Dwight

The 50/50 beeswax and neatsfoot oil is an old, . . . old, . . . recipe from what I've been told. I got it from the Pacific northwest, . . . believe the lady said her grandfather or father gave it to her. Been using it for over 10 years, . . . no complaints so far. May God bless, Dwight

I think if this stays here long enough, . . . someone will chime in with "You can also use coffee to stain leather, . . . don't ask me how I know". May God bless, Dwight

Since I have a 6 inch jointer, . . . I can make boards any thickness I want. I would build a "pocket" in the top of the work bench that the stone would slide down thru with maybe 1/8 of an inch clearance left/right and front/back. That pocket would be the 3 inch deep, . . . depth of the stone, . . . and the bottom of it would be bolted solid up thru spacers that make the pocket 3 inches deep. I would also leave a 1 inch or so hole at each end, . . . in the center of the stone, . . . just in case some day I need to push it up and out of the pocket. May God bless, Dwight

bcraig, . . . Yes, . . . rougher side is the flesh side and the smoother side is the hair side. Avoid buying any leather that has a "really" rough back side to it. Generally it is not worth taking home as you will have to sand all the loose pieces off of it yourself, . . . and they in general do not produce good or good looking projects. The holsters you see in the enclosed pictures are good examples of the lines and shapes I use for my business. But to answer your question with a number, . . . there is always at least 1/2 inch of leather between the stitching on the holster and any belt slot I would cut. The two holsters you see here, . . . they are closer to one inch of leather. The holster with the black outside is a 4 layer holster as I told you about earlier, . . . 4 layers of 3/4 leather, . . . two layers bonded together for the back, . . . 2 layers making up the front. You can see the inside picture, . . . and count the 4 layers, . . . 2 black and 2 natural. The other holster shows you the flat back that would be made if you use the method I described earlier where you form the two outside layers, . . . let em dry, . . . then bond them with contact cement. ( That particular holster is made of one piece in the front one in the back, . . . it is 6/7 oz leather. ) You then insert lay the gun down on the back, . . . outline it with contact cement, . . . put contact cement on the corresponding places for the front, . . . glue em together, . . . stitch it tight, . . . cut the slots, . . . voila, . . . you have a holster. Using the 4 piece method produces a holster that is rigid beyond most folks wildest dreams, . . . that particular holster could knock a person out if thrown at their head with any force at all, . . . it is that rigid. Single layer holsters are just easier to make, . . . that is why you see so many more of them. I noticed JLS's post, . . . and he is right, . . . that is a bunch of cash for questionable leather. If you are only making a holster for a Bersa Thunder .380, . . . decide which way you want to go, . . . I'll see what I have here, . . . may have just what you need. Just PM me and let me know. May God bless, Dwight

The holster you want to make is somewhat tricky, . . . especially with the laser, . . . BUT, . . . using 2/3 leather, . . . glue two pieces, . . . flesh side to flesh side, . . . for the back. Wet form another piece to the Bersa, . . . hair side down, . . . carefully form it as close to the Bersa as you can. Let it dry. Place a piece of saran wrap over the last piece you did, . . . then carefully form another piece, . . . flesh side down, . . . let it dry. Contact cement the last two pieces together, . . . sew the whole thing together. THEN, . . . dip it in water, . . . wrap the gun in saran wrap, . . . and final form it to the weapon, . . . cut the slots, . . . enjoy. May God bless, Dwight

I have done this for any number of projects, . . . holsters, . . . cheek risers, . . . platforms, . . . etc. I always use solvent based Weldwood contact cement. The most important thing to remember and do here, . . . take a wire brush to all the pieces on the hair side, . . . scrub it real good so it is scuffed up enough to hold the contact cement and you will be all right. You do want to be in a place with good ventilation, . . . I just open the door if I'm doing a serious bunch. You can't see the end of the shaped piece in the picture, . . . but it has at least 5 layers in it, . . . contact cemented into shape, . . . then final formed on a big disc sander and a small belt sander. May God bless, Dwight

The difference between 6/7 and 8/9 is at the very least 1/64th of an inch, . . . and at the very greatest, . . . 3/64ths of an inch. You can have some success adding 3 oz leather, . . . but not much of anything any thinner. Remember that each "oz" is 1/64th of an inch, . . . take a pair of calipers to the store where you buy the leather, . . . measure the pieces and get one of the thicker ones. That would be my solution, . . . other than using the 6/7 an using several coats of resolene to stiffen up the final product. May God bless, Dwight

Make him a double layer 4/5, . . . it makes a pretty holster, . . . and a tough holster. Honest to goodness WW2 holsters I have seen were all in the 8/9 weight, . . . and were unlined. They only had an oil finish, . . . some were dyed black, . . . most were some shade of brown to darn near black. None had any finish other than oil from what I could tell. May God bless, Dwight

Why do you want to put a smartphone in a wallet?? Phones belong in a pocket, purse, or phone carrier, . . . wallets are for money and credit cards. May God bless, Dwight

In a one word answer: no. I have not done this, . . . but leather is very similar to soft wood, . . . your bit MUST BE very sharp, . . . recommend BRAND NEW. But then again, I've never done a belt like that If I did, . . . I'm a lazy rascal, . . . and I just will not take the long, rough, hard, intensive road for anything, . . . just my nature. I'm constantly trying ways to make things easier for this 74 yr old coot, . . . and after giving it some thought, . . . looking at my available tools, . . . that was the idea I came up with. It will not, I am sure, work on anything thinner than 7/8, . . . and that belt looks more like 11/12 leather. I would also cut the blank as high up on the side of leather as I could get. Leather nearer the spine tends to be denser and harder than belly leather. If it is a 1 1/2 inch belt, I would cut my blank probably 2 1/2 inches wide, . . . soak it good and when it gets back to a good "in case" do the stamping in the middle 1 1/2 for the belt, . . . then lay it out to dry. It will harden as all veggie tan does, . . . and then you glue it to the plywood and go for it. Knowing me, . . . I'd take a 12 inch piece of leather and try this first, . . . get the knack of doing it by practice, . . . and then hop on it. I think it would make a fantastic looking weight lifting belt or something like that. May God bless, Dwight

Tandy often has some sheep skins with very short fibers, . . . like maybe 3/8 inch, . . . I've gotten them for projects, . . . and they were not that expensive as I recall. Been a while, . . . though, . . . There is also a synthetic sheepskin, . . . I''ve seen a few of them, . . . they would work. May God bless, Dwight

Being an old wood worker, . . . I would stamp the letters in the belt blank, . . . then rubber cement the leather to a piece of 1/4 inch mahogany plywood. Then I would clean the bottom of my router off real clean, . . . put in a 1/4 inch bit, . . . and hog out the biggest parts of the areas, . . . then switch to a 1/8 inch cutting blade, . . . finish up the cutting out of the letters. Up at the top and down at the bottom where the straight cuts are, . . . I'd use a wood chisel, . . . it makes really nice straight cuts that are super clean. Pull the leather off the plywood, . . . and like Hildebrand said, . . . glue it to a contrasting backer, . . . sew the edges, . . . and you are in business. May God bless, Dwight

This is a rough drawing of what I did. The bottom layer is the inside layer of the belt, . . . the middle layer as you can see is butt joined in the center, . . . and the patch with the name is what covered up the obvious butt joints. I did this only because I did not have a long enough piece of leather for his belt on the finish side. I would use this same process to extend a belt, . . . cutting the top layer, . . . then the bottom layer maybe an inch apart, . . . and staggering pieces between them to lengthen the belt, . . . and cover it all with a top patch. The belt was of course sewn from end to end as I do all my double layer belts, . . . the patch was sewn around the inside of the patch, . . . He loved it. I see him occasionally, . . . and he still wears it. May God bless, Dwight

Some time back, I had to make a double layer belt but for the outside layer, . . . I had to splice it (he was a BIG guy). Over the splice . . . I put a thin piece (3 oz??) and stamped his name in it. He was totally thrilled, . . . never guessed the reason for the "patch". You could do something similar, . . . a 6 inch long "patch" on the outside of a 3 inch extension piece. I did my splice dead in the middle of the back so his name is visible as he walks away. May God bless, Dwight

I make cheek risers for friends this way. They are sandwiched layers of leather, . . . contact cemented together. I put one on the stock, . . . hold it down with rubber bands, . . . then contact cement the next layer on and keep going until I get it as high as I want it. I take the finished "height" piece, . . . sand the sides smooth on a belt sander, . . . I then put the outside covering on it, . . . after any tooling or stamping, . . . dye, . . . and send it out. May God bless, Dwight

When I make a pair of chaps or anything else using fringe, . . . my fringe is cut all in one piece, . . . gave up long ago trying to make smaller pieces of fringe all line up right and hang correctly. I found the template for this a number of years ago, . . . this is what I use with a 2 1/4 inch rotary knife, . . . and a lot of care. I can cut about 8 inches a minute with this, . . . and you will have to spend some big $$$$ to get a lot faster than that. The one picture gives you the idea how to make it, . . . the one I use mostly is in the other picture, . . . the center one. May God bless, Dwight

Dye is not severely expensive, . . . but it DOES ADD to the total price of the project. For that reason, . . . all cutting, fitting, sewing, sanding, buffing, etc. is done before I dye a project. When I dye, . . . project has passed the construction and assembly parts, . . . needs only finish, polish, and send. May God bless, Dwight

If you are going to poke the Oz bear, . . . poke him with the idea that you "heard of" a pastor that not only carries concealed, . . . but has been known to don a set of body armor as well. Make up your popcorn and milkshake ahead of time, . . . the show should be fun to watch if you have enough snacks. May God bless, Dwight

Actually my church gun is also a .45, . . . but it is the more modern style, . . . more easily concealed, . . . more quickly reloaded, . . . and holds 9 to start with, . . . a 50% improvement over the old West favorite. I can also hit something with it, . . . the cowboy gun will hit a gallon milk bottle in my hands if it ain't over about 10 feet away, . . . lol. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . the story behind that buckle set is I saw the belt buckle hanging in the Tandy store, . . . bought it for my own personal dress buckle. Got it home, . . . took a better look, . . . decided to break down and make my own cowboy rig, . . . kinda sorta like the Duke's rig he wore in the last 5 or 6 westerns he did. Then I had to go get the little buckle and the conchos to finish it. Opening up the little buckles bag, . . . finally saw the design name on it "Diablo", . . . had to laugh that here is a church pastor with a cowboy rig, . . . buckle set is the "Devil" in spanish. Still chuckle about it. May God bless, Dwight

TonyRV2 hit the nail on the head, . . . "Up to now I have found that a light coat of oil prior to dying did improve the process." My first couple of uses of Feibings Saddle Tan worked OK then I hit the "blotchy" wall, . . . saw several pieces basically ruined by uneven dye jobs. Tried the "oil it first", . . . and have been doing that ever since, . . . works like a champ. I use a bristle brush and lay an even coat of neatsfoot oil (NOT compound) on the flesh side of the projects, . . . 24 hrs later the leather has returned pretty near to the original color, . . . then I do the dip dye trick, . . . love the results. May God bless, Dwight

This is not any kind of fancy, . . . it is my personal holster and gun belt, . . . as of now it is about 15 yrs old, . . . feels better each time I put it on. AND of course it is made the way I described to you. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks noobleather and Dikman, . . . I am not into Cowboy action shooting, . . . so that was WAyyyyyyyy over my head. But they still are darned nice. AND . . . noobleather, . . . I make those loops in every gun belt I make, . . . never had to stitch even one of em. I use 3/4 calf leather, . . . cut it about 3/32 wider than the slot, . . . pull it thru and around the bullet, . . . back out the same hole, . . . once it dries, it'll never move. Of course, . . . I help that along with a couple light coats of Resolene, . . . mixed 50/50 with water, . . . makes em solid as a Republican judge. May God bless, Dwight

Some of the stuff I've gotten from Tandy has a wax coating on it, . . . the latest stuff does not, . . . and I don't know if it's polyester or what, . . . it is what they sold me. It has a coating that sometimes acts like wax, . . . I just assumed that is what it is, . . . but I'm not a chemist. The holster in the picture was sewn with Tandy 346 white thread, . . . then dyed when I dipped the holster in the British tan dye. May God bless, Dwight