Want To Make My Own Holster And Belt

[Josh Ashman]

I have plenty of room in my reloading room. I have two workbenches built. I started with a 4X8 that I thought I would need for reloading, but I quickly downsized to a 48"x18" for reloading and now have a huge bench I can't get out of the room without dismantling. I like being able to reach everything without moving.

I really want to make some belts, so I guess I will look into a machine, the expense can't be more overkill than using a dillon 650 to reload 9mm...

Kcinnick,

I hope you enjoy building your own leather projects, I know I do. By all means buy whatever you want but some of the time estimates for hand stiching may be a little overstated. Don't be afraid to hand stich a belt, with a little practice you'll be looking at a few hours, not days. I basically follow the method shown in the Stohlman book, although I do push all my holes before starting the actual stiching. I put one of those rubber pads over my cutting board, lay my work over that with the stich groove already gouged and the stich spacing already made with an over stich wheel. Then, I push the holes through with an awl one at a time pushing straight down. After that I sew using a saddle stich with two needles working from one end to the other. Most of the belts I make are single ply skirting so I don't have much of an estimated time on them but I do know that using this method I can sew the sheepskin on an average sized saddle skirt in an hour and a half of actual sewing time, not counting pushing the holes.

Everybody's different and different types of work are suited for differnt methods but for the time I spend making a pattern, cutting, stamping, molding, edging and finishing a project the difference between a few hours and a half hour doesn't add up to the cost of a machine. Just my two cents, good luck and have fun.

Josh