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

Here is one of my favorite holsters, . . . 346 thread. May God bless, Dwight

I got stuck on 346 about 15 years ago . . . if I do something in 277, . . . looks like I used my wife's sewing thread, . . . I'm so used to the heavier look. Got a spool of 4 something, . . . REALLY BIG, . . . gonna do a white stitch black belt with that one of these days, . . . just for kicks and giggles. I'ma lika dat holster there Josh, . . . always have been kinda partial to roughout, . . . although I don't do very many of em. May God bless, Dwight

Here are the thread sizes I use: Again, . . . the 346 is my favorite. May God bless, Dwight Size 277 / Tex 277 / Govt. 4-Cord Heavyweight thread used for hand and machine sewing. Typical uses include horse saddles and tack, knife sheaths, holsters, tarpaulins, banners, boat and pool covers. Its stitches are a focal point. Size 346 / Tex 350 / Govt. 5-Cord Heavyweight thread used for hand and machine sewing. Typical uses include canvas tarpaulins, saddles, horse tack, shoe repair, conveyer belts, holsters, and sheaths. Its stitches are a focal point. Size 415 / Tex 410 / Govt. 6-Cord Heavyweight thread used for hand and machine sewing. It is also a survival pack staple. Typical uses include canvas tarpaulins, saddles, horse tack, shoe repair, conveyor belts, holsters, and sheaths. Its stitches are a focal point.

Nahh, . . . that's an old wives tale, . . . Somewhere after I've done a half dozen holsters, . . . or maybe 3 belts, . . . there will be a stack of the wax on the upper left of the machine where it goes thru that little port, . . . paper towel wipes it off. Same for the lanyard above the needle, . . . and sometimes on the top of the needle. Worst part is your fingers are around that super sharp needle, . . . and it can lace you good if you are not careful. I tried non waxed, . . . think I threw the spool away, . . . don't know what happened to it, . . . I DID NOT LIKE IT. May God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . I'm confused, . . . how do you use them? Looks like something you would load up, . . . toss in a shooting bag, . . . Are they worn in any way on the body? Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

My Tippmann Boss likes 346 waxed thread, . . . for belts, holsters, and knife sheaths. I have others on the shelf, . . . they mostly gather dust. May God bless, Dwight

I bought an arbor press from Harbor Freight https://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-arbor-press-3552.html I use it for other things as well, . . . but it does my maker's stamp perfectly every time on my belts and my holsters and knife sheaths I make. May God bless, Dwight

It looked (in the photo clips from the "promo") like s simple Colt dragoon holster style made for a SAA size instead of the larger Colt. It also looked like, from what I could see, . . . that the holster was attached by wings from the top of the holster flap rather than by the usual belt loop. It should not be hard to make, . . . if you have had some experience in making holster patterns from scratch. Let me know if you have not done this, . . . I'll see if I can pop out a pattern for you, . . . but it would be home grown, . . . not necessarily perfect according to the movie. May God bless, Dwight

IF, . . . she has back problems, . . . let me suggest that you make her a "butt pack" type bag, . . . that will be worn in the back. I can tell you from personal experience that with back problems, . . . if it is worn in front, . . . it will have to be carried low with the belt going around the top of the hips and carrying the weight. It will not work to carry it on either side unless it is miniscule and has no weight to speak of. For a larger bag, . . . wide suspenders, a wide belt, . . . and the pack suspended off the suspenders and attached to the belt. It is a really great arrangement for carrying up to about 20 lbs. even if you do have back issues. May God bless, Dwight

Abby, if I may make a suggestion, . . . Go ahead and buy your first tools from Tandy, . . . I've used their tools now for 20 years or so, . . . have never had one "go bad". No, . . . they probably are not the best ones in the world, but they will get you going and you will not have to apply to a NY bank for operating capital to get you going. Once the leather is stamped, . . . it is very hard to tell the difference, . . . unless you want to be seriously picky, . . . and believe me, . . . the 99.5% of the world out there seeing the leather stampings will never know the difference. They will be either oooooed and awwwwed by the work, . . . or will dismiss it because it doesn't have Harley Davidson attached to it. The single most important tool you will buy, however is your swivel knife, . . . and get it SHARP type sharp, . . . and keep it that way. Practice is what you need to do, . . . practice, practice, practice, . . . stamp stuff out on scraps and put em in little plastic boxes so you can come back in a while and see how you are progressing. Best wishes, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Well, Mountain Momma, . . . transplanted Ky boy here, . . . now a buckeye, . . . But a few years ago, I got real sick and tired of my thread busting on some things I would sew. Went to Joann Fabric, . . . found their carpet thread, . . . comes in several colors, . . . sews with every machine I've got (except my Tippmann Boss), . . . and I just about double dog dare anyone to rip those stitches out. It is pretty much all I use any more: zippers, . . . chaps, . . . vests, . . . Should work well on your saddle too I would think. May God bless, Dwight

Yes, . . . as long as it is to one side or the other of the actual spine itself, . . . it is much safer. And you can disregard the asinine comments of folks who put profit above the safety of their customers. Accidents do happen, . . . non lethal encounters also happen, . . . falling backward on a handgun underneath your spine can be a serious problem. May God bless, Dwight

Pappy, . . . just a piece of info, . . . before you make that for him, . . . make sure he knows the danger of wearing a handgun directly behind his spine. If he goes down hard in any kind of accident or confrontation, . . . better than 50/50 he will be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. I don't make them myself, . . . for that single reason. I do not want to be part of a person being maimed for life. May God bless, Dwight

I'm with nylonRigging on this one. Bic lighters are in my drawers there by the sewing machine. By the time I'm sewing, . . . there is nothing on that piece that will burst into flames, . . . and nothing in the immediate vicinity. I just "flick my Bic", . . . melt em and rub em a bit so there is not sharp burnt piece. May God bless, Dwight