Dwight

Or you can download Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 off the net . . . you can resize them . . . crop them . . . re-orient them . . . and if you play with it long enough. . . . you will think you have found a long lost friend. I use it all the time . . . it's wonderful May God bless, Dwight

Cdk . . . Littlef . . . now you got the crown secrets . . . use em wisely May God bless, Dwight

This is how I do the loops on a curved belt. The little tool that looks like a T is simply two pieces of 1/4 " plywood glued together at 90 degrees. On it . . . there is an arrow you can see jut to the right of the up and down bar. The distance from the bar to the arrow is 5/8 of an inch . . . the proper spacing for 44 and 45 cartridges. On the up and down bar are two lines that come out to the edge . . . they indicate the length the hole needs to be. I take an ink pen and draw a line from one line down to the next . . . while my arrow is pointing to the line I drew last. When I get done marking the lines . . . I get my slotting tool . . . and go to work. The line is made just the length of the slotting tool . . . so I put the top of the slot at the top of the line . . . bring the bottom down so it is centered . . . and I hammer a hole in the leather. Repeat until the proper number of holes are done. For modern six shooters I usually do 24 . . . for the old fashioned ones without a transfer bar . . . I do 25. The punch is made from a piece of 1/2 inch EMT conduit . . . smashed in a vise . . . and a 1/8 inch piece of flat stock steel forced into the hole to make both sides parallel . . . took it to a belt sander and sharpened the outside . . . took a round file and took off the burrs on the inside . . . have no idea of the number of cartridge holes this rascal has punched. But anyway . . . that is how I do it . . . never any complaints so far. May God bless, Dwight

John Bianchi has for me the last word in gun holster making . . . seeing as how he more or less invented the fast draw concept . . . In his video he shows to cut the blanks out of one piece of leather . . . with the curve cut in it. He also shows that on I believe it was about a 42 inch belt . . . that the curve was a bow about 6 inches deep at the center . . . with the two ends of the belt being the ends of the bow. Those who make straight belts don't take into consideration that men generally wear their britches belted at their lower waist . . . and the gun belt goes below that on their hips. Many guys don't like the idea that they have a curve in the profile of their butt . . . but they do. They are a lot bigger around 3 inches below the belt . . . than they are at the belt. Hence . . . thee curved belt which makes up for the butt curve. Wide belts cut straight will be tighter at the bottom than the top . . . and if not cinched up . . . one good sneeze and the gunbelt is on the ground. Cut em straight if you want to . . . I've followed John's directions for over 20 years . . . never had but one come back . . . he ordered a 53 inch . . . it took a couple months to get it in the system and out to him . . . by that time he needed a 56 inch. Thankfully I was able to just barely change the tongue and he was happy. Never had one problem with them falling down. Your attitude may vary. May God bless, Dwight

Contact Toledo sewing machines . . . they are one of our sponsors up there at the top . . . Bob is very knowledgeable . . . I get my cowboy bobbins from him and my Tippmann bobbins from Tipmann. The tipmann bobbins are smaller . . . but in a pinch, I can use them. His number is 866-362-7397 Give Bob the dimensions . . . I'd bet he'll have an answer for you. May God bless, Dwight

I had a beautiful old saddle brought to me to repair the sheep wool on it. It was just plain rotten . . . touching it at all with the least force and it came off in chunks. I took it all off . . . pulled out the old stitches (talking about a job) . . . then I cut new wool to go on it . . . glued it in place with weldwood contact cement . . . put the piece with the wool down . . . played with my Tippmann Boss machine . . . and was able to re-sew it using the original holes. Customer was a bit unhappy because he wanted it repaired . . . but came around when I explained it was the only way. May God bless, Dwight

I make key fobs from scraps left over from other work It is a timeless pattern made all over . . . well recognized . . . and you can do a lot in that little space There is one picture of a finished fob . . . and the image of our church I can put on others using a laser engraver. The laser engraver can also cut them out very quickly and efficiently. May God bless, Dwight

No . . . I had to buy mine extra . . . whoever (besides Temu) sells you the handle . . . should carry the dies as well. Ask for the ones for line 24 snaps. That is all they will fit too. I actually got mine from an Amish sewing store. Amish use a lot of snaps . . . and would probably grab up that one you showed. May God bless, Dwight

Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, Temu . . . they all have them. Be careful with Temu . . . theirs may be a knockoff . . . buy somewhere else. May God bless, Dwight

Hammering requires holding one piece of leather . . . sometimes two . . . a top snap part . . . a bottom snap part . . . a snap tool . . . a mallet . . . the snap anvil . . . over a small anvil or other very hard surface 5 or 6 items . . . having to be held with two hands. Sometimes it works . . . sometimes it doesn't. This tool works first time . . . every time. Simple as that. I don't have time to take a pair of side cutters . . . wiggle it between the snap part and the flesh side of the leather . . . cut off the bad snap . . . and then dig out the parts again . . . re install the snap . . . and hope the second time that it works . . . when using the exact same leather . . . it didn't the first time. May God bless, Dwight

Been using snaps for 20 + years . . . from Tandy . . . basically have never had any serious problems with them. I find when I do have a problem . . . it is not the snap . . . but the installation. If they are done right . . . they work. Best snaps in the world are not worth a dime if they are improperly installed. Take the time to learn to do it right . . . and you will be good. The picture enclosed is THE snap tool . . . almost impossible to not do it right . . . 35 bucks for the handle . . . 20 for the set of tools to go with it. You have to change tools from the male piece to the female piece . . . so I bought a second handle . . . don't have to waste time changing the tools. One of my better investments. May God bless, Dwight

Anybody out there got a S&W mod 28 blue gun you want to part with?? May God bless, Dwight

First . . . I am not a sandal person . . . but I can be talked into something similar so to speak. PERSONAL OPINION: I will NOT buy a product like that with a stiff sole. The idea of them (for me) is comfortable . . . My favorite pair of footgear in the whole house is a pair of wool lined . . . suede . . . moccasins . . . and they have the very same leather on top as on the sole. OTOH . . . as I am sometimes an actor portraying a Roman Centurion from the days of Jesus . . . I wear a similar piece of footwear called a Caligae . . . which is a sandal made of three pieces of leather. The first is a piece of serious cowhide or horse hide or buffalo hide . . . it is the sole . . . maybe 14 or 16 oz if you can get it. The middle part (for the ones I make) are sewn to the sole . . . with the sole being heavily gouged for the stitches around the edge. This middle piece forms the pieces which go up around the foot . . . holding it on to the foot. The third piece is simply an inner sole . . . cut to fit inside the middle piece . . . it is the piece of leather on which the foot rests. There are no heels on this footwear . . . flat soles . . . no arch support . . . nothing but leather and the stitching. And yes . . . they are very comfortable. Spend an hour or so on youtube . . . use Caligae as your search word. They often show the sole part as being several layers of leather . . . this accomodates the hob nails they used. You don't want the hob nails . . . just one or at the most two layers for the soles. May God bless, Dwight

First off . . . you are not Ford or General Motors . . . so the wide social presence is seriously not needed at the moment. But you can put up a very simple website for about 150 bucks the first year . . . show really good photographs of your product line . . . and invite questions. Don't attempt to do a JC Penny web site . . . remember the old axiom about keeping it simple. Second . . . by your own admission . . . you have little experience . . . and what you do have is not popular. You need to develop a style and product line first . . . something that YOU can do . . . that you are comfortable with . . . and truly like to do. For me . . . I will never develop a line of men's wallets . . . but belts and gun holsters are my forte. You also have a community . . . where you live . . . there are VFW . . . ladies aide's . . . other "gathering" places. There are also weekend community yard sales . . . etc. You are looking for a place where people congregate and have bulletin boards . . . or have walk thru customers. Post pictures on their bulletin boards with your name and phone number. MAKE SURE TO GET THEIR PERMISSION TO DO SO FIRST. I have some friends who run a gun shop . . . anyone asking about a gun holster . . . gets my phone number . . . and the usually become another customer. What you are needing is LOCAL traffic that will give you instant opinions on your product . . . good / bad / OK / bad stitching / wrong color / etc. . . . The necessary word is INSTANT . . . something a "social presence" will not give you. Selling on Etsy may generate sales . . . but feeback is long coming . . . and you cannot have a personal conversation about the product . . . like you would have at a community yard sale. You also can make a couple dozen items of what you want to make . . . and see WHAT sells . . . toss the stuff you have carried in your inventory to 6 months worth of sales . . . and it is still there. Get new stuff. It took me a half dozen weekend sales . . . I drove 75 miles one way to each . . . but it made all the difference in the world for my product line. Also . . . try to find something you have a natural affinity for. There are all too many "leather workers" on the interrnet . . . who have to have someone else make a pattern for them for every belt . . . every purse . . . every holster . . . every sheath . . . In short . . . they have no ability to imagine and define . . . do this first . . . then that . . . then that . . . etc . . . and come up with a completed product that you are proud of . . . and your customer is happy with. They could produce good looking leather Walmart bags . . . and not much more. Last of all . . . most important of all . . . don't be afraid of Ebay . . . it is a real good place to "try out" your idea of a product. If it does not sell in 90 days . . . kill the listing and try something else. And while you are on Ebay . . . figure out the average price to ship your product to your next door neighbor . . . and the person living in the most distant state. Add that to your asking price . . . and advertise "Free Shipping". Don't advertise 100% satisfaction guaranteed . . . but when you get even a half reasonable complaint . . . have them ship it back to you at your expense . . . and when it gets there . . . replace it with the complaint addressed. You will build customer satisfaction that you cannot build any other way. Make that Ebay listing for 1 single product . . . don't aggravate the problem with check boxes for size . . . shape . . . length . . . color . . . etc. If it is a 36 inch man's belt with rosebud stamping . . . put a really good picture of it on there . . . and advertise it as such. You can then use the same picture for one you advertise as 38 inch long . . . another at 40 . . . one at 42 . . . etc. That also prevents mistakes on size . . . color . . . etc. But last of all . . . have fun as you start out. Don't start in a product line that causes you grief making it. If you are not having fun doing it . . . find something else to do . May God bless, Dwight

I have one that is 20 years old . . . have no idea how many things I made on it . . . paid the 1K for it when I got it. I would consider it a stingy insult from you if you offered me 500 for it. I would probably take 800 . . . but there would be extenuating circumstances for otherwise. May God bless, Dwight

Maybe not . . . safety and mag disconnect are always on left side . . . can be on the other side but are not always. May God bless, Dwight

I gave up on that idea years ago . . . I use a glass jelly jar . . . unscrew the lid . . . use it . . . screw the lid back on . . . just make sure you don't get any glue around the mouth of the bottle. I use throw away "acid brushes" . . . little metal handled things from Harbor Freight . . . about a nickel apiece or so . . . start out the day with one . . . usually pitch it before starting out the next day . . . but sometimes it is still useable . . . especially if I did something late that last evening. Anyway . . . that's my system . . . and I have to toss a little thinner in it every now and then. May God bless, Dwight

You simply take the one side of the last piece of the puzzle . . . sand it with some 80 grit sand paper . . . and Weldwood contact cement it where it belongs. OR . . . put a concho on top of the cup . . . threaded into the last piece of the puzzle . . . hidden in it's lodging place. May God bless, Dwight

If you go to Google . . . type in spur strap acrylic templates Hit your enter button . . . you'll probably find more than you bargained for there. I personally created my own with a couple of pairs of spurs . . . took one afternoon of messing around . . . and maybe 4 sq ft of junk leather. I don't have a market for them here . . . but I have a few samples in case someone comes by. May God bless, Dwight

In many cases . . . yes . . . it is easier to cut that way. It is also easier to stick your pattern with a thumbnail . . . scratch it with the knife . . . or smudge the devil out of a complicated cut. The above are the reasons I cut mine dry. May God bless, Dwight

Pinto . . . just a suggestion . . . 24 years ago . . . I bought a Tippmann Boss . . . used it for holsters, knife sheaths, belts, wallets . . . and whatever until 4 years ago . . . replaced it with a cowboy 4500. The Boss is a good place to start . . . find out what you really want to do . . . and will get you going. Good used ones can be had for 800 or so . . . May God bless, Dwight

Let me suggest to you that you spend just a medium amount of money . . . buy yourself a small laser engraver. I cannot vouch for the machine I'm picturing as mine are both different brands . . . but this 30 machine should cut your leather very easily . . . set it up so it does it in 2 passes . . . you will want a air blast kit with it . . . you can put the designs on it first . . . then let it cut it out . . . Cutting leather stinks . . . need to do it in a well ventilated area . . . or fix up one like I did . . . but the end results are fabulous . . . May God bless, Dwight

Look for the spools that kind of stand upright . . . maybe 5 or 6 inches tall . . . on a black (all I ever used were black) plastic spools designed only to sit on one end. Tip them over and look for a size number . . . sometimes it will say "Size XXX" and sometimes it will be just XXX. The ones you are looking for are "138, 207, 277, 346, 415" For most holster, belt, knife sheath work. . . 138 is too small . . . 415 is a bit large. Most use 207, 277, and 346. I almost use 346 exclusively. Hope this helps May God bless, Dwight

"Fixing" that dye job unfortunately would be best done re dying it in a darker color or black. What you need to do to prevent such occurances in the future . . . is first apply a light coat of neatsfoot oil . . . and then give it about 24 hours to disperse itself eavenly thoughout the leather piece, Only apply it to the hair side (slick outside side of the leather) Lighter tans are especially vulnerable to that splotchy look without the oiling. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome from Marion Ohio May God bless. Dwight