Dwight

This is a very simple holster to make, . . . a John Bianchi design, . . . I can send you the basic pattern if you would want it. May God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . there is very little that goes out of my shop not being burnished, . . . and belts are never allowed out that way. I use my Dremel at about 1600 rpm or so (it has a scale on the back telling me how fast I'm going), . . . AND I use a discarded HVAC fan motor, . . . I put a home-made burnishing tool on it. I also have arthritis in the 72 year old hands, . . . but they can muster through this 5 minutes to make the belt look like a craftsman did it, . . . It looks like the pics below. May God bless, Dwight

Can you tell us what kind of projects you are doing? How long / how wide / what thickness of leather??? The poundo boards is a great idea, . . . but so is an 8 inch long, 2 inch wide, 1/4 inch thick piece of steel. I use even smaller pieces sometimes when I'm too lazy to get up and go get my piece of marble. Just let us know, . . . some of us may have some even better ideas. May God bless, Dwight

AND, . . . if it was .45 caliber.......... Actually just kidding the BHP is a fine piece of firearm technology, . . . I respect it, . . . but it just is not my cup of tea. We had a Bos'n Mate in Vietnam, . . . carried one on the PBR boats, . . . I never saw it go, . . . but his brag was that it had a "go fast" switch which turned it into a machine pistol. That was the first one I ever saw. I actually prefer making holsters for the 1911, . . . to me they always look "like a holster should look", . . . and sometimes I just cannot get that "look" that I personally want from my work, . . . on some of these new plastic fantastic firearms. The next one is the Colt Detective Special, . . . and other small revolvers about that size, . . . they come out good for me, . . . I enjoy making them as well. May God bless, Dwight

Brian, . . . thank you so much, . . . looking forward to getting this project under way. May God bless, Dwight

"Western style holster" is a really big piece of real estate, TrentonP, . . . can you be a bit more definitive? Mexican loop? John Wayne over the belt? Clint Eastwood spaghetti western? Lone Ranger ? There are dozens of different styles, . . . holler back with some more info, . . . we'll see what we can come up with. May God bless, Dwight

I've personally never had good results with the full strength stuff. Thin it like garypl said, . . . I brush it on with cheap bristle brushes, . . . love the finish. Usually 2 light coats works for all my belts, holsters, and knife sheaths. May God bless, Dwight

Brian, . . . PM me with details about how to pay you. That is exactly what I'm looking for. Dwight Cimino 1323 Cline Road Waldo, Ohio 43356 USA BTW, . . . are you in the Brisbane / Gold Coast area? Got some good memories of that area from when we visited many years ago. Long story, . . . but there was a possibility that I might have come back there permanently, . . . just didn't work out. I'd a had to have been a stockman if I did. May God bless, Dwight

Down thru the years I've accumulated the quart bottles that originally had dye or reducer or something similar. They are all Feibing's bottles, . . . and after I dye a belt or holster or whatever, . . . I just pour it back in the bottle. Bottles are labeled and kept on the shelf in a certain order, . . . so it works out well for me. Hope this helps. May God bless, Dwight

Shoot me that picture, Brian, . . . Add how you would want to be paid, . . . AND, . . . thank you, . . . many times over. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks Big Sioux, . . . I'll give Texas Custom Dies a shout. May God bless, Dwight

I'm looking for someone to make a clicker die for me, . . . just one simple little die I can use to pop out leather key fobs, . . . 1 at a time. The overall pattern looks like the image below, . . . 1 3/8 inches wide, . . . overall length is 5 1/2 inches. Anyone with a reasonably priced source? It cannot be anything expensive, simply because the final product will more or less be for give-away, . . . vs, . . . a profitable venture. Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

Do yourself a favor, . . . this set of DVD's will save you a ton of guessing, . . . and get you started out right. http://www.ebay.com/itm/John-Bianchis-The-Arts-and-Secrets-of-Advanced-Western-Holster-Making-/112511827522?hash=item1a323a3e42:g:w1IAAOSwjTlZhkcJ You will have to do a bit of "remodeling" in order to get what you want for CAS and SASS, . . . but the basic technique and leather workmanship starts there. May God bless, Dwight

Honestly, . . . I do not know, . . . but when I saw that particular one on Ebay, . . . and it being called a Shawnee pattern, . . . I just kind of linked in with it, . . . I assumed, . . . as is done with most things, . . . a person will develop a pattern of things he likes to do, . . . and how he likes to do it, . . . I figured it was probably that way even with the Indians, . . . perhaps they found a blacksmith who would make theirs a certain way, . . . as his trademark, . . . and is became associated with them. Anyway, . . . I liked the looks of it. I'ts really not a lot different from yours, . . . the blade is probably only an inch or so wider, . . . but I like that pattern. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Dave, . . . it's close, . . . but the Shawnee pattern had a slightly wider blade, . . . that's the one I'm hoping to find. One was on Ebay a few months back, . . . and I got outbid on it. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, Dave, . . . can you show us a pic of the tomahawk? Reason I ask, . . . I'm looking for a certain pattern, . . . this looks like maybe the right one, . . . Thanks, may God bless, Dwight

I cannot find the picture right now, . . . but I made several burnishers that I use with my Dremel. I took a 1/2 inch dowel rod, . . . drilled a hole in the end of it in the center, . . . forced a finish nail in the hole, . . . cut the head off the nail, . . . put it in the Dremel, . . . took a file or two and shaped the burnisher the way I wanted it. I would not be without mine, . . . May God bless, Dwight

It's a toss-up to a large degree. Because I do belts, . . . and have been known to do a 53 inch Western belt that was 3 inches too short when he came to pick it up, . . . I usually buy the whole side. The price for me works out about the same, . . . and I get belt material. May God bless, Dwight

OK, . . . now we can do something. I make a shoulder holster that is worn so it points the muzzle down, . . . and is a re-work of an older design. It, I think, would be perfect for this application. The next problem will be getting the pattern to you. If you want, . . . send me a private message, . . . use the little envelope up in the top right hand corner, . . . and I'll see if I can't make a workable copy for you and mail it to you. The shoulder straps will simply go from the front of one to the rear of the other, . . . and the whole thing will have belt clips, . . . one on each side, . . . as does the one in the picture. It does not have the "H" harness in the back, . . . but rather a simple "X" where the two shoulder straps cross, . . . Let me know if you are interested. May God bless, Dwight

Exactly where on the harness do you want to carry the radios? Front, . . . where your shirt pockets are? Under each arm? Behind your back? How big are they? Lots of information needed to be able to help you. May God bless, Dwight

(continued from above)....... Next time you are there, . . . his customers will give your product a better look, . . . they bought once for price, . . . and now that it is probably broken, . . . or otherwise almost unuseable, . . . they will be more demanding. Always take the high road, . . . be the gentleman, . . . focus on the positive. It pays great dividends. May God bless, Dwight

I've done several shows in the past, . . . and usually only do it when I'm bored. I'll make up a few belts, . . . typical holsters I sell, . . . and throw in a few "unique" pieces just for kicks and giggles. I've actually sold as many of the "unique" pieces as I have the regular stuff, . . . and belts are simply for show. The belts always seem to be the wrong size, or color for that particular person. But I have gotten some good orders, . . . and some good exposure, . . . which never hurts. Make sure as stated above, . . . you know YOUR product, . . . and don't bad mouth the other guy that's cutting his leather with a chain saw, . . . using a baking oven to melt his kydex, . . . and fastening em with aluminum washers. Next time you are there, . . . his cu

There are two "rules of thumb" here with your questions. The flatter the back is, generally the more comfortable the holster is. This is more noticeable on skinny or bony people, . . . those with "ample" padding don't seem to be quite as affected by it. Personally, . . . at 6'1 and 180, . . . I like it REAL flat. The more the gun moves into the front panel and the rear panel, . . . the more retention that can be molded into the holster. AND the retention will be longer lasting. You just have to make up your mind about how much comfort is required, . . . vs . . . how much retention is required. The more you go for one, . . . the less you get of the other. Generally when I do a flat back pancake for a customer, . . . I put a thumb break on it also, . . . if they want to disable the thumb break some day down the road, . . . that is their decision, . . . but at least when it leaves my shop, . . . the retention factor is built into the holster. May God bless, Dwight

I've used a bunch of stuff, . . . Weldwood puts two pieces of leather together so that it becomes one piece. You CAN take it back apart, . . . but you will rip fibers from both pieces, . . . inherently "ripping" the piece apart. Have never had any issue with it except that if I'm doing a number of pieces, . . . there needs to be some consideration fro ventilation, . . . what I mostly do is just get it on the pieces, . . . and leave the shop, . . . go do something else somewhere else that I've been putting off. It is also more economical than Barge in my area. May God bless, Dwight

Biggest disadvantage is over time the single layer wings will get floppy ane sloppy, . . . not hold the gun up like it should. AND, . . . there really is no ADVANTAGE to it other than having saved a few square inches of leather, . . . that would probably not be used anyway, . . . just because of the way it is cut. I would not make one like that for myself, . . . and a REALLY would not make one for a customer. May God bless, Dwight