Question for Cliff Fendley

[Bugscuffle]

Cliff, I am asking you because I have always admired your handwork and you have always meted out good advice on leather working techiques. I have been messing around with leatherwork for a couple of years and am completely self taught. No that isn't exactly right. I have gleaned a lot of information from the several Tandy videos, but the rest of it has been triqal and error, mostly error. Ahhh, but I digress. I am making a holster that, at the welt, has four layers of 6 oz. leather ( cowhide) and two layers of 2.5 - oz. alligator embossed cowhide. I have the stitching holes punched on one layer of the 6 oz leather. Now I can drill the holes in the rest of the leather, but how do I insure that all of the holes will line up correctly? Can I glue the layers in place and then using the one row of hole as a guide drill the hole all the way through? Won't the glue get all over my finishing nail and hose it all up? And what about stitching it? Is it going to be a nightmare trying to sew through those muliple layers of contact cement?

[Cliff Fendley]

Either clamp or glue it all together and then poke the holes the rest of the way through with a saddlers awl.

I chuck a small finish nail in a mill and poke the holes on the front side before assembly, then use an awl as I sew.

If you've already poked holes in the back side then your just going to have to hold your mouth right and hope it all lines up.

[Bugscuffle]

Either clamp or glue it all together and then poke the holes the rest of the way through with a saddlers awl.

I chuck a small finish nail in a mill and poke the holes on the front side before assembly, then use an awl as I sew.

If you've already poked holes in the back side then your just going to have to hold your mouth right and hope it all lines up.

I had a 50-50 chance at it and got lucky. Belive it or not, I actually thought about that before making the first holes, and they are in the front side. Thanks for the help.