Dwight

I was never able to get the "sharpness" I wanted until I followed these guys. May not work for you . . . but sure did for me . . . I've used that round knife more in the last month . . . than the first 10 years I owned it. May God bless, Dwight

Go to Joann fabric . . . buy a half yard of their thick boating vinyl . . . experiment with it for your pattern. I've got several yards of it here . . . that is my final pattern for something complicated. Works like a champ . . . as it imitates leather in many respects. Neat part about it . . . if you cut it off wrong . . . tape it back together with drywall tape and re-cut it. Check for coupons . . . can get up to 60 % off on one item . . . which would be your vinyl. But what you want to do is cut a piece about 30 inches long and 6 inches wide or so . . . lay it on a buddy's shoulder . . . and you take a pair of scissors and cut away the excess until you get the piece you want. May God bless, Dwight

I paid 1K for mine over 20 years ago . . . have gotten my money back and then some . . . I have sewn holsters, vests, belts, knife sheaths, scabbards, chaps, one hat that I recall . . . and probably a bunch of stuff I don't remember . . . ahh . . . yes . . . and sewed up the driver's boot for an over the road trucker who wore out his right boot . . . gas pedal and all. Seriously . . . if the machine works good and I needed another one . . . I'd pay 800 for it . . . but I also know the people who made it . . . they are wonderful folks to work with. Mine needed some pro paws on it a couple of times . . . they cleaned off their work stations . . . fixed me right up. (I don't know them as friends . . . just as business acquaintances . . . but again, they welcomed me with open arms . . . I drove my machine up there to get it fixed in Ft Wayne Indiana). Best wishes . . . may God bless, Dwight

Sorry, Scott . . . I didn't see this until today . . . may be late . . . but something maybe for the future. Use latex glue on the hair side . . . glue the leather to a very flat board and make sure you do a really good glue job. Set the powered electric jointer so it does not take off more than 1/64 of an inch or .40 mm . . . run it slowly thru the jointer . . . and it should take off one ounce at a time. Now I've never actually done this myself . . . but having worked with power tools for 65 years or so . . . I can usually figure out these things. Take a piece of scrap and try it first to see how well it works. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome from about 35 miles to your northeast . . . Waldo area . . . been doing leather now for somewhat over 20 years . . . mostly belts, suspenders, knife sheaths, and holsters. I have a somewhat smaller one . . . and there are times I cannot get it on a product like I would like to . . . so it doesn't go on. Might be worth making smaller . . . but only time and experience will prove that to you. Glad to have you aboard . . . do you shop the Tandy leather store over on Morse Road? May God bless, Dwight

I don't have their addresses off hand . . . they are on Ebay . . . Chinese / Taiwan . . . they've made a couple brass stamps for me . . . both about an inch and a half long and 3/4 inch high . . . I press them into key fobs . . . they were in the $40 range . . . shipping included . . . I did a quick search . . . here is one of them . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/193035135579?var=493334175204&hash=item2cf1ca6a5b:g:uVsAAOSwwRBcvRdi I doubt this is the one who did mine . . . but I got a couple done . . . will probably get more as time goes along . . . they work really great. Ask this guy if he can make the stamp you want . . . I'd bet he can. May God bless, Dwight

Call The Thread Exchange in Weaverville, NC . . . 800-915-2320 . . . I did and Jasmine sent me a card with their waxed bonded nylon . . . and they'll send you one if you ask. Tell them what you are doing . . . and what you want. Personally . . . I have bonded nylon I bought from Toledo sewing machine and from Tandy . . . and I will use it up hopefully . . . but I'll never buy it again. It is slick, slippery, flimsy, . . . and an absolute pain in the rear to put thru a needle. And that says nothing about it touching anything hard . . . including a piece of hard leather . . . it will fray and come apart . . . you will have to stop the machine . . . cut the thread . . . trim the thread off your project . . . back up 2 or 3 stitches . . . and start up again. And that is after you have spent 5 minutes trying to get the whole thread thru the eye of a size 25 or 26 needle. It usually is 2 minutes . . . quit . . . go get a coffee . . . drink half of it . . . and try again. OR . . . if you really have a special project where you want to hide the double stitches . . . you will have to "un sew" all you have done. No . . . it does not happen often . . . but it DOES HAPPEN . . . and it can be frustrating as the devil. Other than that . . . the thread "will work" . . . but my opinion on a 1 to 10 scale is about a 2. And if anyone wants to buy it . . . because you like it . . . PM me and we may work out a deal. But back to the main topic . . . DanaStanley . . . call those folks up at the Thread Exchange . . . I have not bought anything from them yet . . . will later this month . . . but so far they seem to be a really good outfit. May God bless, Dwight

Looks darn good from here . . . You really also need to do a special shoulder strap for the girl's dad . . . to put on his shotgun . . . would compliment the grooms well. (lol) May God bless, Dwight

Take those dimensions . . . go out to your wood shop . . . build a wooden replica of the weapon. THEN making the holster is a piece of cake. Couldn't tell you how many I've done that way . . . have a gun mold box that has almost as many wooden ones as it has blue plastic ones. That is why. May God bless, Dwight

Lowes here in Ohio has plenty of it . . . or did last time I looked. And there is always this store: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274078509549?epid=7026733944&hash=item3fd05a29ed:g:uhUAAOSwiGViVpEM A pint goes and awful long way . . . May God bless, Dwight

And another welcome . . . Glad to have you aboard . . . May God bless, Dwight

Look up above . . . in the ads . . . Texas custom dies . . . I would imagine . . . guesswork from past experience mind you . . . the die shouldn't cost but around 75 bucks and maybe less . . . For something that small . . . you take your time and mallet cut it by slowly but surely tapping all around the sides . . . should have to go around 3 times . . . but it'll work. With a lot of my scrap leather . . . I do key fobs . . . got the die long before I got a press . . . that's how I handled it. May God bless, Dwight

Here is a video of one fellow's way of doing it May God bless, Dwight

Welcome, my friend . . . once wandered thru your fair city . . . some 53 years ago. My US warship was the first to dock in Brisbane for over 25 yrs . . . the USS Wiltsie. I knew it would be wall to wall people all day long . . . I lit out for 5 days on the Gold Coast . . . one of the best vacations I ever had. But enough about me . . . glad to have you aboard . . . enjoy yourself . . . don't be afraid to ask questions . . . that is how you learn. May God bless, Dwight

Knife sheath . . . holster . . . cell phone case . . . all get a wet molded experience with me . . . sometimes more than one . . . but usually one is enough. I literally dunk it in a jar or pan of room temperature water . . . leave it for about 10 seconds . . . pull it out . . . use paper towels to suck up any excess. Then I mold . . . and quite honestly . . . I use a vacuum pump and a bag to do most of the molding. A cigar case would not need that . . . only the form. And yes . . . it is an overnight to 24 hour process . . . you really . . . really need to let it dry before going on. You can help it along with heat . . . just make sure you stay below 145 deg F . . . and you can "force dry" the project. Be advised though . . . that will turn it the next thing to rock hard. May God bless, Dwight

Tallbalde . . . take this for what it is worth . . . free advice. It is how I would handle it. Toledo sewing machine has it listed for I believe . . . 2700 dollars. Had you offered it to me . . . in excellent condition . . . back before I bought my 4500 . . . I would have jumped at an 1800 maybe even 2000 dollar price. And while I don't know your personal home situation . . . etc . . . As for me . . . I'd load that dude up in a rented trailer and just flat out deliver it to someone within a 500 mile range . . . provided I got the money up front . . . and something like 50 cents a mile (one way) for the delivery. Loading it in a trailer . . . covering with a tarp . . . tying it down . . . and taking a drive would be worth it for me. Again . . . this is just how I would do it . . . given my personal situation . . . your mileage may vary. May God bless, Dwight

I'm with Bert on this one . . . the dry cases would have flattened back out once the wood mold was pulled out. From knife sheaths . . . mag holders . . . and holsters . . . I can tell you that if properly moistened . . . only 10 to 20 minutes is needed in the mold . . . and the creasing could easily have been done at the end of the 10 minutes . . . wood form pulled . . . and it would have been good to go. Guy would only need about 3 or 4 at the most of those inserts to stay busy for 8 hours straight . . . just dampening . . . molding . . . and edging. But I have to admit . . . sure looks like an awful lot of work when a shirt pocket will do the same . . . and it comes free with the shirt. Those cigar holders ain't cheap in anyone's book . . . May God bless, Dwight

Wetting it before bending it can lessen the overall effect . . . A light coat of neatsfoot oil to the hair side will lessen it as well. You will NOT get rid of all of it however . . . ALL leather does that . . . some just more than others. Wallet purchasers know that ahead of time. May God bless, Dwight

I know it was probably not an option for you . . . but it won't take you long to figure out why I personally drove there and picked up both of my machines. May God bless, Dwight

That bolo tie slide only has about a million possibilities attached to it. Get a leather stamp with your logo . . . stamp it and super glue it to the almost 3/4 inch round head on the bolo tie slide. Solder a quarter to it . . . and there are half dollar and silver dollar look alikes that could be done as well. Get someone to make your MtlB idea in brass wire to solder to it Possibilities actually are darn near endless . . . and as a final thought . . . drill a hole in the middle of it . . . put a concho on it with her favorite design. May God bless, Dwight

When you have a minute . . . shoot me the name and address of the source . . . would really appreciate it. May God bless, Dwight

With the slots cut and sewing finished . . . looks like a useful holster. I've got one of those . . . I can stick a Sig 365 in it . . . a Taurus G3 compact . . . or a officer model 1911 . . . just all depends if or where I put the Chicago screw in it. It actually is the most comfortable holster I own . . . and was made on a lark . . . I use it as a model for the other slip cake holsters I make . . . May God bless, Dwight

Try here . . . https://in.pinterest.com/pin/4362930860545172/?amp_client_id=CLIENT_ID(_)&mweb_unauth_id={{default.session}}&simplified=true May God bless, Dwight

I have used Weldwood contact cement in some limited stuff I've done. May God bless, Dwight

This Ohio guy says welcome . . . and wish I were at my brother's in Big Spring or my nephew's place in San Angelo to welcome you. But Ohio will have to do for now. May God bless, Dwight