Dwight

I use 120 grit on everything, . . . as Dikman said, . . . a light touch is necessary. I've actually got 2 of em, . . . switch burned up on one, . . . didn't have time to fix it, so I went and got another one, . . . oldest is about 10 years old, . . . both are a bit noisy, . . . but they work great. RockyAussie also mentioned the dust, . . . I use a 5 gallon shop vac, . . . have it connected to the sander and running outside my shop so I don't have to listen to the noisy little rascal, . . . but it keeps the dust down pretty well. I used to do all my sanding outside even in the winter, . . . but with the vac, I don't have to any more. I especially like the edge I get on my belts, . . . and my customers seem to as well. Plus this particular model the sanding belts are fairly inexpensive. I also have a Dremel like Halitech mentioned, . . . but it does not do as good a job on my holsters and belts, . . . so I just use it in the tight places. I started to build a 2 x 72 belt sander for some other work, . . . also wanted to use it in the leather work, . . . decided it would be too aggressive. Hope this helps, may God bless, Dwight

I use this one for all my leather working needs, . . . it has a hose connection for a sweeper, . . . I really like that I use it for sheaths, belts, wallets, badge cases, holsters, key fobs, . . . all of it. Harbor freight, . . . originally about 40 bucks, . . . about twice that now. May God bless, Dwight

My guess is that the spring steel will make his pocket stand out, . . . let him try it without the steel, . . . I always make mine with the rough side out, . . . like you are doing The double stitched piece up front will hit the top of the pocket, . . . strips off the holster, . . . works perfect every time. Do a light molding of the gun, . . . then after it dries, . . . wiggle it hard back and forth to loosen it up, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Welcome from the Ohio portion of the US, . . . we have fun here, . . . stick around and join us. Are you working on a project at the moment?? May God bless, Dwight

Personally I would cut a piece of suede, . . . shape it to fit the hole. Attach the pin(s) to the suede, . . . contact cement the suede to the bottom of the hole. May God bless, Dwight

Yep, . . . Josh hit this one, . . . I should have mentioned about the oiling that goes with Feibings dyes. I had a bunch of aggravation with their saddle tan, . . . until I got in the habit of oiling before I dyed the leather. I take a cheap bristle brush and lay on a light coat on the flesh side of what ever I'm getting ready to dye, . . . give it 24 to 36 hours in a warm room to dissipate out into the leather uniformly, . . . then give her the old dip dye treatment. My saddle tan problems went away when I started that, . . . so now it is just about universal as doing it that way. I think it was Katsass who mentioned it one time, . . . and I tried it. May God bless, Dwight

Don't know as I've ever ran into that except an occasional light wrinkling effect on the inside layer of some double layer belts I've made. Just every now and then after the thing is done, I see some slight wrinkles but nothing that is harmful, . . . and it is not on the outside where they can be seen. The worst one was one I attributed to an extra heavy application of Resolene, . . . and it was one of the thicker belts I've made. But FYI I also do use all Feibings oil stains, . . . got a bottle of black water base I need to take out to the trash some day. May God bless, Dwight

Not to be hard nosed, . . . but it looks like you really got cheap on the welts for those knife sheaths, . . . or you didn't put any in. A welt for a knife sheath is kinda like a steering wheel for a car. Might get along without it for a while, . . . but in the end you'll sure wish you had it. Thin welts allow the knife to cut to one side of them, . . . eventually cutting the threads, . . . a thicker welt, . . . especially the top 1/3 or so, . . . nearest the finger guard, . . . is mandatory if you want to not cut up your leather work. AND, . . . nix on the rivets, . . . it is always the hallmark of a cheap sheath, . . . May God bless, Dwight

You really have about 2 good options: Leave it as it is, . . . Trash it and start over, . . . You already figured out what happens if you start punching more holes in there, . . . unless of course you add enough to make it look like you are decorating the belt with extra holes every 1/2 inch or so. May God bless, Dwight

Welcome from another Ohio resident who dabbles in leather. I'm from down Marion way, . . . do mostly holsters, gunbelts, knife sheaths, . . . but dabble in other things as well, . . . chaps, vests, key fobs, etc. Grab a empty ammo crate, . . . sit down, . . . and enjoy. May God bless, Dwight

After the belt is done, . . . as far as the "making" is concerned, . . . a light coat of neatsfoot oil to the hair side of the leather. Let it dry 24 to 36 hours. Dip dye, . . . lay on top edge in a circular pattern for 10 minutes, . . . flip to bottom edge and allow the dye to dry. Driying time 24 to 36 hours as well. Burnish all leather edges. Really good rub down picking up all the left over pigment that did not go into the leather. One to three coats of resolene (cut 50/50 with water) Put on the buckle and send to the customer. NEVER have had a complaint on the construction, finish, or the wearing of my belts. May God bless, Dwight

Sorry in one way to see you go, . . . have enjoyed your holster comments down thru the years, . . . But, . . . glad for you in another way. I've done that type of move several times in my "career" and most turned out to be good moves, . . . Wish you the best, . . . stay in touch, . . . May God bless, Dwight

THE key, Jennifer, . . . that blade has to be polished, . . . polished sharp, . . . and if you have never done it, . . . it takes a good effort to get the technique down. This video shows one way to do it: The sharper your blade is, . . . the easier it is to cut the leather. ALSO, . . . give the leather a light coat of neatsfoot oil 24 to 36 hours before you start to cut it, . . . THAT will greatly improve your cutting. A useful tool is a pair of hand metal seamer tool. Harbor freight has them: 6 in. Straight Jaw Sheet Metal Seamer Pittsburgh®- Item#98728 That tool will help you pull the leather thru, . . . and use a bit of a side to side motion, . . . so you are cutting one corner, . . . then the next, . . . back and forth. It can be done, . . . and again, . . . you need that blade to be scary sharp, . . . and be careful. Once you get it up there polished and really sharp, . . . you can nick yourself with it, . . . and you won't even notice it until you see the blood all over. May God bless, Dwight

Exceptionally good, . . . you did yourself proud there. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, . . . I just couldn't find it, . . . but then again, . . . I'm not the brightest computer light bulb out here. . . . May God bless, Dight

Well, . . . I spent 20 minutes looking at every menu or link I could find, . . . still have not found them. May God bless, Dwight

Nahh, . . . the "they" are the fingers. Their idea is that fingers are for hamburgers, . . . machines are for sewing and lacing. At 74 I've got just enough arthritis in them that I tend to agree with the fingers. May God bless, 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