Mablung

Thanks! I found a good video on YouTube showing wooden last making; I’m planning to try my hand at making some plaster cast ones and eventually carving some wooden ones. My dad got me a jigsaw at an estate sale for an absolute steal, so I’ll be able to do at least some rough cutting. I’ve got that pattern pack as well, actually. I find them too narrow for my preference (I don’t have über-wide feet, but I wear minimalist shoes with wide toe boxes and try to make my moccasins similarly). It’s a good pattern pack, though, especially for getting the hang of making them. I made some for my ex-wife with those patterns that turned out quite nicely.

For whatever reason, I’ve had a terrible time making moccasins correctly. Theoretically, they should be easy. Practically, I have had a difficult time developing a pattern that works properly. I have Tony See’s pattern and need to make another go at using it, as I tried to get cute and cut a few corners the first time I used it (don’t do that). Anyway, I finally made a rather ugly, imperfectly-fitting pair out of some utility pull-up buffalo I bought for a steal at Tandy. Planning to revamp (no pun intended) the pattern a bit and make a second pair here soon. I put enough work into these that I wore them to church today even though they’re not especially attractive. (I don’t know how I managed to put that 90-degree kink in the left one—something to do with my stitching hole spacing, which left much to be desired.)

Sadly, OP hasn't visited since exactly a week after posting this---but @Fonzarellis, if you happen to see this notification, I, too, would love to see the finished piece. This is beautiful, beautiful work.

@cotymorris, is that an old Bible case? How thick is it? It looks pretty thin and supple. Tastech has a good guess re: buffalo, given the wrinkle pattern, but it also looks like it could be a really thin garment chrome tan cow hide.

That's even more impressive. My hat is off to you for your creative abilities. Very well-done.

Very nice. How do you determine the dimensions of the raised portions of the mold? I think of that because the pear shading on the flower center looks like it goes almost as deep as the backgrounded areas, which is a bit deep as far as tooling goes, but then I wonder to myself how one would determine those dimensions/tolerances to start with---it would not be easy! So kudos for making a very good-looking stamp mold.

It reads a lot like an advertisement—you know, the saying about a duck. If you want it to be evident you’re just showcasing a tool, you really gotta write your posts differently.

Any of the thicker braided polyester or braided nylon threads should suffice. There are a lot of quality options. Plenty of good twisted threads as well, if you prefer twisted. Ritza, Maine Thread Co., various Asian twisted brands.

Beyond tanning the leather, sunshine will also dry it out, which is why applying oil is necessary. I learned that the hard way with a coaster I accidentally left on a windowsill in the sun. Turned it a nice tan, but now it’s stiff. If you’re interested in learning about effects of different oils on leather, look at the sticky thread @fredk and @SUP created in I think the Dyes thread about an experiment they’re conducting using different oils on leather placed in different environments to observe the effects. I think olive oil is one of the oils, though I’m not sure off the top of my head. Regardless, it’s an interesting experiment.

Given the means to get a new knife, “Because I don’t have [insert option] and want one” is good enough, lol.

Huh, I thought he made his stuff with 154CM. Apparently he switched.

Drifting the thread just slightly: Is there a particular reason you want MagnaCut steel specifically? The stuff is good, but there are other steels that will work for leatherwork just as well, especially the older tool steels. This sort of cutting requires a lot of regular stropping, and for edge retention, the biggest thing is heat treatment. A lot of other steels, stainless and “high carbon” tool alike, will do the job just as well, for less money (and with an easier time finding the tools).

The pre-curve bit is a lot more about creating a shortcut around the break-in process for a standard gun belt going through one’s belt loops. I doubt strongly that it makes a considerable difference for a separate cartridge gun belt, though I could be wrong. I’d not worry about it, personally. Now to fit the loops along the belt, if you go ahead and pre-curve it, I’d be more inclined to simply leave off the loops along the middle couple inches of the belt. That’s where the curve will be, so just leave those out, unless it’s critical that the loops cover the whole surface.

You can use it for the long lines like you’re talking about, although it is a figure carving tool, more than anything, but that’ll get tedious.

The Tandy double beveler is a walking tool, or so they say. It’s technically possible to get a clean bevel with it (I’ve seen the manager of my local store do it in a class I took), but how anyone gets good enough with it short of asylum-worthy obsession with it, I couldn’t tell you.

Almost assuredly.

You, sir, are a rotten egg.

I like it. That insert is a neat idea, too.

Fredk has this right, I think. Not sure there’s any other belt design that could conceivably qualify. Western gun belt rigs and ranger belts use essentially the same construction, with the main belt piece and billets.

Items for Sale, Services, and Wanted are all subforums under Marketplace. Open the Items for Sale subforum to find the machinery one I mentioned.

Marketplace > Items for Sale > Machinery—Sewing or Stitching.

Couldn’t have said it better. I work in a professional field and cringe whenever someone purportedly selling to that audience writes poorly, from basic matters of style to tone to word choice. Quality writing (which doesn’t have to be showy) makes a critical difference, especially for those selling to people with a grasp of communication exceeding that required to talk like a Zoomer on a YouTube short.

I made some sandals recently with 9 oz. shoulder as the sole. For casual use, that’s fine, esp if one glues a piece of rubber to the bottom. Don’t bother with a shank or stacking more layers than necessary. All that will do is make it hard, inflexible, and uncomfortable. Shanks are there for shoes with a separate heel where the sole drops to the toe, like in a dress shoe or cowboy boot. I guess some high-heeled “sandals” may have a shank, but it wouldn’t be straight like a popsicle stick anyway. Get that basic pattern, and then the world is your oyster as far as design goes. A good pattern to start with, if you don’t have one already, is the Dieselpunk.ro pattern.

For your purposes, an Economy grade 8-10 oz. double shoulder from Tandy would be perfect. Not going to ever win any beauty awards or take tooling well, but that’s okay for this purpose. It’ll take a beating and keep on going, which it sounds is the primary characteristic you care about.

Had never thought of using acetone. Thanks for sharing, @Littlef