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

I got sick and tired of having to count mine every time I did something, . . . it's in the drawer, . . . don't recollect which one, . . . don't care which one. Love them old drywall knives with the replaceable razor blades. May God bless, Dwight

Bagsy, I use the professional oil dye in just about all I do, . . . which is mostly belts and holsters. It is all reduced 50 / 50. I also dip dye, . . . none of this dauber or sponge routine, . . . down into the dye, . . . check to see it is thoroughly covered (takes about 3 seconds), . . . pull it out, . . . pat off puddles or streams of dye, . . . holsters I lay on their backs for 20 minutes, . . . go on top edge for 5 minutes, . . . then flipped to bottom edge for next 15 minutes, . . . hang em up to dry. Item 1 to remember: buff it, . . . then buff it again, . . . if it is black, . . . yeah, again, . . . and don't be passive on the buff, . . . put some elbow grease into it, . . . and if you are not getting unused pigment, . . . you are not buffing hard enough. Item 2 I am not a user of tan coat, . . . much prefer Resolene, . . . I have only had one problem with dye coming off, . . . a shoulder holster that i used USMC black and Bag Kote on. Haven't used that combination since. May God bless, Dwight

The one thing I WILL NOT DO is done in that picture: heavily model inside the trigger guard. A striker fired weapon "could" fire if that hunk of leather gets in there far enough, . . . and there was a somewhat interesting story about a guy a couple years ago, . . . cheap holster folded up into his trigger guard, . . . guy was rasslin' with the seat belt, . . . moved his CCW, . . . "BOOM", . . . shot him in his butt cheek, down thru the car seat, . . . thru the floor board of the car, . . . and into the blacktop. I just leave the tunnel for the trigger and guard, . . . make it tight on the rim of the trigger guard, . . . but nothing protruding into the guard as in this photograph. Safety is always paramount for me. May God bless, Dwight

Sounds like you are on the right track. I always take a measurement from a belt lately worn by the customer, . . . measure from the front of the buckle to the most used hole. I then make that measurement the center hole of 7 that I punch in the belt. I punch em 1 inch apart and use an oval punch. It gives the owner 3 full inches of pizza to gain, . . . or fat to lose, . . . So far this has been a good way to process my customer's belts. Only had one guy who thought the spacing was a bit long, . . . but he is the kind of guy that would have wanted you to polish the solid gold car you just gave him for free. Wish I could help you with the thread, . . . that is why I always use white for all the belts, . . . then when the belt is dyed, . . . the thread will be too, . . . and i don't have to stock umpteen different spools of thread. Don't forget to post pics when they are all done. May God bless, Dwight

I think what the OP is referring to may be similar to this Galco holster. In reality, . . . the forming probably does show up on the inside also, . . . but no where to the extent it shows up on this outside image. This is simply a different form of leaves and petals, . . . vines and cacti decorating the outside of the holster. It is molded, yes, to a certain extent with the outlines of the gun involved, . . . but it is not a perfect 3D exterior of the weapon. If we were talking Western movies, . . . we would call this the "hollywood" effect, . . . of molding. Don't get me wrong, . . . lots of folks like this look, . . . I just don't happen to share their passion. I'm a bit more subdued in my work. May God bless, Dwight

To me it's kinda like the argument: are they frankfurters or are they hot dogs? Put mustard, ketchup, relish, onions, and garlic powder on em, . . . hard to tell. Same way I understand stain and dye, . . . once the Resolene is on it and a .45 auto is being carried in it, . . . not sure it makes a difference. But I may be wrong, . . . have been before, . . . will be again. May God bless, Dwight

Hey, chief, . . . what is saddlers oil? Always looking to maybe take my work up a notch, . . . and that sounds a bit intriguing, . . . Sometimes my wax/oil doesn't quite come out the way I want it to, . . . maybe that is what I need to add to it. Appreciate added info if you have time. May God bless, Dwight

Good job, . . . enjoy it, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Old towels and old wash cloths work real good, . . . My tee shirts work real good, . . . don't have that lint thing you were talking about. But all of mine are white, . . . colored tee's are grease rags for me. May God bless, Dwight

My vacuum pump is primarily designed for HVAC work, . . . before charging a system. In holster work, . . . it doesn't really pull out much moisture, . . . it is never on there long enough, . . . 60 seconds is one I had trouble with, . . . usually a 20 to 30 second ordeal. That said, . . . I love the way it gets the slightest details involved. I just pull it out of the bag, . . . hang it up to dry, . . . come back tomorrow and brag on myself about how wonderful I am at forming leather over a mold. May God bless, Dwight

Good luck, . . . my buds kinda gave me the raspberries about my "pink" eye patch (I was in the Navy, . . . was going ashore at Hong Kong). I took a black permanent marker, . . . and when I got done, . . . I had a black eye patch that even Cap'n Hook would have been proud of. I still laugh about it, . . . one of them goody goody memories. May God bless, Dwight