Dwight

Make yourself a long triangular shaped piece of wood with a flat on the top of it about 1/16 of an inch wide. Get a flat piece of aluminum, . . . sheet metal, . . . plastic, . . . whatever, . . . about 2 inches wide, . . . and maybe 18 inches long. Lay the collar down on the 2 inch wide piece, . . . center it so it is in the middle of the 2 inch wide piece, . . . then lay that on the triangle. Move it back and forth until you find where it balances, . . . that is the "weight" center of the dog collar. May God bless, Dwight

I had this happen a few years back almost, . . . in my case the guy ordered a 53 inch cowboy gun belt, . . . and about 6 or 8 weeks later when he showed up, . . . he needed a 56 inch belt. Though I contact cemented and glued the tongue, . . . I just slit the stitches and gingerly but firmly pulled the short tongue off, . . . made a new tongue that was 3 inches longer, . . . and put it back on in the same spot. Very few people will ever figure out what happened, . . . and he was really happy, . . . especially with I decided not to charge him for the alteration. OR: Another one I saw done by someone else, . . . cut the belt somewhere the holster does not ride and there are no bullet loops. Punch each side for laces, . . . make a 5 inch piece that matches the rest of the belt, . . . lace it in the opening. Either way, . . . best wishes my friend. May God bless, Dwight

Beautiful work, Josh, . . . several steps above my carving & decorating. Always enjoy beautiful work. May God bless, Dwight

Go buy a Chevrolet, a Dodge, a Westinghouse, a Kenmore, a Craftsman, a Black & Decker, . . . I think you will find they are all in the same swamp together. If not the whole thing (think Oreo cookies), . . . at least parts inside are cheaper made elsewhere. We are paying that price for NAFTA and PFTA, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Actually, Meagan, . . . you will only need to buy different leather. You cut the inside piece so that the hair side goes toward the person, . . . the outside piece is also cut from the same hide, . . . suggest 6/7 oz, . . . and that will make a really nice belt, . . . That, . . . because they are from the same hide, . . . should make them dye more uniformly as well. May God bless, Dwight

Lay it out in the sun for a couple days. Actually does not have to be bright sun, . . . just stand it up in a south facing window. It'll darken. It may take a few days, but without the UV blocker that is only found in Resolene, . . . it all darkens. Might try a daylight white heat lamp, . . . May God bless, Dwight

And if you don't want it to come apart, . . . take the beading threads long enough that they can be glued down onto the interior piece, . . . and when the stitching is done along the edges, . . . it will stitch them down too. When I find the pattern I want to wear for 10 years, . . . I'm going to make myself one of these. Had the hankering since I did this other piece a while back. May God bless, Dwight

I generally rely on my own personal stock of guns, . . . some blue guns, . . . and some pine derby guns. My pine derby guns are literally made of pine, . . . mostly southern yellow pine, . . . from a left over piece of 2 x 10 or 2 x 12 or some such. They are dimensionally very close to the real thing, . . . and I have never had a problem so far with them. Part of that comes from the model making stuff I used to do, . . . and part comes from my carpentering skills and tools aquired over the years. It works, . . . that is what counts. May God bless, Dwight

I'm with your catskin, . . . I got mine last year on black Friday, . . . brought it home, . . . and it worked "OK" straight out of the box. I bought a chunk of green rouge off Ebay, . . . lathered up a 5 inch or so wide piece of 9 oz leather nailed to a board, . . . and proceeded to dress the blade with it. Have used it several times (beginning to use it more and more), . . . and for belts, straps, holster parts, etc, . . . it has been great for me. The pic is the one I got for $200, . . . May God bless, Dwight https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/craftool-deluxe-leather-splitter

To each his own, . . . but then again, . . . I've never heard of anyone who grew or shrunk in 7/8 of an inch increments. Just a different way of skinning the same cat. One gives the customer a closer range of choices, . . . the other allows the belt to be more versatile. I like mine better, . . . and it ain't broke. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . Hoffman, . . . in all honesty, . . . I have never in 72 years seen leather that was made "waterproof". Water repellent? Yes, . . . water resistant? Yes, . . . waterproof, . . . ain't gonna happen. Sooner or later just the using of the product will allow the "waterproof" coating to crack, . . . and so does the waterproof warranty. The nearest was some guys I knew years ago would take vaseline petroleum jelly to their boots, . . . about a jar per boot, . . . and it would last a while, . . . but eventually even it gave out. This product will make the item somewhat water repellent, . . . and that is about all. The wax kinda knocks the heavy stuff away, . . . and the oil in the fibers repels most of what gets under the wax. It IS A GOOD product though, . . . well over 100 years old, . . . lots of people have used it for many decades. NO, . . . it will not come off on your clothing once the wax has dried and been buffed good. But this finish would not do that anyway, . . . what would happen is the dye not being properly buffed before this product is applied, . . . it might rub off. May God bless, Dwight

Mine is 7 inches.......... May God bless, Dwight

Commercial zig zag sewing machine............. May God bless, Dwight

I had somewhat the same dilemma, . . . went to Joann Fabric, . . . bought their big table top cutting mat (36 x 60) and put it down on my 3/4 inch plywood topped table with double sided carpet tape. That was several years ago, . . . still holding up well. Check with Google, . . . sometimes get a 50% off coupon, . . . mostly just 40%, . . . but they are like $60 apiece, . . . and with all the lines and measurements on them, . . . they are worth every penny, . . . at least to me it is. May God bless, Dwight

Emmo, . . . FWIW, . . . I stitch my belts on a Tippmann Boss machine, . . . using 346 size polyester, waxed thread. It is .0258 in diameter which works out to .656 MM. There's also a lot of thread info here: https://www.thethreadexchange.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TTE&Category_Code=Nylon-Thread-Information Uhhh, . . . good luck on that hand stitching a belt. Used to know a guy who did em with his wife, . . . him at one end, . . . her at the other, . . . took em 4 hours together to do one belt. But you should have a really good belt if you are making it from a double shoulder. I like to make mine from shoulders, . . . but sometimes the customer is bigger than the cow's shoulders, . . . lol. May God bless, Dwight

Like Mattsbagger said, . . . nix on the plywood. All my molds are generally southern white pine (cut out of left over 2 x 12's from building projects). There is an occasional white pine piece from a 1 x 6, . . . I don't have any problems with any of the stuff they turn out. The "clearance" you spoke of needs to be a tad more than the leather you are molding, . . . otherwise you compress the leather, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Here you are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hand-Crafted-Leather-Rounded-Corner-Strap-End-U-Punch-for-Leathercraft-Small-/121515468390?hash=item1c4ae2e666:g:JyQAAOSw9r1WA2uD May God bless, Dwight

Shielajeanne, . . . find a friend who is an electrical contractor, . . . tell him / her you need several short pieces of 1/2 and 3/4 inch EMT, ElectoMetallicTubing, . . . or conduit as it is commonly known. Cut them about 6 or 7 inches long. Here comes the fun, . . . very gently, . . . very slowly, . . . take your time, . . . be very deliberate, . . . and keep a pan of water close by to dip it in every 4 or 5 seconds. Take a couple of those pieces to a disc or belt sander with something between 120 and 200 grit sand paper on it. Bevel the edge all away around at about a 60 degree angle, . . . be careful not to burn the steel, . . . go slow and keep dipping it. GET IT SHARP, by grinding until you have a really good edge on it. Next take a hack saw and come up about 1 inch, . . . cut the tube about half way through, . . . make the final cut starting on your sharpened edge, . . . going down to where you made your cross cut. You wind up with a tool that will cut a beautiful half circle with some light tapping of a mallet. Dampen your leather first, . . . they go through like hot butter. For your window you want to cut (inside corners) you cut away half of the half circle, . . . leaving only a 1/4 circle, . . . and again they work wonderfully. The below pictures show some of the ones I have made, . . . and use on pretty much a daily basis. The top left hand corner is a 3/4 inch tool for cutting really nice rounded ends on 3/4 inch straps. Clockwise from it is a 1/2 inch hole puncher and all the way on the right hand side is the 3/4 inch hole puncher. The bottom left tool makes beautiful half round cuts, 3/4 inch size, . . . the lower right tool makes your corner cuts, . . . it's also 3/4 inch in size. May God bless, Dwight

What knd of blunderbuss do you have that needs an 8 foot long rifle sling? Give us some details, . . . maybe one of us has wandered down that road before. May God bless, Dwight

What did you want to do with it to start with??? May God bless, Dwight

Matt, . . . just a little suggestion, . . . put the pencil away for a while. Literally use yellow manila folders to wrap around the gun, . . .or lay on top of the gun, . . . force it down around the weapon, . . . then get out the masking tape and scissors. Cut off the "excess", . . . tape back on where you took off too much, . . . re-cut, . . . keep playing with it until you can see laying on your workbench, . . . a reasonable prototype of what you want. Then use that prototype for the first "pattern". Cut out a sample of the main body from belly leather, . . . or boat seat vinyl from JoAnn fabric (it's great for quick patterns, . . . and about 10% the price of leather). That is how you learn to make patterns. Trying to sit down and draw it from scratch, . . . kinda like trying to do an M1A Abram's tank with a Lincoln welder. May God bless, Dwight

I just finished a couple for a friend, . . . Rhodesian style, . . . at times, . . . I began to think a razor knife would be how I got my molds back. He'll have fun getting them to "where he wants them", . . . but for now, . . . they'll hold onto the gun worse than a democrat holding his own money. I used the old vacuum bag on all three, . . . actually broke my double stack magazine mold, . . . trying to get it out. On the left is an H&K USP .45, . . . the right is a Glock 21. May God bless, Dwight

I simply burnish well, . . . apply the Resolene finish, . . . and I virtually never have any problems with my edges. But then again, . . . I always believed in the KISS formula for work............Keep It Simple Stupid. Works for me. May God bless, Dwight