I walked away frustrated.

[Jordan]

You got me, KAK, other than that ? You can always make it into an ashtray or a key fob.

[TwinOaks]

stitching holes to hold down all 4 sides of the belt loop.

[leatheroo]

lefties and righties, what a pain they can be.......when i make quivers i have the same problem as i have a shaped shoulder strap. I have solved the problem by putting a piece of masking tape on the template and writing on it...."for righthand...this side up on stamping side of leather.

Gee, that sounds confusing as i read it back, but it works for me.

[Bob]

I make patterns for everything, first in paper. Like someone said. get most of the bugs out before cutting any leather. And like Loo said, I too write on the patterns, "this side up for write hand". I've made a few left holsters and knife cases too. I'm sure everyone has. Try cutting out too left legs for your chaps, when you only have one piece leather, and you gotta find another the same stuff. Oh well, I like Barra's line. "The man who made no mistakes, never made anything"

[Shorts]

Yuu know that box of holsters most people have cause they just don't fit right....well, I'm collecting a shelf full of 'didn't works'. I keep them on display. The basic idea is there, its the sum of its parts that went wrong.

You never know, it could be useful for something in the future.

[JRedding]

I've made patterns, looked at it , thought about it to get it right, and then wrote "this side up" on the wrong side and tryed to use it. Right after that comes picking up the phone and trying to dial out on the adding machine, done that too.

Edited June 7, 2008 by JRedding

[gunfighter48]

How about making a stitching groove all the way down a belt blank BEFORE you punch out the tongue end!!!! Also measuring a belt out and forgetting to add enough length for the buckle end. It never ceases to amaze me how STUPID I can be at times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited June 7, 2008 by gunfighter48

[viejo]

Jordan, the initials are the easy one. The hard one was I had an odd number of stitch holes on one side, and an even number on the other.

TwinOaks, those holes are actually for a patch of leather I riveted a belt clip to. That part worked out okay, actually (it took me about twenty minutes to recut, groove, stamp and prepare it for the stitch holes, took me about an hour to do the holes - I'm slow in that way....).

[TwinOaks]

"The hard one was I had an odd number of stitch holes on one side, and an even number on the other. "

You mean they're supposed to match up?

Edited June 7, 2008 by TwinOaks

[robert]

I don't mind the new screw-ups so bad, but making the same mistakes again and again gets to me... I started writing down directions for some of the things i do over and over. I keep them in a notebook by the bench. I find that helps create less scrap.

I also learned a long time ago that when I am tired, I need to quit for the night. I used to have a bad habit of thinking "just a little more work and I will be done".... right up to the point that I make a wrong cut, dripped dye in the wrong place, punched belt holes off center.... you name it. So now I intentionally leave the final details for another day.

You never know what you might learn from your mistakes....A common mistake in my younger days was stamping initials sideways or even upside down. I did that on a checkbook once, and to cover it up, I stamped the initials on a patch and buckstitched the patch over the mistake. The customer loved it and ordered two more done the same way!