Denster

The Weaver round knives are the best I have ever used. I bought one and liked it so well I ordered a second my next order. Sold my older Osbornes on ebay.

Particle old son. That last one is as good as it gets on the backside. You deserve a few calouses on your hand from patting yourself on the back. Way to go.

OK! Here is what this post originally asked for. If I do this right and have the photos edited to the right size. Two holsters showing the backside sewen on the Boss.

Jeff It just takes a little practice to get the rythm when going around curves. As the needle penetrates the leather and the presser foot lifts you nudge. If you nudge too much you can micro adjust with the presser foot down. Seriously after a little practice it becomes second nature and you don't even think about it. It helps if you focus on the left side of your presser foot in relation to your groove. Trying to set your stitches by eye always causes problems as there is a certain optical illusion from the sewers perspective as to stitch length. At least for me that always resulted in longer stitches where I didn't trust the machine. Some times you just have to set by eye and it helps to watch the machine as you are stitching a straight line watching how the distance looks as the needle comes down in relation to the last stitch and after awhile your brain will pick up on the correct look. In comming to a sharp turn start to estimate the remaining distance with two stitches to go and balance out the difference. Hope this helps a bit. The back side with all machines except for needle and awl is never going to look like hand stitching unless someone has a trick I don't know about. You can improve it by heavier thread, lower tension, and 4 to 5 spi but it just won't be as pretty. If some one knows differently feel free to jump in.

I spent 35 years in law enforcement. Retired from the Sheriff's Office as a Det. Sgt/Polygraph Examiner. Got bored with retirement full time and decided there would be less stress in leatherworking and traditional archery than doing polygraph monitoring of sex offenders.

No Lobo you're not the only one. I believe that happens to all of us who charge in the range of $50 to $75 for our holsters or have only a couple of week lag time. Just goes with the territory. I try to be polite also and every once in awhile they order something of my design that meets their needs. I suppose it could be taken as a left handed compliment that they like our displayed workmanship well enough to ask in the first place.

Go to www.knifekits.com they have the screws and washers for mounting the loops to kydex. No kydex won't melt a red gun.

You're most welcome. Looking forward to the video. I think it would be an excellent marketing tool as well as adding to the knowledge base. I haven't found much worthwhile video wise outside of Tucker's videos. PS: Were all waiting for more holster pics. Hint Hint

Amen to that. I've had excellent and courteous service whenever I've called Tippmann.

Dwight makes a really good point. Either using a smoother as Dwight does or tapping with a cobbler's hammer as I do it is important to go over your stitchline, not only to lay the stitches down but to smooth out any marks and close the holes around the thread. Just makes for an overall more professional and neater looking job. I am curious Dwight. I get the idea about grooving front and back on the perimeter stitches but do you have some trick to get the profile stitchgrove around the weapon to line up perfectly front and back?

Glad you got it resolved. That's something I hadn't thought of. Goes on the notepage just in case. By the way really neat website.

Actually 360 around both tensioners for almost all applications, but always 360 around the primary which is the last one. The trick of just comming in the back side of the secondary (first one) is only usefull with the heaviest threads 416 and I think 512 that is not lubed due to the excess friction of the large diameter threads.

Aha! We may have the problem located. I'm going to guess that is a 230 or larger needle. If you use a magnifying glass you can read the inscription on the side of the needle to determine the size. Did you get a selection of needles with the machine?

Particle. Are you still having a problem with that thread looping? What size needle are you using. 277 calls for a 200 size needle although with poly I use a 180. If the other fixes I suggested didn't work that is the last thing I can think of. It shouldn't be doing that. Except for maybe one other thing just comes to mind. When threading the machine you do make a full loop around both the primary and secondary tensioners don't you. The reason I ask is in some of the Tippmann instructions they show just bringing it in the back side of the secondary without making a full turn. That works OK for heavy thread like 416 as does the suggestion of only going through one hole in the first thread guide but with 277 is not necessary or desireable.

To Particle: Yes Tippman ceased putting that thread guide on their machines. It was useless anyway as the thread ran in a notch in the casting and the guide didn't contact the thread at all. It gave me problems as I always pull out about 8 inches of top thread when I remove the peice from the machine and take it out only against the resistance of the bobbin thread. Yes this pulls the loop out on the last stitch on the bottom. I grab the top thread and pull it back in and grab both threads and snug it then trim. Anyway doing this the thread would sometimes come out of the guide and run over it screwing up the first few stitches on the next peice until I noticed it so I took it off and things run fine. The chisel point needles work better, in my opinion, with the heavier leather we are using with holsters. Within reason the lighter you can go on tension the better your stitches, particularly the back stitches will look. Using heavier thread and 4&1/2 to 5 spi improves things also.

I went through the same thinking when I first started sewing with a Boss. I got over worrying about the marks when I found out how easy they come out. The leather you are using has a lot to do with it also. With some of the imported shoulders I use ,while good leather, the marks are really prevalent. With Hermann Oak hardly any marks at all. Has to do with the general temper of the leather I guess.

OK! On the bobbin tension you can do it by feel it's not a precise thing anyway. With the bobbin thread up through the needle plate pull on it and it should flow freely with slight resistance. The other problem is related to presser foot pressure it needs to tightened up some as the leather is being pulled forward a bit when the stitch pulls into the leather. This reults in a little thread slack which is annoying. With the standard presser foot on two peices of 8OZ vegtan I have about 4 threads showing above the machine on the presser foot adjuster. The sliker and firmer the leather the more pressure is needed. I finished up sewing some hard jacked 8OZ horsehide last week and talk about annoying I had the presser foot cranked all the was down and still had to add some resistance on the upstroke to get nice even stitches and no loops.

A couple more thoughts. An occasional missed stitch can be related to two things. First is not having the needle flat directly facing the throat of the machine if that checks out try turning the needle flat about 2 degrees towards you. The second thing is using an undersize needle. I sew with 346 top and the recommended needle is a 230 but I use a 200 which is in the gray area. I like the smaller holes but I know I'm going to skip two or three stitches per holster. No problem just raise the presser foot back up to the empty hole and continue. On having a couple of stitches that don't pull the lock into the leather. Generally related to a slightly short stroke on the upswing. Another possibility is an unevenly wound bobbin. All of a sudden the bobbin thread has to clear a hump and it adds a little extra bobbin tension an the result is a lock that isn't pulled into the leather. Sometimes happens for no apparent reason and if you only have a couple take a blunt awl and push the lock below the surface. As to tension. With the heavier thread I only go through one hole on the first guide. I start out with two full turns from zero on the secondary tensioner and 1&1/2 turns on the primary tensioner. Run a test strip and fine tune with the primary tensioner. I have the bobbin tension set at one pound pull through. I just use a trigger pull guage I happened to have handy. I'll have a better idea what is going on when you post the picks of the back side.

Just a couple of tips. When closing an envelope style holster it really helps to have a left presser foot and I start my stitchline at the bottom outside edge go all the way around the perimeter and profile of the gun back to the beginning and oversew three or four stitches. There will still be a couple of marks but they will come out easily generally during the molding stage. Nothing like what you have with the standard presser foot. On going around corners. With rounded corners after awhile you get the feel for the timing and can nudge it around during stitching. On sharp turns at the last stitch before the turn run the needle all the way to the bottom then raise about 1/2" squeeze your presser foot lever just enough to release the leather and turn so you're headed in the right direction release the presser foot and raise the lever all they way up. With the Boss it is important never to short stroke it. All the way down all the way up. This is impeded if youn have a death grip on the handle. Just gently hold it in the ball of your hand. I use 346 top and 277 bottom as I like a plump stitch and I stitch at 5spi.

If your intent is to carry it in a PC manner like for the "wild bunch" matches ie: hammer down on an empty chamber. There is no reason why a hammer loop or strap with diamond top with a slit that goes over the hammer spur wouldn't work. Really about the only options other than those (I agree ugly) retention straps.

Tac Thank you for the kind words. I have all three Judges 2&1/2, 3" and the Public Defender. I can't believe How many holsters I've sold for the three of them in the last eighteen months. I just noted on Taurus' website that they have new models comming out. Damn I love being able to write off guns as a business expense.

I had some of the same concerns when I went from hand to pressure assisted forming as 90% of my work is using the real steel. I went with using a veenering vacuum bag for forming and bone right through the bag while under pressure. Jeff from Boomstick holsters is a maestro with the hydraulic press and will probably have the answers you're looking for.

On question #2. Some use an adjustable edge creaser for perimeter stitchlines and you can use a ball end stylus for profile stitchlines. Some would say creasing doesn't weaken the leather however with the thickness of leather used in holsters that is not really an issue. There is one advantage to creasing and that is sewing with a powered machine if you get off your groove it stands out llike a sore thumb however a crease can be tapped out and no one is the wiser. With the Boss though you can set each stitch exactly where you want it and if you get out of the groove you had a brain fade moment.

( Glad the clay modeling tools worked out for you. Did you find them cheaper than the regular leather arsenal of tools? It's been about 10 years since I purchased mine.) Found a set of 9 on eBay for $6. Pretty decent and made of basswood so it's easy to put a high polish on them. I've got the whole arsenal otherwise but these filled some gaps. Get that Boss smokin. I'm anxious to see some more holsters.

I would suggest against groving the back. The Boss will ppull the stitches below the surface of the leather so you aren't really gaining anything but irritatition. The overstitch wheel works but I've had better luck lightly casing both sides of the stitchline then laying the piece face down on my granit slab and tapping the stitches on the back with a cobbler's hammer also gets rid of any presser foot marks. Unfortunatly machine stitching will never look as nice on the back as hand stitching. I've never tried waxed nylon in my Boss but I think it might gum things up. Let me know the results if you try it. I have found that Poly runs through the Boss better than nylon alhough nylon works OK. By the way Particle thanks for the tip in one of your posts regarding using clay modeling tools for boneing. Got a set of the wood ones and with a litle sanding and burnishing they are great.