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

If you stamp / engrave a holster or knife sheath . . . there is a BIG fold that must be done after the stamping / engraving is done. Typically . . . I do not stamp or engrave in that area . . . will bring the stamping up to "almost" the fold . . . (especially on a knife sheath) . . . And I'll stay away from the stitching on the other side . . . If you do it right, looking at it from the front . . . there will be an equal border on the left side and on the right where the fold is . . . And by doing the same up at the top where the knife goes in . . . it makes a really pretty border of unstamped leather around your stamped part. Now you can stamp all the way to the back on some gun holsters . . . and then fold . . . it is often done on large revolver holsters . . . but the folding around the gun is much less pronounced than the fold on a knife sheath. Doing that with a knife sheath will cause distortion of your stamping in the fold area. Personally . . . I don't mind it . . . just one of those things we cannot perfectly control. AND . . . one last point . . . you want your leather to be "in case" when you do that fold . . . or maybe just a tad wetter than "in case". Just don't get serious with that wetting. Practice on some scrap . . . it won't take you but a couple small pieces . . . you'll get the hang of it. May God bless, Dwight

He-he . . . May God bless, Dwight

I can only say that I did not have any problems with the hydraulic press . . . other than being scared I was going to crush somebody's plastic fantastic lover pistol Wood and steel guns never were a problem for me and the latex rubber pieces I used to get the forming done. I do think though that the vacuum press does a better job . . . quicker . . . and I can see what it is doing . . . With the hydraulic press . . . if something gets out of alignment you will not know it until you lift the press. With vacuum bag system . . . you look thru the bag and you can see what is going on all the time. And for the price I paid for the latex rubber pieces . . . I could have bought the whole vacuum system . . . complete. (IIRC) May God bless, Dwight

Occasionally . . . the fringe was actually cut into the chap itself. It was not a separate piece. But from all I've seen . . . most were cut and then added onto the chaps . . . I guess the idea was either to use up small scrap pieces . . . or to be able to replace torn pieces later on. But anyway . . . the chaps go on the bottom . . . the fringe lays on the edge . . . and a long separate piece goes over the top of the edge of the fringe . . . when fastened down . . . it held the fringe in place. Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

But I can spell . . . don't have to scream . . . nor use language not preferable for a full family website. Grow up . . . will you? May God bless, Dwight

Honestly . . . never ever saw a pair like that. 1. the way the top is laced together . . . unless that was some very easily broken shoe string or something . . . I would never have worn them. Fact is . . . I'd a tossed the lacing and put in a leather thong or something similar. Again . . . that could get ya hurt. 2. the pockets look normal . . . and the fringe and the way the fringe is attached . . . yeah . . . OK 3. the bottom is just too narrow for any I've ever seen . . . they always flared out . . . but looking at the off side leg . . . looks like a pair of step in chaps . . . might have been something worn around the ranch when working cattle from the ground . . . help keep ya warm . . . and the dried green decoration on the nearest leg would also kind of bear that witness. May God bless, Dwight

Not really sure what paperback book you got that out of . . . but all our folks would have been proud to carry the cowboy moniker . . . Maybe that was true on the great plains north of London . . . lol May God bless, Dwight

The fringe is not truthfully "hard" . . . just time comsuming. Make a fringe cutter like this out of 1/16 or 1/8 plexiglass . . . I use all three of them . . . but the easiest one to use is the center one. The black line is the only cut in the plexiglass . . . the rest are just lines allowing me to check my work . . . Put down an straight edge to the left . . . shove the back side of the leather even with it . . . lay the cutter down on top of it . . . thumb on one side . . . fingers on the other . . . cut out on the black line . . . Move it up or down . . . I usually work down . . . line up the cut with the alignment line in the plexiglass . . . thumb and fingers down . . . cut it. I can cut out a pretty good sized piece of fringe with this fairly quickly . . . and if you are fairly careful . . . you will have a nice piece of fringe. May God bless, Dwight

Considering that is a staged pic . . . shined chaps . . . brand new cuffs . . . Sunday go to meeting hats on . . . with their Sunday coats . . . I'd really like someone somewhere to give me the low down on these two. Might just be actors from some sort of show . . . with their "show" clothes . . . that follow after Marshall Dillon's belt and holster . . . never was one like it on the range . . . As well . . . those kind of chaps also sewn they way they are across the front would have gotten the rider killed if he slipped forward and it went around the horn of the saddle. Then as well . . . both are wearing city boy galluses . . . and only the stage actors carried a horse beater whip like each has on his hand . . . to say nothing of the gold watch chain the dude on the left has . . . ostensibly going to his gold watch . . . that at his age he would not have been able to afford on a dollar a day and grub. But who knows. May God bless, Dwight

I made mine with full length zippers . . . ain't takin my boots of in "who knows what" ground . . . water . . . snow . . . poo . . . Buckle them dudes around the waist . . . hit the zippers . . . mount up and yer done. May God bless, Dwight

Thank, pal . . . I went with almost all flat backed holsters . . . for me I found they were more comfortable . . . have not had a customer come back and complain they were too flat yet . . . lol Seriously . . . I built a 50/50 pancake . . . did my best to get used to it . . . finally just put it on Ebay . . . took what I got for a used holster . . . went down the road . . . have not made one since. May God bless, Dwight

I bought 4 pads of latex leather . . . each about 2 inches thick and about 16 or 18 inches square. I used two above the holster and two below it . . . stacked of course . . . and a 6 ton press. I just started getting antsy when I really started getting a lot of Glocks . . . May God bless, Dwight

I used to get their 20 or 30% off coupons on my phone . . . quit getting them when I quit using them . . . Might check into them . . . this is the one I got . . . https://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-61245.html I think it might have been 10 bucks cheaper or so . . . don't recall for sure . . . may have been this price. Anyway . . . sure takes the labor out of molding the holsters . . . I used to use a hydraulic press . . . did a fantastic job . . . just knew one day though . . . somebody's plastic fantastic six shooter would get crushed in the press . . . tore it down . . . was a really smart move I think . . . went to vacuum forming. May God bless, Dwight

Good job penguin . . . Now all you gotta do is make the belt to go with it . . . what is the dye color you used?? It . . . on my screen . . . looks like Feibings British Tan . . . but I just wondered. May God bless, Dwight

If you first glue about a 3/8 bar of glue up the edge of each piece with Weldwood Contact cement . . . you can then come back every 3/4 of an inch with a bright shiny rivet . . . whole bunch easier and faster than hand sewing . . . and they look pretty darned good too. May God bless, Dwight

Hang em in the barn with a dozen steel leg traps below them . . . that's what I'd do. May God bless, Dwight

Take a look at the above post . . . it shows you the very best way to do it for .22's. Trying to do them by measurement will generally make you wish you pulled your hair out first. When you do this for .22's . . . try to find some calf leather . . . John Bianchi (I believe it was him) . . . said it was the best for the belt loops. For these . . . 3/4 oz is plenty . . . you want the leather damp . . . push it thru . . . pull it back to make the circle . . . put a cartridge in there . . . pull it tight . . . go on to the next one. I let these get pretty darn near dry before I pull the cartridges out. Have fun . . . May God bless, Dwight

I use my electrical side cutters . . . for the male piece . . . cut it thru . . . then cut off the top of what is left of the post . . . the rest pulls out . . . no problemo. For the female part . . . gently squeeze the side cutters under the female part . . . just squeeze . . . back off and go at it again 90 degrees from the first time . . . then back where you started . . . then the second place . . . each time adding a little more pressure . . . it'll pop off . . . Never scratch the leather . . . never have any problems at all with it. Drills and dremels can get stuff going . . . burn the leather . . . slide off and mark it up badly . . . side cutters will not do that. May God bless, Dwight

In a one word answer . . . no . . . it is a toy compared to the one I showed you above. Show me what you want to cut / punch / stamp / or whatever you are trying to do. I don't mean to sound hard on you . . . but you have done a lot of talking . . . but have not fully offered any idea of exactly what you are wanting to do. Give us something more to work with (pictures are great) . . . and we can help you more. May God bless, Dwight

There are two holes thru the belt there by the buckle . . . and you could easily do like Rocky Aussie suggested . . . jut adding a piece there to move the buckle out farther in the front. By cutting it right behind the buckle tongue slot . . . you could round the corners a tad bit . . . sew the outside again to the liner . . . and you would not have to do any skiving or gluing if you just punched 2 holes in the inside and the outside pieces that would fold over and make the NEW buckle keeper. I'd not bat an eye at wearing it . . . that's for sure. It is one beautiful belt . . . don't let this length thing get the best of you. Finish up that piece holding the buckle with some little doo-dad stamping . . . make it look like you planned it . . . only you and the owner will know you didn't. May God bless, Dwight