Dwight

Earlier, I saw another home grown burnisher, . . . and this is just to reinforce to especially the new folks, . . . you do not have to spend $1000 on equipment to make your edges look good. This took me a couple hours, . . . and something like $10, . . . has worked for quite a few years. Don't recollect what the motor came off of, . . . probably a furnace fan. May God bless, Dwight

Hey Dragonfly, . . . welcome aboard, . . . from one far enough south to say, "Yeah, . . . Dragonfly, one of those guys who's almost in New York", . . . lol. Just south of Marion, . . . glad to have another Uh-high-uh guy here. May God bless, Dwight

Yeah, . . . I'm with x101 airborne, . . . made E-7, . . . but for a CSM, . . . ooooo, . . . that needs tooling, . . . concho's, . . . shading, . . . antiquing, . . . maybe a tri-color, . . . But seriously, . . . looks good, . . . hope he enjoys it. And glad he opted for the 1911 instead of a wonder-9, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Now, . . . that's good to know......Thanks, Colt, . . . appreciate the info. May God bless, Dwight

This ain't one of them things like the old Louisiana cook where he "put a little wine in de sauce, . . . put a little wine in de cook" . . . thing is it?? You know, . . . "put a little Everclear in de dye, . . . put a little Everclear in de dyer", . . . May God bless, Dwight

Howdidja know the answer to the question: Where's Waldo?? That's where Dwight lives. Seriously, . . . my metal pans are actually an aluminum pan for the browns, . . . and a porcelain (white) pan for my blacks. Got another aluminum one for odd stuff that I do once in a blue moon. I've never had any problems with any of them. Everclear??? Here in Ohio, . . . it is illegal to own, sell, traffic, purchase, or possess. OTOH, . . . if you know the right "ol' Southern boy", . . . ya might get something that will be in the same neighborhood of 190 proof, . . . and yeah, . . . folks around here still drink it, . . . not me of course, . . . but others do. May God bless, Dwight

Wellllll, . . . actually, I use all white thread, . . . but I do have a small spool of black. Never have had anyone want anything but black or white, . . . and probably would discourage them if they did want some off the wall combination (red thread on a green holster). The few I get ask for the white stitching, . . . so it really is just a matter of when do I stitch, . . . before or after dying. AND, . . . my machine is a Tippmann Boss, . . . which just every now and again can be a pain when I change out the thread. Never figured out why, . . . just know it happens, . . . I sometimes think my machine is a female, . . . it can get peeved over the slightest nothing, . . . and takes it out with a vengeance. And, yes, . . . the white thread does come out a tad less dyed than the leather, . . . even the black, . . . but it is close enough that I've never had a customer get all up in arms about it. He probably wouldn't be a customer long if he did, . . . because it is just that close. I'd give him his money back, . . . bid him adieu, . . . put the item on Ebay, . . . and get my $$$ back. Also put that dude on a DO NOT CALL list. May God bless, Dwight

Given the choice between copper and brass, . . . I'll take the copper every time. I've NEVER had a copper rivet fail, . . . actually never have ever heard of one doing so. But brass can and will break, . . . I've done it many times with brass rods. Copper bends but does not break. May God bless, Dwight

Double Daddy, . . . I made my commitment to dip dying several years ago, . . . just got fed up with the sponging, wiping, etc, that sometimes did OK, . . . sometimes looked like something that needed a grave under the garbage heap. Messed with an air sprayer, . . . did not like the lack of depth, . . . it is only a surface coating. Jumped in with both feet on the dip dying, . . . and again, . . . fooled around with other reducers, . . . finally decided that since Feibings makes the dye, . . . they probably make the better reducer, . . . so all of my dye is reduced 1:1, . . . before it is used. And as you touched on the subject, . . . the only hangup is when someone wants a contrasting thread. Fortunately, . . . I don't see that much, . . . and you won't hear me complain about not seeing it either. May God bless, Dwight

My condolences to the family and all his friends. The earth is poorer when we lose a good one, . . . but Heaven is richer. May God bless, Dwight

I don't mean to hijack your thread mixmkr, . . . just a cute anecdote: One of our guys in the maintenance shop loved to do projects, . . . make stuff, . . . especially when it was many multiples of the thing. He also preferred a yard stick over any other measuring instrument. One of the other guys caught him gone, . . . cut 2 inches off one end of his yard stick, . . . put it back up over the light fixture. Harry never paid any attention for about a week, . . . until after all the pieces were cut and he started to assemble the pieces. Have you ever hear a Chinaman curse profanely? I'm not sure I did, . . . but could not be certain because I don't know Chinese profanity, . . . but it sure sounded like it might be. Thanks mismkr, . . . for letting me recall an old memory I had not thought of for a while. May God bless, Dwight

No problem Rockoboy, . . . a little hijack never hurt anyone. Yes, indeed, you can use it again, . . . and again, . . . and again. I have plastic quart bottles that I keep my "made up" dye in, . . . just take off the lid, . . . pour it in the pan, . . . do the dying process, . . . pour the rest back into the bottle, . . . put the lid back on and set it back up on the shelf. I then just wipe out the pan with paper towels, . . . put it back up on the shelf for the next one. When I did the work above, . . . I made up another 16 oz of dye (2 ea 4 oz bottles of dye and 2 ea 4 oz bottles of reducer), . . . added it to the pan before I started, . . . when I got done, poured the rest back into the bottle. If I calculated correctly, I think I used about 14 oz of dye mix to do two holsters, a dress belt, gun belt, and the assorted straps for the shoulder holster. May God bless, Dwight

Now THAT, . . . I like, . . . never thought of recessing it like that, but it sure would make it less apt to scratch the sides of the weapon. Thanks, . . . may God bless, Dwight

Actually not bad, . . . the strapwork: one shoulder, . . . one belly, . . . one "up and over" the right shoulder. Getting how they did it was the problem. I found it to be actually pretty comfortable once I got it on and cinched down. Ol' Doc died young, . . . so he didn't have to worry about middle age spread, . . . "hangover", . . . etc. May God bless, Dwight

I use a 2 inch deep, . . . 9 x 14 baking pan, . . . mix a 4 oz bottle of dye with a 4 oz bottle of reducer, . . . for a 50/50 mix, . . . and keep mixing until my qt jug is full, . . . pour it into the pan, . . . go to dying. A dress belt, all the harness, both holsters, and the cartridge belt, altogether used up about 14 or so liquid ounces of dye. AND, . . . everything got double dipped on this particular order. May God bless, Dwight

It is all Feibings Saddle tan, topped by a coat of Resolene. It is becoming my favorite color. I first added a light coat of neatsfoot oil, . . . allowed a couple days drying and leveling off time, . . . then dip dyed all the pieces in a cake pan full of dye. May God bless, Dwight

After watching the "shootouts" endlessly, . . . taking screen shots, . . . capturing and printing images, . . . I finally got what I thought was a pretty "true to the movie" copy of what was used. The color is much lighter, . . . but the customer wanted it that way. He also wanted a cross draw and a cartridge belt. May God bless, Dwight

For the 101st, . . . for sure, . . . Actually, last night I finished up the last of the stamping, . . . today I'm into the dying process if nothing goes wrong, . . . hopefully by the end of the week, I'll have the whole thing together. My only "stray" from the one on the movie set, is my customer wanted a lighter color, . . . should wind up similar to Forester's creation. But this is fun stuff, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Beautiful work, . . . much more patience than I have.................. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Treed, . . . The Callahan is similar, . . . and for most would work, . . . the fellow I'm doing this for wants it as near exact as possible, . . . only thing will be the color, he decided on saddle tan, . . . which is pretty light. He also wanted a full cross draw holster and cartridge belt, . . . got that cartridge belt done for him today, . . . and I was ready for a fight by the time I got done with it tonight. Just one little problem after another. But it is the "big" piece that needed to be done. The cross draw holster and britches belt will be tomorrow hopefully, . . . and the shoulder holster later this week or first of next week. May God bless, Dwight

What are you going to put in it? May God bless, Dwight

Yes, . . . hammer strap keeps the band in place, . . . band keeps the loose end of the hammer strap in place, . . . each does for the other. I pretty much always use a full length welt, . . . John Bianchi taught that, . . . works for me. I have added a second one very very occasionally to add width up at the trigger guard area, . . . but usually one will do, . . . sometimes it is a bit tapered, . . . just depends. Thanks for the good words, may God bless, Dwight

An elderly gent lost (or it was stolen) his inexpensive holster he had for his S&W stainless 686. A mutual friend asked me to make him a holster so he could carry it when he needed to. This was the product, . . . figuring it will probably be his last holster, . . . did something a bit different for him. May God bless, Dwight

I'll be doing pictures, . . . I think I pretty much got the shoulder holster figured out. May God bless, Dwight