BigRiverLeather

I've purchased paddles from Garret Industries as well as my kydex clips http://garrettindustries.mybigcommerce.com/paddle/

I used to use the metal banding but I knew there was a better option out there somewhere. Another Maker I know recommended using stainless feeler gauge 1/2" x .025. It works great and will never rust. It is available in 12" strips if you want to just try it out, or 10' and 25' coils. I think next time I might try out the .31 thickness in a 12" strip just to see how that forms. I mark the corners where it will bend over the slide and clamp on with a vice grip with that mark lining up on the edge of the jaws. use 2 pieces of leather between the vise grips and your holster. Then I bend that corner, mover the grips a touch over to the other bend and bend that corner. It springs back a bit but I can usually mash them together without wrecking my bends. http://www.maudlinproducts.com/1328.xml?cat=1360

There has to be somebody out there that has a similar selection. I've been looking but only find one or two styles. I'm looking for something like this - it looks like it would lock on to pants without a belt pretty good. A request by a customer EDIT: Either of the top two clips EDIT AGAIN: I dialed the wrong number, got through to voice mail

Is this place still in business? I emailed them a week ago with no response. I tried calling them and the number is not in service.

I've had good luck sanding off all of the fiberous material off of the back with a sanding drum in my drill press, detailing the edges with a dremel. For an overlay I then gle it to 4/5 oz and put the freshly glued piece in my press between 2 pieces of gum rubber for a good long while. That inlay looks very nice.

The green one you saw was mine. I had some guy in the Himalayas carve it out of the rare green rubber ash tree, but then I had him assassinated so no one else could ever have one like it. Actually, I was on the same search and offered to give a way a holster to someone if they would let me use their gun as a mold. Turns out the guy that replied does molding :D I think the Duncans molds are the railed version. You may know this already. If not, let me know and I can get you one. I need another anyway since I broke one of mine (I had a few made) hammering it out of a mold that was too tight. Price on them is $55 shipped.

In a nutshell, what he meant to say was - It's something you would wear to a BBQ while sitting around with friends, grilling meat, smoking cigars and talking smart :D

BrowningHigh Power C&L FNP9Duncans Customs HKP7M8 Kimber 1911 4" railedDuncans Customs TaurusPT145Duncans Customs Email inbound on these

Congrats Asphaltrd on a fine piece of leather. Katsass, I'm going to be doing the same thing at our local Friends of the NRA meeting in Sept. Talking with the coordinator at the last meeting though, he suggested that rather than doing an auction, they would be able to bring in a LOT more money with one of the table games they do, something where you pay $5 or $10 a shot at winning. For instance, the had a game that had three rows of shell casings lined up on a shelf, .22 (4 points), 30.06 (2 points) and 12 gauge (1 point). You pay $20 to play. You get 3 nerf gun with 6 rounds each in them, stand back at something like 12 feet.. for every point you get you get a chance at winning. The person with the highest point total gets an extra 25 tickets in the bucket for the drawing. Of course this was for a Taurus 44 Mag tracker (~$450 - $500) and it had a lot of activity, For something like a holster I might have it $5 or $10 per game. Also, rather than making a gun specific holster, I am going to bring a couple of nice samples (might be an excuse for me to make myself a nice new one) and let them choose it for their gun of choice (condition that I may need their gun for the mold if I don't have it) Good on you for contributing that. It is a beautiful piece of work.

Another fan of the rivets. Though they are not necessary, that add a nice "working" touch.

If I understand your challenge of making the flat back holsters correctly, maybe what I do will help. My pattern for the front side is about 1/2" wider than the back side. I will trace my stitch lines on the flesh side of the back piece as if it were not going to be a flat backed holster. ( I have outlines for all of my guns cut out that is anywhere from 10mm to 15 mm wider on each side of the gun which makes this go fast and easy). These lines also become my glue lines. Where these lines meet the edge of the holster I mark it on the edge with a sharpie. Now I take my top piece that is cut out a bit wider and lay it on top of the bottom piece, starting with the trigger side edges lined up first (all of the excess on the top piece will now be hanging over the slide side edge). I mark the edge of the top piece where the stitch lines are marked on my bottom piece, slide the top piece of leather over so now the edges of the slide side of the holster line up. Now I mark the top piece edge where the stitch line is marked on the bottom piece. Now that I have these stitch line reference points marked on the edge of my top piece, I take the outline template for my gun and line up the edge of the bottom side markings (bottom of the muzzle and trigger guard and draw this outline in with a pen (red if using brown dye, it will disappear when dye is put on it). I slide the template over and line up the top (slide side) of the template with my stitch line markings on the edge of the leather.. flip the top piece leather over and use your template the same way (lining up the template edges with stitch line marks on the edge of the leather) and you will now have your glue lines for the inside of the top piece. Punch any holes if required in the top piece for T nuts or any hardware if required. Glue the trigger side first. do not gouge your stitch lines first. Let the glue dry then sand your edge smooth. Now you can use your stitching groover on the edge and around the bottom side of the gun where you have traced the bottom of the template. Stitch this side of the holster. Now your top piece is stitched on with all of the excess hanging on the slide side of the holster. If you line up the edges on that side you will now have a hump in your top piece. Glue the slide side of the holster now (it is easier to glue the trigger side first because now you are working with a straight edge along the slide when you leather "humps") It makes it much easier to line up the edges of the leather while dealing with the hump wanting to push the edges uneven if you put something between the top and bottom piece where the gun will go. I have found that I use two short belt blanks (1.5" x ~8" dual 6/7 oz glued & the same thing with a 1.25" belt blank). It gives something to help fill the void and makes gluing the edges and keeping them lined up easier. Make sure you let your glue dry for about 4-5 minutes first so it is very tacky and won't slide. Use spring loaded hand clamps to hold it in place. Make sure you put a piece of scrap between the clamp and the holster so it does not mark it. Once the glue is dry, remove clamps, sand the edges, mark stitching grooves and stitch. Because the hump is along the slide side stitching line, use a piece of scrap leather ( 8/9oz about 1/2"x4") under your presser foot. This will keep it from marking the leather on the hump. Another advantage of building it this way is that it creates a natural curve on the backside of the holster that wraps nicely around the hip. It takes longer, but the end result is very nice. If need be, I can take pics on my next build and post them.

Pictures? (not of the love handles) I wonder if one constructed it with a sweat shield if that would help or create a rigid irritant that would dig in?

Thanks for the heads up on that. Even if I don't need more rubber they have a lot of good stuff there.

Nice Job. What I'm most impressed with and envious of is the fact that you found time to develop and design this. I've been wanting to get at a shoulder harness for quite some time but this has been my biggest obstacle. So, it sounds like this was your first one. If so, what would you do different on the next one? If you are like me, if a new project is done to my satisfaction, there always seems to be something that I tweak or change up on the next few runs.

Nice Work JoelR. I like the combo. Your edge work looks fantastic too. Well played.

I wet the leather under HOT water from the faucet for 5-10 seconds, depending on the weight of the leather. I usually don't wait too long until it goes in the press, usually a couple of minutes, long enough for me to get my things together and let the water set in the leather. After it comes out of the press (I only leave it in the press for a minute or two) then I let it sit for a while until the surface shows signs of drying, then I do my hand boning. I think having 2" of rubber on top and 3/4" on the bottom helps. I also cut my top piece of leather larger than my bottom piece which creates a "hump" of leather for the pistol to slide in. This also helps keep the back of the holster flatter.

Very, very nice.

I have the same press. I use 3/4" 40 gum rubber on the bottom and 2 - 1" pieces on the top. I pump it until I hear the frame on my press start to groan. That's not actually what I use to gauge it, more feel, but that coincides with what I am doing. If I go to hard it can ruin the nice grain look on the leather. The only time I've broken a mold is when (I think this is what I was doing,quite a while ago) I had the mold on a hard surface with rubber on top. With nothing to support the trigger guard underneath it cracked it. It does a pretty good job of pressing it down close to the slide, though I don't leave a lot of room with my stitch lines. I'm anxious to try vacuum forming someday. Time and money.

That will happen. If you order them direct from Rings you can specify that you want it without the blue finish and this will not happen. If you buy them elsewhere, you can wash them, I don't remember what people are using to do so, but it will come off. Someone might chime in.

That looks pretty good. I'm curious what the reasoning is for the leather strip to continue across the front wing of the holster. In theory (at least in my small mind) I like to have the front wing of the holster as flexible as possible. If anything the rear wing should be stiffer. The reason I go with this line of thinking is the front wing should wrap around the hip and the rear wing, under the belt, is better off being a bit stiffer than the front so that it can help pull the grip of the gun in tight to the body. I would echo what dbusaro said and sandwich the T Nuts. Nice work though for a first.

I've had some sketchy results with HO lately and am considering giving WC a try. Even the "A" grade I've been getting from Goliger is no better than the $5/ft HO I was getting from Springfield which I was their Craftsman Sides, C & D grade (I learned this is what they had been shipping me for quite some time while I thought I was ordering the B grades). My first side of A HO from Goliger (They are the only retailer that sells A grade in onsey - twosies) was glorious. I used 95% or more of it on my holsters, the last 4 or so have been mediocre, have to to cut around stretch marks and striations, getting about 65-70% usage. Keep in mind, these are backs with the bellies cut out. So, my question is, will the WC leather WOW me and provide me with the usable amount of leather I require? When I'm paying $7.20/ft I expect near perfection. I can pay $2 a foot less and get the same guess work by buying Craftsman Sides. I guess I should just take the chance and get one. I just like how HO works with my holster work, I know what to expect when forming and dying. Maybe it gets better with WC?

One thing that jumps out at me is how high the gun rides in relation to the belt line. This might be floppy, even for a small gun like that. Little if any of the gun is at or below the belt line. with this holster there is still enough room for the gun to go further down into the holster so your holster will conceal well. For stability, the belt line should be as close to center on the gun as possible.

I've been very frustrated with consistency. Use to get all of my HO from Springfield, but I decided there must be a better quality cut than what they have.Even when I specified I needed hand picked hides, it was always hit and miss. With the last hide that came and was about 30% usable, I decided it was time to look elsewhere. I can't afford to buy 10 hides of one weight at a time from HO so I called them and asked who sells the Grade A hides. Golliger leather. I called them, bought a couple of "moss backs" which are very smooth flesh side backs and was very impressed. I used easily 95% of those backs. The last couple of orders have declined in quality. Lots of stretch marks and striations I can't work with. At $7+ /ft per back I expect premium hides every time. Sigh....

I go both ways on this. Most of the Duncans I've ordered have been pretty good quality wise. I just received a P30 which is kind of a mess, surprised they sent it out that way. It bothers me that most if not al of the SAO guns I got from Duncans were not cocked and locked. I had one Rings that was cocked but not locked. On those I end up drilling them out and installing a safety myself. I have broken a trigger guard in my press on one Rings so far, broke off a safety on a 1911. I by all of mine right from Rings. I started with Botach but they burned me a few times saying they had them in stock and sometime it was 3-4 weeks to get it. I can't imagine how that happens since I could call Rings and get it coming the next day, or maybe 2-3 days if I didn't want the finish. I'l gladly give John the Extra $10. Duncan's charges a fair amount less on Shipping. I've tried to do business with Lindell's. Talked to her once after many attempts. She was going to send me a price list and model list but she never did. I couldn't get ahold of her after that. I'd still like to see what they have available. If you get good contact info for them I would appreciate it. I've also used ASP Red Guns on some hard to find stuff too. Gen II G19, P2000sk. Only $25 too when you buy wholesale.

Lately I've trimmed most of my stuff close enough that my dremel works. On a bit bigger jobs, or belts, I'll use a drum sander. One of the best things I have found is the flexible sanding drum with the sandpaper flaps that have the nylon scrubby things between the flaps, like these - They work great on sanding rounded edges quickly. It conforms to the edge nicely, especially after a little groove gets worn in. Wet your edge and it will nearly be burnished. The ones I've been using are 2" H x 3" diameter I think, whatever I have found at Menards or Home Depot. Like anything,, no one tool does it all. The dremel gets the most use. As a matter of fact, my Harbor Freight Dremel wannabe just died and I need to replace it. I also have a battery powered dremel, but I don't get near enough life out of the battery as I would like.