Dwight

While not notorious for doing so, . . . sometimes a magazine can become a problem and has to be dropped, . . . replaced. That is the reason for the "first" extra mag. The second extra mag is for places some of us have to go that in years past, . . . would have been traversed only by a fire team that had air support. You apparently don't have those places, . . . some of us do. I have 1 magazine places, . . . 2 magazine places, . . . and some places that I just don't go thru any more. As a child, . . . walked those streets with no fear at all, . . . worst thing that might have happened would have been a snowball fight. Today, . . . that area is the first part of the nightly news, . . . with one or two of the day's daily shootings or stabbings. And, yes, . . . I am proficient with my 1911, . . . just want to be sure I come home each night. May God bless, Dwight

I had a Singer 155 for a while, . . . alongside the Tippmann Boss I already had. The Singer stayed about 3 months, . . . got sold, . . . have never looked back. If I were you, . . . the Tippmann Boss is the only machine I would look at. This one is on Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tippmann-Boss-Sewing-Machine/302946884584?epid=99171804&hash=item46890a9be8:g:1fEAAOSwNUlb4HF1:rk:1:pf:0 It is used, but probably not a problem. I've had mine for nearly 10 years, . . . it WILL SEW up to 3/4 inch of dry leather, . . . it allows you to put the stitch EXACTLY where you want it, . . . and cannot get into run away mode like an electric machine can. I sew belts with it, . . . an average 50 inch long belt (for a 44 inch waist) takes about 20 minutes. Sew one side, . . . grab a cup of coffee, . . . do the other. It is an awesome machine, . . . their service is second to none in my book (I drive it up there if I have a problem, . . . Ben cleans off his work space and fixes it, . . . and I drive home). Mostly I do holsters with it, . . . go to Dwights Gunleather on facebook and you can see some of the things I've produced with it. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not really sure who told you that about the swivel knife, . . . but I'll challenge the statement. Swivel knives, unlike ratchets or welders or handguns, . . . are pretty darn near the same the world over except for one distinguishing part: sharpness. A cheap, pot metal and plastic swivel knife with a good blade that is SHARP, . . . let me say again SHARP, . . . will do anything you want it to do especially for the first 4 or 5 years as a hobby leather worker. The only difference you will find is that a regular blade will have two cutting points, . . . and an angled blade will only have that one point as it has a 45 degree (?) angled cutting blade when you look at it being held perpendicular. You will need to get two knives (best choice) or at least both blades. Make a stropping block by contact cementing a piece of 7/8 oz leather to a nice flat 1 X 6 about 18 to 24 inches long, . . . rub it real good with white rouge, . . . and take a piece of 1/4 inch steel about 4 or 5 inches long, . . . rub it the length of your stropping block, . . . look for the black places it leaves on the block, . . . that is where the rouge is working, . . . get it so that about 75% of the board looks grey or black. Then sharpen a couple knives on it (might make your wife happy). When you get your knife from Tandy or wherever, . . . it will only be kinda sorta sharp, . . . I have a 200/400/600 grit block I got from Harbor Freight that I use on my knives, etc. . . . to get me started, . . . but that stropping block is THE KEY to final sharp. You want that edge to be like a mirror, . . . work out all the little machining grooves etc. THEN, . . . you will have a knife that you can use. May God bless, Dwight

Just remember that air brushed dye is just barely on the surface. Almost any serious rub against it will reveal the bare leather. I have a compressor and several air brushes just taking up space in my shop because I don't like the depth of air brushed dye jobs. I'm still dip dyeing everything. May God bless, Dwight

My adult belts have holes spaced at 1 inch apart. Kid's belts that age would get 3/4 inch spacing. I also punch 7 holes instead of being cheap like most are and only punching 5 (in the hope the belt no long fits sooner, . . . they get to do another belt). I don't use snaps on my belts, . . . I use chicago screws, . . . and would do the same for the kid's belt. May God bless, Dwight

I very seldom (can't recall the last one) make a single layer belt. They are all double layer, . . . and most of em are destined for CCW. All my belts are veggie and veggie, . . . contact cemented flesh to flesh, . . . makes an almost indestructable tool for carrying things on your waist. My thinnest belts I make measure out (when put together) at something around .160 or roughly 10/11 oz. My thicker ones (I'm wearing one right now, and it is my "go-to" belt 6 3/4 days out of 7 ) actually run a full .250 which is 16 oz. With that in mind, . . . try a 3/4 oz backer and see how you like it. Take a look on here, I replied a couple times in this, . . . one place I did a little video, . . . take a look at it, . . . belts like this are easy. May God bless, Dwight

I have a similar problem with oval punching the holes for some of my belts. How I've "cured it" is to first hit a very light stroke, . . . allowing me to see if it is where it should be, . . . adjusting if necessary, . . . then punching. My belt holes have become significantly better since I started that practice. Try it, . . . just might work for you as well. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . I'd say shoot it and bury it, . . . but I'd only be joking, . . . one of those personal things, . . . I don't do snakes, . . . including snakeskin. It is, though, . . . a good looking piece of raw material, . . . best wishes on how you use it and what you do with it. May God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . I would prop the split open, . . . dab a VERY LITTLE BIT of Weldwood contact cement to both sides, . . . dry with my heat gun, . . . press together, . . . and roll out with a seam roller. Next step would be a 2 inch long by 1 inch wide piece of fabric, . . . again, . . . Weldwood would be used to apply the fabric to the back side. Be very careful about not letting any of the wet glue get up to the hair side of the leather, . . . it will not dye as previously stated. This WILL WORK, . . . white glue will probably squeeze through the crack, ruining the whole thing, . . . yellow is not a good choice, . . . and the meat glue is totally unknown to me. May God bless, Dwight

If you take the rawhide and get it right real good sopping wet, . . . it can be molded, . . . then dried, . . . a piece of veggie tan can then be wet down, . . . molded to the rawhide, . . . and when it dries, . . . contact cemented to the rawhide. I had a knife sheath a couple years back I did that to, . . . only didn't use veggie tan, . . . used suede, . . . if I say so myself, it was brilliant and worked like a charm. Guy who got it was happy as a squirrel in a bucket full of nuts. That rawhide will make one stiff holster. Also, . . . force dry the veggie tan at about 135 F, . . . and it will harden it up as well. The hardest holster I ever made was a pancake made out of 4 layers of 6/7 veggie tan, . . . 2 layers (flesh to flesh) made the back, . . . and 2 layers (flesh to flesh) made the front. Once molded and dried, . . . I think you could knock a guy out with it if you threw it like a frisbee. The knife sheath is below: May God bless, Dwight

I use Feibings dye reducer and thinner. Some folks on here apparently use everything from water to diesel fuel, . . . After messing around with some of their suggestions, . . . I went back to this formula, . . . works great. When I buy a bottle of dye (4 oz), I buy a bottle of thinner for it. Open one, . . . open the other, . . . pour em into my bottle for that dye, . . . shake well, . . . good to go. Yeah, . . . they probably save some money, . . . but with this formula I don't have to guess, . . . wonder, . . . worry, . . . or hope, . . . "how will it turn out???". AND, . . . I don't throw out as many junk pieces because the dye was the wrong color, . . . wrong shade, . . . splotchy, . . . etc. May God bless, Dwight

It is not a 100%, . . . absolute, . . . "dyed in the wool", . . . cure: but it comes awful close. I ran into this problem some time back, . . . and found "my" solution. 1. 24 hours drying time from the very last stroke or stamp on a cased piece of leather. No heat, . . . just room temperature (70 or so F). 2. Apply a light coat of neatsfoot oil, . . . and let dry another 24 hours. 3. Dip dye everything, . . . I use Feibings oil dyes and spirit dyes, . . . all are cut 1 to 1 with thinner. I no longer have hardly any of that splotchy and streaky looking dye jobs. They are basically uniform, with the exception of the grain of the leather. May God bless, Dwight

Here you are Don: May God bless, Dwight

Years ago, I worked with a master carpenter named George. What he could do with wood was not short of phenominal. I was tasked to do a certain job by him, . . . and when it was done, . . . I received a few complaints by others. I suggested to him, how I could fix it, . . . and he smiled and complimented me with one of the best I have ever received. He said: "It is not the man who never makes mistakes who will become the master, . . . it is the one who can cancel out or cover up the obvious mistake that becomes the master". I never forgot it, . . . and have followed that advice in every thing I have done since, . . . and it HAS worked out. May God bless, Dwight PS: AND, . . . for only 4 months, . . . that is a beautiful billfold. Keep up the good work.

Rickybobby, . . . I have down thru the years came across your exact situation more than once. My cure for it was simple, . . . build a wooden replica. I have a small tub of them, . . . including a S&W 29, . . . a Kahr (forget the model), . . . a little bitty .380, . . . and others. Start with the basic outline after you have made a board the appropriate thickness, . . . band saw it out, . . . sand down the edges, . . . and go for it. So far, . . . none of my customers have seen the dummy I use, because they are pretty much all mail orders, . . . but I've also never had negative feedback. I'm not out in the shop right now, . . . but if you want I can get pics and post em for you to show you what I've done. AND, . . . no it really is not hard to do. I usually knock one out in about an hour, . . . and I use my "down time" to do them. May God bless, Dwight

It is really simple, . . . if you are using glue, . . . toss it out and graduate to contact cement. If you use so much contact cement that is squishes out, . . . you are using it wrong. Leather adhesives are simple and work well, . . . if done right. May God bless, Dwight

I use a $50 belt sander from Harbor Freight, . . . a little job that sits on the table, . . . I use 120 grit belts, . . . works like a champ. BUT, . . . I sand before I bevel, . . . and keep all my beveling tools sharp, . . . get good edges that way. You will probably throw away the first belt, . . . maybe the first couple, . . . until you learn just how to do it, . . . so be prepared for that. May God bless, Dwight

I've made my version of the Eastwood rig, . . . as dikman said, . . . it's a rough out holster, . . . I used double 6/7 for both the belt and the holster. In fact, all the leather except the belt loops, came from the same hide if I recall correctly. It is a fun one to make, . . . sometimes I wish I had kept it. May God bless, Dwight

For the few I've used, . . . buy the right size width, . . . cut to length with hacksaw, . . . round and smooth ends on a belt sander, . . . sew into the leather and forget them. I do give em a coat of varnish or something though, . . . just to make sure they don't rust away in the first few years in there. May God bless, Dwight

I'll second the above motion ^^^^^^ as IF I DID IT, . . . it would be my process as well. Trying to sew around something like that already bent is a process dedicated to a migraine. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Josh, . . . I like that system, . . . especially since I'm already familiar with and use Murphy's. Since there are several, . . . worst that can happen is we trash one of them, . . . and doing em one at a time might be the ticket. May God bless, Dwight

Personally, I've made em both ways, . . . what works the best for me is the buckle end is a single piece of leather, . . . the tongue end matches the belt, . . . but I always use 6/7 and try to find the thinner end of the hide for the tongue end. The buckle end is always one thick piece, . . . makes it so much easier to patch it back into the belt so it can be fastened. My ranger belts are made from the John Bianchi school of gun belts. May God bless, Dwight

Thank you, . . . I'm going down to see them later this weekend, . . . may just try that this time. May God bless, Dwight

I'm not sure there are names or makers marks on them that anyone could find or decipher, . . . they are "really" bad. Leather is hard and dry on all three, . . . fourth is a nylon skirted suede seat, . . . that could probably be on a horse in a couple of weeks, . . . All the others were taken off the horse and just put, . . . and the folks did not care where it was "put" so to speak. One is a kind of show saddle, . . . lots of silver spots on it, . . . if any of them get any kind of treatment from me, . . . it is a likely candidate. Gotta get the neatsfoot oil on them first & see if I can loosen em up a bit. I've personally got an old Jumbo, . . . love that old saddle, . . . started to re-do it years ago, . . . decided it would ruin the history, . . . so I'm sending it to a friend in Arizona who promised to use it on roundups. May God bless, Dwight

I have a friend who has 3 saddles in that bad a shape, . . . she wants me to "fix" em for her. Just not sure I'm up to that, . . . but I did enjoy seeing what you did. May God bless, Dwight