Dwight

I thought about using a fan or two, . . . like the CPU fan, . . . but when I got done, I found out in my "hurry" I offset the hinges so there is a crack all around three sides of the door, . . . funny thing was, . . . pretty good air circulation, . . . without the fan. I purposely put the bulbs in the bottom, . . . heat rises, . . . making the chamber hottest at the top, . . . and I'll have to do some temp readings down further to see what temp is where. "Never mess with a good thing, . . . even if it was from dumb luck", . . . has always worked for me. May God bless, Dwight

Here you go BHP, . . . http://www.ebay.com/itm/161879098455?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I'm thinking it probably needs a 8 or 10 inch piece of metal up in the top to heat up and make it "click", . . . but I haven't done anything on that once I saw that my 4 100 watt bulbs just went a tad shy of the 140 mark and never went over. I'll still do it, . . . but right now it is not one of those things that "NEED" to get done. May God bless, Dwight

Nice . . . we didn't have access to tool pouches in the Navy in the late 60's, . . . so I made mine, . . . one piece of leather at a time from old shoes, boots, whatever. Mine wasn't as pretty as yours though...... May God bless, Dwight

It used to be a blank sheet of galvanized steel, . . . took it to my band saw, . . . knocked off the corners, . . . put it on the sander, . . . filed down the rough edges. Probably won't make any good collars with it, . . . but it worked out well for this job. There are actually a ton of different shaped ones out there, . . . would never have guessed it until I went on Ebay, . . . looking for a fake badge, . . . WOO-hoo, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Got an opportunity to do something VERY different. It was fun. It's a front pocket / badge holder / card carrier / wallet. It was a real experience, and was fun. Hope you all enjoy it. May God bless, Dwight

The geometric shape of the curve is going to be the exact same arc whether the belt is 32 inches long, . . . or 52 inches long. The "top of the arc" will simply be farther away from the straight line drawn between the ends. Do what you want to do, . . . but this is a direct copy of what John Bianchi (basically the father of the modern gunfighter rigs) teaches and has taught for many years. I would suggest that his system is probably a whole lot more reliable that Billy Bob's old floppy Walmart $4.99 belt made of genuine imitation leather. May God bless, Dwight

NOW, . . . I'm interested in that heat lamp, . . . I'll have to keep this thread so when my first couple of bulbs burn out, . . . I can try these. Make sure you give us a good write up and pics, . . . that looks like a good idea my friend. May God bless, Dwight

Actually it is really close to 50 inches, . . . I have to look at my pattern, . . . but memory at 50 ft from the shop says that the blank belt is 9 inches longer than the belt size, . . . that was either a 40 or 41 to start with (pancakes will do it to you every time), . . . so 4 1/2 inches in 50. I'd not worry about doing a 1 inch per 10 curve, . . . these things don't have to be "zinth" degree correct. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . I just went and did it. Looked around to see what I had, . . . what I needed to buy, . . . what I could try. Wound up with a piece 48 by 18 more or less for the back, . . . couple of 10 inch pieces for the sides, . . . scrap 2 x 12 made the bottom, . . . 3/4 chip board for the top. Got a 120 / 140 degree clicker off Ebay ($8.00), . . . cuts out at 140, back on when temp goes back down to 120. Got 4 ea 100 watt bulbs from Lowes, . . . wired and fired it up. Took 2 hours to get to 140, . . . never quite tripped the clicker, . . . and that is OK with me. Gotta put some wires or racking in there, . . . plus going to put a piece of aluminum in there between the bulbs and the leather, . . . want the heat, but not the light, . . . gonna try it out later this week maybe. So far got maybe $15 invested in it, . . . rest was stuff I just scrounged from the pack rat Dwight. 1 is the outside, 2 shows the bulbs in the bottom, 3 shows the clicker up in the top, 4 shows it all turned on and running. Got a light switch on the left side behind the door that turns it on/off. I didn't really plan on it happening that way, . . . put a couple magnetic catches on the right side to hold the door closed, . . . jacked up the hinges a bit on the left side so the mag catches would work, . . . wound up with a little crack a bit over 1/16 of an inch at the bottom and the top, . . . allows for a pretty good exchange of air. I am excited about it, . . . I think it will work, . . . and I won't have to worry about anything staying in there too long if I should forget. May God bless, Dwight

Years ago I made up a sliding template, . . . that makes a bit less for a short belt, . . . but more for a longer belt, . . . but at about a 40 inch belt, . . . there is a 4 1/2 inch curve in there. This is my belt, . . . I'm a 38 right now, . . . was a 40 when I was eating pancakes for breakfast. This is my gun belt, . . . made for a 40, . . . and if you count the squares there, . . . it's about 4 1/2 inches. This has worked for me for a number of years, . . . don't get any complaints, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Do it all at the same time, . . . put in a new clean container with a tight lid. If you do it "a little at a time", . . . each batch will be different, . . . as your quantities will not be exactly the same. May God bless, Dwight

Don't, . . . and I'll say it again, . . . DO NOT attempt to make your own colors of dye. You will waste or discard more than you would have saved. A 4 oz bottle (the little bottle) makes 8 oz of dye when cut with thinner, . . . plenty enough for several projects. Having a multitude of colors will cause you to make mistakes. Pick 2 or 3 besides black, . . . stay with them. I have British Tan and Saddle Tan as my choices. Once you learn how to use these, . . . you may move on, . . . but ALWAYS use the dye as is, . . . don't play around trying to make custom dye colors, . . . the reward is no where beginning to be worth the effort. EDIT: You will also find that dip dyeing will be THE MOST consistent, . . . it also gives a deeper and richer color than daubing or spraying. Spraying results in a very thin film of dye, . . . the first scratch that comes along will usually go through it. It works on some really exotic dye jobs, and does so very well, . . . but for daily stuff, . . . dip it, hang it, . . . you've got it. May God bless, Dwight

I'll second what supercub said, . . . never had any problems at all with them folks. I have to drive a couple hours to take my machine up there if I have a problem, . . . but they'll clean off a work bench, . . . go at it, . . . I'm always happy when I leave. May God bless, Dwight

I cut my saddle tan 50/50 with thinner, . . . do not have any problem other than occasionally I'll have a hide that had a bit too much color to start with, so it will come out a tad darker than I really wanted, . . . But that's what happens trying to change the spots on an old dead steer's hide. I like the color, . . . so I stay with it. AND, . . . I dip dye everything. May God bless, Dwight

I don't know for sure if this is it, . . . but I'd guess it was. http://www.ebay.com/itm/John-Bianchi-Cowboy-Western-Gun-Holster-Making-4-DVD-Set-/321824695613?hash=item4aee3f253d:g:LiQAAOSwu4BVwlWZ The tapes I had were a 3 tape set, . . . borrowed em, . . . had to get em back. They were well worth the $75 bucks they wanted for them, . . . but I just took a bunch of notes, . . . and he did not REALLY want to sell them. May God bless, Dwight

Awwww, . . . c'mon JLS, . . . you need to get one of those patented Harbor Freight Belt Stretchers, . . . LOL Look in your paper, . . . probably get a 20% off coupon, . . . and a free tape measure, . . . hard to beat............. May God bless, Dwight

In one word, the answer is "Yes". I always cut my gun belts with a curve, . . . as per John Bianchi, . . . so far they have all worked, except one. Made a 53 inch one for a guy, . . . when he came to get it about 6 or 7 weeks later, . . . it was too small. I had to get really creative and add a few inches to it so he could get it on. What you might do is just reposition your belt tongue back far enough that you can cinch it up real good and tight. The "rule" for these things that so far has never failed me: take the belt the person wears, . . . measure it like you were going to make them a new dress belt, . . . add 4 full inches to the measurment, . . . his / her gunbelt will fit and not fall off. Again, a bit of John Bianchi teaching. The other thing you may do (I've seen several like this), . . . put a suede liner on it. It won't take up much of the slack, . . . but they don't slide as easy either. May God bless, Dwight

Forget the oil in the mask if you want it to retain it's shape. Use veggie tan leather for the mask, . . . use as hot a water as your hands will handle when wetting it to form it, . . . lay it in a hot, sunny place to dry, . . . coat it with several light coats of resolene that is cut 50/50 with water, . . . you should wind up with a really hard mask that should last longer than you do if it is only worn a couple times a year. May God bless, Dwight

It has been so long, . . . I cannot remember the last time I put a suicide strap on a revolver holster. Thumb breaks, . . . did one just last week, . . . but the strap over just is not at all popular with my customers. BUT, . . . when I do, it is usually located behind the hammer. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Malabar, . . . but you just don't know me. That holster the "I" would put in there for 24 minutes, . . . might wind up in there for 24 hours, . . . or 2.4 hours, . . . or somewhere in between. I guess you could call it an "Attention Span Lost Disorder", . . . my attention span just won't let me do those kinds of things. Fortunately, . . . it is something I have fought all my life, . . . most of the time successfully, . . . but I can just see me putting a $125 creation/product in that thing, . . . remembering to go to the mailbox, . . . stopping to spray some roundup on the way, . . . but having to find my sprayer first, . . . and needing to charge the battery in the tractor so I can move it out of the way to get in the shed where the sprayer was. Thanks for the idea, . . . though. May God bless, Dwight

Yes, drop the carnuba, . . . I only use it if I want to polish up a purse, . . . deeply decorated holster, . . . etc. Your 13 oz backer for the holster needs to stay fairly rigid, . . . I NEVER add oil to a piece of leather, . . . have never had an issue. The brush I use is the cheap little 1 inch wide (25 or so mm) made of bristle (pig hair I think), . . . and it works well to get into the crevices and crannies and creases. The alcohol is used to reduce the oil base dye. Any old water that is relatively clean is good for reducing the resolene. May God bless, Dwight

Just some notes: 1. You do not need to oil the leather before dyeing it, . . . there should be enough natural oil in the leather to last the life of the project, . . . if not, it is junk leather. Many people do it, . . . and it will take away from the stiffness if in fact you want the holster to be stiff (and all of mine are). 2. Cut your dye 50/50 with thinner or denatured alcohol, . . . fiebings black oil dye is really nasty stuff if you try to use it full strength. 3. Cut your resolene the same, . . . 50/50, . . . but use water, not thinner. Apply with a brush and make sure you brush, brush, and brush, to get all the bubbles out, then hang it up to dry. Poke a hole in it where you will place one of the rivets, . . . and use a wire to hold it up in the air until it dries. Don't mess with it until it has dried for at least 18 hours. 4. Tragacanth is a nasty product, . . . you can achieve as good a finished edge without it, . . . and if you get it on your pretty leather area at all, . . . dye will not penetrate there. I tossed the first bottle I ever bought after ruining one too many projects with it. Simply use your edge tool, . . . and burnish after dying. Get some really good looking edges on there, . . . the resolene will keep them looking good. May God bless, Dwight

Kinda hard to tell if it is different without knowing what you have, . . . May God bless, Dwight

This is the back side of an Avenger Holster, . . . and it looks very much like the above knife sheath could also be worn in the same manner. May God bless, Dwight

Check in the upper right hand corner, . . . you have a PM from me.