Dwight

I took it that he was interested in making a pigment plant as in a factory. You do those things when you spend 30 years working in a "plant" . . . and the languages uses the "plant" as a place a lot in your conversation. May God bless, Dwight

I believe somewhere in the translation of Arabic to English . . . your thought got lost. Leather has it's own natural color when tanned . . . and I think you may have been trying to describe dyes??? Try again . . . perhaps we can help you more. May God bless, Dwight

One of these days . . . Lord willing . . . I hope to own a similar tomahawk. That and the sheath are both super. He's a better man than I am . . . packin that 44. I've owned several of them down thru the years . . . never could keep one . . . they were always too much gun for me. But I really like the leatherwork it is wearing . . . good job. May God bless, Dwight

I think I could make a sheath that would stop at the wood . . . angled so it always stops in the same position . . . and I would make the welt in leather exactly the thickness of the blade . . . and the welt would be exactly the shape of the blade from the tip on top all the way down.. I would also make the welt at the bottom far enough up into the sheath that I could double sew that whole sheath. But that's just how I'd do it . . . probably at least 99 other ways. May God bless, Dwight

Bakelite is far too hard for your purpose . . . it will destroy the edge of the knife . . . just by pulling it out and putting it in. Bakelite is also brittle . . . and will break . . . leaving broken pieces to fall down into the sheath and do even more damage. There is really no plastic I can think of that will glue well to leather . . . and honestly . . . I really do not understand your reluctance to use leather. I make cheek pieces for rifle shooters . . . stackingup leather to as much as 1 1/2 inches. A knife sheath should not need more than one welt of 8 oz leather which is 1/8 of an inch thick . . . and glues or contact cements well to the outer pieces of the sheath. The welt is more than anything else . . . there to protect the threads . . . by being made of leather . . . it also protects the knife edge. May God bless, Dwight

Boat vinyl is a good product . . . takes contact cement very well on the back side . . . sticks really well to the leather . . . especially the flesh side. The PLUS you get is it protects the leather fairly well . . . being for the most part "water proof". To get a really good product you can cement it to the back side of leather . . . hide that in your edges . . . and if you got to Joann Fabric . . . look on the i'net and get a 20 to 50% off coupon . . . I do it all the time. I use the vinyl for patterns . . . works really well. May God bless, Dwight

Actually . . . I've always thought that a lined product (for the most part) is a better item . . . and tote bags are especially in that category. So yeah . . . I would rather line em. Canvas is my bottom choice . . . boat vinyl is next . . . and of course leather is the top choice. But I did learn a lesson . . . buy the wedding gift . . . I had known from years past that lots of wedding gifts get the "exit stage left" treatment . . . but I had convinced myself that it would not happen to something this carefully crafted . . . especially with the relationship we had. Reminds me of that guy standing in the library . . . wondering if he should check out that paperback book on understanding women. May God bless, Dwight

Looks good from this end . . . also makes me glad I did not have to be a soldier in those days . . . May God bless, Dwight

Last one I did was for a wedding gift . . . I had something near 30 hours in it . . . about a year later . . . got an email . . . lady had hunted me down with my leather logo . . . said she bought it in a second hand shop . . . wondered why I had made it . . . what was it's purpose. Purpose was to go shopping . . . stuff it full of stuff . . . come home. I haven't made a wedding gift since.

Using the same pattern as the tote bag . . . make a canvas one or vinyl one using the same pattern. Cut it slightly smaller if you use vinyl . . . same size for canvas . . . on the rim of the tote bag . . . put a border . . . sew the lining to the inside of the border . . . works really well for what few I've done. May God bless, Dwight

Good looking work . . . May God bless, Dwight PS: Glad I didn't get born into that era. Not sure I could have survived . . .

You will have to be seriously gentle . . . but there is a product called SOFT SCRUB and it will take it off. If you rub hard . . . it can also damage the original finish . . . that's why I said be careful. But IT WILL take it off. Just don't get in a hurry . . . take your time. May God bless, Dwight

I don't know if it was Lobo . . . but I do recall a "drying box" thread we had on here some couple years or so ago. I built one and think I posted pictures on here . . . still have it . . . use it occasionally. Nothing more than a tall box with regular incandescent light bulbs at the bottom . . . thermostat in the door up at holster level . . . and I really like it. Using it adds a level of hardness to my dyed holsters that I don't get from my regular drying process hanging them in the shop. And it only takes a couple hours and they are DRY . . . dry. May God bless, Dwight PS: I don't use it on belts . . . holsters, knife sheaths, etc. ONLY

Couple things, Windrider . . . one is the oil thing . . . ALWAYS add one light coat to belts and holsters especially and things like purse straps . . . suspenders . . . anything that will be flexed a lot. Second . . . I'm not "slamming" whoever you got your belt blank from . . . but my personal adventures with them is they are cut from second rate leather . . . and although I might buy one for me . . . I'd never pass one on to a customer. Too much of "premaide" blanks and stuff is cut from a less than optimum hide . . . which is of course the only way that they can be offered for the low prices they get. May God bless, Dwight

Don't recall what it was some years ago . . . tried olive oil . . . never tried it again. May God bless, Dwight

A friend had a fairly dry saddle . . . and the wool had started coming off it . . . he asked me to "fix" it . . . I had to rip off the old wool . . . leather backing was ripping all over the place . . . and like I said . . . it was a tad dry. The picture inside the house was before neatsfoot oil . . . the outside picture is after. May God bless, Dwight

I don't have a picture of mine . . . but it is shaped the same . . . something in the neighborhood of 55 yrs old . . . A classmate had one back in the early 60's . . . brought it to school for show and tell . . . I fell in love with it . . . had to have one. Bought mine aboard the USS Hamner in 64 or 65. May God bless, Dwight

The only oil I use on my leather is neats foot oil . . . and there are two products there. One is neats foot compound . . . and it has some other stuff mixed in with it. I have always been and have always advised against it . . . but rather the REAL neats foot oil . . . 100% stuff. It will supple up some dried out leather . . . and will make whatever you put it on water resistant. It is not water proof . . . just resistant. And yes . . . it will darken the product . . . but it by "being there first" will expell other products trying to invade the leather. I'm not familiar with Kodiak leather . . . but I believe if you try a small piece . . . you may find it will work well for you. Best wishes, may God bless, Dwight

I make 2 piece belts for CHL . . . and holsters of course. I use Weldwood contact cement exclusively . . . have never EVER had a problem with it in almost 20 years. I put on a light smooth coat on both pieces . . . usually take a wire brush to any flesh side that is being glued . . . makes it stick better . . . and after the glue is put on I take my heat gun and go over it until I can touch the whole thing and absolutely NONE of it is tacky or sticky. Put it together . . . I use a roller on my belts and I generally sand the edges and then sew them together . . . then and there. Same with the holsters . . . position it . . . stick em together . . . sand the edges smooth . . . use my stitch groover . . . and sew it. Key to it all is let the cement or MAKE the cement be DRY before you try to put them together. If it is still wet . . . it'll not only move . . . but sometimes little gooey globs will sneak out and mess up your edge. One thing bad about contact cement . . . if you get it on the finish surface . . . it WILL NOT TAKE the dye. That is when I toss it and start over. Anyway . . . have fun . . . leather working is good for the soul. May God bless, Dwight

No . . . you do not fasten my bottom piece to the bag. It is a friction fit . . . that way if something leaks or spills out . . . just run a finger under it and pull it out. I'm not sure I've ever known a woman who at one time or another did not have something spill in their purse or tote bag. Plus you can just lift it up on one side and the bag will then fold flat fairly easily for storage. May God bless, Dwight

If I were building that bag . . . I would get a piece of masonite . . . 1/4 inch (6mm) and wrap the lining material around it . . . contact cementing it to the back side of the board. The board would be cut so it fits snugly into the bottom. Almost everyone using a bag like this will one day look down in it . . . something liquid has spilled . . . and the bottom bears the stains and maybe the stink. If it was done my way . . . the board could easily be removed . . . cleaned up . . . new fabric . . . and you are good to go. But there certainly is more than one way to skin a cat . . . this is just my way. May God bless, Dwight

I very seldom use toe plugs . . . as I believe they are unsafe. The slightest obstruction in your barrel could send you to the ER in a heartbeat. Closed up holsters are a trap for trash . . . bugs . . . and anything else going around. I make my holsters so "stuff" should either fall thru . . . or if big enough . . . get pushed thru. Just my way of doing things. But I use Chuck123wapati advice when I do put one end . . . and I harp a bit on the new owner when I deliver it . . . making sure he knows about the possibilities of his getting hurt. May God bless, Dwight

Yeah and Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic before any of us were born . . . Chinese make junk . . . plain and simple . . . nothing coming out of China is worth it's weight in fresh cow dung. They may have done some good things in centuries past . . . but their leaders for the last 50 years have constantly hammered that quantity is superior to quality. I've personally seen a number of their belts . . . that I am convinced were made of leather . . . in the way we make OSB out of wood. Grind it up . . . submerge it in glue . . . and put it in a mold to make the product you want. American made leather is far superior to that ching chong china crap that's peddled for leather. May God bless, Dwightg

My first attempt would be to stuff the boots full of sheets or towels or something to stretch that part of the leather real tight . . . then take my thumbnail and scratch it off. The same thing happens with a strop used to sharpen knives . . . and the metal can be scraped off the strop . . . would think it would also scrape off of boots . . . especially if there was polish underneath. May God bless, Dwight

Not really sure what you are doing . . . but almost 20 years ago I bought my Tippmann Boss machine . . . and I sew holsters, belts, and other assorted leather work with it. I've sewn leather thin enough to make sturdy billfolds . . . and I've sewn stacked leather almost 3/4 of an inch thick. I've replaced the wool on the underside of a saddle with it. It is hand operated . . . no electric needed . . . clamp it on a sturdy surface . . . and go to it. Their main plant is up in Ft. Wayne . . . go up there some day . . . ask for Ben . . . he'll take you back and show you what it does . . . how it does it . . . and will probably let you yank a few stitches. They're on the East side . . . where 30 comes into town. They've been wonderful to work with in my experience. It's a bit farther away . . . but over in Toledo, Ohio . . . is another really good company to deal with . . . and they have a great selection . . . https://www.tolindsewmach.com/ . I've dealt with them as well. May God bless, Dwight