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

I went out to start on my niece's belt tonight, . . . machine decided to throw a fit, . . . so I'm down now for the long count. My Boss is a good machine when it is working, . . . when it decides to be a pain, . . . a red-headed, step-daughter, turned into a mother in law doesn't even begin to describe it. Had to just come in the house and bake me a cherry pie to get my nerves unfrazzled. We'll eat it tomorrow, . . . working on the Boss. May God bless, Dwight

OK, Glockanator, . . . misery loves company they say. If you figure yours out, . . . holler at me. I went out to sew up a belt for my niece tonight, . . . something I've done XYZ number of times, . . . COULD NOT GET IT TO SEW. So, . . . I'm back in the house, . . . chilling, . . . I'll take a whack at it sometime tomorrow, . . . If I mess with it tonight, . . . I'll take a whack at it with a 4 pound hammer, . . . Didja ever get yours running correctly??? May God bless, Dwight

When I do these, . . . I do the loops through only one side, . . . and it is the "looped back through the same hole" style, . . . never sewn, . . . but that is just my way of doing them. After I get the loops on, . . . I put on the buckle and tongue billets, . . . then wet the whole thing down pretty good, . . . fold in the middle, . . . crease with a one and and a half inch wide wall paper seam roller, . . . hang it up by the tongue billet and let it dry. I then come back and contact cement all of it on the inside except up under the buckle billet, . . . where I stash the cash. I suppose some of those back in the old days may have had a longer tunnel for the money, . . . all my customers will be putting greenbacks in there, . . . so I give em room for that. And, yeah, . . . 6/7 is fine. I always do mine so they become a roughout belt. May God bless, Dwight

At 71, . . . still "having at it", . . . getting ready to do my first long wallet like this. Needed some "inspiration" on the pattern, . . . thank you my friend. I've done other wallets, . . . just never got into the long ones, . . . sister has a "special friend" who needs one, . . . so here we go. May God bless, Dwight

I measure from the inside edge of the belt buckle, . . . to the most used hole. THAT is the fatness or skinneyness that the customer is. Measuring from the fold is an inaccurate measurement, . . . kinda like weighing out your hamburger, . . . with it in the cast iron skillet. And, . . . 7 holes is my standard. May God bless, Dwight

Glockanator, . . . try this: I sent them an email indicating you were having trouble, . . . Here is the response *************************** Hi Dwight, I’m sorry to hear that your friend is having trouble with his machine. Our technicians would like to help him out. Please have your friend give either Jamie or Al a call at his convenience. Thank you. Have a great day! Rachel Fogarty Purchasing Agent Customer Service Representative Tippmann Industrial 3518 Adams Center Rd. Fort Wayne, IN 46806 1-866-286-8046 Rachel@tippmannindustrial.com Rachel@air-ordnance.com

Welcome, Vana, . . . glad to have you aboard the leather working train. Your belt sample looked really good for a first go at it, . . . keep working, you will only get better. Or, . . . you will get broke, as in "no more money". It is also one of the attributes of leather working, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Boriqua, . . . one of the fun things you can do with blue guns is customize em. I do it often. Add several layers of masking tape here or there to make the slide wider, . . . augment with a layer or two of manila envelope, . . . be surprized what you can conjure up. I had a guy wanted a glock (ugh !!) holster and the model he had was a bit longer than the only one I had at the time. About 20 minutes after I found out what the difference in the two was, . . . I had a wooden extension for my glock (ugh !!) blue gun, . . . that when taped on, . . . carefully modeled the one he wanted. Made him the holster, . . . he's been a happy camper ever since (guess about as happy as you can be if you own a glock, . . . y'know). Anyway, . . . go for it. Nothing ventured, . . . nothing gained. May God bless, Dwight

You might email these folks, . . . they have been great to me: give him a shot at it anyway. You'll probably be glad you did. www.tolindsewmach.com/ May God bless, Dwight

FWIW, . . . the original Colt officer's model only had a 3 1/2 inch barrel, . . . and some said it kicked like a Ky mule. My micro has a 3 inch barrel and doesn't kick any worse than my Commander size. Were you able to dig up anything else Fredo??? You have my curiosity up now. May God bless, Dwight

Just giving credit where credit is due, . . . Mike. May God bless, Dwight

You are far more talented and patient than I, my friend. Excellent piece of work. May God bless, Dwight