joshhartung

Responded on DM

Update, price drop to $1800.

Hi folks, Ready to move on from my Cowboy 3200, bought from Bob at Toledo Sewing back in June 2018. Lightly used, I never even put a full spool of thread through it. I'm moving on because I'm no longer doing leatherwork so I'm moving into lighter duty machines that work better with smaller thread. I have a variety of attachments including a holster plate, left and right toe feet, a double foot, and I've added a swing down edge guide. I also have a very nice UT3200 flat table from Use Gross, making this an extremely versatile machine for a leatherworker who would like to only have one machine. It's drilled to take a variety of swing-away binding attachments, which are also included. I have two spools of 207 black nylon, 207 white nylon, and 138 black nylon that come with it. I'll let this go for $1900 with all the accessories. Local pickup here in Moscow, ID (near Spokane and Coeur d'Alene). I'll get some pictures tomorrow. In the meantime, you can learn more about this machine here: https://www.tolindsewmach.com/cb3200.html

Hey folks, First let me say thanks to the fine mods for letting a company actually post here. A lot of us are small business folks and many forums are downright hostile toward any type of promotion. I appreciate there is a specific forum for this and that lots of other fine crafts people are on here and can appreciate just how cool it is when you can make your hobby pay. Feeling very grateful today. Since posting about my tape measure clip that I had to have manufactured because I couldn't find a supplier, I've had a lot of other DIY folks come to my site and buy them. Yeah they're pricier than I'd prefer but with free shipping it's basically a wash for me. I'm happy to help support the community and turn over my inventory a little quicker. Today I launched a new holster that's basically a super strong magnet on a belt clip. It's surprisingly useful and extremely powerful. It can hold a gun, large pipe wrench, hammers, handful of nails, etc. Don't put your chisels on there though like I did in testing I decided to put the magnet up on the site as it's a great addition to a tool apron or tool belt and sized specifically to fit a couple Weaver #104 rivets. I use 6/16" for 0.093" Kydex and they work great. Also useful around the workshop or even kitchen. Again, I make almost nothing on these with free shipping, but it gets my volume up and helps out the community. Also YES it's pretty similar to some gun magnets you'll see out there on Amazon (which weirdly you can only buy in sets of two). Actually I think I'm offering it for less and mine uses a more powerful magnet. I tested a bunch of them and didn't like what I found, so again I designed one and had it manufactured. Here's the link: https://holstery.com/products/tool-magnet Best, Josh @ Holstery

Hi @GaryNunn, I had the same question - lots of products with these but the part doesn't seem to be available. I ended up designing my own and having it made out of heavy stainless steel. Now I offer it on my website for DIY too. Just posted with volume discounts, but if you need larger quantities let me know at josh@holstery.com. https://holstery.com/products/tape-measure-holder-clip

Hey @Rylando I'm the guy with them for $7. Open to wholesale with you if you want to chat about it... we can probably work something out. Shoot me an email at josh@holstery.com. These guys are right, it's not a complex part but you won't likely find anything off the shelf that works well. They're really thin and chromed steel usually. That's why mine is custom made 304SS and thick.

Hey folks, this is a pretty old thread but it really seemed to help people out when I followed up on another thread with my tape measure holder. I've been selling some hammer holders for a while and had to have a loop custom made. I couldn't find anything available out there that I thought was very good. I finally got a bit ahead on production so I decided to post them for sale in case anyone else is interested in DIY'ing a hammer belt holder/holster. They're a bit different than the traditional ones... I tried to make them super narrow so they fit easier on a holster. I use them on Kydex but I think they'd work just fine on leather. Sized for Weaver's #104 rivets. Lemme know what you end up making!

@Double Daddy great find on that patent. I was looking in utility patents and didn't find anything. Design patents are actually pretty good protection against folks that would copy the style pretty much exactly, so copycats. Otherwise they're not worth much. On the upside they aren't expensive and they apparently captivate audiences of obscure craft forums... so cheap marketing!

Hi chrisash, good catch! I have several patents and have had substantial training in patent work in my time as an engineer. I think I'm in the clear on this one. Besides the fact that these type of tape measure clips have been around for well more than 20 years (any patent expires after 20 years and the invention becomes part of the public domain), it would be difficult to argue that this type of thing is not "obvious" or any person "skilled in the art" would not have come up with it. But if he DID have a good patent on a tape measure clip I sure hope he would go after Occidental before my tiny side business Also to be clear, my designs are 100% original. Certainly I like to understand where other designs have been disliked by users - I read a lot of online comments as part of my design process - but I don't release a product until I'm satisfied that it's better than anything else out there. So I'm happy to fill just a tiny gap in the leatherworker hardware supplies market for now, at my own risk!

Haha, hi Aaron. Just saw your order come through. I'll get the tape measure holders right out... would love to know what you make with them.

Cool link to that catalog, Double Daddy! I'm gonna check those guys out. I've posted the tape holder clip here if any one is interested.

Hey I know this is an old thread but I make a tape measure holder called the TapeMaster. I had the same problem finding those tape clips so I ended up designing a special one and having it made out of stainless steel. I'm going to post them soon on my site for sale for the DIY crowd but I'd be willing to send you a couple.

Update: I designed my own clip in stainless and had it stamped. Turned out really nice! I've got a few of these and will probably do a volume order if anyone wants to buy a few.

Nice! That's a great distributor and a great industry to be in. Would love to hear how you got started.

@BDAZ small world! Curious what you do for NRS? Big OR show is coming up for them...

Man, THIS is the forum post I needed when I was getting started. I'll note that I sew with a round point needle instead of a leather point, which I found would leave sharp "chips" attached to the Kydex side. I can confirm that the feed dogs don't get enough traction on Kydex, which is an important consideration - think about which side you will sew on BEFORE starting the project.

Thanks everyone for your help. I expected this to be a way easier part to source as well. I'm going to have a few made in stainless by a sheet metal shop - happy to sell some if anyone wants to start making tool belts. Will update this thread when I get them in. @BDAZ I'm up here in Moscow, ID trying to make a real business out of this leatherworking thing.

Confirmed, my 3200 sews through it like buttah. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk6FNLVDYtb

Hi again folks, I've looked high and low but I'm having a lot of trouble sourcing the little tape measure clip common on tool belts and bags. They come in some variations but all are similar to the attached picture. Two rivets and a raised section in the middle to receive a clip. Any ideas? Thanks! Josh

@MY63 cool technique, this looks very much like the Bianchi holsters used by police - Kydex is sandwiched in between other materials for strength and support. I like it!

Hi folks! Glad this has generated some interest. @Joseph1836 I do have a website (though still kind of in startup phase so needs work): www.holstery.com @Ed in Tx I was worried about stitching through Kydex as well, so before I bought the 3200 I sent a sample of 5-6oz veg-tan laminated to 0.093 Kydex T to Bob at Toledo sewing, who was able to get nice stitches through the material with a bit of tweaking. I'll post a video when I get this worked out, since the machine arrives tomorrow! I did a lot of searching to find better ways to join the two materials, as I really don't like rivets. They're inherently a smaller footprint fastener, so they only actually connect the two materials at discrete points and the rest of the attachment is done by adhesive, which is prone to eventual failure. Sewing is much lower profile, meaning I don't need a big outside flange to attach the materials and the attachment is better with stitching because there are simply more attachment points. With stitching, the adhesive is there only to position the joint rather than provide any long-term holding.

Hi folks, I've been doing a lot of work getting my holster business up and running and thought I would start sharing some of the techniques I'm developing. I'm a mechanical engineer with a background in consumer product design. I've built and shipped hundreds of thousands of parts in my career and am trying to bring some of my knowledge of modern manufacturing to the fascinating world of leatherwork. For my holsters I wanted to use a hybrid of Kydex and leather to get the good qualities of both. My holsters use leather to provide passive retention of your smartphone, which is awesome, but requires custom fitting to each case. The real challenge here is repeatability, where a difference of a single millimeter in sizing of the cavity can mean the difference between a loose and overly snug holster. The Kydex helps by being much stiffer than the leather without making something bulky or heavy. But to use the hybrid approach, I needed to figure out how to sew them together. Soon I'll be moving up to a Cowboy 3200 compliments of Bob Kovar, but in the meantime I'm hand stitching by shooting a really consistent pattern through the two layers with my "power awl" (Shapeoko 3 CNC router). Works great, so I made a little video: https://youtu.be/-AodfxfsNYU

Hey Tuga and Tony, thanks a lot for the suggestion - I'll go set up an account with SLC. On a side note, I've got to say that being new to leathercraft I'm really surprised by this "wholesale club" membership thing that is common here. I've managed production of consumer products, construction, and marine fabrication. I've set up many, many wholesale accounts and negotiated pricing. I've never seen anyone charging a fee to get a certain price. Is this because there are relatively few high-volume customers?

Hi folks! Long time lurker upping my game to full time and could use some help. I'm making holsters but currently sourcing some key hardware from KnifeKits.com. I'd like to find a wholesale supplier of the parts I order from them, namely 1.5" belt clips: https://www.knifekits.com/vcom/belt-clip-universal-sheathholster-flush-mount-150-p-5878.html 8-32 x 0.250" black truss head screws: https://www.knifekits.com/vcom/phillips-truss-head-250-375-1ea-p-4506.html (and the really hard ones) 8-32 x 3/16" barrel posts: https://www.knifekits.com/vcom/pass-thru-post-stainless-steel-black-zinc-coated-wclutch-1875-390-pack-p-7587.html I've looked all through the internet, including McMaster, Tacoma Screw, and of course Amazon. I've not been able to find a wholesale supplier at all. These guys have to be buying them from somewhere, but where? Also looking for recommendations for wholesale leather supplies - dye, oil, glue, etc. Is Weaver the only game in town? Thanks in advance!