Dwight

Only if you just finish one side,.......... Resolene seals the leather, . . . including smell. May God bless, Dwight

Considering you may have to cut around a brand, scratch, etc, . . . for the body of the chaps, . . . . I'd count on having a good 12 square feet of leather. The belt and pockets can be usually made of "stuff" you have laying around the leather shop.\ May I make a suggestion, however, . . . look on line, . . . get one of those 50% off coupons from JoAnn fabric, . . . go in there and buy two yards of their fabric backed vinyl. It approximates leather for making chaps, . . . in fact, . . . . it IS MY pattern material. Make your first pair from the vinyl, . . . it'll tell you where and how you need to modify your pattern. May God bless, Dwight

Thanks, Philly, . . . It is for a special girl, . . . glad I don't have to spend as much time on all the others as I had to do for this one. But again, . . . how else do you show the love??? May God bless, Dwight

I just shipped out my niece's butterfly belt (it's in the show off section) this morning. I wrap the belt from end to end in soft, fluffy, paper towels. Last thing I want is one that gets there all scratched and abraded because of some traveling vibration. But I really do like your idea, . . . that wouldn't have been instigated by a purple bag with a crown on it would it???? lol May God bless, Dwight

Personally, . . . when I see someone carrying a 1911 that is not C&L, . . . I realize they are one of two: inexperienced and afraid of the weapon they are carrying, . . . or much more highly trained and capable than I. A cocked and locked 1911 is without a doubt the single most safe firearm a person can carry other than one that is not loaded. No other firearm has the redundant and time proven safety systems built into it as does the 1911. The other end of the spectrum is the plastic fantastics, . . . of which Glock is queen. I carry C&L 99% of the time, . . . and I only put the 1% in there JIC. If I were making a BBQ rig for a 1911, . . . it would for sure be C&L, . . . but then again, . . . that's just one idea, . . . there are others. AND, . . . I would not use a strap over it (commonly known as a suicide strap), . . . but rather I would make a thumb break, and let it lay between the hammer and the firing pin. When someone needs a 1911 with a thumb break, . . . that's how I make it. May God bless, Dwight

I don't usually show off my stuff, . . . usually plain vanilla stuff, . . . this one was not. My niece wanted a black belt with purple butterflies, . . . she got it. May God bless, 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