakes . . . not sure anyone keeps a PVC purse or billfold. Put yourself into your leather work . . . it is a way of sharing yourself with others. I have one wallet customer . . . I know he remembers me every now and then . . . his daughter had bought him a "different" tri fold billfold some 20 years or so before . . . and it was just about done . . . flat out falling apart. He looked all over trying to find one like it . . . finally wound up in a Tandy store one day when I happened to be there . . . the store manager sent him to me . . . telling him they didn't have completed billfolds . . . but I could make him one. He kinda looked at me dumbfounded when I told him I'd need the old one for a pattern . . . but he emptied it up . . . put the stuff in his pockets . . . offered to pay me whatever I wanted if I would make him one like it. I did . . . sent it to him a couple weeks later . . . off in Pennsylvania somewhere. Got a letter back from him . . . he was tickled pink. Those are the moments that make life an enjoyable experience . . . leatherwork included. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome Selvune . . . as the Navy says . . . glad to have you aboard. One of the quickest projects you can do . . . and one that will bring some personal satisfaction . . . go to a leather craft store . . . and purchase a good looking belt blank . . . 1 1/2 wide. Buy a buckle you like . . . and don't buy a cheap one . . . get one you will be proud to wear. Tell the guy you want to tool the belt . . . you'll need a swivel knife and a half dozen tools to complete the job . . . and you need the pattern template for it. Check out youtube for advice . . . lots of good stuff out there . . . and even watching the goofballs . . . you will learn something . . . even if it is WHAT NOT TO DO . It'll take you several days . . . you'll have to find a solid place in your house where you can tool without waking the entire household . . . You'll have to take it out in the garage to dye it . . . and add the finish . . . use Resolene for the finish . . . Once you are done . . . you can wear that belt for years on top of years . . . and every time you hook your thumbs in it . . . you can be proud of your work. I have one of mine from over 40 years ago . . . I still wear it occasionally . . . still proud of my amateur work I did then. May God bless, Dwight