Dwight

What he said is right on the money . . . no compound for me either . . . I saw the formula one time . . . don't recall the ingredients . . . but I voted against it. May God bless, Dwight

If you want to follow the advice of John Bianchi . . . one of THE top holster makers of the last 50 years . . . When you cut the piece for the outside of the holster . . . turn your pattern over and cut another piece . . . that is the inside liner. Been doing that for over 20 years . . . never been a problem yet . . . and I don't have to stock two different leathers. May God bless, Dwight

I've been lately able to get the thickness I like for belts . . . but when I can't . . . my little splitter I bought from Tandy some 10 or 12 yrs ago . . . is the go to route. I cut the blank long enough that I've got the ability to grab the end with vise grips . . . and I run the whole thing thru the splitter . . . gets as good an edge as any of the more expensive veg tan you might buy. The only thing is . . . ya gotta keep it sharp . . . and you need to grease it after using it . . . then wipe it down and run a 6 inch piece of scrap thru it before your belt blank . . . to take off any grease you missed. Slicking and sanding works . . . but THIS is so much better and easier. You will have to learn how to sharpen it and how to strop it though May God bless, Dwight

Here is what I did . . . simple . . . quick . . . no real big engineering involved. I sit down . . . each side piece goes under my leg . . . the middle piece comes straight up . . . stick in the piece . . . tighten the wing nut . . . stitch to your little hearts content. May God bless, Dwight

Can you take a micrometer and gently check the diameter of the thread ?? Looks awful big to me . . . but that may be a perception problem as I have nothing to measure it against. May God bless, Dwight

OK . . . did you laser that bird on first? Looks good either way . . . but I'm just a wondering. May God bless, Dwight

I've done a ton of holsters in my 20+ years of leather working. Never had anyone want one for a derringer. This is a double barreled 410 / 45LC . . . over and under . . . double barrel. If you've done one . . . or have a pattern . . . I'd love to see your design . . . because basically . . . I'm stumped May God bless, Dwight

I did this successfully . . . ONCE . . . and that was several years ago . . . and it was for a personal item . . . for me. I took (I believe) . . . saddle tan dye . . . thinned it 50/50 like I always do . . . to make the saddle tan correctly first. I then took the black dye Feibings oil base black . . . thinned it 50/50 with thinner . . . THEN . . . I started adding the black to the saddle tan . . . then do a test piece . . . until I got the shade I wanted. Again . . . only did it once . . . was happy with the results . . . which was a medium grey color. The tan / brown disappeared once I got where I wanted with the grey. BUT . . . I mistakenly left the holster / gunbelt . . . hanging where excessive sunlight could hit it . . . and it bleached most of the black out. I'm still happy with it . . . but I did like the original grey I had better. May God bless, Dwight

Saddle tan . . . my favorite color for any pretty stamping. May God bless, Dwight

From one transplanted (partial) Frenchman to another . . . welcome and glad to have you aboard. I am baasically a belt, holster, knife sheath, and gun case maker. I've done a bit of saddle repair . . . and a few spur straps . . . as well as chaps and chinks . . . but it is only an extracurricular activity for me. Most of my work follows the plain / practical idea . . . but if someone wants something fancied up a bit . . . I'll usually comply with his / her request. May God bless, Dwight

Thank you . . . made my day . . . May God bless, Dwight

I've never had anyone ask me to make a glock holster in anything but basic black . . . Just my experience . . . May God bless, Dwight

Looks good from here . . . May God bless, Dwight

Thanks guys . . . May God bless, Dwight

Just one quick note . . . when you go for example to Tandy's or other leather shops . . . the cheap stuff will be Neatsfoot oil "compound" . . . which is a conglomerate of oils. Buy the pure neatsfoot oil . . . it's a bit more expensive . . . but it's the good stuff . . . May God bless, Dwight

Got a friend who needs a metal stamp made . . . The circle diameter needs to be 5/8 (maybe a tad on the plus side) He wants to stamp walking sticks with it. Anyone out there up for a job like this?? May God bless, Dwight

Good way to go is find something you need to do . . . and do it . . . post pictures . . . ask for comments. Generally speaking most folks here are gentle . . . but honest in their admiration and / or criticism . . . The old saying goes something like . . . "most of our good decisions come from experience . . . and experience comes from bad decisions" My first holster I made . . . no one on here has or will see . . . it was that ugly . . . but looking at others . . . I was able to see what I did wrong. It's at the bottom of my holster box . . . rarely eve sees daylight. Jump in . . . join the fray . . . and "glad to have you" May God bless, Dwight

A few years back I was having trouble with my light tan dyes . . . not being even . . . especially saddle tan. I don't recall the impetus that moved me to try oiling first . . . I did . . . have NEVER had another problem like that since. I use a cheap pig hair brush from Harbor freight . . . put on a very light coat . . . just enough to make it look wet . . . Let it "dry" for 24 hours . . . the dye goes on perfect . . . every time. I don't always oil for black . . . it depends on the leather . . . But if it is anything other than black . . . it ALWAYS gets oiled first. That is for all my holsters . . . belts . . . sheaths . . . and gun cases . . . which is mainly what I do. May God bless, Dwight

Yessir . . . been too busy with holsters to really jump into the belt thing . . . but I most certainly will be doing that. I tried one application of the oak leaves . . . did the cardboard thing first . . . liked it . . . tossed a piece of junk leather in there for kicks and giggles . . . turned out too dark . . . have to try again some future date. My plan is to bring the two pieces of the belt just close enough together that the laser does not "overlay" the etching . . . and I'll go in there with my cutting and stamping tools and join them together. Got two large semi-autos that hit the shop the other day . . . both have attached lasers . . . making holsters for them . . . and it is a "chore" for sure. Gotta get them done . . . plus a half dozen belts . . . then "Lord willing" I may get to go back to playing and experimenting. May God bless, Dwight

There's two of us for sure. Sometimes I use mostly my Tippmann Boss for that . . . as I can EXACTLY place the stitch where I want it. Had to do that for a holster last week. Turned out looking really good . . . at least that was my opinion. It was for a little FIE .22 revolver . . . and so help me . . . I could easily have made a holster for a S&W 29 . . . 6 inch barrel . . . easier and quicker than that little rascal. May God bless, Dwight

Get a Skippy peanut butter jar . . . or the like . . . nowdays they're plastic . . . Mine has a mark about 1 1/2 inches above the bottom . . . and another about 3 inches up. Fill up to the bottom line with water . . . add resolene to the top line . . . I've got my mix. Then I grab my brush . . . dip it in the solution . . . and start painting. I paint it very wet to start with . . . to the point that moving my brush back and forth will produce a lather looking pile of bubbles . . . once I get that . . . I quit adding and start stroking . . . up and down . . . left and right . . . diagonal both ways . . . and brush until there are not bubbles or streaks. It leaves a very nice "semi shiny" finish . . . I have not liked the results I got from adding more water . . . if I wanted a duller finish . . . I'd pick another product . . . or just oil it . . . rub it till all the dye quit rubbing off . . . and call it a day. May God bless, Dwight PS: the brush in the picture is the 2 inch size . . . I actually use the 1 inch size on everything . . . belts included

Actually, Sarina . . . I would only do that for a circle that I knew would be say 14 to 18 inches in diameter . . . or less . . . and only if I knew that the wrinkles on the inside would be a problem for the user or wearer. For example . . . if my customer wanted a "stuffed" nose piece on a bridle or halter . . . a showy piece . . . I would get the measurement from the horse . . . make a round piece that width and that diameter . . . because I know the nose of a horse is tender . . . and if I made the piece and there were several large wrinkles inside it . . . they could rub and irritate the animal . . . which I would never allow if at all possible. I'm a horse lover guy. It would probably be less of a problem for a collar for a small dog . . . but in that case . . . it would be an ugly and "not professional" looking product . . . so again I'd make the model . . . so my finished product looked really nice if at all possible. I have access to power tools and lumber . . . so for me to make a circle that is 13 inches in diameter is a piece of cake . . . taking me all of 25 to 30 minutes . . . I would staple or otherwise fasten the inslde piece of leather to the wood model . . . form the rest of the pieces . . . and then using an awl . . . punch thru the leather . . . into the wood . . . for the stitching. Once the pieces are made . . . I then glue them together with Weldwood contact cement . . . and they are easily stitched using my Cowboy 4500 or in some cases . . . sewing it by hand . . . with a stitching pony. For rivets . . . I just do the same thing . . . punch thru the leather into the wood . . . and not worry about it . . . I've done it many times. Not being able to do it any other way . . . I find that "necessity is the mother of invention" . . . and needing it done makes me invent a way to do it. May God bless, Dwight

I've had .45ACP loops on a belt before . . . they were just made tight . . . never ever lost a bullet . . . Don't have any of mine move either that are 45 LC or .44 mag . . . or .357 mag. Where I put em they stay. It's all in doing it correctly the first time . . . May God bless, Dwight

I'm glad you got the job . . . you did well May God bless, Dwight

Yep . . . still here . . . glad to have ya back . . . May God bless, Dwight