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

I would cut off the section of the belt where the buckle attaches. I would then take a piece of probably 7 oz . . . make it long enough to attach on the belt where the end was cut . . . overlap it front and back (skive the belt to facilitate this) . . . stamp the new piece to augment the stamping of the belt . . . dye & finish the "new" piece . . . And I would not charge him for the extra. I do things like this for my customers . . . knowing we all make mistakes. It would become a custom belt such as no one around would have . . . May God bless, Dwight

In the demo video . . . he was using a punch to make holes in a piece of aluminum that looked to be maybe an eighth of an inch thick. That takes a whole bunch more muscle than to just do some stamping in damp leather. I went out to my shop . . . couldn't recall if my press was 1 ton or half ton . . . it's a 1 ton from Harbor freight . . . There is a piece of 1/8 inch flat stock steel under the leather and a full size stamping tool standing. You can put the magnetic chuck on the end of the ram . . . and would probably want to cut an inch off each stamping tool . . . but it should work like a champ. The other thing you could do . . . remove the arm . . . take it to a machine shop . . . have them drill the arm for you . . . and put a set screw in the side of it that would be tightened with an allen wrench. Slip the stamping tool up in there . . . tighten with the allen wrench . . . stamp to your little heart's content. I might even put masking tape on the outside of my stamps . . . just push them up in there . . . friction would hold them. But then again . . . why don't you show us exactly what kind of stamping you want to do . . . it might make a difference on how you accomplish it. I use my ram to set any letters for initials or names and I use up to 1 inch letters . . . never have a problem. And if I wanted a magnetic tool holder . . . I'd put a flat magnet on the bottom of the ram . . . and slip a standard drill chuck up to it with the stamping tool . . . May God bless, Dwight

It depends on what kind of pressure you are looking for there . . . but if it is just stamping pressure for stamping leather . . . you should be able to use something like a 4 inch air cylinder . . . mount the magnetic chuck to it . . . build an angle iron box to sit it in . . . you could make it any height you want. Push the down air button . . . the stamp comes down . . . up button sends it back up . . . regulate the pressure to get the stamping depth you want. I use one I built to cut out leather key fobs . . . it's a bit hokey in one respect . . . but the end product is well worth my expense and effort I went to. May God bless, Dwight

If you want to press something . . . get the one ton arbor press from harbor freight for 65 bucks. It'll do your pressing . . . And if you want to get fancy with it . . . a decent mechanic can hook a hydraulic cylinder to the shaft . . . and then you can go to serious town with stamping and cutting. May God bless, Dwight

Hang in there Az . . . I'll guarantee you that virtually everyone has done that same type stuff . . . whether it was leather . . . an Excel spreadsheet . . . baking cookies . . . going to the store . . . Been there . . . done that . . . is the mantra for it . . . And yes . . . in case you were wondering . . . I also have a couple left handed holsters . . . May God bless, Dwight

I prefer the groover . . . have never had one complaint about the stitching . . . the leather pulling apart . . . or anything else . . . and I have products out there that have been used for 20 years. Wing dividers are "OK" if you have several parallel stitch lines . . . or for a decorative piece . . . But to say it is wrong . . . is no more true than saying Dodge trucks are wrong . . . because they are a Dodge. May God bless, Dwight

That's a good looking belt . . . way above my skill level. May God bless, Dwight

We were all beginners at one time . . . When I have a similar problem . . . (all of us do at one time or another) . . . I get out my hand sewing needles . . . pick the right one . . . pull out the bad thread . . . and go to town with my needle and thread. The way I do it is not saddle stitching . . . but will have a similar effect. Put a good figure eight knot in the thread . . . leaving a 2 or 3 inch tail on it. Sneak up between the pieces . . . somewhere in the middle of the bad sewing . . . start up or down . . . doesn't matter. Loop stitch it one direction until you get to the good sttches . . . double up on a couple of those stitches . . . then start back the other way . . . sewing down where you came up . . . and sewing up where you sewed down earlier . . . AND . . . as you loop stitch . . . DO NOT PULL IT TIGHT. Leave an inch or so in each loop . . . hanging out of the leather on each side of the piece. You'll fix this later . . . trust me. Continue the loop stitching all the way past where you started . . . so that you go into the good stitches . . . again 2 or 3 stitches . . . just to double them up and anchor them . . . and again . . . sewing back to your start place . . . going up where you sewed down coming out . . . and going down where you sewed up . . . When you get back to your start place . . . you then grab that 2 or 3 inch tail of the beginning stitch . . . and with the other hand . . . begin pulling the stitches tight . . . going the direction you first started sewing . . . continue pulling them tight . . . one at a time . . . until you finally have it all sewn . . . stitches tightened . . . and you have the tail in one hand and the thread in the other hand. Tie them into a good tight . . . square knot . . . look it up if you don't know how to do it. Then comes a kinda tricky part. Find two needles . . . longest ones you have . . . and cut those two threads hanging out so that they are about 2/3 as long as the needles. Thread the needles with those hanging out threads . . . and with a pair of pliers . . . push the back end of the needles up between the layers until they are pulled free of the thread. Pull out your needles . . . your job is done. Have fun . . . take it slow . . . get a pair of cheater reading glasses to help make sure you are hitting the holes right as you do not make new holes . . . use the old ones . . . get a couple of doughnuts . . . and a cup of coffee . . . reward yourself at each end of the stitching . . . and when you are done . . . have a piece of apple pie. May God bless, Dwight PS: Apple pie rewards always help make the work good . . . whether it was or not . . . lol

I have no doubt I could build one for far less than 200 bucks . . . but when you add the labor time to the materials . . . it gets pricey right quick. I could easily build one for myself . . . have done far more complicated machinery that that . . . but again . . . once the time is put in it . . . what did I save?? May God bless, Dwight

You need first to have the new wearer take off the belt they are currently wearing. Lay it down on the table . . . measure from the outside of the buckle to the hole they use the most. That is THEIR true waist size. Add 4 inches to that . . . and you now have the size you need to make the gunbelt into. One way is to simply cut out the extra from the center of the back . . . and then punch and lace it back together with lacing. Use leather lacing . . . not plastic. The other way is to take off the extra from the off side from the holster. Outline and re-do that end in the manner it was first created . . . you should not have much more than 8 inches of hand stitching . . . should be a couple hour's work at most. Either way . . . when it is done . . .the buckle when centered on the wearer will cause the holster to ride slightly behind the "normal" ride . . . or the buckle can be pulled around a bit to the side to line up the holster. Have fun . . . may God bless, Dwight

Do you have a table like surface for yours?? My old machine was a Tippmann Boss . . . a great machine . . . but I had to make a flat table surface for it . . . otherwise my back stitches were not perfectly parallel to the front. AND . . . I did bust a few needles until I really caught on to using it . . . and the flat table attachment I made took that away for almost 100% Had to do the same thing with my Cowboy . . . but it came with an attachment I put on it that gives me basically a table for it. I'll add some to it . . . as I'll be doing some things that will be long and or wide . . . gunbelts just being one of them. May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . if you really want one . . . you could just make a new face for the thing on a computer . . . very gently get the cover off. . . pry off the hand . . . put on a new face. It would be an evening's work . . . but the other choice would be to paste a printout on the back . . . 4 oz = 1.58 mm / 8 oz = 3.17 mm etc. Actually . . . I'd love to have that little MM dude . . . preferably in inches . . . but that would be OK that way. Too much leather is sold as "this" thickness . . . and it is often times just on the verge of a lower one or higher one . . . or meanders around in thickness all over the hide. I take my mechanical 6 inch caliper with me when I go to buy leather. May God bless, Dwight

Looks like both of us got new machines . . . been wanting a Cowboy for wayyyyy too long . . . finally was actually given a gift . . . was able to use it . . . got a 4500. What brand is your machine? Looks like it does a great job . . . I took the liberty of turning your pic and enlarging it for the rest of the folks . . . great job . . . May God bless, Dwight

One like this will . . . May God bless, Dwight

Looks good my friend . . . I've made a couple of holsters for "Judges" . . . almost think I'd rather rassle an alligator or something. But it looks like you mastered it well. May God bless, Dwight

If you are SOME KIND OF serious about sharp knives in the kitchen. Sharpen em with a stone . . . several really . . . getting finer as you go. When you get all you can there . . . go to a cotton polishing wheel . . . put some polishing compound on it . . . and polish them there knives. THAT's sharp . . . just watch your fingers. I use one on my pocket knife . . . and it works super. May God bless, Dwight

You may have gotten a dull blade . . . Tandy sells the blades for the ones they sell . . . they are cheap . . . might try that. The other thing to finish sharpening most any shop cutting tool . . . a cotton polishing wheel with polishing compound . . . just have to work to figure what angle to hold the blade. I can polish up my pocket knife and it'll do some serious cutting. Just need the wheel and some polishing compound. It'll also put a serious finish on most anything you cut with. May God bless, Dwight

Allright in my book . . . May God bless, Dwight

I like it . . . been using it for close to 20 years . . . I pretty much exclusively use their 346 May God bless, Dwight

Where I used to work . . . we used a lot of tints in our paint making process . . . as long as the drum was in the warehouse . . . it was in inventory . . . once it came out of the warehouse into the factory . . . the whole thing was wrote off at one time as expended. You could do the same thing . . . blue tag means this hide / piece / etc is still in inventory . . . once it is cut . . . gets a red tag . . . has been considered used up. I don't know the name of that inventory system off the top of my head . . . heard it bandied around years ago . . . don't recall. Your accountant should know the name . . . and should be helpful to set it up that way. May God bless, Dwight

TomE has the tool that would get my vote . . . May God bless, Dwight

About 60 years ago . . . I made a purse for a lady for her birthday . . . stamped and all. IIRC . . . the pattern was leaves, flowers, stems . . . etc. . . . that "Old Fashioned Stuff" I'm going to start (maybe) back into the custom . . . hand stamped . . . purse market . . . I'm looking for those older patterns . . . not at all thrilled with the skull and crossbones junk being done today . . . Any help would be greatly appreciated . . . including something I saw a number of years back . . . it was a "sort of" pattern pack . . . where you picked which piece you wanted and bent and twisted it to make your own total pattern . . . it was just a bunch of different pieces . . . you picked and chose which ones fit your needs for that job. Thanks . . . may God bless, Dwight

So strip it the heck off . . . make a new one . . . put it on . . . send pictures of the old one to the MFG corp headquarters . . . with a specific complaint naming the place you bought it . . . the salesman . . . the the geek who is giving you the problem about it. At least you will not have dye all over you . . . and you may just get it fixed right. Don't do that and all you will do is give yourself an ulcer and become a crybaby. May God bless, Dwight

Yep . . . good old Weldwood contact cement is good for lots of stuff. I didn't know how it would work for that type of application . . . so I made the border about 2 inches wide . . . have never had a leak. Bag is 12 or 15 yrs old . . . or thereabouts. It also works pretty good if your shoe sole comes loose . . . if a piece breaks off your wife's counter top . . . it'll hold fabric together while you're trying to sew it if you are having trouble with it . . . probably used it for some other stuff I can't recall. I keep a can of it handy all the time. May God bless, Dwight