Dwight

I have successfully cut wet leather . . . just make sure the edge will somehow not make any super difference. That would be if that edge were sewn over another . . . or braided . . . or sanded . . . But the best idea is to make a template . . . get your size and dimensions that way . . . it's good and good for you. May God bless, Dwight

Me too even . . . on the DNA from Ancestry.com . . . my wife's was basically England with a tad from Irelend tossed into the mix. Mine hit the Heinz 57 . . . but the funny part was I was always told German, Dutch, English, Irish, and Native American. Ancestry nixed the German and Dutch . . . added East Med (Israeli or close by) . . . French . . . Scottish . . . Nordic and way over in Eastern Europe . . . I'm planning on getting some good stories once i'm walking the streets of gold . . . find them all and get the fact line on what went down . . . But thanks again . . . on the book . . . Ebay had a paperback for 6 bucks delivered . . . it'll be one of my "lavatory library" tomes . . . May God bless, Dwight

Not sure which one . . . but if my cousin was here . . . she could probably look in one of her books and tell ua how Walter Prescott Webb is related to us. . . . and which cousin he is . . . lol. One of the great things in my "Webb" family is the two threads that seem to run rampant thru the family . . . wanting to know how something WAS done . . . or wanting to know how to DO something for the first time. This one was a past tense chaser. But, thanks . . . I'll have to check that book out . . . I'll probably like it even if it didn't have the Webb moniker on it. May God bless, Dwight

What works for one . . . may not for another . . . but if you mess with it long enough though . . . you will find the one that works for you. I mark one end of mine . . . the spot on the "other side" away from me . . . and put the heel of the punch over there. I give it a couple light taps . . . watching it go down into the leather . . . and using the aforementioned eye/hand coordination I slowly start working the punch down into the leather as I work the cutting part towards me. If there is any doubt as to how straight or crooked it is . . . lift the punch and check it out. You can move the punch a bit and get away with it most of the time. Slow medium punches work best for me . . . a firm tapping motion. BUT . . . another key to making sure it works . . . the surface under the leather cannot be a bouncy surface. On those punches . . . I am directly over a leg of my work table . . . and it goes a lot, lot, lot smoother. ALSO . . . if you have any beeswax . . . rub your punch all the way around on the beeswax . . . it makes things go so much easier. May God bless, Dwight

Looking good . . . I've had a knife kit for umpteen years that one day I need to finish up and make a sheath for it . . . thanks for the reminder . . . May God bless, Dwight

Holster is beautiful . . . Wouldn't give a dime for the Glock that goes in it . . . but that's a personal thing . . . May God bless, Dwight

You don't need the castle doctrine . . . you just need a couple acres and a back hoe. May God bless, Dwight

Ouch . . . but glad you can at least have them . . . what the heck happens when you shoot the bad guy on your property . . . doing bad things???? May God bless, Dwight

Good looking..........did you put a sweat shield behind it?? May God bless, Dwight

Aussie has it correct . . . would love to put two hands on that ol' pistol . . . not smart enough to know if it is a Schofield . . . .always wanted to try one out . . . never have had the chance yet. But if it is it's good . . . and if it's not . . . the leather is still good. Thanks for sharing, may God bless, Dwight

I assume you want to fold the edges over the white portion of the face of the Samsung case . . . or at least enough to hold it in the case. If it were me . . . I'd find a piece of PVC or similar plastic . . . slightly thinner than the tablet . . . say may 30 or 40 thousandths thinner . . . and I'd cut it a half inch short of the length of the tablet . . . and only 2/3 or 3/4 as wide. I'd then take a router and round the edges to match that of the Samsung. THEN . . . very carefully cut the leather so it lays a good 1/4 inch over the tablet . . . and cut the corners so they match up in a nice 45 deg angle at each corner. THEN . . . very carefully wet the leather (that 1/4 inch plus a tad) . . . with 135 deg water . . . working one edge at a time . . . then the top . . . the other side . . . last the bottom . . . I'd work it over with a flat plastic rod . . . until it went over and stayed over. I'd work it until I got all 4 sides done . . . then put it under a lamp with a thermometer . . . don't let it get over 140 degrees . . . but heat dry it . . . Then all you do is carefully dye and finish . . . and you will have a pretty case. Use a light dab of glue or contact cement to pull and keep the corners together . . . and then be very careful with it. You'll have a case like no other. I started to do that with my Samsung Note 8 . . . but I am Mr. Fumblefingers . . . and I bit the bullet and bought a bouncy rubber case for it so I didn't have to pop for a new glass face for it. Post pics when you get it done . . . May God bless, Dwight

You are a definite credit to the leather working industry . . . May God bless, Dwight

I have some fairly rigid white foam . . . cut a round hole in it . . . stuck it down in there. Took all of 15 seconds . . . the solution will outlast me . . . by decades . . . unless someone comes in after I'm worm food and tosses it. Or cut the bottom off a long skinny pill jar . . . screw the lid to a board . . . put the bottle down into the lid . . . drop the skiver into the bottle. . . done. May God bless, Dwight

As always . . . you do beautiful work Bruce . . . I still crack up at your tag line about squatting with spurs on . . . May God bless, Dwight

Both Tandy Leather factory and Weaver Leather in Berlin, Ohio . . . they accept credit card orders . . . I've never gotten a bad piece of leather from Weaver . . . Tandy leather can sometimes be just not quite what I was looking for . . . but I can usually make it work. They both sell sides . . . as well as ST leather in St. Louis. I've not dealt with them in a few years . . . but would guess they are still in business . . . see them mentioned from time to time. May God bless, Dwight

I've done some pretty big gun belts (one was a 53 when he ordered it . . . 56 when he came to pick it up 6 weeks later) lol........... But I've never had to splice the outside or the liner. Just buy leather that is big enough . . . cures that problem. Double shoulders are fine for the holsters . . . use side leather for the belts . . . I tend to try to use the higher up leather for the outside piece . . . line it with the lower leather down near the belly. Don't really understand your glue problem . . . if you use contact cement . . . they go together right now . . . it is done . . . trim and sand the edges . . . stitch it and you have a belt. May God bless, Dwight

Forget the vacuum sealer . . . they don't pull the vacuum this little guy will. https://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-61245.html May God bless, Dwight

As is easily seen in the pictures earlier in this thread . . . pancakes I make are generally almost flat backed. They ride well . . . are super comfortable . . . make for both easy drawing and for easy re-holstering . . . I make the front first . . . by cutting a piece of leather that is generally the right size . . . but somewhat bigger. If I'm putting on a front strengthening piece . . . it goes on first . . . sometimes it is tooled or otherwise decorated . . . that is done first . . . then glued and sewn in place. Wet the leather . . . lay it on the gun . . . place the gun on a white plastic cutting board . . . into the vacuum bag . . . do any special molding that is necessary or desired . . . and my front is "formed" so to speak. Hang it up to dry in my oven box at 135 to 140 degrees. Next day . . . finish cutting and trimming the front so it gets the final shape. Lay it down on the blank leather with the gun in it . . . trace the outside . . . adding a sweat shield (if so desired) . . . cut it out . . . glue it to the front . . . sand the edges . . . bevel the inside of the holster mouth and the toe . . . Get the back wet . . . insert the gun . . . using thumb pressure . . . do a bit of molding such as you see above in the pictures. It really isn't much . . . but it helps in the retention. Again . . . into the oven box . . . same temp . . . dry the rascal. Give it a light coat of neatsfoot oil . . . ONLY on the outside . . . hair side of the leather. . . . allow it to dry overnight hanging in your shop (at least 16 hours). Dip dye the whole thing . . . and let is set for about 15 minutes . . . carefully touch up any boogered up spots on the front panel if you carved / stamped / traced anything on there. Back in the oven until it is DRY. Put the gun or gun mold in it . . . and buff it like you are trying to shine up an old bowling ball. Sew it . . . and pull your stitches up TIGHT to the molded edges. From there it is finish the beveling . . . dress the edges . . . add final finish coat(s) . . . you are done. That is my way of making pancake holsters . . . May God bless, Dwight

You're welcome . . . make sure to show us what you came up with. May God bless, Dwight

On a pancake with no suicide strap or thumb break . . . stiffener is a good idea. Over time, the holster will tend to loosen up . . . the stiffener stretches that time out a bit. When you go to do the wet mold . . . use water in the neighborhood of 135 deg F . . . and if you heat dry it (not over 140 deg F) it will also become harder. I have a wooden box with light bulbs in the bottom . . . works as my oven . . . they get right real rigid that way. Also . . . pull those stitches in tight to the gun. Once molded, dyed, dried, and finished . . . wearing it a couple days will loosen up any "extra" tightness from the stitches . . . so get close. Here are some pics of a typical one I make . . . owner wanted black wings on this one. May God bless, Dwight

Resolene will seal it and it won't rub off any more . . . . at least where you will notice it. It will rub off, . . . but in incredibly small amounts . . . you'll never know when it happens. Takes a couple coats . . . thin it 50/50 with tap water. May God bless, Dwight

Looks good to me.......... May God bless, Dwight

That wasn't the question . . . did you BUFF the item after it dried??? There are a few dyes . . . few and far between . . . that do not need a serious buffing after they dry. The rule of thumb is sorta . . . the darker the dye . . . the more you buff . . . and if you use USMC Black . . . you will never buff off all of the loose pigment. It is the loose pigment that is giving you the problem. Take a white terry cloth wash cloth from your wife's stash . . . don't get caught . . . lay down whatever you have made . . . and buff that thing like you are trying to burnish a brass bell. Then . . . put the next coats of laquer on with a brush . . . preferably a cheap bristle brush like the 50 cent ones you get at Harbor Freight. You will probably have your problem cured by then. May God bless, Dwight

Like blue62 . . . +1 on the veg tan leather liner. Generally if I'm lining a holster . . . I cut out my outside piece . . . flip the rest of my leather over . . . cut out the liner . . . put the two together with contact cement . . . sand the edges smooth . . . and proceed with my leather holster making. I generally use 6/7 oz for both the outside and the liner. John Bianchi teaches that technique . . . and he has probably made more holsters than any 20 you can find on this forum all put together . . . I learned from his videos. The other reason to leave deer skin . . . pig skin . . . etc out of your holsters is they absorb and suck the oil off your gun much worse than veg tan . . . and as mentioned earlier . . . will also become a repository for every last piece of sand, dust, dirt, and other garbage . . . in addition to being softer than veg tan . . . and will mush up, cut, and become ugly . . . very quick. These are some I've made. . . . all are double leather . . . 6/7 oz . . . most where both pieces are cut from the same hide. . . next to each other. The only time I break that rule above . . . I put suede as a liner on my trucker holsters that basically are a chest holster for hunting. The gun is never in the suede long enough to get chrome salts on it that will hurt it . . . and the suede makes drawing it just a tad more quiet than the veg tan. Animals have very sensitive hearing. . . so I do that only for my hunting customers. May God bless, Dwight

Unless someone had more definitive knowledge . . . my guess is contact cement. It IS the product of choice for me when I do anything similar. AND . . . it is a rather unique product . . . but I'm not sold on that plastic case . . . the rubber case I have extends up around the sides . . . not sure what protection these cases provide if the phone would be dropped on concrete and land on its edge. Personally . . . while I like the esthetic properties . . . but not the practical application. May God bless, Dwight