alpha2

All of the round and oval punches I have will leave an overall hole larger then the hole at the end of the punch. I guess you'd have to start with a smaller than ideal punch, to arrive at the size you're looking for.

Think of it like this. If you put a round pin, in a round hole, no problem. If you put a round pin in a round hole at an angle, you will wish you had an oval hole. (Actually, with enough wear, you will have an oval hole). In use, the pin in a buckle lays in the billet hole at an angle.

I think I understand what you're describing, but if you could get a picture up it would help my addled brain. I liked your other picture, with the smile. Jeff

What??? Okay, his better be good. Make it happen, HW!

Well, Blanchard uses unobtainable screws for their gauges, so that's fun, right? Jeff

I see the area you mean. I would think that you would have to stitch the top part of hidden card slot first to the center divider, then in final assy. stitch the rest of it, but it doesn't appear that is what they did. Then again, you could start at the bottom, stitch final assy. and when you got to the hidden card slot, bend it away and continue to stitch the top. In one of the pics on their website, you can see that the rear piece and the center piece aren't stitched all the way to the rounded top corner. It's thin leather, so that would work. Jeff

Excellent! Fine looking eagle, and the rest of it is top notch, too. Jeff

Thanks, Gary. I also toyed with the idea of putting a small rivet at the top of the pieces, where all the strain will be when inserting/removing the box of shell will be. If I was still shooting thousands of rounds a year, I probably would have done that. I sewed it on my CowBoy 4500. I just bought it recently, and am looking for excuses to actually use it. The forward/reverse areas show it, but I wanted plenty of reinforcement in those areas. Normally, I just reverse three stitches, then go forward for the run, but I just watched a video of someone going forward three, then back three, then forward for the run. Thought I'd try it. Bad idea. It bunches up badly on the back side. I'll go back to the original procedure. It wasn't "loosening up" that made me use a rivet for the Mulligan strap. It was the tiny area involved. It would have been two stitches with thread. Hardly seemed worth it. It's a judgement call, I guess. It's not a Hermes bag, right? Still, I won't be embarrassed to wear this at the range. I'll just loop my snazzy home-made belt through it and break-em-all! Jeff

Um, please ignore this post. Had to drop an "r", and it still was wrong. As they used to say in the Brit comedy series "Brilliant"..."I'll get me coat".

So what would be the difference between that and just mixing some brown with the black? You're going to do two coats anyway. I sure like to see a couple of test pieces to see if I could tell the difference. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

I've never spliced anything "apart". Probably won't sleep tonight. Thanks, FredK!!!

Hmmm. Colons join, and separate, but the word "colons", doesn't mean either of those things. Right? What about "arange"? Naw, guess not. This one is haaaard!

Well, I did it. Sort of a "proof of concept, try it on for sizing issues" piece. I put a riveted strap under the "mulligan" sleeves, as I've had more than one loosen up over time, and didn't want the shells to drop out. As it turns out, the tension without it I believe is perfect. It can loosen up just a bit and still be alright. I had some trouble with the tiny camo stamp. Every once in a while it would just sink almost through that thin leather! So, inconsistent shading of a few. I've always had issues with that tiny stamp. Can't see it from where I stand when I shoot, though! Thanks for the idea! Jeff

Oops. Must be all that dark beer. 90 Schilling for local craft brew.

Nice bag! Great color, too.

arrange?

Nice! There is some outstanding stuff coming out of Poland! The color, the detail, it's all excellent! Good job! Jeff

"A Persian rug always has one knot tied wrong because nothing can be perfect." You do know that that is also a Navajo thing, too, right?

I never figured out the S rope one, (I only tried it out at Tandy store, and nobody there at the time could help with it, either), but the R956 just takes a little practice. I never had to go around a corner with it though!

Thanks! Jeff

Looks great! You might want to make all the mule's foot stamping to match in the direction of the stamp, especially in a single piece. The skull/helmet is excellent!

Excellent! I need to do one like that. What needle did you use for that? What is the width?

What part of the cow is the tant?

very nice!