Dwight

What he ^^^^ said

Two thicknesses . . . identical thickness of each . . . will do a lot better than one piece of the same total overall thickness. THAT is why most good CCW belts are double layer . . . stitched and glued . . . and for NO change . . . add a stainless steel liner. May God bless, Dwight

In 20+ years . . . I have had one similar problem. I could not find the exact shade of grey I wanted for "MY" holster . . . so I invented it. I kept playing with black, saddle tan, and british tan until it did what I wanted . . . and I was some kind of seriously glad. I wanted almost a battleship grey for it . . . Dyed the holster and belt . . . all was good . . . about a year later I noticed the black seemed to be leaving . . . giving me a brownish red holster . . . with a mostly grey belt. Holster keeps losing the black . . . belt I think has stabilized . . . Not big deal . . . i'ts my personal holster . . . and I can live with it. Just glad it was not a customer . . . May God bless, Dwight

I can name a half dozen I've known of my my lifetime . . . once were great . . . good food . . . good service . . . good price . . . friendly people A piece at a time . . . it all went to hell in a broken bucket . . . and it was usually the quality of the food that went south first. May God bless, Dwight

What he ^^^^^^ said . . . looks good. My only comment is I kind of envy you . . . my very first CCW holster was a paddle . . . and my son carries a Glock 19 . . . most of the time in a paddle. Much as I tried . . . I just could not get comfy with it . . . It was in my way driving . . . no matter where I put the thing . . . the weight of it hanging on my belt wanted to pull my britches down . . . and I finally just gave up . . . went to an IWB . . . pretty much stayed there ever since. I do a shoulder holster occasionally . . . and a slide cake OWB . . . also occasionally. But I'm glad you found your system. May God bless, Dwight

Actually,Sheilajeanne . . . you and I are in similar canoes . . . my closest Tandy is basically an hour's drive away . . . and like you . . . I want to see what I'm getting on the leather. I'll call Scott and have them send me conchos . . . tools . . . dye . . . etc . . . but for the skins, I want to see that dude. I also long ago developed the habit of taking a micrometer with me and buying the thickness of leather I want. The range of thickness for any skin is pretty broad . . . and I have certain thicknesses I want for the work I do. Makes life a whole lot easier when I don't have to stuff it thru that little machine that works on the thickness . . . May God bless, Dwight

Bean counters are the absolute worst possible candidates for anything but bean counting . . . most of em I've met were just above sub-human . . . May God bless, Dwight

Sheilajeanne . . . I use the one in Columbus, Ohio . . . and know the manager for being a really good guy. They have put stuff in the mail for me in the past . . . I don't have their mailing address . . . but I'll get it for you if you want . . . and their phone number. I'm sure Scott would do whatever he could to help you out . . . Let me know if you want to try that. May God bless, Dwight

Count the number of farriers in town in 1890 . . . then again in 1930 . . . Same idea . . . same results May God bless, Dwight

If you look at the little center piece of the middle one . . . it shows you how to lace the back to make the cylinder. Personally I would not opt for the zippered case . . . zippers and leather generally are a pain to get lined up and working. I would do the bottom style . . . two different sizes of cylinders . . . undoubtedly veggie tan . . . molded over wooden or metal cylinders . . . hand stitched on the edges. Have fun . . . looks like a challenging project. May God bless, Dwight

Honestly, Bill . . . I really don't use "patterns" per se . . . I have a handful of "outlines" that I use to start a holster . . . but all of mine are pretty much one of a kind . . . each one slightly different. If you can make a pancake holster . . . you can make this. it is essentially a pancake . . . with the wings that normally are two pieces glued and sewn together . . . they are left open out at the end . . . and the belt slips between the two pieces of leather. Plus those wings are a bit wider than a normal pancake would be. The machine was a Tippmann Boss . . . 24 yr old aluminum job . . . It is 6 oz Tandy veg tan leather . . . but I don't mess with oz . . . I use a dial measuring tool . . . this one measured out at .107 is some places and .095 in a couple others. That is basically 6 oz . . . but again . . . I take my dial indicator to Tandy's and buy the leather I want . . . according to the thickness I need for forseeable jobs. Dye is Feibings pro oil . . . cut 50/50 with feibings reducer. Now don't laugh . . . the picture below is the back of the pretty black holster you've already seen. This is several years later . . . and several modifications later. I've used it as a catch bin for ideas and practice stuff . . . hence all the rivets . . . the snap . . . the hole . . . but it still fits my little 1911 very nicely and I sometimes carry it. It is THE most comfortable OWB I have. You can see the stitch pattern on the back of it. Pretty simple. The stitches look white and ugly . . . it is from a white dust I get in my shop . . . I gave it a quick wipe down for the picture . . . but some is still in the stitches. May God bless, Dwight

My Boss is over 24 years old . . . and it has been back to Ft Wayne a couple times . . . nothing serious either time . . . From some rough handling . . . I did have to replace one of the gears in the back . . . It has sewn virtually everything I asked it to in those years . . . some nylon stuff . . . vinyl . . . and of course, leather. I've seen both of the others . . . and they don't impress me . . . If you get a boss and their narrow foot . . . you should be happy. A guide is for people who cannot follow a line . . . have one for my cowboy . .. it's gathering dust . . . (it was free). Backstitching is best done like Bruce said . . . May God bless, Dwight

Cdk . . . I am intrigued by this design trying to figure out how the back looks for the belt to go through. Can you maybe share pictures or an explanation? Cranky . . . .Dwight, would you be so kind as to inform me on how to get a copy of your 1911 pattern? Here is another makers version of my slide cake . . . Mine is a bit different . . . but this gives you the general idea. For all practicality . . . it is pancake . . . .and the ears are widened . . . and not glued together. May God bless, Dwight

I'll get that later on . . . but there is a guy about a 100 miles from you . . . carries a SA XD with double stack .45ACP . . . on horseback . . . loves it. I'd tell you to go see it there . . . but he is so far out in the sticks . . . they won't even deliver his mail . . . May God bless, Dwight

Badhatter . . . this is one of the single most comfortable OWB I have ever made. Your belt slips thru a slide before the holster . . . behind it . . . and then thru another one. If you are interested . . . I can fix you up . . . just let me know. The one you see there . . . is an officer's model SA 1911 . . . with thumb break May God bless, Dwight

At 79 yrs . . . I have always despised trying to make two things exactly alike by using templates and / or patterns. I like them similar . . . but still unique and "one of a kind". My leather work is the same. I use manila file folders to make "sort of" patterns . . . they get me to be where I can cut a piece of leather . . . and know it will fit a 1911 . . . a Ruger Vaquero . . . or a double barreled derringer. I then wet mold the weapon . . . let it dry . . . and complete the project from there. Each holster will fit the intended weapon or any just like it . . . but laid side by side . . . one may be a tad longer . . . one may be a tad wider . . . one may have double stitching on the outside . . . one may have a thick welt VS thin welt. Just how I do it . . . but again . . . common ol' manila folders and a razor knife have always done well by me . . . get that "sort of" pattern out . . . outline it with a ball point pen . . . go to cutting and I'm good. May God bless, Dwight

Call Bob . . . tell him what you want . . . 3 bucks each . . . I got my dozen May God bless, Dwight

I've got two of em . . . a 3000mw and a 10 watt . . . they sit side by side in a box I built on a door . . . (10$ slab door from a used fixit shop) . . . have a 7 inch fan blowing thru a round hole in the side of my shop . . . works great. I have used Lightburn . . . found LaserGRBL (free software) . . . works real well . . . only have to remember when printing anything . . . it prints in a mirror image . . . have to change it before printing . . . otherwise works real good. May God bless, Dwight

I would toss the liner (unless you want to make a knife sheath out of it). Buy a piece of leather from Tandy store . . . put it together. My guess would be it did not shrink . . . somebody just put together something to sell . . . two oddball pieces that "almost" matched. May God bless, Dwight

If I used one . . . it would be my marine vinyl apron I made to use when I'm dying leather. Vinyl cleans up real easy . . . is waterproof . . . can be easily made into "what you want" . . . and it is not overbearing and hot. Perfect for my BBQ May God bless, Dwight

I cut off the fingers from latex gloves . . . put the bobbin in there . . . write with a felt tip marker what size it is or whatever Been doing that for 20+ years . . . But may look into this. Looks neat May God bless, Dwight

Just for my own knowledge . . . why do you need them to be 8 ft long? May God bless, Dwight

This may not work for you . . . but I have a Singer model 6800C . . . that I got for doing lighter leather work. On Ebay . . . https://www.ebay.com/itm/374896756955?epid=10041454101&itmmeta=01HZ3H9NT837YTP72W8VG1Q29P&hash=item57499688db:g:k1oAAOSwaqRk5glf&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8Dh9V5%2FtBAi6HE5PCbE5Wrfsqmi0LzGNxb6OvQQIsJ5%2F4xH4uEUV%2BQWaKf4f8NCJTKb%2FoX0lF2OaNrMRHiexn%2F8BixUOr37IVOthsZGNlapgd576HfEMLwSLV2vg9M6EffBj7Q%2B90l%2B30RM47tLUd106F17XPOmFdZIGaqJ2QBV%2Fshq%2BuofR3c6DhcYUYj%2FsRGhe8Mvs4MX8nx%2BqccwullNgA%2FyHvlidkeVsdyN8tnsopUl24Ky4axUIs9wM29Lp8QILk47jjmWLNHdS%2FxuD9taeFkrDKLTHik0q%2FfAbPE3C9iXzmSmuYRDrKB%2Bz28QiFg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6jdpvH4Yw I've sewn some thinner vegetable tanned and other leathers with it . . . and I use carpet thread exclusively. The leather will rip apart before it breaks the carpet thread. Go to a Singer sewing center . . . take some leather samples with you . . . and stop at Joanns and get a spool of carpet thread . . . tell the sales person you want to see a demo of that product. It just may do exactly what you want . . . and even though it has a lot of other options on it . . . I do straight and zig zag stitching only . . . and I love it. I have a couple of vests I need to make . . . similar to what the folks wore on the old Ponderosa show and others . . . I will definitely make them on my Singer. May God bless, Dwight