Dwight

I had seen that picture before, . . . but the other one you sent shows the detail very well, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Thor, . . . woo-hoo, . . . you are correct, . . . all the pictures I had, . . . just could not see that back side detail. In all honesty, though, . . . just for simplicity sake, . . . I may somehow miss the back part of the collar detail, . . . that looks like it would be a pain to get done right real correct, . . . line up with front and all. If you heard a bit of jumping up and down, . . . that was me too, . . . the first picture also had a real good shot of the details on his holster and belt. I might even make one of those, . . . but if I do, . . . it'll have bullet loops in the back. I never paid any attention when we used to watch the show, . . . none of them had bullet loops in their gun belt, . . . went to town and all with only the 5 in their guns. Thanks again, pal, for the assistance, . . . it'll be a while I'm thinking, . . . but with any luck at all we'll get it done and post the results. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Thor, . . . the vest in the link has a couple of variations, . . . one being the collar. I had to do a bunch of pictures, . . . but in all of them, I could not see the collar going all the way around. It looks like it goes up to the shoulder and is then tucked in and sewn to that seam. I had forgotten about the Tandy pack, . . . and I think I've got one of them somewhere, . . . just have to go look. Thanks for that heads up. May God bless, Dwight

For a long time, I've wanted a Ben Cartwright vest, . . . and kept telling myself I'd make one some day. Well, . . . today I spent some time on the computer getting screen pics of him, . . . and finally got a really good frontal shot with his hands and everything else out of the way, . . . so I could really see it. I have nothing really near it, . . . was just hoping somebody here does, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Most of the time when I have to trace something, . . . I print it out on paper on the computer, . . . dampen the leather, . . . tape the paper to the dampened leather, . . . and using a dull pointed stylus, . . . go over my paper with it. It leaves me with a really good image on my leather. I then pitch the paper after I've done all the tracings I need on that day, . . . print out others later if need be. May God bless, Dwight

Well, . . . for me, . . . mixing the terms Glock and Western is kinda like putting spaghetti sauce on a chocolate cake, . . . it just don't mix. BUT, . . . your imagination won out, . . . and it looks pretty good overall. Two minor criticisms: 1) Glocks are butt heavy due to the magazine, . . . therefore I try to stuff them down into that holster as far as I can possibly do it and still give the shooter a good grip on his weapon, . . . do that mostly by bringing the front of the holster up to the rear sight, . . . you've got a lot of gun up and out of that holster, . . . and 2) when I make a belt holster like this, I rivet or chicago screw the strap to the back flap, . . . gets rid of the strap rubbing on your britches and either making a worn spot or just aggravating you as it pushes into your body. Other than that, . . . nice design, . . . good color, . . . and I'm still trying to figure the two holes in the back. May God bless, Dwight

Or, . . . one heck of a vacuum system, . . . coupled with heat, . . . and moisture. I made a holster once, . . . vacuum formed, . . . eased the gun out of it, . . . let it dry, . . . had to force the gun down into it (a 1911 full size), . . . began to think I would wind up cutting it off the gun. If I were going after this type of work, . . . vacuum forming would be the first thing I would try, . . . after literally soaking the leather, . . . then drying it at about 130 to 135 degrees F. Good luck, . . . Oh, . . . and the second one would make a beautiful Bible cover in my opinion. May God bless, Dwight

I did a special knife sheath some years ago, . . . IIRC, . . . I wet then molded the rawhide to the shape I wanted. I then let it dry, . . . contact cemented the thing where I wanted it, . . . broke out my trusty Tippmann Boss, . . . and stitched it all together. I liked it, . . . he liked it, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I got $500 for mine, . . . I thought it was fair, . . . as that is about the investment I had in it at the time. May God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . I did find an older Springfield Armory, . . . all stainless, . . . 1911 (I think it may have been a "loaded"), . . . was absolutely bigger. This was a number of years ago, . . . and I have never run across it again, . . . but it would not go into a Milt Sparks Executive holster, . . . nor would it go into one of the cheaper kydex holsters I had at the time. Just sayin. May God bless, Dwight

Snubbyfan, . . . Great looking holster, my friend,.......and you definitely do a better job at basket weave than I do. Guess I just never really caught on to it like I would like to, . . . so I tend to stay away from it somewhat. But I did giggle a bit when I saw the suicide strap, . . . knowing the guy using it is not one of the "whole bunch younger" crowd. And as said before, . . . the concho really sets it off. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . this is an old trick I learned years ago, . . . and while I've never kept a log sheet, . . . the different needles seem for some reason to like different positions. All I'm doing is making sure that when I lock it down this time, . . . it is not where it was when I loosened it up. I had taken the needle out to check the size on it, . . . and when I put it back in, . . . it all went south, . . . seems OK for now. I've got a pancake holster to do for an order, . . . I'll find out for sure then if all is well. May God bless, Dwight

That, indeed, is some excellent work, . . . far beyond my expertise that is for sure. BUT ! If you are interested in doing that, . . . one of the things you can do if you want to get into that type of carving, . . . use a laser printer, . . . reverse the image, . . . print it on to waxed paper, . . . lay the waxed paper onto the leather, . . . use a squeege to transfer the ink onto the leather. At least you won't then have to try to draw the image, . . . May God bless, Dwight

If you look down on the top of the needle, . . . like you were standing up in front of the machine, . . . it's 3:30 or three-thirty on the clock, . . . or 4:00 or four o'clock. It indicates where the pin would be pointing. AND, . . . thanks Wizcrafts, . . . gives me something else to look at. I've actually gotten a bit lax in my "maintenance" schedule here in the last few years, . . . need to just toss a dart onto the calendar and whatever day that hits, . . . got to take some stuff down, . . . PM and clean it, . . . put it back in operation. I used to be really good at doing that stuff, . . . gotten lazy in my old age, . . . kinda got to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" routine. May God bless, Dwight

Generally speaking, . . . it's pretty much an either / or situation. Trying to tool a holster, . . . then come back and form it, . . . and add boning, . . . nahh, . . . I'll tool the leather, . . . make the holster, . . . and dampen it just enough to form the general shape, . . . but boning lines and fancy add in's are above and beyond my expertise. But then again, . . . never been asked, . . . so that has worked out so far. I did a rose pattern on a western six gun rig some time back, . . . tool, cut, sew, dampen, form, finish, . . . was kinda the progression, . . . turned out nice. May God bless, Dwight

Glockanator, . . . OK, . . . got mine fixed, . . . it would sew 20 or so stitches then somehow catch the thread, . . . next time, . . . 2 stitches. I took out the needle, . . . then took a straight pin, . . . stuck it in the "eye", . . . and played with it until I got it to sew, . . . by moving the needle back and forth. When the pin, . . . stuck in the eye, . . . was pointing to about 3:30 or almost 4:00, . . . it finally decided that It would sew. I was able to completely sew my niece's belt up with it, . . . did not skip a stitch or catch even once. May God bless, Dwight

I always coat my cartridge loops, . . . inside and out, . . . with resolene. It should take care of your problem. I've got nickle ones in my saddle rig that I know have been in there for 3 years, . . . maybe 4, maybe 5, . . . no tarnish. May God bless, Dwight

I use both sides and double shoulders for belts, . . . sides for the big guys, . . . double shoulders for the smaller ones. There will always be scrap, . . . but since I use a strap cutter, . . . at least they are "uniform" scrap pieces, . . . and I wind up using them on various other projects as I keep em all in a bag. May God bless, Dwight

Actually, . . . I guess this whole discussion just may hang on one question: do you provide a buckle with the belt you are selling? Yes, . . . I always do. That is the way stores sell em, . . . that is the way they are sold by just about everyone I know about on the net, . . . so that is the way I do it. That is also the way I know when I make a 44 1/2 inch belt, . . . it is a 44 1/2 inch belt from the inside of the buckle lip to the center hole. But that's just my way, . . . OMMV. May God bless, Dwight

"Like"........... I just pushed the like button for this post, . . . thanks JLS........... May God bless, Dwight

Ain't never been there, . . . ain't never done that. But what I would do is just go on with what you were doing, . . . don't change anything. Veggie tan leather is some pretty forgiving stuff from what I've seen in almost 60 years of playing with it. I've had projects that I was sure was ruined, . . . came out all right. Matter of fact, . . . got a belt out in the shop that my sewing machine flubbed on, . . . will take a different look at it in a couple days. Right now, my big hammer is too close to the sewing machine better stay in here for now. Worst case scenario, . . . you become the resident expert on what happens. May God bless, Dwight

I do the resolene trick inside and out, . . . up and down, . . . top an bottom. It still ain't "waterproof", . . . but it is right real good and close to it. You can add any good boot or shoe polish to it, . . . make it REALLY shine then. May God bless, Dwight

1. Get that stitch line a whole bunch closer to the trigger guard, . . . that looks very much like you made the holster for a different gun. But for a "first" one, . . . it is great. Y'all ain't never gonna see my first one, . . . nada............ 2. Don't stain, . . . dye your leather. It would have taken me all of 30 seconds to dye that holster, . . . and it would have stretched to 3 minutes if you count clean up and put away time. I use 9 by 14 (or so) baking pans, . . . pour the dye in the pan, . . . drop in the leather, . . . swoosh it around a bit, . . . drag it out, . . . daub off the puddles, . . . let it dry. While it is beginning to dry, . . . I pour the rest of the dye back in the bottle, . . . wipe out the pan with a paper towel, . . . throw it and my rubber gloves in the trash, . . . What part of Indiana do you hang your hat in? My two sisters and I laugh about all living in Marion, . . . they're in Marion, Indiana, . . . I'm in Marion, Ohio. May God bless, Dwight

Well so far, . . . I've had to "re-do" a grand total of 2 belts, . . . doing it my way. The first was when a guy told me he needed a 36 inch belt. I didn't realize he was basing that on his britches size. As it turned out, . . . his new one was a 41. He had stretched the 36's that far. The second belt was a cowboy rig, . . . western belt, . . . bullet loops and all that regalia. I measured him for a 53, . . . and always add 4 inches for a gun belt, . . . When he put it on, . . . it only went to the first hole in the belt and he was kinda sorta struggling to get that buckled. I re-measured everything, . . . dude had gone from a 53 to a 56 in the time it took to make his belt. If you want to do it your way, . . . have at it, . . . I lost track of the number of belts I've done down through the years, . . . and like I said, . . . got recalled on a grand total of 2. May God bless, Dwight

Not meaning to be hard headed, . . . OLDNSLOW, . . . but stop and think about it for a minute. If you measured your bedroom for carpet, . . . do you not measure all the way to the wall on each side??? Not measuring the buckle, . . . leaves that much off the measurement around the person, . . . kinda like measuring your bedroom, . . . but starting about a foot from the wall. Measuring the buckle also, . . . will give you a more accurate measurement of the person you are attempting to surround with the belt. There is one caveat to all I have written, . . . and that is if the person intends to use a totally different type buckle on his/her new belt. If the person in Wyoming (I live in Ohio) wants a belt made by me, . . . they tell me 39 1/2 inches from inside of buckle tip, . . . to most used hole, . . . and I make exactly that, . . . using the buckle I have in my supply. If they measure from the fold, . . . and are using some kind of a Rodeo Reward buckle the size of a large human hand, . . . the belt I make them using a standard buckle will be too short when they get it. Uhh, . . . been there, done that, . . . so to speak. And, . . . I hate re-making something I thought was correct when I first did it. May God bless, Dwight