Mechanic

Lowe's has a pack of different sized drum sanders for cheap. They work well in one of those tabletop drill presses. After changing tools, another drill press just makes sense. A belt sander is nice on straight edges.

I attended a workshop on saddle carving with Troy West and Pedro Pedrini recently. They spent a day on layout, theory and what is pleasing to the eye. It was absolutely astounding to watch them take a 4"x9" piece of leather, sketch a pattern and tool it...in less than an hour. I stood there slack-jawed in amazement. In all reality, they don't use a large number of tools for the basic patterns. One thing that I picked up immediately, quality tools give better results.

It still has some hair on, but real short. The foil is a metallic application.

I had a piece of acid washed, foiled hide gathering dust and did this for something different. A first attempt, so it is kinda rough. Sorry about the crappy phone picture. My GF has a Shield and I took it at her house with sub-optimal lighting.

I doubt the internal controls are actually 3phase. They probably grab one leg for 120v or two for 240v. Once you separate them from the motor, it should be fairly easy to use a VFD to run the motor. (Variable Frequency Drive) For about $250ish, you can get a drive that takes 240v single phase and spits out three phase. I use one on my vertical mill (very large burnisher :D) and it also gives me speed control. You may be able to just set it for 100% and not worry about the internal machine controls? There are possibly compatibility issues, I would talk to tech support before going this route. https://www.tecowestinghouse.com/products/Drives/fm50.html

That would be how I have a few L/H holsters on the shelf. Of course, it never happens for a 1911. Usually it's some obscure, one-off thing.

So far, I'm doing everything on a flat back and making a new pattern for each gun type. My patterns are 4 or 5 pieces, back, front cover and stitch line/glue line templates. The best way I've found to allow for the thickness of the gun in the front cover is to use a doubled over piece of denim. I eyeball the stitch line templates, stretch the denim over the mold and mark with a sharpie. Add that length in between the templates for a front cover length. This works for me...or generates the least number of culls in a pattern workup, YMMV.

The local shops are moving a lot of 43s and Shields.

I will spend several hours and buy a gob of tooling to build a "whatever", even if I could buy one for 30 bucks. In this case, i wanted a burnisher, "right now". Chucked up a chunk of oak closet rod, drilled & tapped for a 7/16" bolt. Had to grind a couple of tool bits to cut the radius. I just chuck it up in the vertical mill. Nice having speed control with it. It runs just a smidgee bit out of concentric. I consider it the "orbital action". I should have through drilled and put a nut on both ends, but I was working with what I picked up on the work bench.

Did this for a friend, retired Army CSM. He wanted zero cant and plain finish.

The bellcrank lever was worn, had about .011" slop in the slip ring. It was all I could do to get 10stitches/inch. I was able to build it up a bit with some carbon steel MIG wire, just fused it with the TIG torch. With the swivel joint way oversized, it went in the mill to get cut down to a tight fit into the slip ring. Once I had that dimension, it was a matter of grinding, filing and a little bit of stone work to restore the round profile. At this point, I knocked the slide ring off of the mill....and the @^$% broke where the roller is mounted. When the new part showed up, it took a little more hand fitting as it wasn't worn like the original.

This was a junk shop find that I bought on a whim. It has been an interesting project that landed me here at this forum. I'll try to share the details as I remember them. Everything I learned the hard way was actually covered to some degree here at LW.net. Before joining, I took the time to read all the posts on the 29 series machines in an effort not to ask any questions that have been answered at least one or thirteen times before. :D This is the machine as it followed me home. I did verify that it would stitch before starting disassembly. I started with paint stripper followed with pressure washer. Then a coupla coats of rattle-can primer and black lacquer. There was some bad voo-doo going on... the two paints were not compatible, so I put everything in the sand blaster and started from scratch...again. After six coats of old school automotive lacquer, gobs of sanding and smidgee bit of filler, I put the waterslide decals on. This is where it is right now, as far as finish. Six coats of clear lacquer over the decals. Before reassembly I replaced the needle shaft and carrier, it was pretty sloppy, .008"-010" measured at the bottom of the carrier. I'll detail the rest as time permits. I'd really like to thank all the members here, ya'll are incredibly generous with your knowledge. The guys at Toledo and Pilgrim had parts to my door as quick as the wagon train could get them here. Both companies are great to deal with. My actual leatherworking interests are in the holster area, so a CB4500 is on the radar.