katsass

Dwight, this grumpy old man has done a few as you describe. I use a heavy, soft (pre washed) denim fabric for my linings. A couple of pics are enclosed. The first is of an oooold Tandy pattern, the second is of one made for a friend and the last is made of a very heavy upholstery leather with veg tanned accoutrement's, for a lady trap shooter. These happen to be for shotguns but are similar to ones I'd do for rifles. The last two are my designs. For padding I use a 'fiber fill' batting.....available in differing thicknesses and sizes from a sewing supply joint. DO NOT use foam.....it'll dry out, crumble, and turn to little bitty bits of nasty stuff. Ask me how I know! Mike P.S. I don't suggest that you use saddle shearling, it can absorb little drops of moisture and produce a nasty bunch of little orange spots all over your rifle. It looks good...but.....

Well, from the grumpy old man. My work is usually slow in the winter, (I want it that way) so I don't often need a true dedicated 'hot box'. I'll use a fairly small cardboard box into which I direct the soft blast from an electric space heater when necessary, but actually don't really like the outcome as much as how I do things in the majority of the year. My actual drying method is pictured herein. Not really trying to be a 'smart #$%$%', but I live in the middle of the desert. The surface you see (within which abides the pet 'Western Mojave Rumble Snake') will easily reach about 150 degrees on a normal day out here. Humidity stays around 12%. I perch whatever needs to dry on a wire frame with a piece of cheese cloth stretched across it. The holster rests on the cheese cloth. The combined heat (about 130 -140 degrees one foot off the surface) and a gentle breeze drys the stuff quickly and thoroughly. Mike

Anybody want to guess how I know that? Mike I'll lay you odds that you found out exactly the same way I did! Mike

Well, Al Stohlman's book "How to Make Holsters" has a western style pattern in it for a 5 1/2" Ruger. To lengthen it shouldn't be much of a problem. Mike

Ellen, my quick answer is that to obtain a good contrasting color to the burnished edge of my work, I use dye to moisten the leather prior to burnishing. (I use Fiebing's Pro Oil dye) The dye, combined with the burnishing will allow you to end up with something like this on your edges........BUT, you must do good burnishing too. In my opinion, edge coat is just some nasy stuff that ends up looking like cheap plastic.......at it's best. Mike

Well, FWIW from the grumpy old man. First off I don't use any of the synthetic threads. I thought about it a number of years ago (35, maybe?) until I was at the testing (by our Department) of a new holster made by a well known commercial holster manufacturer. The holster was sewn front and rear with a newly designed 'sight track' stitched between the front and back pieces of leather. We had a clerk/typist that weighed all of 100# assist. All she was to do was grab the butt of the holstered (unloaded) gun and not let the 'officer' get away from her. She grabbed, held on like a bulldog, the officer made a hard twist away from her..........and that holster unzipped like tearing out a postage stamp. We tore up a number of holsters just to establish that the first one wasn't a fluke. We tested other holsters that were stitched with linen and had no such problems. Now, part of the problem with the first was the design I believe, yet it showed us all that the tendency of the nylon mono-filament thread used, was to cut rather than flex and give a little under stress. That first holster was never authorized for use by our Dept. All that said, I only use waxed linen thread. ..........NOW, to your question.......To finish I pull one needle through my last awl hole, (ending with two threads on the back side of my work) around that thread I wrap my second thread around the first twice........basically making a simple figure 8 knot..........then put that second needle through the last hole and pull tight. The knot disappears inside the hole and between the two pieces of leather. Trim the thread as close as possible to the surface of each side. After moistening and running the overstitch, the finish is indiscernible, and, I have yet to have one come loose. Mike

I'd use either light brown or dark brown depending on how much contrast is wanted. Mahogany has too much red to appear proper......in my opinion. Mike

Ellen, I'm no expert, but I have made holsters for over 40 years now. I use only Fiebing's pro Oil dye, followed by Fiebing's Leather Sheen, then Kiwi neutral wax. I spray on my dye as well as the Leather Sheen with an air brush. I warm the leather prior to shooting the acrylic so that it dries almost immediately (actually penetrates then dries). I only shoot my holsters twice.......two light, quick coats.......much more and the stuff tends to build up and a 'plastic' appearance begins to rear it's ugly head. After everything is completely dry I rub in the wax by hand...(by two fingers, actually) no applicator or rag, and in small quantity. The hand rubbing seems to create a small bit of heat that allows the wax to penetrate slightly rather than build up. I then buff with a soft cloth. I know of some of my holsters are still in use after 30 years, and still look pretty good. Here is a pic of a knife sheath I did this way for myself. I did it in 1979, and I have not refinished in any way. Mike

Monty, I'm far from a master, but I do make a few holsters now and then. I'm basically just old, grumpy and somewhat opinionated. I agree with Rayban that (especially) on SA auto pistols the trigger guard should be covered more. On most of my 1911 holsters, the welt is stitched only to the bottom of the trigger guard, yet it appears to continue up much higher. The reason I do this is that too many people have inadvertently tapped the trigger a bit too soon during the draw, (I have watched it happen) with pretty nasty results. From the backside of this holster you can see how I generally do things, the trigger guard is actually completely free, yet covered. By the way, you do nice work. Mike .

Here's a rig I built a while ago for a customer that uses it in 'steel challenge' competition.........he's happy with it. Mike

Well, from the grumpy old man. I make all of my contemporary holsters (that excludes historically accurate ones) with two layers of leather. They are bonded with their flesh sides together and that necessitates stitching around all edges. I generally accomplish this in two stages, first, the upper portion and integral belt loop, and second, the toe and main welt. (most of my holsters are open toed) Each section usually will require about 5 to 6 feet of thread.....sometimes a bit more. Certain styles, however, must be broken up into a few more sections...such as an Avenger style holster. All I find that is needed is to rewax fairly often. Mike

As always Dave, great looking work. Mike

FWIW from a grumpy old man. I do not care for any of the edge dressings. I burnish my edges then use a piece of 1/4" firm felt, (those 1" felt buffing wheels for Dremel tools works great) soak it down well with Fiebings oil dye and run it along he edge of the piece. For belts and such you can lay the piece down on the edge of your bench with a slight overhang and run the felt along evenly and easily. You might want to wear a pair of nitrile gloves to keep your fingers from the dye. I then spray on a finish coat with my airbrush. As you can see from the pics of this holster, I get a fairly crisp edge this way. No bleed from the dye. Mike

FWIW: I've been making holsters (and some other items for shooting sports) for a bit over 40 years now. I learned how to saddle stitch a long time ago and still use it exclusively in my work. A sample. Mike

Templin, I'd suggest getting the old standby.......Al Stohlman's book "How to Make Holsters". Around $12 at your local Tandy. It shows a couple of Mex loop holsters with a number of alternative ways of making the loop that ties the body of the holster to the back. Mike

JH, Great work. This was my answer to a Colt 'Target Model' with a red-dot sight attached. Not nearly as much engineering as you did. If the guy had wanted a detachable mag pouch on this one, I'd still be scratching my fanny trying to figure it out. Again, great work. Mike

When cementing grain sides together, just scuff up the areas to be glued with a piece of fine sandpaper, both pieces. Mike

Clay, I get mine from Tim Start at High Desert Leather. (highdesertleather.com) Mike

Although not a true 'Threeperson's' style, it's somewhat close. I make all (almost all) of my holsters from a double layer of leather. This one is 3/4 oz inside and a 7/8 oz.outer shell. It's vinegarooned for the color. The customer really likes it. Mike

Good looking, especially for a first go at this sort of thing. Here's one somewhat similar I made somewhere around 30 years ago for this little straight blade. Still have and use the little Schrade. Mike P.S. Took me a minute or two to find my other pics. Here are a couple of pics of a horizontal cross draw for a folder that I played with a little while ago.

I use only size 0 or 00 harness needles for saddle stitching. (size 0 is the smaller) They are substantial, have a blunt tip, and can be pulled thru the awl holes with pliers without injury to them. Mike

As ferg says, different answers to the same question. I cut my pattern, dye all pieces and allow to dry..... thoroughly. (I don't do much tooling anymore, but if you do...do it before dyeing), shoot a light shot of neatsfoot oil and allow to penetrate completely, assemble, stitch, burnish edges and apply finish. I like to use acrylic finishes. Depending on the style of the holster being made, there are times that some burnishing needs to be done prior to the assembly. Mike

JH, I don't find it necessary to clean or deglaze my stuff. I cut my stuff out then dye and allow to dry thoroughly before going any further. I use an airbrush for all of my dying. We use a wood pellet heater our here. It's snowing here in the desert today and our interior humidity is over 30%.......outside it's 87% In the spring, summer and early fall my shop (not cooled or heated) maintains a humidity of 9 to 13% or so....whatever the outside humidity is.. I find that the winter weather really changes my drying times. Mike

FWIW: As I have mentioned previously, I make almost all of my holsters out of two layers of leather. This (in my mind) gives me a much more firm holster after molding, and also provides a smooth (lined) interior to the final product. Because of this I worry less about moisture wicking on or from the (generally) exposed flesh side of the leather. I just shoot a 50/50 mix of Mop-and-Glo and water, or Fiebing's Leather Sheen inside and out. I warm the leather first in front of a little electric heater (or in the summer I just let old Ma Nature's bright smile to warm it.....but I live in the desert) then shoot it. Allow the stuff to dry thoughly for about and hour (even though it feels dry almost instantly) then give it one more shot. At times I will follow that with a coat of neutral shoe wax, rubbed in well by hand to the exterior (no rag or applicator) then buffed well. Mike