Dwight

I don't know how you are doing the Resolene, . . . but I've done some extensive testing on my leather goods I produce, . . . have never been able to get any dye transfer from my belts and holsters, . . . using Feibings oil dye and Resolene. One of us obviously is doing something the other one is not doing. My resolene goes on with a brush, . . . and I seriously saturate the leather with it, . . . and it is reduced 50/50 with water. I brush and brush it on, . . . working up a good bubble type lather, . . . then once I've got that good bubble lather, . . . I brush out the bubbles, . . . let it dry, . . . It most certainly is not water proof, . . . but is seriously water resistant, . . . and I've never had a customer complain about dye rub off, . . . and most of my holsters I make are IWB, . . . gets all kinds of sweaty and wet, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Been using weldwood for nigh on to 50 years, . . . only things that ever came apart were things I RIPPED apart. I've heard good things about Barge, . . . but this weldwood pony has never let me down, . . . why change now??? May God bless, Dwight

I never do, . . . the stitch line that works for an 8 oz will work for a 5 + 3 or a 4 + 4, . . . or at least has so far. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . if you have never done one of these, . . . you will be pleasantly surprised at the rigidity of it. The 5 and 3 makes 8 in normal math, . . . but in rigidity, . . . it will become more like a 10 or 12 oz, . . . which is always good for retention. Personally, I use suede on some of my holsters, . . . the thing about the chrome tanning rusting the gun is an old wives tale far as I'm concerned, . . . even had a guy wrap a piece of 1 inch round stock in suede, . . . stuck it in a safe, . . . months later, unwrapped it, . . . no rust whatsoever. Suede will however, . . . as mentioned, . . . pick up dust and dirt if given an chance, . . . THAT can be hard on a gun's finish. The key is to not over oil the gun, . . . most of the time that will take care of the dirt problem. It can also get wet, . . . and not be noticed, . . . and THAT will cause that beautiful blued S&W or Colt to rust up and make a grown man cry. Suede also makes a little better retention on these plastic fantastic guns that are all the rage nowadays, . . . in some cases. The nice thing is that it will compress a tad, where veggie tan won't, . . . and if it does it stretches. May God bless, Dwight

I have to buy some, . . . but these are better made than bought, . . . I can then "make" them to suit my purpose better. May God bless, Dwight

Mark the ends of the aluminum 2 inch piece, . . . mark them in from the ends in 1 inch increments, . . . flop the collar down on it, . . . center it, . . . put it on the triangle, . . . should be done in all of about 15 seconds. I don't think I could buckle it, . . . find it's "point" and unbuckle it any quicker than that, . . . especially with 72 year old fingers that don't like to mind all the time. May God bless, 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