Dwight

Sometimes something is staring you in the face . . . and you cannot see it. I never gave a thought to how it could be arranged to work out right like that. Just thought ya stamped it and bordered it . . . and ya was done. That's part of why I never messed with it before . . . when I did try the results were much less than stellar . . . Thanks again . . . may God bless, Dwight

Hmmm . . . never gave it a thought. Just set my square on the leather . . . went down the 45 side . . . started knocking out the stamps. Good to know tht there is a better way. NOW . . . other than the little half circle star like stamp I used . . . is there any other "border" tool that is normally used??? Sounds picky . . . but I hate doing the same old thing . . . every time . . . like a bit of spice or difference. I've got a deer hoof print tool and a butterfly print tool . . . both of which I hand made . . . will never be used again . . . but was fun using them the first time. Both made belts that went out as "One of............" belts. One of em went to my sister I lost this year. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks to every one who replied . . . and I was wondering about rotating the pattern. I tried to look and figure out what angle most folks did their stamping at . . . kinda thought it was close to 45 degrees . . . so I grabbed my carpenter's square . . . laid it on the leather . . . and drug my stamping tool down along the edge to get two parallel lines at a 45 degree angle. Do most of you stamp at a different angle? As for the deeper / shallower impressions . . . 76 year old hands . . . doing something they never trained for earlier. Now if I could do the impressions with a lever action .22 or a semi auto military rifle . . . or a Remington typewriter . . . they would be spot on. AND . . . I had to get up and drag my $1.25 per pair . . . dollar store . . . seeing eye cheaters so I could see where that stamp was going to land. Man I hate wearing those things. I'll look up for my coffee . . . or to check on a sound . . . and my whole world goes to the "big blur" thru those dollar store cheaters. But again . . . thanks to you all for your advice and encouragement . . . the project is taking shape rather well . . . I didn't charge the guy enough for it . . . but I'm not planning on making a career out of these things anyway. But I do enjoy the challenge of a "one of a kind" leather project. Done many of them . . . hope to do more. May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . I went out to my shop . . . thinking I had a couple of old basket weave stamps I got years ago from Tandy. Watched a video on "how to" . . . and started messing with it. Would just like you guys that do this . . . give me an honest . . . brutal if necessary . . . assessment of the second thing I did a basket weave on. It is a box that will be folded up and the basket weave follow around the sides. I'll post pictures of the finished project in a week or two . . . depending on how long it takes. I thought I had it today . . . found out I left out one of the really important pieces . . . this box I stamped. Thanks. . . . may God bless, Dwight

I tried that years ago . . . found out it was a losing proposition. Make up representative belts "for show" . . . but not for stock. If you are well set up . . . you can get an order today . . . and ship it tomorrow . . . only one days difference from pulling it from stock. All you need is the leather properly oiled and dyed . . . cut to some 55 inch length or whatever your cow's side will allow you to cut them. You simply then grab two pieces the same color . . . work out the ends . . . glue em together . . . punch the holes . . . sew em . . . and put the final finish on it . . . and go to bed. Get up the next morning . . . pack and ship it. Your customer's will not know nor care the difference of one day. And you will not have them hanging there taking up space. I actually still have one unsold belt in my closet . . . will one day drop it off to the salvation army. May God bless, Dwight

I would use a drill bit that is right at the diameter of the rivets in the top photo. I would use a brand new one . . . super sharp . . . and I would not get in any kind of hurry at all. You might even go in on the backside . . . use a drywall screw to keep it from turning . . . hold the drywall screw with a pair of pliers . . . and I'd do this in a drill press if you have that option. I've drilled out bunches of rivets from time to time . . . because of the dryness of the leather . . . it has probably shrunk . . . the rivet will spin if the drill big catches it . . . just be careful. May God bless, Dwight

Make sure you post a picture when it is done . . . and don't forget to put plenty of beads on the flap . . . showing outside. Wouldn't want anyone to think your idea was "blowing in the wind" May God bless, Dwight

Actually, Scootch . . . just a common basket weave will do for me. Being as honest as I can . . . I'd rather hand sew a 55 inch gun belt . . . than stamp anything. I've never been able to really get much more than a couple patterns to work like I want them to. And that is only a basic border stamping. I have a "one of a kind" project for a Texan . . . he wanted it to have a Texas flavor to it . . . and I just wanted to basket weave some of the smaller parts . . . but the cheap garbage Tandy stamps I've got . . . won't do it . . . and just as soon as I get a decent one or two . . . they're liable to wind up being ballast for the local garbage truck. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions . . . one of them will probably work out . . . Sergey and Barry King will get my attention for the time being . . . and we'll go from there. May God bless, Dwight

Well J W . . . I'm gonna have to go against some of the grain here. I use pure neatsfoot oil . . . the compound is junk in my opinion . . . good for oiling chainsaws maybe . . . nothing more. I use only veg tan leather for the products I make . . . for the most part they are vacuum formed . . . sometimes hand formed . . . then allowed to fully . . . and I mean FULLY dry. I even have a drying box I occasionally use . . . max temp is 140 F . . . a couple hours in there dries them out really good. When I know it is dry . . . I get my 1 inch Harbor Freight bristle brush out . . . and my open container of neatsfoot oil. I put only 1 wet application . . . I go up and down the project . . . making sure every square inch of the hair side is covered and changes color from dry to wet . . . and I do not add any more than that. It then gets hung up to dry . . . not in the heat cabinet . . . just in my shop that is nominally 72 degrees year round. The next day (at least 24 hours later) it gets dyed . . . and I dip dye everything I possibly can . . . especially holsters, sheaths, and belts. My dye is Feibings oil dye . . . cut 50/50 with Feibings dye thinner. After dying . . . I paper towel off any pooling dye on the surface. Belts get laid in a circle on a piece of cardboard . . . and allowed to dry about 10 minutes . . . then I flip them over on the other edge to finish drying the next 24 hours. Holsters and sheaths are laid on their backsides on a similar piece of cardboard . . . it had had multiple treatments of resolene over the years . . . so dye does not leech out into the cardboard. I then apply my final coating which is virtually always Resolene . . . thinned 50/50 with water. This is the process I found that works the best for me. I ruined a few projects "back when" by not oiling my work first . . . especially when I was using Saddle Tan dye. It is one finicky dye . . . and I found without the oil . . . I might as well trash the work 75 to 85 percent of the time. Again . . . it is the process that works for me . . . maybe different from others . . . but the important thing to do is figure out what works for you . . . and stick to it. I've even got me a little reminder note stuck up by my dye pans . . . reminding me I need to oil stuff first. May God bless, Dwight

I have a couple of junk basket weave tools that may become fishing weights or something. I have read in the past that there are some really good ones out there . . . especially one that has little "horns" on each end . . . line em up and your spacing is always perfect one person said. I just need someone to point me in the right direction as to where to buy them . . . have a basket weave job coming up . . . ain't using the junk tools any more. Will pass the job if nothing else. May God bless, Dwight

My old standby for everything pretty much is Weldwood Contact Cement. I fixed the sole coming off my sneakers with it. May God bless, Dwight

Here is the mold I made for a S&W 29 . . . Worked for his project. May God bless, Dwight

I had the same problem with a blue steel S&W 29 a few years back . . . 6 in bbl. I made a model out of pine . . . took me a couple hours . . . Revolvers do not usually get as finely molded as do semi auto's . . . My customer just smiled like he just won the lottery when I handed him the holster and he slipped his 29 in it. He was happy as a lark. They are not that hard to do if you are even half baked handy with woodworking. I'll get a picture of it later and put it on here for you. May God bless, Dwight

Because I'm a cheap skate . . . I'd make one . . . give it 4 or 5 dip coats in Mop N Glo . . . made 50/50 Mop N Glo and water. I'm thinking that would settle any problems out . . . other than being a little slippery and slidy May God bless, Dwight

It would be at least informative for others of us if we had pictures or drawings of these knots. I for one am always intrigued by mechanical things of this nature. May God bless, Dwight

I'd really be tempted to say your need is why buckles were invented. But I wish you the best on your venture. Personally I would split the leather and stuff the attachment part up in the middle of that split leather . . . with the metal scratched up real good with the corner of a file or something of that sort . . . and put it together with Weldwood Contact Cement. Contact cement on both sides of the metal . . . and both insides of the split leather. Best wishes . . . may God bless, Dwight

I don't mean to sound like a bully . . . but hobby lobby IS NOT THE PLACE to get good leather. Tandy is a much better place. When you go there . . . ask them if they have any vegetable tanned belly leather. it is compared to the rest . . . about THE cheapest . . . AND it will hold your impressions well enough to get you going. Obviously . . . follow the other suggestions about casing . . . etc. PLUS . . . get a good marble, stone, or if nothing else . . . a smooth cement backer on which to do your stampings. I use a cut off piece of a counter top . . . don't know what kind of stone it is . . . but it is stone . . . and it makes all the difference in the world when one is beginning to stamp. A table top, desk top, or counter top just gives too much here . . . not enough over there . . . way too much in that corner . . . etc. The stone stops all that garbage . . . helps you develop the proper stroke for what you are doing. The belly leather is softer than usual tooling leather . . . but it works for beginners to decide if they want to continue . . . and there can be some beautiful work done on belly leather. Best wishes and have fun. May God bless, Dwight

Don't know much about it . . . just recall my old barbers . . . always stropped the razor before cutting my neck hairs . . . Never saw them do anything to the strop but use it . . . it always worked to shave my neck. May God bless, Dwight

There may be Klara . . . but I've never found the perfect way . . . The topcoat finish, Resolene, is I believe the only one that has some kind of blocker for the sun's darkening nature. But with age . . . I believe even it cannot stop the darkening process. Look at older saddles . . . they'll tell the tale . . . none are very light after a number of years out there in the sunlight. May God bless, Dwight

If you go out of Olive Hill on 60 towards Morehead . . . just after the funeral home on the left . . . you'll see a bridge ahead going across Smith Run Creek. Follow that dude back up in the hills there for a couple miles . . . spent the first part of my life back up there . . . enjoyed every moment of it. Got dozens of cousins there of the Webb Clan . . . my grandfather was Will Webb . . . him an his brother Vince built the little Globe United Baptist Church there on 60 across from the flea market. My sister in law . . . Wilma Wells . . . worked at the bank for decades. We all go down to Walkers when I'm in town . . . I get their hamburger steak. It's a noisy place, but I like their food. It's a small world we live in . . . glad you made it here . . . holler if I can ever be of help. May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . let me jump in there and say I'm glad to have the opportunity to be the first to say "Well Done" I'm not a fan of OWB . . . but if I was . . . that one would be high on the list . . . if nothing else . . . a BBQ holster. Good job my friend . . . hope you eased thru that last hurricane. May God bless, Dwight

How close are you to Olive Hill? It's my "kinda sorta" home town . . . May God bless, Dwight

Well excuse me Dr. Fauci . . . sorry if I offended your "follow the science". Science is good . . . so far it has give us three immunization programs that seem to kill a few folks every now and then who only took the medicine. Science also allowed a rocket to blow up after launch back in 1986 killing the school teacher riding aboard. Both are unintended. AND . . . making your own leather conditioner may have "unintended" consequences. I simply attempted to warn someone who may not have known about the "possibility" of unintended consequences . . . and possibly help them avoid a situation they did not envision. But of course . . . you and the Lone Ranger rode in to save them from my layman's helpful warning . . . so good of you to do so. May God bless, Dwight

If you make this containing olive oil or almond oil . . . please understand that in time the product will go rancid and have to be thrown out. The reason is the oils you use. They are plant based oils . . . and will eventually rot, go rancid, stink . . . and make your product useless. The one oil that does not do that is neatsfoot oil. I have products made with neatsfoot oil that are over 10 years old . . . have never had a problem with it. I use natural bees wax that I personally took from my bee hives . . . and I use the more expensive 100% neatsfoot oil (not the cheap neatsfoot oil compound that contains other oils). I put them together in a jar . . . put the jar in a pan of boiling water . . . let them melt together . . . give it a couple stirs . . . pour it out into muffin papers. I use a scale and make it exactly a 1 to 1 ratio by weight. Adding a little more oil makes it softer . . . adding a little more wax makes it harder. Because my wax comes straight out of the bee hive . . . it has a slight honey smell to it. May God bless, Dwight

My apologies Xig . . . I did not mean to insult you . . . and if I did . . . I'm truly sorry. It might help if you did use the translator . . . then look at it again before sending it to make sure it says what you want. English has no equals in the business world among all the languages of the world. That is why it is the standard for business use. May God bless, Dwight