Dwight

Try this thread:

For the last few years, . . . I have used Tandy leather pretty much for everything, . . . they are physically close, and I can see and feel what I am getting. AND, . . . I use feibings oil dye exclusively as well. All my projects get "created" first and dyed later, . . . but first they all get a light coating of neatsfoot oil and at least 24 hours hanging in the shop so the oil can distribute itself evenly thru the product. Oil is only put on with a cheap bristle hair brush, . . . one coat, . . . it is put on evenly all over, . . . not streaks. THEN, . . . the dye is poured into a pan, . . . having been 1 to 1 reduced with feibings dye reducer, . . . and the product is dipped into the pan, . . . dip dying is what I call it, . . . then it is held flat in my hand until I can see most of the pools on the surface of the product have all disappeared. If it takes over 15 seconds or so, . . . I take a paper towel and wipe off the excess. Belts are laid on their edge (bottom edge) on a piece of cardboard to dry, . . . holsters, cell phone cases, knife sheaths are hung up to dry, . . . at least 24 hours and 48 if I'm not on a deadline with the product. Take a terrycloth towel then, . . . and briskly rub whatever the product is, . . . looking for loose pigment to come off, . . . and it seems for some unknown reason that black will come off, and off, and off for several minutes. I keep at it until no more dye pigment comes off. (you should see some of the towels I have, . . . ugly !!) The final process is the resolene, . . . cut 1 to 1 with clean water, . . . brushed on with a cheap 1 inch bristle brush bought from Harbor Freight. I have not had any dye rub off in years using this process. May God bless, Dwight

With a very rare exception, . . . I only make double leather belts, . . . two 7 oz or so that are contact cemented together, . . . flesh to flesh. My desired thickness runs from .160 . . . to very near .250, . . . depending on the person / load / and overall length. The longer the belt, . . . the thicker I tend to make it. All of them are just a tad shy of 1 1/2 inches wide. I use Tandy vegetable tan sides and/or double shoulders, . . . as that is the leather I use also for most of my holsters and cell phone cases and knife sheaths. I can tool it, . . . leave it as plain as Tarzan's Jane, . . . or something in the middle. When one goes out, . . . it assures me that there is another CCW customer in the world, . . . making it a bit safer for the good guys, . . . and also that he / she will be able to carry a full load of CCW weapon and accouterments with no trouble. But, . . . that is the market I strive to reach. May God bless, Dwight

Beautiful job, . . . But my fingers ache big time thinking about all that lacing. They long ago rejected any "big time" lacing or hand sewing projects. What will you be doing when you wear that? May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Greg, . . . Well, . . . the pony express is still alive and well . . . . . . even if it did take longer than I had thought it would. The only pictures I have are the ones up above in this thread, . . . and I honestly don't recall if the picture was the first one or the last one ( I've only done two of them ) . . . but for sure they are a hoot. I really wanted to shoot that last one, . . . the fellow had bought it for his dad to carry in the field, . . . on the tractor, . . . for coyotes. But it was in a box, . . . new, . . . unfired, . . . and he stressed to me even he wanted to shoot the thing but would reserve the first shots to his dad. I always thought he was one fortunate father, myself. Anyway, . . . have fun with it . . . May God bless Dwight

I think you probably used 9 oz for the project, . . . and a toe plug that thick for that type of project would be overkill. I would probably use 4 to 5 oz, . . . or about 1.5 mm to 2 mm. That will make it not so rigid, . . . Just the way I would do it. May God bless, Dwight

Considering that you seem to have stained, burnished edges, and finished what you have, . . . I'd probably hole punch the ends, . . . and so a "X" lacing, . . . like shoe strings, . . . but loose, . . . it would hold the sides together and make a "pouch" out of it for your phone. First thought anyway, . . . Or if you are truly ambitious, . . . you could sew a toe plug into each end (search toe plug on here, . . . you'll see what it is). May God bless, Dwight

Gymnast, . . . I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to do there, . . . but that conglomeration is certainly not safe for any kind of gymnastic activity more than perhaps attaching a rolled up exercise mat to it. You need to seek some professional advice from people and companies who make the product you are trying to invent. The D ring alone being sawn in the back, . . . will come apart under a not very severe load. Do not trust that rig to any human being, . . . trusting it for life or limb protection. May God bless, Dwight

Chief is right, . . . as most are the same. My little M&P Shield is one of the exceptions, . . . it is not as thick as a 92FS or as my wife's Ruger, . . . just be aware that there are differences. May God bless, Dwight

You are way over thinking this situation. Call him up and determine the mag capacity, . . . the standard 15 rd mag is 4 7/8 inches long, . . . 1 1/4 wide, . . . and 3/4 thick. Also find out if he wants friction fit, . . . or a loop over them with a snap to hold em in. The second one is my preference, . . . as friction fit can get loose and you can drop or loose a mag without a snapped cover over it. Then, . . . take a 1 x 2 that you buy from Lowes, . . . it is 3/4 x 1 1/2, . . . sand it down to the 1 1/4, . . . cut it off to 5 inches, . . . round one end and all 4 edges, . . . use it for your mold. I never make a mag pouch using a regular mag simply because if you do you wind up with a pointed mag that only accepts the mag when the bullets are pointed one way. Using my technique, the user can put them in either way. A person who carries a lot, . . . practices a lot, . . . and is proficient will carry theirs only one way, . . . for example, me, . . . mag is on my left side, . . . bullets pointing back, . . . I pull the mag, . . . re-orient it nose up, . . . and my bullets point forward, . . . ready to insert. I also don't use the actual mag because I don't want water in or near the customer's mags. May God bless, Dwight

I have always been hoping John Bianchi would put his cowboy holster video on line. I doubt if anyone has taken the time and effort that he did in that old VHS format. I learned more from his 3 1/2 hour or so video than any other place I've ever gone. And while the video was on how to make a western gunbelt and holster for a .45 LC, . . . so much of what he showed was also adaptable to other guns. Truly a great video series. One of my "thank you" heroes. May God bless, Dwight

I've got a couple of em . . . one is glued to a board, . . . one is just a piece of leather. Both have just white jeweler's rouge on them, . . . both sharpen scissors, knives, razor cutters, chisels, . . . and just about anything else I want to slap on there. Main part is to see (and watch as you use it) black residue being deposited on the strop. If it is not, . . . no "cutting" action is being done. If black is being deposited, . . . you are moving metal. The most important part is not the strop, . . . but the technique, . . . which I cannot teach here, . . . not enough space. Sufficient to say, . . . practice a bit, . . . check your progress, . . . change what you are doing when it is not working. It will probably not be the strop, . . . but your technique. ALWAYS, . . . pull your blade along the strop AWAY from the sharp edge. Watch your angle, . . . try to duplicate the one the factory put on there. If you are not sure if you have the right angle, . . . blacken the edge with a permanent black sharpie pen, . . . strop a few times, . . . then look at your tool and see where the black came off. It should have been completely along the angle of the grind, . . . if not, . . . adjust accordingly. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . much to my personal belief that it would be a wasted effort, . . . headed out to the shop with a leather pattern on my mind. You'll never believe where I found it, . . . the last place I looked ! Seriously, I did find it, . . . and you are welcome to it, . . . PM me your full name and address. I'll put some directions in with it, . . . and will only ask one thing, . . . make yourself a copy and send mine back to me. So far in over a decade of doing this, I've only made 2, . . . and each was a little different, . . . but this is the one I liked. May God bless, Dwight

Let me take a look, . . . see if I still have the pattern, . . . those "one of a kind" things I sometimes hang onto the pattern for a while and when it gets in the way, I pitch it. I'll take a look later today or tomorrow see what I can find. May God bless, Dwight

Would you want something like this? May God bless, Dwight

RockyAussie said it first, . . . but is worth quoting, . . . darn good job in my book. PLUS, . . . I had to kind of chuckle, . . . I'm in the process of building a little coal forge, . . . a Shawnee pattern tomahawk will be one of the first products from it, . . . and I was kicking ideas around in my head the other day for the carrier for it. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not sure what you are attempting to do, . . . but I've used a plastic $99.00 Brother sewing machine to sew multiple layers of heavy webbing to themselves for pulling straps, . . . and to canvas to make a makeshift carrier for a human body (long story, . . . totally legal and above board). The secret is doing two things: 1) put the pieces together first with contact cement, . . . and leave them together for 24 hours under some small weights (a board and a 5 lb sack of flour), . . . then 2) sew it and use carpet thread purchased from Joann fabric. The strength of that "union" defies common belief. AND, . . . it can be done with your basic home style sewing machine. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Josh, . . . looks good, . . . especially the 1911, . . . my favorite. May God bless, Dwight

That is some good looking leather work, for sure. Just one quick question though: John, . . . any chance of a couple pics with it being worn??? My chest rig is a lot different, . . . would like to see yours "in action" so to speak. Thanks, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Gene . . . . mistakes like that are the reason folks have been using leather for centuries. Like the old saying about Timex, . . . takes a licking and keeps on ticking, . . . leather is the same. But we are talking sporadic, unintentional, mistakes, . . . a steady diet of dunking leather in gasoline or other materials like that will dry it out, . . . it'll crack like crazy, . . . ain't worth carrying home after a while. My saddle is nearing if not past the century mark, . . . and if I still rode, . . . it would be good for decades more use. I'm sending it to a friend in Arizona just for that reason, . . . he can use it, . . . I'm done. But seriously talking about glue, . . . I use Elmer's white glue if I need to move something around after I stick it the first time. Other than that, . . . it's Weldwood. I found using only a couple of products allows me to know what I'm going to get using it. May God bless, Dwight

If you are having trouble with Weldwood, . . . you are not doing something right. Flesh side to flesh side adhesions, . . . once set (several hours after initial contact), . . . you will pull leather apart making them separate. Hair side, . . . you have to take sand paper or a wire brush (better) and scuff up the hair side, . . . then the same will occur as above. Flexible after cured, . . . yes, . . . but you have to remember that layers of leather are like layers of wood. Instead of "plywood" you have "plyleather", . . . and it will be significantly less prone to bending and flexibility. Yes, . . . for all tense and purposes . . . . water proof. If you have to have something solvent proof, . . . leather is the wrong product to use to begin with. Oil should not bother it either, unless you soak it, . . . in which case you probably ruined the leather piece as well. Accidental and incidental spills of water, oil, and solvent should have been taken care of by the topcoat you put on the product. May God bless, Dwight

Good lookin, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Would sure like to see the rest of it......... at least the other side. May God bless, Dwight

Good job, Mike Wise, . . . and you are a much more industrious man than I. I complain to a certain extent having to sew belts with a Tippmann Boss, . . . a 20 minute to 1/2 hour process for me (74 yrs old and enough arthur-rightus to make pulling that handle a bit of a chore). A 42 inch belt runs something near 500 stitches, . . . and my right shoulder fusses with me the rest of the day. But again, . . . nice belt, . . . wear it happily and proudly. May God bless, Dwight

Kydex and rivets like the manufacturer supplies. May God bless, Dwight