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

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