Dwight

This is easy peasy . . . posting pictures on here. First . . . do a Goggle search . . . get Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 out there . . . it'll be free to down load if you search around a bit. Put your pictures you take from your phone in a folder marked "raw pictures" Open the picture up in Adobe . . . and in the top left corner of the tool bar . . . you can outline the part of the picture you really want . . . go to Image . . . tell it to Crop . . . and you will have what you want. Go back to Image again . . . tell it to Resize the picture . . . resize the big side to be 1000 . . . and tell it to save . . . it will ask you how good a picture you want to keep . . . select something in the 300 to 600 area . . . then save it to a folder marked "fixed pictures". Then when you want to post a picture here . . . go down below where it says choose files .... double click it . . . scroll to the fixed pictures folder . . . pick it or them out . . . tell it to post them. Done . . . piece of cake. And in your spare time . . . you can use Adobe to do all sorts of photoshopping of your pictures . . . it is one of the slickest little free programs I've ever had. May God bless, Dwight

If you want a real . . . top of the line . . . model for your mold. Take your Iphone . . . lay it on a piece of saran wrap . . . cut the wrap to go around it nice and tight . . . pull it tight . . . and scotch tape the edges. Ain't no better model out there. May God bless, Dwight

Not sure who bad mouthed neatsfoot oil . . . but I would not think of any thing else. It is pretty much a natural product . . . and the rest of that high priced stuff you mentioned came out of someone's chemical factory . . . that will do "who knows what" to your product. Neatsfoot oil cannot be applied by dipping or over brushing . . . but add a coat . . . then another . . . and just MAYBE a third . . . and you will have a very pliable and LONG LASTING product. That other stuff . . . ain't nobody knows what it will do . . . except for olive oil . . . down the road if you use it . . . your product will stink . . . guaranteed. May God bless, Dwight

You did not say what you are making . . . so I'll tell you how I handle holsters . . . double layer CCW belts . . . regular belts . . . suspenders . . . cowboy gun belts . . . knife sheaths . . . etc. First . . . determine what to do . . . cut it out . . . give it ONE and only light coating of neatsfoot oil on the HAIR side . . . just enough so that when the coating is on there . . . it all looks wet for a while. Let that hang or lay somewhere for 24 hours in a place where the temp is controlled and 70 F or above . . . Second . . . do whatever tooling and stamping is necessary . . . let that dry for 4 hours. Third . . . use Feibings pro oil dye . . . and first dilute it with Feibings dye reducer . . . on a 1 to 1 basis . . . meaning equal parts of dye and reducer. Fourth . . . DIP dye the project . . . it has to be completely immersed. I use regular baking pans that are about 10 by 15 . . . pour the dye in there about 3/4 inch deep and run whatever needs dyed thru the dye . . . belts go end to end like a snake slipping across a pond or a puddle. Set em up some place where they can dry for 24 hours . . . buff the heck out of it on both sides and the edges Burnish the edges . . . add Resolene (also mixed 50/50 with water) . . . let dry for at least 8 hours . . . preferably 24 . . . voila . . . project completed This has worked for me for 20+ years. My Tandy store got in some stocking issues a couple years back . . . so I tried both the USMC black and the water based black . . . when the Pro Oil base dye got restocked . . . I took the remainder of the USMC and the water base . . . gave it to the folks teaching kids basic leather work . . . as a present. Have not looked back. Again . . . just my way of doing things . . . have NEVER had a complaint on a black dye job. May God bless, Dwight

Been messing with a Bible cover for a friend . . . have come to the conclusion it is not a holster or a belt . . . or a piece of Roman soldier's armor . . . them I can do. This has me stumped . . . need someone to kick me in the right direction. Thanks . . . may God bless. Dwight

Fading and darkening have always been my experience . . . And I probably beat my stuff up a lot worse than most . . . don't mean to . . . it just happens. So over time . . . a scrape here, smudge there, scar on the side . . . those things "occur" That's when an oil smudge becomes irrelevant. May God bless, Dwight

I buy a couple yards of marine vinyl from Joann Fabric when they have a "buy one . . . get one free" sale . . . every couple months or so. Get 72 by 45 piece . . . makes a lot of patterns. Is about the consistency of 2/3 oz leather. May God bless, Dwight

That only works if you make the nose the projected "extra" you might need. Otherwise . . . the nose doesn't slip into the loop and overlap . . . and you wind up with one of the most uncomfortable wrecks of a belt imaginable . . . And if you make the nose big enough for a projected 8 or 10 inches . . . that is almost as uncomfortable as the other way. Really it's a quandary any way you go . . . just have to guess right on what his weight will do May God bless, Dwight

Get me a couple of things . . . the size of his belt he is wearing now . . . and your mailing address. I'll conjure up something for you . . . This is one I did a number of years ago . . . it shows you a piece of the curve . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you make it like a regular belt . . .examples were best seen on the old Bonanza show . . . straight cut belts . . . that worked fine for Pa and the boys when they stood up from their stage chairs and went off to do a scene. Put on the belt . . . do the scene . . . .take it off. If they wore it for any length of time in the day . . . it needed suspenders to keep it up . . . it fell off . . . or was cinched so tight it was not funny. A true western gun belt has to be cut on a slight curve in order for it to fit correctly . . . ride correctly . . . and not be uncomfortable. Cutting a straight wide belt will make your customer go find someone else when he wants the next one. Yours will wind up in an empty drawer . . . shoved towards the back. May God bless, Dwight

First thing is . . . have you ever made a western gun belt before?? If not . . . you WILL need a good pattern. Without it . . . .the belt will not fit right . . . period. But with that said . . . you need to measure a belt he is wearing now . . . find the most used hole . . . and add 4 inches to it. That is the measurement you will use to make his gun belt for his present size. That measurement . . . including the 4 inches . . . will be from the leather side of the buckle . . . to the center hole of the tongue.. Most makers give the buyer 5 holes . . . allowing for 2 inch gain or 2 inch loss. I put 7 holes . . . giving a 3 inch leeway . . . either way. Since you are anticipating his gaining back some . . . you might plan for his losing 1 or gaining 5 . . . which is probably where I'd be tempted to go. That means you make the belt 6 inches longer than the measurement you get from his present belt. Worst case scenario . . . you may have to cut it in the back and add a couple inches. To plan for that . . . leave a 2 inch gap in the middle of the back . . . put 12 bullet holders on each side . . . and if necessary . . . you can add a middle piece. That's the way I'd do it. May God bless, Dwight

The really simple way to do this . . . go to the Salvation Army nearest you . . . go to their "britches" rack and grab off a half dozen that look like they may fit . . . go to the fitting room and find "the one" that fits you the best . . . the way you like em. Buy em . . . take em home . . . get out the seam ripper and a very sharp utility knife . . . take em apart at the seams . . . wash the parts in a sink . . . and make up a light batch of Argo starch . . . starch em all . . . and when dry, iron the pieces with a steam iron . . . voila . . . you have a better pattern than anything you could get from etsy . . . ebay . . . or Joann fabric. AND . . . you know if you do it right . . . you already know how they'll fit . . . and if you might want to allow a tad here or a tad there for a better fit. Take pictures and post back here when you are done . . . would love to see the end result. But just as a side note . . . the jungle greens we wore in Vietnam did not have pockets like the ones you have pictured. They were patch pockets . . . pieces of material that were formed and sewn on the front and back leg areas . . . as well as a side pocket on the outside of each thigh. If it were me . . . THAT is the design I'd use . . . much easier than the one you pictured . . . and they look good as well. May God bless, Dwight

I took a piece of steel electrical conduit . . . took it to the disc sander . . . and very slowly and carefully . . . sharpened the whole outside edge of it . . . so if pounded down in a piece of leather it would make the prettiest round hole . . . I then took it to my anvil and carefully . . . staying away from the sharpened edge . . . started flattening it out. When I got it down to about 1/2 inch flat . . . I started inserting a piece of 5/16 or 1/4 inch flat stock steel cut in a long tapered pyramid . . . I pounded the flat side of the conduit . . . pushing the pyramid in to make sure the thickness of the hole was flat and even all the way across. Could not tell you how many holes I've punched with that in 20+ years of using it. Every now and then . . . touch up the sharpening with a very fine round file. And it DID NOT cost the big bucks others want for theirs. May God bless, Dwight

Actually . . . if you DO NOT put either water or oil on the strap . . . just stick a piece of 8/9 oz strap under the one on the holster . . . do the big boy "UGH" pull and get it snapped. Leave it lay on the dinner table or some similar place overnight . . . get up tomorrow . . . it'll fit . . . guaranteed. I often get a question from my customers "How can I get my holster just a bit looser . . . not quite as tight a fit. I tell em to put the gun in a gallon freezer bag . . . stuff it in the holster overnight . . . take it out of the bag . . . check the fit. Very seldom do they have to resort to two bags together. Leather WILL STRETCH . . . just don't get in a hurry for it to do so . . . May God bless, Dwight

Just a couple notes on neatsfoot oil. First . . . I oil the leather before dyeing it . . . the leather is almost always "dry" and could use a tad of oil to bring it up to par. That oiling FIRST . . . allows the oil based dye to spread thru the oil in the leather . . . and will result in much more level looking dye jobs . . . especially if you are willing to dye it right . . . which is to dunk dye it. Submerge the piece in the dye . . . cut 50/50 with dye thinner . . . and you will really like the smooth and level dye job you get there. Any other type of dyeing just results in a thin dye color laying on top of the leather . . . and the worst offender there is the air brush method. One good scratch on a piece of air brushed leather will scrub off the dye and bare leather will shine thru. Second . . . I never oil the flesh side . . . only the hair side. Oiling the flesh side can result in too much oil for the project . . . resulting in a flimsy leather piece. Third . . . I buy cheap 1 inch paint brushes from Harbor Freight . . . and I use them for doing the oiling. Simply brush on one wet coat . . . don't get serious with that . . . just one wet coat over the whole outside of the project . . . that is the hair side. Fourth . . . if your oil is in a room that is 70 degrees or more . . . you do not need to warm it up. Simply brush it on . . . come back tomorrow about this time . . . you will have a piece of leather that will work well for your project. Feibings Saddle tan is one of the trickiest of their dyes I've ever used. I have to follow this process if I want my Saddle tan to turn out right for me. Why??? I don't know for sure . . . but after some serious practice and investigation . . . I found that this is the process that works for it. I then transferred it to all my other dye jobs . . . and even they look better now. Anyway . . . have fun . . . may God bless, Dwight

Actually what you can do if you ever need (or want) to do that again . . . put a needle in your drill press . . . DO NOT TURN IT ON . . . swipe it up and down with bees wax . . . thread the needle (you'll need a size 22 or so . . . large sewing machine needle . . . or one out of the handy stitcher Tandy sells) . . . push the needle thru nice and straight . . . when you start to pull back up . . . it will form a loop . . . you thread the other thread from the other side thru that loop . . . pull the needle out . . . pull the stitch tight . . . and move on to the next one. It gives you the same type stitching you would get from a sewing machine. I have a Tippmann Boss for jobs somewhat like that . . . it''ll stitch up to about 3/4 inch. Edited to say what I forgot . . . beautiful work . . . I'm not a glockster fan of any sort . . . but you sure did put it in a beautiful piece of leather work. Great job. May Godbless, Dwight

It could easily be done on a laser engraver . . . May God bless, Dwight

I know not everyone will agree with me . . . but there is a 100% cure for the OP's question. Buy real guns . . . not those striker fired imitation plastic fantastic boondoggles. But again . . . MY opinion . . . May God bless, Dwight

Really a good looking belt . . . especially being the first one. Do yourself a favor . . . ditch the rivets. Put Chicago screws in there instead. They are much easier to install . . . plus the rivets can come undone . . . Chicago screws don't do that. It also allows the owner to change out the buckle if the need or desire ever comes. May God bless, Dwight

I make the holes with an awl . . . punch the staples thru (arrow 1/2 inch) Use needle nose pliers to bend and flatten Haven't had a problem in 20+years. May God bless, Dwight

That is a good job you did there . . . and I like the dye color . . . I used to really like the British Tan . . . but got to doing a bunch of stuff in Saddle Tan . . . and I'm beginning to move over to it a bit more. The saddle tan is very similar to what you did there. And three cheers for the way you closed up the trigger guard . . . it really bothers me seeing folks leave the trigger unguarded and open . . . plus I'm a big fan of thumb breaks. Not so much on suicide straps . . . It gets 5 stars in my book . . . and I would be some kind of seriously tempted to pop a whole in that scar . . . slip a small concho on there . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you only use one coat . . . you might try a product called Mop and Glo . . . it is made for kitchen floors. Some old timers used it in a 1 to 1 thinning with common tap water . . . dipped it . . . and when it dried . . . you were done. From what I was told years ago by one of the earlier members here . . . Katsass . . . it worked very well . . . was less expensive than others . . . and only got serious with the shine if you added multiple coats. Worth a try anyway. May God bless, Dwight

It will "take" the dye . . . but over time it will come out . . . but with the darkness of that thread . . . I seriously doubt if anyone besides you and me would ever know the difference . . . and most likely I'll forget by next week. Generally speaking . . . the only thing I've found that will make a serious dent in dyeing nylon or any of the other similar lines . . . is the black permanent marker pens . . . grey with a black top. After dying it . . . if the brown shows up pretty heavy . . . try one of those pen/markers. May God bless, Dwight

That's some good work . . . I'm a fan of simplicity . . . yours is both simple yet very eye appealing . . . the two things I strive for in my work. Have to admit though . . . I came out of curiosity when I saw the title . . . wondering how someone would carry around an oxacetylene torch in a leather pouch from day to day. I forgot that torch is used across the pond for our term of flashlight. I was really anticipating a backpack . . . shoulder straps . . . maybe a forehead band. Thanks for the giggle . . . makes the day brighter. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome, Toxo . . . most of us old timers will either not show you our "first" . . . or show it and laugh with you over it. But in many cases . . . it is still in service . . . or at least still serviceable. I'm still wearing (daily) my first personal CCW belt . . . made 20+ years ago. May God bless, Dwight