Dwight

Excellent work, . . . AND, . . . I love the grips, . . . they add much to the overall image.............. The little touch of red on the rose petals, . . . making it look like it once was fully bright red, . . . but only the touches remain, . . . EXCELLENT !! May God bless, Dwight

Leading edge is the front of the holster, . . . the top of the barrel side. Trailing edge is the rear edge of the holster, . . . traditionally it surrounds the trigger guard, . . . or at least that side of the weapon. My vacuum forming rig is a vinyl bag, hose, and a vacuum pump. Take a look at it here: The dremel tool burnisher is a 1/2 inch diameter piece of dowel that has a 1/8 inch drill bit glued into it's center, . . . put the drill in the Dremel tool end, . . . use various files to create the burnishing tool you want, . . . I have several I've made, . . . they work really well. May God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . from my hunting experience, . . . I don't even think of a belt slide for .308 or 30-06. A butt stock carrier, . . . or pocket carry is much preferred, . . . and the length of the shells is the singular reason why. I would make one for a customer if he demanded I do so, . . . but it would be reluctantly, knowing after a couple hunts it would go in his drawer with the useless holsters he bought down through the years. May God bless, Dwight

First thing you need to understand, . . . you can wet form a holster, . . . OR, . . . you can cut /tool/stamp a holster, . . . but unless you are Santa Claus or the Lone Ranger, . . . you cannot do both. Let your customer determine which he/she wants, . . . and provide it. Generally, . . . the list of how I do things goes something like this, . . . it would be for a pancake or "sort of" pancake type holster: Lay out pattern and cut the back of the holster. It will very seldom have anything seriously done to it, . . . so it is first, . . . to get it out of the way. Lay out front pattern, . . . I generally use a process where the "leading edge" of the holster is seriously cut out first. The trailing edge is always cut a tad big. Look at the front and back, . . . where do I need to dress the edge (makes it easier to do now than later), . . . do that edge beveling Cut out, . . . bevel, . . . and sew on any "accent" pieces, such as a piece of ostrich, buffalo, elephant, . . . a panel with a LEO shield stamped, . . . a stiffening panel, . . . etc. Contact cement the "leading edge" of the front and back, . . . sand the edges, . . . sew that leading edge completely. This is where I wet form my holster, . . . laying the front over the weapon as it lays in position on the back, . . . generally, I use a vacuum forming process, . . . easy and very good results come from it. Let the thing dry, . . . COMPLETELY, . . . I often use a drying box, . . . 130 deg F, . . . for an hour or so. Sew the back edge, . . . but first, . . . apply contact cement to both pieces, . . . put the gun in the holster, . . . make sure it is properly positioned, . . . stick the pieces together. Here is why I cut the trailing edge a tad bigger, . . . just in case there is something goofy going on, . . . I now trim that so it matches the back, . . . then sand the edges, . . . and finish sewing the holster together. Finish beveling all edges, . . . and I then use a Dremel tool to dress the edges, . . . make em shine real good is the goal. Apply a light coat of neatsfoot oil here, . . . with a cheap bristle brush type paint brush, . . . this is a "have to" step if you generally are playing around with any light or medium brown colors, . . . tans as well. I went for a LOOOOOOONG time trying to figure what I was doing wrong, . . . and got mottled and blotchy tans and light browns. The neatsfoot oil is the one thing I found that all but eliminates that problem altogether. NEXT : all my holsters are dip dyed, . . . and after the dip dying is done, . . . it goes to the arbor press where my maker's stamp is applied. AGAIN: Let the thing dry, . . . COMPLETELY, . . . I often use a drying box, . . . 130 deg F, . . . for an hour or so, . . . then let it hang for the next 24 hours. After it is dried, . . . belt loops are applied, . . . or punched out, . . . as appropriate. Final step is one or more coats of Resolene, . . . basically the only finish I use. Hope this helps, . . . holler back if you have any questions. May God bless, Dwight

One word, . . . Resolene, . . . been making belts (as well as cowboy rigs) for over 10 years, . . . only belt that was a problem, . . . guy measured 53 inches, . . . came back to get it about 8 weeks later, . . . he needed a 56, . . . lol. Seriously, . . . Resolene finished belts have never been any problem for me, . . . all my customers are happy with them, . . . many of them have multiple belts in various colors / designs. May God bless, Dwight

Just wondering if anyone has done a seat for a Suzuki Kingquad, . . . its a 700 cc beast of a 4 wheel machine. I want to do the seat this winter, . . . along with a set of bags for it, . . . as I'm making it street legal as a motorcycle. Appreciate any info you guys have. May God bless, Dwight

Really great work , . . . I'm surprised that you didn't get any offers to "adopt" another dad or two.........lol Seriously, though, . . . you long ago passed me up in the decorating dept, . . . I can make the holsters, gun belts, chaps, spur straps, etc, . . . and they work good if not great, . . . but they are all plain jane vanilla because I simply cannot do the level of carving and stamping that you and others exhibit here. Don't lose that talent, . . . not many have it, . . . and your got a really good dose of it. May God bless, Dwight

That looks good from here. Main thing, . . . are you happy with it?? Does it do it's intended function?? Those two are the main two pieces of criteria, . . . whether it is a BBQ show piece is a whole 'nuther category. May God bless, Dwight

A few years back, I ran across the design used for the Roman soldier of old sandals. It is a pretty ingenious design, . . . sole, . . . middle sole which actually becomes the sides of the sandals, . . . and insole where the feet actually stand in the sandals. Take a gander out on the internet, . . . I'm sure you can find it as well, . . . modify that design and make a pair. My pair used up about 5 square feet of veggie tan 7/8 leather, . . . are very comfortable, . . . and have a very distinctive look about them. There are any number of modifications could be made to them to make them "yours", . . . and might be worth while as a personal investment. Actually the hardest part of the whole thing was having to hand sew the seam up the back of the heel, . . . as I hate hand sewing. I contact cemented all three pieces together, . . . took em to my Tippmann Boss, . . . voila, . . . sandals. May God bless, Dwight

That work is definitely above my pay grade and station in life. Really, great work Josh, . . . in my opinion, more artistic than utilitarian, . . . and that is exactly what a lot of people will pay really good money for. May God bless, Dwight

Just shipped this one out earlier today, . . . for a S&W Governor. Actually was one of the harder ones I've ever patterned, . . . but was very happy with the finished product. May God bless, Dwight

Really super looking, . . . great job. AND, . . . congratulations on the amount of patience you have, . . . I would never be able to keep my sanity with that much tooling. May God bless, Dwight

Form follows function is a great reminder of how leather working came about in the first place. A product need was determined, . . . and once the basic need was filled, . . . others began to embellish it, . . . and it became for example, the silver laden trophy saddles we often see or the BBQ holster many folks have. Your product needs two things to embellish it and get it ship shape: bevel and buff the raw edges of the product, . . . sand down the edges so that it is a uniform distance from stitch line to product edge. Other than that, . . . good job. May God bless, Dwight

I use 346 thread at 6 stitches per inch on belts, holsters, purses, billfolds, . . . darn near everything, . . . never any problems. I wouldn't think a pony seat would be any different. May God bless, Dwight

PJ, . . . depending on the desired thickness at the end of the job, . . . it will be between two layers of 6 oz and two layers of 8 oz. I like cutting the pieces from the same hide, . . . side by side if I can. I don't do much custom carving (actually try to avoid it) so I'm not the best source, . . . just giving you the info on how I do it. The video shows how I put em together. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not much of a fan of steel or kydex lined belts, . . . leather has been doing a great job for centuries all by itself. But if I did, . . . I'd use steel strapping off pallets, . . . it comes in a 1 inch wide variety, . . . and some folks will give it to you for hauling it away. Sew both edges and the tongue, . . . slip the steel piece in like putting a knife into a sheath, . . . sew the buckle end closed, . . . voila, . . . done. May God bless, Dwight

Because I already have this template made up, . . . I would personally just go ahead and use the 5/8 inch spacing and every thing else the same. Realistically, . . . we are talking .450 minus .357, . . . which turns out to be .093 inches or 1/10 of an inch. I'm not going thru the pain to adjust everything for 1/10 of an inch. May God bless, Dwight

I've made belts a couple of different ways, . . . and Ghormley's Style # 1 has never let me down. For a shotgun belt for myself, . . . 12 ounce belt, . . . 12 ounce backer , . . . 2 to 2 1/2 inch nylon webbing to hold em, . . . or 7/8 ounce leather. Once you lace them in and out, . . . pull it as tight as you can, . . . leave the shell in it, . . . move on to the next one, . . . I would rivet it at both ends. Attach the backer to the belt with lacing . . . sew it on, . . . or rivet it, . . . but whichever you do, . . . put the backer piece on the belt with contact cement, . . . and it'll never move. Show us what you did when you get done. Here is a drawing of how I would do it, . . . an an example of what Ghormley recommends. The first picture is my "cheat sheet" I keep in my cowboy bag for when I have to make one. Just did one last week for a "Have Gun Will Travel" type rig. May God bless, Dwight

You guys are a lot better than this old codger. Trying to cut 1/8 of an inch off each side of a liner, . . . then have to still sand the edges to be sure they are "flat", . . . sure is a lot more work than I'm willing to do. They start out the exact same size, . . . and only need minor sanding where the stamping may have swelled the top out, . . . or something like that. Oversize or same size, . . . still gotta sand it, . . . why put yourself in a pickle for that extra step??? Besides that, . . . I know me, . . . I'll slip with the old cutter, . . . and wind up with a slice in the belt, . . . nahhhh.... May God bless, Dwight

I set my cutting gauge and cut both pieces exactly the same size. Also try to get them both next to each other out of the same hide if I can. Do the ends of the liner and the belt blank. Apply cement and let dry. I then fold over my buckle end so I know exactly where I want my liner to start, . . . and with the liner doubled over backwards above and over my left hand, . . . I slowly feed the liner down onto the belt and use my thumb and forefinger of the left hand to line them up and make em fit right. I then go over the belt with special emphasis on the edges, . . . with a wallpaper seam roller. I then sand both edges flush, . . . stitch gouge both sides, . . . sew, . . . bevel, . . . and finish. It is the fastest and easiest system I've developed so far, . . . turns out belts that don't get complaints, . . . that makes me happy. May God bless, Dwight

Depending on he finish, . . . you may have little to do. BUT, . . . I would take it to a sander anyway, . . . makes it a better bonding surface for the contact cement. AND, . . . I have seen belts that would not come apart once contact cemented together, . . . even without the stitching. You are experimenting, . . . go for it, . . . and report back here and let us know your findings. May God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . yes, . . . Resolene is my preferred belt finish. Yes, . . . the liner and blank on that particular brown belt are both 5/6, . . . all stitching of the tongue and buckle keeper done, . . . then the inside and outside are stitched together. My belt keeper folds back between the two layers, . . . and is held by the Chicago screw that is visible in the buckle end of the pictures. I do that mostly so that if something happens to the buckle or if it needs changed, . . . it's a simple and easy job. All I did was take apart a ranger belt I had worn for 20 or so years, . . . make patterns from the pieces, . . . and make my new one. There are many different ways to do them, . . . that's just my way. May God bless, Dwight

Don't forget, . . . it is the placement and design of both the buckle end and the tongue that will ultimately make or break that belt. Make all the parts and pieces, . . . then lay them down on each other in their respective places, . . . do a measurement fit check before you start the sewing routine. Otherwise you can start out with the right pieces for say a 40 inch belt, . . . wind up with a 36 or a 44, . . . just by putting them in the wrong place. Have fun though, . . . and don't get too serious about this leather stuff, . . . keep it fun and it is a whole lot more exciting. May God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . sorry for the confusion, . . . I just couldn't wrap my head around the question. I did a 5 hour drive today, . . . too many white lines, . . . grey matter gets confused easily. My 38 inch ranger belt has a back side of 43 inches long. Look at the pictures and you'll see how I do it. Not everyone does it this way, . . . but not everyone makes pie crust like I do, and I like both my belts and my pie crusts. The back picture is just that, . . . the back of the belt. The same for the front picture, . . . The buckle end you can see it overlaps the end of the belt just the width of the leading edge of the buckle, . . . and the billet also overlaps the leading edge of the main belt piece. But from inside of the edge of the buckle to that center hole, . . . is 37 1/2 inches (God only knows what happened to the other 1/2 inch), . . . and that is where my target is for all my belts. You can also see that I give my customers 7 holes instead of 5, . . . gives em a bit of pizza room if they need it, . . . or CCW space if they need that. That back piece I measured to be sure, . . . it is 43 inches long. Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . I'll get in here, . . . A 38 inch belt goes around a 38 inch waist if it is a gun belt, . . . a web belt, . . . a garter belt, . . . or a ranger belt. I must have missed something in the question, . . . and I've made all but the garter belt, . . . May God bless, Dwight