Dwight

My drying box will heat up to 140 in the very top . . . they hang a bit lower . . . in the 130 to 135 range . . . They dry fairly quickly . . . and dry hard. Much harder than if I just let them air dry in my 73 degree shop. Depending on what I am wanting . . . sometimes use the box . . . sometimes don't. May God bless, Dwight

When I make loops like that . . . I put em together with steel staples. Have never had a customer come back and complain. That looks pretty easy to do that way . . . May God bless, Dwight

I think I posted the pics of one I did some time back for a guy in Tx . . . needed a radio on one side . . . pocket for cell phone and tablet on the other side . . . ink pens / pencils / inside. I made his out of 5/6 veggie tan . . . as it can be molded to the dimension you need. Chrome tan can be all floppy . . . if it is cut close to size . . . kinda hard to put stuff back in it if it does not have a backer. I would not line it . . . but I would make sure it got several coats of Resolene (mixed 50/50 with water) . . . or Mop N Glo (same 50/50 mix) . . . as a protection from your environment. Use these pictures for ideas . . . as I know yours is much different. May God bless, Dwight

Amazon does not have sewing machines that would sew what he needed. And the blog is for quilters and DIY ladies sewing dresses. If you want a leather sewing machine . . . https://www.tolindsewmach.com/ . . . he sells leather sewing machines. May God bless, Dwight

Back when I first got my Samsung Note 8 . . . I already had a case I had made for my Iphone 5 . . . and I really liked the design. So I made it the same . . . have used it from day one when I finished it . . . obviously it is a bit worse for scratches, bumps and bruises . . . but it goes with me hunting . . . fixing my jeep . . . out to the wood shop . . . leather shop . . . when I'm working around the forge . . . Have never had an incident at all with the design or the execution of the design. Nice part is there is no stitching . . . all rivets . . . I also made 2 just like it for a former boss . . . he carried Samsung phones also . . . but they were slimmer than mine. My Samsung is in a rubber "bouncy" case as I tend to be a bit harder on tools than most people. May God bless, Dwight

I much prefer not having to wrestle with the bends and curves in my leather that it takes on by being wrapped up like that. My "box" is 8 ft tall . . . 4 ft wide . . . one foot deep . . . and uses a sheet of OSB for the front door. Most of my leather hangs vertical in that box off of nail racks that swing in and out . . . pivoted on the left side. Pull out a piece of leather . . . lay it on the work table . . . it lays flat . . . no bends, no curves . . . I like it like that. May God bless, Dwight

I made a similar rig for a fellow a few months back. He needed leather as the cheap nylon ones were wearing out too fast . . . also needed a box on the right side for tablet and cell phone . . . put his name on it . . . pockets inside. I wore it around for a while . . . it was pretty comfortable . . . both fronts and all straps were cut from 6-7 oz veg tan. May God bless, Dwight

Like JLS said . . . need to know the gun it is for. Most of us on here are willing to share . . . but need to know where and how. And I'm with you JLS on the non 50/50 pancake holsters. I make very few straight 50/50 pancakes . . . although that may change in the future . . . May God bless, Dwight

Yeah . . . . . . it does . . . May God bless, Dwight

Yes . . . beautiful job. A job well done . . . hope you get many years of good use from it. May God bless, Dwight

Ain't nobody getting to see my first one . . . You did a really good job Epplers . . . May God bless, Dwight

I only paid like 7 or 8 bucks for mine . . . I could not find the exact one I bought years ago . . . but this is the nearest I found . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/391876111610?hash=item5b3da2ecfa:g:gKcAAOSwkklZpdPd I didn't read all the description, etc. . . . but I think this would work. May God bless, Dwight

Don't look like it would be too hard to make if you got a board . . . pair of pliers . . . some super glue . . . and some # 9 horse fence wire. Go for it . . . May God bless, Dwight

It's a good idea . . . but actually I was surprised the first time I used it . . . the vacuum sucks a bunch of water out of it . . . but it kinda gets to a certain plateau and it doesn't seem to get much more out. The pieces dry really quick though. I started out not having any one to ask . . . had to play "try and see" . . . my basic process is what you saw . . . as most all of the holsters I make are flat backed . . . even the pancakes. I found the regular pancake holster to be far, far less comfortable than a flat backed one . . . and the flat backed ones still have good retention. May God bless, Dwight

Truthfully . . . I don't think so . . . but I've never taken a micrometer to it to find out. I pretty much know what size I'm planning on using for what gun and what holster . . . and I just form it . . . sew it . . . finish it . . . and send it. The bag is easy . . . getting that piece off ebay to suck the air out of the bag was the hardest thing of all . . . May God bless, Dwight

Mike . . . check the video I posted on the vacuum bag. May God bless, Dwight

In another thread . . . we discussed using a vacuum pump and a vacuum bag to form holsters. One of the folks asked for some pictures of my "system". Here is a short video of what I do . . . and how I do it. https://youtu.be/3KS1hAQ5c3U May God bless, Dwight

I know without a doubt that I will never do that . . . won't be able to find the necessary equipment to do it with . . . but it sure was fun going thru the article and seeing how you did it. Would love to come to your shop some day . . . we'd share a box of doughnuts . . . and together we could make a half dozen items. I'm fascinated by new processes . . . have more process tools than most 4 or 5 guys combined . . . but this is a new one for me to see. Thanks for the info . . . may God bless, Dwight

As stated earlier I use a vacuum pump designed to evacuate an air conditioning system prior to re-charging it. It will pull close to a 30 inch vacuum . . . which will suck wet leather down against the model blue gun or real gun . . . and not think twice about doing it. I use a special plastic bag I made myself from clear vinyl bought at Joann Fabric store . . . edges sealed with Weldwood contact cement. A vacuum pump and vacuum seal bags that is nothing more than a food protection device cannot pull that kind of vacuum . . . and if it could . . . I would think it would suck a hole in the bag . . . but I do not know that for certain . . . it may not. But I've seen meat protected that way . . . and it is a great system for that. I just don't think it has the muscle needed for forming holsters. And . . . it depends on what is going on . . . sometimes I use a blue gun model . . . if I have it . . . sometimes the actual gun . . . sometimes a wooden model I have made in my wood shop. They all work about as well . . . one or the other . . .whichever I use. May God bless, Dwight

Honestly . . . I don't know the chemistry and so forth of it all. I just know it works. I make holsters . . . belts . . . knife sheaths . . . and I do not wax all of them. Those that I do . . . I rub the compound onto the product . . . go over it lightly with my heat gun . . . it melts everthing and it is absorbed into the leather product. A few light coats of that later . . . and I can take a wash cloth and shine it up right real nice. May God bless, Dwight

As Chuck said . . . nothing to worry about . . . I have about a 6 or 8 ft nylon tubing on mine . . . it sits on a shelf . . . never saw any oil residue of any sort on it or around it. May God bless, Dwight

In order to do the wax melt thing . . . go to the salvation army . . . buy a 10 dollar small crock pot . . . bum your mother out of a pint glass jar. Fill the crock pot half way up with water . . . turn it on high . . . measure the wax ratios on a scale . . . drop em in the pint jar and the pint jar in the crock pot. Go watch a football game. At half time . . . take the jar out . . . pour the wax mixture in muffin papers in a muffin tin you bought for 50 cents when you got the crock pot. By the time the game is over . . . the wax will have cooled and hardened . . . put it up on the shelf and put away the pot and the jar until next time. EDIT: Yeah . . . I forgot . . . I use a 50/50 mix of natural beeswax from my beehive . . . and neatsfoot oil. For my belts, sheaths, holsters, and the other few things I make . . . it is THE perfect product. I did one time put a tad more wax in by mistake . . . it is a bit harder mixture . . . and I use it for burnishing edges. Again . . . works great. Have never seen anything that does a better job . . . both are easy to come by . . . and only need two products on the shelf. May God bless, Dwight

That is exactly what veg tanned leather is designed to do. It is perfectly normal. I have one here I made maybe 15 years ago . . . still stout enough to knock a person out if you hit em up side of the head with it. Do not use warm NF oil . . . take a brush . . . put the oil ONLY on the smooth hair side of the leather . . . and just enough to barely . . . barely coat the entire surface. The holster then is laid aside . . . allowed to dry for 24 hours . . . then dyed . . . dry another 24 hours . . . and final finish put on it. You did good. May God bless, Dwight

Me too . . . Harbor Freight sold me my vacuum pump . . . and it will collapse . . . and I mean COLLAPSE the leather on the mold . . . big time. I think I tried the giant vac I have once . . . and it just did not do the job . . . so off to Harbor Freight I went. I got this guy: https://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-61245.html May God bless, Dwight

Actually . . . I simply went up to the top of my punch . . . took a triangle file . . . and scribed a line that shows the direction the long part is. Then I put the back of it on the dot I made for the back of the hole . . . line up the line on the top of my punch with the direction the belt is laying . . . tap it enough for an impression . . . lift and look . . . if all looks well . . . put it back down . . . slam bam thank you maam . . . there's a hole there . . . and it looks right. That's just the way I do it . . . but that little line up on the top of my punch is truly THE secret of it for me. May God bless, Dwight