Gibbles

Yeah, I used the tandy leather 4 hole tool, they are very far apart, I was told about another tool that rolls out the marks. I'm going to try and find that tool the next time I'm in the tandy shop.

Well I have been working on CCW holsters out of necessity, I have slowly been getting better and better at making the holsters but I still have a long ways to go. My wife lost our camera somewhere... but I do have some pictures I saved and some cell phone ones. I started out by buying two holsters from a local maker, first one was for a 1911 and it was perfect. Second one was for a Glock 19 and while it was very well made it rode to high for how short the barrel was, and my pudge would push it out making concealment hard.... First few I put together with rivets, after a few trys I had something that carried well... I tore the best one apart and used it as a stencil for the next one, with a few improvments on the way the gun sat. That one I stitched, but I messed up in a few places but I made it work anyways, I used that holster for about a year, it had an extra set of holes as I messed up and I had it way to tight, and the dye did not take well so it looked very blotchy but it carried very well. I made a few other holsters for other guns I own and they kept coming out better and better. I started offering to make holsters for friends that were using cheap holsters that did not carry very well. At the time my holsters looked pretty much like this (one I made for my little keltec P32) I finally got motivated and decided I would try and make a really nice holster to replace the one I was using, while I was forming I noticed I had some rough lines in the leather and decided to see if I could smooth the leather out with a smooth marker body. It worked great and I was able to get some nice looking lines into the holster. (cell picture I took while the finish was drying) With final finish, I had some issues with the super sheen, went on a little to thick... I wore this holster to soon and I messed up the finish a bit... Yesterday I sstripped the super sheen off for a better finish, looks much better as a satin finish... but using this holster as a demo I made another even nicer one for sale, the owner is very happy with his holster. for the holster I sold I glued it together while I was stitching it up to prevent squeeks that I was having with mine, the super sheen was a bit of a pain... I also used a ruler while drawing it out to keep the stitching very clean, I managed to clean up the stitching bumps by doing extra molding... I used a file to clean up the edges, it gave it a nice finished look when it was all done.

Looks really good! How well do the blue guns work for molding? any issues with fitting the real thing later?

I'll have to check that out for the stiching holes, thanks! And I have been making this IWB style like crazy, I have been very happy with it. here is one I made for my little keltec, but I'm wanting to get a good pocket holster setup for it... I think this is my third holster I actually stitched... I switched to a finer thread for my last two I made, it looks much better. I bought two holsters from a local maker, here is one of them.. they are pretty easy to make for what ever pistol, I pretty much just do a basic sew around where the pistol sits and then trim a bit just so I can work with it, then stuff in my pants to see how I want it to ride... mark where I want the snaps for the angle real rough... then do a bit more trimming around the grip area, but don't forget to leave leather for the sweat guard Then I do a basic draw of how wide I want it... The first few I made I just put together with rivets it took about 6 trys before I got something that carried well... I talked to the holster maker for that 1911 holster and he gave me some information on some good snaps, they are meant for boat covers and stuff... I need to order a bunch... the tandy leather snaps don't hold tight enough, I find my self checking the snaps often while carrying my G19 or G30... works well enough for the little keltec, and the larger PF9 And sorry if I hijacked a bit... just wanting to give a fellow CCWer more ideas.

That looks really good! and my #3 holster worked great, but it looked like crap...

Thanks The snaps I like alot are on a holster I bought, they snap solid, and the male part of the snap attatches with a screw, that would make life sooo much easier for me if I could find those snaps.

Looks great! Right now I'm trying to figure out a good setup for a pocket holster for the keltec version of that pistol. How do you like the setup? How do you wear it? And what do you use for the holes for your stiching? Right now I'm using a 4 hole punch from tandy, it makes holes a bit larger and a bit farther away from each other than I would like.

not bad, I have been playing around with making holsters for about a year now, and I finally finished the first holster I made for sale. I found that I could do alot with nothing more than a marker, and work every inch of the leather. Play around with it and have fun with it, hopefully this holster will be the first of many that I sell. I just need to find better snaps... the ones I get from tandy need to be modified to hold tight enough... I don't know where to get better ones.

I made one of these for my PF9, and it carries very well, the only change I would suggest is on the back side. on the sweat guard, I found that if you cut it higher on the grip closer to the slide the gun will draw better. To get an idea what I'm talking about.. (I wish I could find my camera in the moving mess...) Grip the gun with your pointer finger and thumb, like your getting ready to shoot... then do the same thing like your going to draw... the sweat guard kinda blocks the thumb from getting a good grip. I hope that makes sense, once I can find my camera I'll have to take a picture of my edit.

I'm a newbie, I just started making holsters due to need. Nice gun, and nice job!