Dwight

Yeah . . . I had to blow the picture up right real big . . . but if you look right real close . . . it is stitched. AND . . . if it was me that put it in there . . . it would be first held in place with contact cement. I even contact cement in beads when I do them for a customer. May God bless, Dwight

Take a look at this: it tells you in a picture what would take me two solid pages to write. This is how the belt is made. May God bless, Dwight

As PastorBob said . . . Mop n Glo or Resolene . . . either one cut 50/50 with water . . . works great. I use a small . . . cheap . . . bristle brush that I buy in box quantities from Harbor Freight . . . they're about an inch wide . . . I brush on the Resolene/water mixture . . . swirling it on the leather object . . . making a foamy looking mess to start with . . . then I brush out those foam bubbles . . . left to right . . . right to left . . . top to bottom . . . bottom to top . . . until it is smooth and "shiny" . . . I then let it dry . . . no heated forced drying . . . just hung up to dry . . . about 2 or 3 hours later I'll come in if it is a belt or billfold . . . or some holsters . . . I'll grab the item . . . and flex it a bit . . . as would be done in using . . . Have never had one customer complain about cracking. May God bless, Dwight PS: I'm thinking the Lord likes you . . . that's two pastors in a row sent to give you information.

The first thing I noticed about it is the corrugated presser foot is up on top . . . denting and scratching the top surface of the item you are sewing. So unless you want to sew everything upside down (bottom stitches never look as good as top stitches) . . . you are just buying a a project scratcher. Wouldn't buy one if it was $10. May God bless, Dwight

From what we can see . . . looks good from here. Can you post a picture of the finished product? May God bless, Dwight

There is another option . . . called a jointer . . . a carpenter's tool. You can rubber cement the hair side of the leather to a very flat board . . . typically a 1 inch thick . . . the same width as the jointer . . . Set the jointer so it is not taking off more than 1/64 of an inch at a time . . . and in successive passes . . . you can get it down to what you want. Then "generally speaking" you can pull the leather off the board . . . and thumb off the rubber cement . . . and go make boots. If the leather is too wide for a jointer . . . the same can probably be done with a planer which is a bunch wider . . . but I've never tried that one. May God bless, Dwight

In order to make it work you have to then make all your handles 8 to 12 inches long or you'll be hitting your thumb and forefinger every time you use the dumb thing. I'll keep my mallet . . . thanks. May God bless, Dwight

One thing you are doing wrong to start with . . . don't cut off the strip to use for the knives. Just fold over the length you need. Then you can make two stitches . . . one about half way up . . . one at the top . . . that'll hold them. The fold at the bottom won't have to be stitched either. May God bless, Dwight

So then you can make a pair of caligae . . . the Roman sandals worn by the Roman soldiers around the time of Jesus. They are not hard to make . . . I have the pattern if you want . . . it is three pieces of leather . . . the bottom sole . . . an inner sole that your feet rest on . . . and a one piece cutting that makes the sides of the sandals. They actually are pretty comfortable . . . I have a pair I made to go with my Centurion uniform I wear at church when I am impersonating a Centurion or soldier in a play or something. The picture is not the ones I made . . . but they are very similar. May God bless, Dwight

With my Weldwood and my heat gun . . . I coat the pieces . . . get em "dry to the touch" with the heat gun . . . put em together . . . sand the edges . . . bevel the edges . . . and I'd guess within 15 minutes of the first dab of contact cement . . . I can be at my sewing machine putting stitches in that belt. It may be 20 minutes . . . I've never actually timed it . . . but I can guarantee you I can start with a chunk of leather laying on my table . . . and if I need to . . . in an hour or an hour and 10 minutes . . . that chunk of leather can be hanging up in my shop waiting for the dye to dry on that belt I just made. And presently I'm sewing all of them with a Tippmann Boss manual sewing machine. May God bless, Dwight

I use Weldwood contact cement . . . and I am seriously conscious of ALL THE EDGES of my project. I make sure the cement goes out to the edge on ALL OF IT. I then take the project to my belt sander and just even up the edges . . . VERY SELDOM can anyone find where the two or three pieces join . . . and if it is found . . . it is 90% of the time a flaw in the leather that I did not see. May God bless, Dwight

No . . . but I think she was in the gulf the last time I was there. I just always thought that name was cool . . . "Intrepid" . . . it means fearless . . . Only bird farm I was ever on was the Coral Sea . . . docked in San Diego . . . got my butt chewed out by some pinko BM1 because he didn't like my DD blue chambray shirt sleeves rolled up. Hadn't been on the thing for 10 minutes . . . needed to see their EM's to get a battery or something . . . forget why I went there. Couldn't get off fast enough to suit me. May God bless, Dwight

So . . . can you not make a matching pair of flip flops to go with the suspenders?? May God bless, Dwight

Good job . . . Were you on the Intrepid?? May God bless, Dwight

What brand of machine do you have?? May God bless, Dwight

THAT experience is exactly why I do not use patterns from books . . . magazines . . . etc . . . except for the general pattern of the object. I ALWAYS cut my holsters a 1/4 inch of so bigger on that outside edge until I am absolutely certain of the fit . . . then I trim it back. My trimming pile never has stampings . . . etchings . . . painting . . . etc . . . And so far . . . knock on wood . . . I haven't had to toss a holster such as the OP's . Mom always did that with her patterns for the clothing she made us as kids . . . and I just picked up the habit from her. May God bless, Dwight

I always finish my holsters with at least one good coat of Resolene . . . cut 50/50 with water. And unless there is some special reason not to do so . . . I coat the inside of the holsters as well. It will take down some of the aggressive ness . . . AND . . . it will not allow as much oil to penetrate the holster from the gun . . . which in turn allows dust to accumulate on the oil inside . . . which becomes an abrasive . . . working on the gun's finish. May God bless, Dwight

I buy small disposable brushes . . . from Harbor freight . . . they have a metal handle . . . small bristle brush . . . I think they are called acid brushes. https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-horsehair-bristle-acid-shop-brushes-36-pc-61880.html At a dime apiece . . . they will last a couple to 5 days . . . then get tossed . . . used mainly for belts, holsters, and knife sheaths. Just won't mess with anything else . . . this works that good. May God bless, Dwight

I made one a few years back for a cousin . . . for his rolling block 45-70 . . . I would have used deer skin . . . but couldn't find any long enough . . . so I used suede. Stitched down the side . . . with a toe plug . . . fringe . . . and I did the USMC beading for it . . . The bottom closes with a small zipper that can be tied closed. May God bless, Dwight

This is the tool . . . May God bless, Dwight

That tool from Hobby Lobby will also cure this problem. I carry one length of snaps . . . have very little trouble with this tool. May God bless, Dwight

Go to Hobby Lobby . . . ask for their snap setting tool . . . It works really great on line 24 . . . and I would imagine on the line 20 as well. And it does not make any difference how long the post is . . . if it is long enough . . . they work great. They had a 1/2 price sale going the other day . . . bought me a new one then. May God bless, Dwight https://www.hobbylobby.com/Fabric-Sewing/Sewing-Quilting-Notions/Fasteners/Heavy-Duty-Snap-Pliers---5-8/p/109268

Just a quick comment here . . . I bought my Tippmann Boss about 20 years or so ago . . . and have had a few minor problems with it . . . all were resolved either by myself or by the Tippmann company folks. It will sew everything from 207 thread up to 415 . . . I almost exclusively use 346. AND . . . it will sew up to and including 3/4 inch of dry veg tanned leather. I never sew it that thick . . . but I do use it to make and space the holes for stuff 5/8 or thicker . . . then I come back and hand stitch that stuff. It looks better in my estimation. I sew belts, holsters, knife sheaths, rifle scabbards chaps, purses . . . and even tossed in a couple billfolds with it. One must have a good right arm . . . and be willing to pull the handle for each stitch . . . and you must be willing to mess with it a while when you change thread to get it to sew correctly. All in all . . . for the price I paid . . . I would do it again. AND . . . since Tippmann has some serious competition now in that machine . . . their price is now down to the $1000 range here in the states. Starting out now. . . it would be my choice . . . But today at 77 . . . I'm looking to go to a Cowboy 3200 simply because my arm is tired of pulling the handle. May God bless, Dwight

I learned a long time ago . . . a "light" coat of neatsfoot oil 24 hours BEFORE dying . . . makes EVERY dye job a lot better. That is especially on the lighter colored dyes. May God bless, Dwight