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Dwight

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Everything posted by Dwight

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Tell us what you are looking for . . . Lots of people see this part of the forum as well. May God bless, Dwight
  5. 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
  6. "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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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 . . .
  14. Just really beautiful work . . . Wayyyyyy beyond my reach . . . May God bless, Dwight
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. And if you really want to go for it . . . Take a look at these . . . May God bless, Dwight
  22. Don't be bashful about dressing them up . . . This was my pair up until I quit riding. May God bless, Dwight
  23. 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
  24. 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
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