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

If the Weldwood was a problem after stitching . . . my shop would be full of returned two piece belts. Best I know . . . never had one returned in 15 years. Only a very select few for certain purposes were single layer . . . all the rest are double layer . . . sold as CCW belts. One I got on right now is 15+ yrs old . . . pretty scratched up . . . stained . . . but still holding together . . . packs 44 oz of 1911 and more with mags and cell phone. Oh . . . keeps my britches up as well. Seriously . . . don't worry . . . here is a little video I made for putting it together. . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOiADFuEGrE&list=UURg-Mif53wUyT8e3BoYzhwQ&index=169 May God bless, Dwight

Mike . . . look up front of the loop . . . you'll see what looks to me like 3 stitches . . . My guess . . . that is his technique. May God bless, Dwight

One part has a slot . . . the other an arrowhead shape . . . Edges of the arrowhead keep if from backing out of theslot . . . and arrowhead is tapered to a zero thickness . . . makes it look nicer than if you didn't skive taper it down. May God bless, Dwight

No . . . my bad . . . it's braided polyester . . . heavily waxed . . . works great. hotheart10 is the seller's name on Ebay . . . May God bless, Dwight

An excellent pattern material can be found at Joann Fabric shops. Ask them about their marine vinyl. It's a tad pricy at 19 to 25 a yard . . . but the yard I believe is 45 inches wide . . . and you can get 20, 30, 40, and sometimes 50% off (one item) coupons on the internet. It is my go to pattern material. It mimics leather in many ways . . . but can be easily hand sewn or a good home sewing machine will also sew it . . . and you can play with it all day long. I've used it for chaps . . . bags . . . gun cases . . . a little with holsters, but I don't usually need it there. Have fun . . . may God bless, Dwight

Beautiful work . . . exceptional actually . . . But even dead . . . dried out . . . and stitched in place. I ain't gettin' that close to no snake . . . just ain't happening. May God bless, Dwight

From the website description . . . piece of cake. Lay out on the backside of the strap . . . holes that are 5/32 in diameter . . . the size of your bell plus 1/4 inch apart. If you have 1 1/2 inch bells . . . holes need to be spaced 1 3/4 inch apart. Use a pop rivet gun (sold at any half decent hardware store) to shove the rivet thru the backside of the strap . . . then into the back of the bell . . . pull the handlel on the gun until it breaks the rivet stem . . . and it is a done thing. Watch this little video if you've never used a pop rivet gun. May God bless, Dwight

Some simple templates . . . if I envision this correctly . . . it is wider at one end (or both ends) than in the middle . . . those templates are easily made and work wonderfully. Take a piece of 1/16 inch aluminum bar that is 1 inch wide . . . and at least 3 inches longer than the narrow part of the strap. Then file or grind down the middle area such as in the little drawing I have included. You then clamp it at both ends on the edge of your work bench . . . with the strap underneath it . . . put your thumb on the back side of it in the middle . . . and use a very sharp razor knife to make the cutout. In this case I believe we were going from 24 mm to 20 mm . . . so the area ground down in the template needs to be 2 mm. Once you have cut the one side . . . flip it over and do the same for the other side. If you take your time and make your aluminum template well . . . it will serve you for the rest of your life . . . barring some unforseen accident. May God bless, Dwight

NEVER had that kind of problem with weldwood May God bless, Dwight

You guys just using that cheap chinese leather. The belt I mentioned above was made with that good ol Tandy leather . . . I always put 7 holes in mine . . . started out in the middle hole 20 some odd years ago . . . I'm all the way back towards that very first hole . . . use it often . . . or use the second one. Only use the third one when I'm packin' that full size 1911 . . . use the second hold carrying my Officer model . . . both in IWB. Y'all just need to use better leather. May God bless, Dwight

I saw a thread about these on here a number of years ago . . . thought about making one. But I wear a two layer .230 thick veggie tan belt that has carried a cell phone . . . mags . . . and a .45 for some 20 years . . . only sag is in the middle of the back where the center Wrangler belt loop pulled it down. Besides that . . . contact cement WILL come loose from metal . . . allowing the steel piece to move between the belt pieces . . . and I figured eventually it would cut the stitches. Looking at my belt . . . I would have lost 10 or 12 inches of stitches on the top of my belt in the back . . . so I'm glad I never made it. When asked for one . . . I just decline . . . May God bless, Dwight

That's good looking there Az . . . I built one similar to it several years ago . . . guy had a Ruger with a scope on top of it . . . squirrel hunter. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . Bert . . . If I had access to the tapes I learned that trick from . . . it was John Bianchi . . . who showed me how. You are careful . . . you take your time . . . you flatten the holster with your hand . . . bend it just enough to get it thru the loops . . . and once in and ready . . . a good stuffing of it with the appropriate firearm . . . voila you are in business. If you can get the VHS tapes or the DVD of his basic western holster making . . . well worth a $100 investment in my personal opinion. It took me from a seriously strained rookie . . . to making fairly good holsters in only a week. Oh . . . and yes . . . took down the website for fixing . . . haven't fixed it yet. May God bless, Dwight

Contact cement both pieces together into one homogenous piece . . . and create your holster from there. I generally cut both pieces . . . and I will do a very rough form fit . . . such as draping both pieces over the gun . . . and squeezing the leather with my hands until they form a "U" that surrounds the gun. Contact cement them together like that . . . then continue wiith making the holster. My edges very . . . very rarely ever try to split apart. When it does . . . far more often than not . . . it is the leather separating . . . not the seam. May God bless, Dwight

That is one opinion . . . not mine . . . and I specialize in CCW holsters that ARE form fitted before sewing. My holsters are form fitted in a vacuum forming machine . . . rubbed with any tool I need to get the proper forming I want . . . and with one exception . . . have not had one holster returned. The one holster returned was because of an error made in the design . . . not in the execution of the design. After form fitting and drying overnight . . . they are then contact cemented together . . . stitched together. . . . edges leveled . . . edges beveled . . . dyed . . . edges burnished . . . and final finish. Has worked for me for 20 years. May God bless, Dwight

There is another way I've had some good results with . . . Push the needle all the way thru on the outside . . . then pull it down inside . . . holding it with the little finger and palm . . . pulling down on it . . . you can then fairly easily find the hole as it is pulled stretched open . . . and the inside needle can be then started back thru it. Takes some practice . . . but you don't poke yer fingers any where near as much as some other ways. May God bless, Dwight

You didn't show the back . . . so it's unknown . . . but out front . . . kinda following chuck's lead: I tape a small dowel rod the height of the front sight . . . to the top of the weapon . . . from front sight to rear sight . . . with vacuum forming . . . it gives me a perfect sight channel every time. And yes . . . get those stitches a BIG LOT closer to and around the trigger guard. You can do that easliy with the stitches you have . . . leave them and put an interior row of stitches up right real close to that trigger guard and barrel. Up at the top of the stitch line you already have . . . move in towards the trigger guard one full stitch . . . and then use that for the spacing away from the formed leather. I make mine tight with that row of stitches . . . then add just a tad of dampess . . . work it a bit . . . let it dry . . . they work really well for me that way. As for lining it . . . it's one of those "some do . . . and some don't" things. I've lined all sorts of holsters . . . and made bunches without lining. Just remember to really soak that leather WET before vacuum forming it if you are using 2 layers of leather. Two bonded layers are as tough to work with as one layer that is 3 times as thick as the leather you are using. May God bless, Dwight

Well . . . first off. . . welcome . . . glad to have you aboard . . . we were all in your shoes one day in the past . . . some recently . . . some back about Noah's day or so. But anyway . . . put that belt back in a drawer . . . and take a shot at something much simpler. That belt is way up on the totem pole of expertise . . . and quite honestly . . . you will be a while getting there. Wallet kits are probably the very best learning tool out there . . . many come with detailed instructions for each part . . . a tool list you will need . . . and you can get the necessary "work" feedback relatively quickly . . . to see what you are doing. Plus they make a special gift for a brother, father, friend, etc . . . here is one that is good to start with: https://tandyleather.com/collections/kits_wallet-card/products/premier-wallet-kit The swivel knife (you did not say you had one) is the backbone of leather decoration. You HAVE TO get it and learn how to use it . . . FIRST. Then shading, backgrounding, beveling . . . they will come. Practice makes perfect . . . May God bless, Dwight

I am certain that down thru the years . . . one or more did not meet or exceed the buyer's expectations. One I did for a Texan . . . had to be done over . . . and he was happy . . . but others . . . well . . . just have not heard. Did do a belt for a gun shop owner in Tenn . . . wanted a pants belt with 6 loops for .38 special . . . I made it . . . he didn't like it because he had to unload it to put it in his pants or take it out of his pants. I made him a new belt . . . I've got the old one . . . draped over a filing cabinet. I've always taken the tack that much like automobiles . . . ya gotta do some new stuff . . . make a different product . . . or you wind up selling 38 Ford coupes for 80 years straight. May God bless, Dwight