Dwight

For that, . . . it would depend upon the size, . . . whether this is 1 inch long or 6 inches long, . . . For discussion sake, . . . say it is 3 inches long. I would go to Lowes and buy a couple feet of 12/3 or 12/4 Romex cable. You want solid copper wire, . . . not stranded. Using needle nosed pliers I would then bend the wire to match the shape of the scorpion. (You need to strip the plastic covering off the wire) It can be spot soldered together, . . . then spot soldered onto a piece of galvanized sheet metal. The sheet metal I would then contact cement to a nice looking 3/4 inch thick pine board. You could then dampen your leather, . . . place this stamping tool on the leather, . . . and roll it with a rolling pin or even probably a wall paper seam roller, . . . it will give you a nice impression. May God bless, Dwight

The first thing you want to do is lay the belt down flat on a table, . . . roll up your sleeves, . . . grab a white or light colored wash cloth that your wife will not miss out of the cupboard, . . . And buff the belt like you are trying to erase the blackness off the leather, . . . be serious, . . . be personal, . . . and be rough about it. A half hour later, when you have worked up a minor sweat, . . . your wrists and forearms are telling you that they've exercised enough today, . . . AND no more black is coming off the belt, . . . then you're good to go. Give it a couple of light coats of resolene, . . . mixed 50/50 with tap water, . . .let it dry, . . . you should be good to go. My belts and holsters I sell are 99% done with resolene/water, . . . and I get zero complaints. May God bless, Dwight

I used to use USMC black myself, . . . and it does give a rich and deep black. But you will buff it till the cows that haven't been born, . . . die of old age. I prefer Feibings pro oil dye, . . . use it for just about everything. Bikermutt gave you the good directions, . . . the only thing I would add is in the neatsfoot oil, . . . it is really easy to get too much on the project. Put some on an old tee shirt piece, . . . and just kinda rub it on until you get an overall color change in the leather. If the color change is even, . . . the oil is even. If the color change is splotchy, . . . your oil is the same, . . . you will have to practice that, . . . there is no perfect way to learn that other than practice. And when you do the Resolene, . . . apply it with a cheap, . . . 1 inch wide, bristle brush. Apply some of it and swish it around with the brush, . . . up, down. left, right, oblique angles, . . . brush it on until you get a bit of a "little bubble" lather built up, . . . then brush out the bubbles. For a bill fold, I might do two coats, . . . most likely I would only do one. After it has dried for several hours, . . . go to a real good light, . . . like a window, . . . hold it up at an angle, . . . look for dull spots in the shiny finish. Dull spots means you didn't get a good coat on. Add another coat, . . . and make sure you get the dull spots this time. May God bless, Dwight

Most every thing I do uses size 346 thread, . . . will this machine handle that heavy thread? May God bless, Dwight

Beautiful work, . . . as a pastor, . . . I really enjoyed the cowboy church scene. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Jim Timber, . . . I have not the slightest inkling of the reason for the Tippmann Boss bashing I run across every now and then. My machine is one of their aluminum machines, . . . been running it over 10 years, . . . and like any thing else, . . . I've had a couple of issues. Nothing that could not be fixed, . . . and fixed darn quick, . . . by very competent people. Tippmann is in my opinion, . . . based on 10 years of service, . . . one of the VERY BEST companies I've ever had to deal with. The equipment is excellent, . . . warranty is good, . . . service is great, . . . and they have bent over backwards to help me the few times I've needed it. My personal opinion is most likely the biggest detractors of the Boss, . . . probably would find fault with a ten pound brick of gold, . . . have very little mechanical ability, . . . and just like to gripe to hear their heads roar. Rant off. May God bless, Dwight

I would cut a small tapered channel across the bottom of the belt, . . . and be very careful but very firm, . . . bending the bottom of the tip up into that groove kind of like the little drawing I've enclosed here. I would first put several coats of trag on the tip of the leather though, . . . to harden it up. Then the very last thing to do is put on the metal tip, . . . gently peen down the edge, . . . it should hold till the cows come home. May God bless, Dwight

Actually the suede liner or the wool liner are not that bad to sew. I use my Tippmann Boss, . . . so I can see exactly where, . . . and put it exactly where I want it, . . . AND when sewing the outer shell to the liner, . . . in between the two, . . . is the zipper, which has to be sewn in anyway, . . . Kills two birds with one stone, . . . sews in liner, . . . adds the zipper. May God bless, Dwight

That may be true, Ken, . . . but who puts a rifle in a leather scabbard and leaves it for any length of time other than on the horse?? I don't know anyone who does / did / or plans on it. May God bless, Dwight

The chrome tanned story is pretty far blown out of proportion. From what I've been able to understand it's more or less an old wive's tale, . . . maybe some fact somewhere, . . . but nothing to get real uptight about. A very reputable holster maker wrapped a mild steel rod in a piece of chrome tanned suede, . . . stuck it in a personal locker for several months, . . . pulled it out, . . . nothing, nada, nein: no corrosion or rust. I wouldn't worry about it. Got the deerskin??? Do it, . . . and have fun. I only like suede better because it is a bit thicker usually, . . . and might in some rare case be a tad more of a cushion if the weapon got dropped on concrete or something. Plus, . . . all things considered, . . . suede can be an inexpensive liner. May God bless, Dwight

No, YinTx, . . . when I do a rifle scabbard, . . . I simply line it with suede, . . . contact cemented to the exterior. It IS THE padding. I personally don't like those nylon padded gun bags, . . . prefer a canvas one with no liner if I'm not going with leather. Our veteran honor guard used to have canvas bags with sheep wool liners, . . . hated them, . . . couldn't keep zippers in em. May God bless, Dwight

For anything but a saddle scabbard, . . . I like suede, . . . Would not line a saddle scabbard. Too much traffic in and out. May God bless, Dwight

Mine is the Tandy version, . . . widest part of the useable blade is just shy of 6 inches. I've pulled 5 1/2 inch leather thru mine to make a special type holster. Key is keeping it sharp, . . . which I do. Just wish I could get my regular knives that sharp............. May God bless, Dwight

Also, . . . while I'm not a betting person, . . . I would be inclined to think that what you did was move the actual cutting edge forward. That makes it really hard for the edge to pick up the cut. Cutting tools like this are sometimes a pain to adjust, . . . you can move your blade up and down, . . . and forward and back, . . . all of which can have a profound impact on the way the machine cuts, . . . and even IF it cuts. Check to see that the leading edge of the blade is behind top dead center of the roller, . . . not very far, . . . just behind. May God bless, Dwight

You might take a look at this: It's a Tandy Splitter, . . . but it looks very similar. May God bless, Dwight

When I buy a side or double shoulder, . . . it stays rolled up until I need it. Stands on end in the bottom of my leather vault. It's basically a box, . . . 4 x 8 sheets of particle board make the front and back, . . . 2 x 12's make the sides and tops. I put some 1/2 inch conduit along one wall, . . . bent some re-rod into "ell" shaped pieces, . . . attached 1 x 2's to the re-rod, . . . put nails in the 1 x 2's, . . . punch small holes in the leather and hang it inside the vault. In the drawing there is just one "ell" and one hide hanging, . . . but I've got several and the ell's swing out so I can see what is hung in the one behind it. Not bragging, . . . but this is one of the best Ideas I've had in a long time, . . . works really great, . . . could be scaled down smaller or thinner, . . . depending on the needs of a person. I could see one made of 2 x 4's standing behind a bedroom door. All my pieces that will go into a 16 by 30 storage tote, . . . goes in there. If they are too big for the tote, . . . they stay in the vault till they get cut down. May God bless, Dwight

My Tippmann Boss would do that with no problem, . . . simply by turning it inside out, . . . using contact cement, . . . and bringing only a few inches of the edges together at a time. I did one similar to it for a wedding gift one time, . . . spent days on the thing, . . . was really proud of it. The bride later gave it away to a Goodwill type shop. May God bless, Dwight

Avengers in my experience, . . . are good for a light, small, non bulky weapon. Put a full size or commander size 1911, . . . a P85, . . . CZ75, . . . a Python, . . . or similar size and weight weapon in it, . . . they are not long in the woods to opening up in the pouch, . . . and / or the back loops become stretched by the constant movement. Some folks who are not as active in their activities may not experience this, . . . but I'll take a pancake any day, . . . better yet, . . . an IWB. But opinions differ, . . . and that is a very good looking holster design. May God bless, Dwight

Melonie, . . . get Weldwood brand, . . . I've used it for 40+ years on more things than I can recall, . . . leather is just one of them, . . . cloth, lumber, metal, etc. Secondly, . . . go to a Harbor Freight store, . . . ask for acid brushes, . . . http://www.harborfreight.com/36-pc-12-in-horsehair-bristle-acid-shop-brushes-61880.html Most of the time, I use one today, . . . it gets hard by the next time I need it, . . . so I pitch it. but at less than a dime apiece, . . . it is good to be able to use a new one every time. A very thin coat on both surfaces, . . . go over it with a heat gun or a hair dryer, . . . get both pieces dry enough that they are no longer sticky, . . . put em together, . . . and put some pressure on it. Sometimes I'll lay a piece of wood on the leather and smack the wood with a mallet, . . . makes it stick right real good. You will rip the leather apart if you need to take it apart, . . . most of the time. If you are doing big pieces, . . . lots of the cement, . . . make sure you have adequate ventilation, . . . it does stink. May God bless, Dwight

I would not think of sewing anything leather, . . . without first contact cementing the parts together. Makes life so, so, so . . . . much simpler. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Johanna............. May God bless, Dwight

Quite honestly, . . . don't know about anyone else, . . . I've become a bit tired of this site having become a dumping ground for every oddball leather jockey who has to present 20, 30, 40, or however many pictures, . . . hog up the whole top of the display, . . . and load the activity with (as of today) someone's idea of making this a catalog shopping experience for cheap motorcycle garb. If someone does a "Mona Lisa" in leather, . . . present it, . . . share it, . . . show it off, . . . but it does not have to knock off every thing else for 3, 4, 5 days, . . . with 15 different views or lighting options on the same flower. Yeah, . . . grumpy today. May God bless, Dwight

I'd be awful tempted to come up with a couple of 1 inch wide straps at the bottom, . . . going up to maybe 1 1/2 right at arm pit level, . . . and have someone sew up an artificial cinch to go up and over your shoulder. It would be wonderfully comfortable, . . . and unique, . . . but not overpower the beautiful purse you made. May God bless, Dwight

The only final finish product I know of that will stop that process is Resolene. It has a UV blocker built in, . . . I have never had a dye job go south that was protected by Resolene, . . . and have had others that were not. THAT is the reason I use Resolene on virtually all my projects. May God bless, Dwight