ewdij

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I made myself this knife roll a couple years ago. It was a pain to hand stitch and required some Macgyver work to get it done. I blacked out the badge because it has my initials on it.

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This looks really nice. Indeed hand stitching is a pain. I started a gunslinger-pattern belt a few months back that I am yet to finish stitching....

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Can you do any kind of work on gunbelt thickness leather? It'd be less complicated and more functional, but curious. Similar to the Gunner from Hank's? Or more formal, the Canyon? I'd like to find an excuse to wear a gun supporting belt in slightly more formal circumstances. I could buy the belt and ship it to you, and pay for the decoration, etc. Is that something you're planning?

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AFAIK you can't.

You need to wet the leather (the process is called casing) before you can tool or stamp them. Only natural veg-tan leather can be properly cased. Here is a picture of when I was working on my belt -



See how the leather has no color or finish. If your leather is "finished" then you can't case.The initials KR is "tooled", and the basketweave is "stamped".

The Canyon/Gunner from Hank's can't be cased as they are finished leather, so you can tool/stamp them.

Depending on your budget, look at

LINK

Although, I don't think Amish uses high quality leather or hand tools them because of the price point.

If money is no object, look at
LINK
LINK

Gun-belt thickness is usually 12-13 oz. Most of the higher quality veg-tans I have seen (from Hermann Oak, or Wickett and Craig) usually are 8-9 oz or lower. So usually a lining leather needs to be added to make it 12-13 oz. Or two 6-7oz veg tan straps glued together.

So a high quality hand-tooled and/or hand-stamped leather belt can easily cost you $250-$300. My belt took me about 8-9 hours to make. Of course I am a hobbyist. But even if I was doing this professionally, it will probably take me > 3 hours. Just materials and labor at $50/hr (lower end for a master saddle maker) will run close to $200.

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KR? Kidge?

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Of course Kige Ramsey ... (not sure how many of you will get that reference).

KR are my initials.

Recently started a new hobby - leather-craft. Have been working on this LSU themed belt for myself since October 3rd. Finally completed it. Happy with the results.

Besides learning new cool leather crafting skills, one of the other main goals was to use all American products. Sourced everything from the USA. The leather is from a famous US tannery called Hermann Oaks. The white thread on the edge is from the only surviving US thread company called Maine Thread Company. The buckle is vintage circa 1978 and made in Los Angeles. Every dye and paint used is also US made. So are most of the tools that I have bought used from eBay in the last few months.

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I'm pretty sure Howard had it right, and youre going to get a nice little shock come renewal time
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The Secretary of State shall also issue guidance, as necessary and to the extent permitted by law, to prevent misuse of B visas by alien beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions that have an employment start date beginning prior to October 1, 2026.

Was your start date prior to Oct 1, 2026?

Are you the holder of an approved H-1B?

Then thats you, hes looking into adding this fee to

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As I said in the original post, I was on H1B. In fact, I was on H1B for more than 12 years. I am not on H1B any more. I am a naturalized US citizen.

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The Secretary of State shall also issue guidance, as necessary and to the extent permitted by law, to prevent misuse of B visas by alien beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions that have an employment start date beginning prior to October 1, 2026.

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When people on H1B get laid off they have 60 days to find another job and transfer their H1B to the new employer. Currently, people in that situation who can't find a new job within 60 days typically request a change of status to a b Visa. Depending on how long departments of State takes to process that request, this can buy someone anywhere between 6 to 9 months. I think the line in the proclamation related to Secretary of State providing guidance.... Is related to that.

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The BBC is reporting the fee is annual as well as many other news sources on X.

Is it annual or not as the OP proclaims?

Edit: To add current AI summary;

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No one knows for sure. Howard Lutnick said one thing during the the actual signing of the proclamation, and the actual text of the proclamation said something else. We will probably not know the details until mid next week.

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Go back to India.

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Why? I love it here.

Plus, when I became a naturalized US citizen, I had to give up my Indian citizenship by paying a fee to the Indian government (I am not joking).

Haven't gotten the OCI card (sort of Indian version of green card) yet. My americanness has kicked in already and I've gotten too lazy to complete all the extensive paperworks.

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I have no idea what you mean by "they will just wait it out" until the next president. You cant just wait it out when your visa has expired, well unless you want to do that waiting in El Salvador.....

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Once you are already working in United States with an H1B visa, every 3 years that Visa expires and you need to renew it. You can do the renewal sitting within United States and that gives you a paper which allows you to continue to work. You basically maintained H1B status without having a H1B Visa. Only when you exit USA, before coming back, you need to go to a US consulate to get the the Visa stamp based on the extension that you have already received with the USA. So people will simply not get a Visa stamp and not travel outside the USA. Since this this $100K business applies only at entry points, current H1B holders wouldn't pay it if they don't travel outside USA.

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Yes! That is exactly the point! The flood of Indians who choose to promote Indians instead of Americans has to stop. This is the floodgate. Everyone who is already here is a given.

This is to prevent MORE Indians coming over.

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COS (change of status) from F1 to H1B still keeps that floodgate open.

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It will make much more of a difference than $0.

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Sure.

But will this by itself change the trajectory of H1B workers taking away jobs that would have gone to American workers otherwise, I doubt.

My personal broader read on this is Trump got really pissed off at Modi a few months back when the skirmishes happened between India and Pakistan, and then during the de-escalation process, when Trump claimed that he brokered a peace deal, which Indian government refuted. That resulted in the high tariffs on India, and this proclamation is continuing that broader arc of trying to hit India where it hurts. This is more meant to be optics, that will play well with the MAGA Trump base, but will not really change anything unless followed up by other major changes which might or might not need congressional approval. The higher courts have recently sided with Trump administration about whether the president can control who can or cannot enter the country. That is why this proclamation is more connected to enforcing the fee at the entry point as opposed to asking H1B employers pay the fees for their existing employees on H1B.