jrvinny

I'll try the Dr. Jackson's. I put gum trag on the inside. Might try another coat of that first. Thanks for the input guys.

I glued it before sewing. I get that the holster is creaking against itself. I just meant that the belt shouldn't be the issue since it not a leather belt. When the holster is empty (no gun) I can flex it with no squeak, which makes me thing it's the leather rubbing against the gun. I put neetsfoot on the outside but I know you don't want to put it on the inside. I've done mink oil paste on the inside since it's a neutral base. Any ideas on what else I could use on the inside?

I have it on a reinforced webbing trainer belt so there's no leather on leather (sounds sinister). Would you still suggest wax or talc?

So I just made my first avenger style holster. It came out fantastic on the first try. The fit and position couldn't be better. I got pretty lucky. HOWEVER, the thing squeaks like crazy. I'm pretty sure it's violating some sort of noise ordinance. I cant sell these noisemakers like this. What am I missing? Will it stop after breaking in? Never had this problem with my iwb holsters. Thanks in advance!

Will more than 1 coat of neatsfoot end up soaking through to the flesh side?

Particle, you've helped me out a few times in the past and I appreciate your efforts, along with everyone else who has tried to help me figure this out. I think we may have a winner. I'm using a piece of leather from Tandy that was surprisingly nice (I thought). It works fantastic for black holsters. When I look at the difference in color between your Hermann Oak and the Tandy I can see the color similarities in the problem I'm having. I'm using a wool dauber to apply because I don't have an airbrush setup. It's worked fine with black, I guess because black can never be too black. When it comes to the brown you say you never dilute the Pro Oil. Others have said they always dilute them. It may just be a matter of finding the right process for the leather I happen to have. For all of this to make more sense, here is a photo and description of everything I have going on for this holster. 1. 1 coat of Pro Oil light brown, dipped in water 2. 2 coats of Pro Oil light brown, dipped in water 3. 3 coats of Pro Oil light brown, dipped in water 4. No dye. 3 coats of neatsfoot oil. 5. 1 coat of Pro Oil light brown, not dipped in water 6. 1 coat of new EcoFlo light brown water stain 7. Natural leather before any dye/oil My local Tandy manager (great guy and very helpful!) gave me a bottle of this new EcoFlo Water Stain to experiment with. He has not made a holster with it so he didn't know how the color would react to being dipped in water. I haven't gotten that far yet but the color seems to look a bit flat. It's got quite a bit of red in it too. Seems like you cover up the appearance of the grain in the leather with the water stain. The more I look at these colors, the more I like the neatsfoot oil coloring. I would like it to be a little darker though. Apparently, putting it out in the sun after applying the oil will darken it. That would be great if it weren't overcast and raining here for the next few days. I'm on a bit of a time crunch. This may be a dumb question, but if you go with the neatsfoot oil coloring, do you apply the oil before or after molding? The only thing I haven't done yet is diluting the dye with denatured alcohol and seeing what the water does to that. I wish I had time and budget to get in some Wicket & Craig leather but I'm afraid I'm going to have to figure out how to make it work with what I have.

I use that exact same process. I was really surprised at my results. The leather is a nice light tobacco color after one coat of dye and after a quick dip in the water it's so dark it's almost black, even after drying. The whole thing's making me a little grumpy myself!

Have you used the regular dye on molded holsters? Just wondering what wetting it will do.

Thanks for the info Ed. I have a few questions. I hope they aren't stupid ones. Are you saying you would oil the leather before dying? I have not done that in this case. Can you tell me why to oil the leather prior to dying? Do you have a recommendation for a particular dye? I don't have enough people asking for brown holsters to justify having enough dye to dip dye. I dye the leather before I sew up and mold the holster so I'm not dying the molded holster. That means I'm getting getting the dyed leather completely wet to mold and that's when the color turns so dark. Never been an issue with black because I want it as deep of a color as I can get. I will mix the dye down and do some test pieces. If I understand correctly, I actually want the color to be extremely light after dying to compensate for the darkening when wetting it for molding? The more I do this, I realize the less I know! Thanks again. I was just thinking about how to measure the mix. Are you just using regular medical syringes?

Ok, so I've made dozens of holsters at this point and so far everyone wants black. Until now. Turns out, light brown is harder than it sounds. Luckily I tried some test pieces before I went crazy with the holster. One coat of Feibings light brown oil dye looks great when it's dry but when you get the leather wet for molding it turns DARK CHOCOLATE. I mean dark. I'm clearly missing something, just not sure what. I've already dyed the holster pieces so hopefully the step I'm missing doesn't come before that. I'm sure Murphy's law will somehow make an appearance though. I found a post from johnggrg but that's the closest I could find to being the same issue. If anyone can help me out I would be eternally grateful. Thanks in advance!!

I don't know how much detail you put in your molding but a P9 should work for a CW9. I've used the CW9 for a P9 client. The only real difference in the two is the scallop cut on the front half of the P9 slide. The width and height of the slides are the same.

You want to give yourself a bit more room than that. There needs to be a bit of play to account for the thickness of the leather and the thickness of the belt. For 1.5" belts, I make my snaps 4.5" from the center of each snap. Unfortunately, it takes a little trial and error to get the right measurements on your patterns. I hope this helps.

I did have to spread the snaps apart a little bit. Not quite 1/4 inch from my original pattern. I though about only notching the holster body and not the snap panel but decided not to go that route. That section of the holster actually rides above the belt and outside the pants so the laser won't rub on anything. Plus the two layers of leather (depending on thickness) will be thicker than the height of the laser.

My workflow is the same. Molding comes almost last. I've made more than a few throw away holsters. I saw your J-Frame holster. Very nice. I made my first small frame revolver holster a few months back. Not sure how I managed it, but I got that one right on the first try too. I'm either getting lucky or good. Not sure which. I know it's a bit off topic for this thread and I hope no one's offended, but here's a photo of that one. As for the notch, I probably won't include it on all the 1911 holsters. Just as requested. Interesting thought though. I know I would get faster at it but it does take more time to do than the standard version. I suppose I could just charge more on all of them but a gun with no laser grips looks cleaner in my standard version (I think).

Surprisingly, I did. I had to do some fine tuning during molding to get the notch centered, but not enough to even make it worth it to adjust my pattern. I'm sure you know how frustrating it is to get all the way down to the molding process and find out your pattern was "almost right". Thanks for the compliment. (You too, Big O.)

Alright folks, here's what I came up with. As far as I can tell, it seems to be the best solution. It took a little figuring to get the notch to line up and take into account the height of the sight channel in the pattern. The customer loved it so I guess that counts as a success. Thanks for all your input. Let me know what you think.

I have the gun. The trick is the snap panel. I don't want to mold over the laser because that will rub against the belt more. I think I'm just going to make a cut out in the holster and snap panel where the laser goes. We'll see if it works.

That's sharp Fredo. I wish I didn't have to deal with the snaps panel and it would be a lot easier. I've done half a dozen holsters for this customer and he really likes the IWB with the snap loops. I guess the bright side is he likes my work. I have an idea that I hope works well. I'll post photos when it's finished. Thanks for the example.

I was looking at that option but with such a short barrel, making that side lower seems to make the holstered gun a bit top heavy. I was thinking of making a cut out in between the snaps to accommodate the laser. Do you have a photo of your G26 holster? Thanks!

Has anyone made an IWB holster in the style of the attached picture for a compact 1911 with laser grips? Have a customer request and I'm trying to figure out the best solution. Thanks in advance!

I started out using 7-8oz to keep the width of the total rig down but after molding it seemed a little thin. It's still totally durable at that weight and stays open and rigid for re-holstering. That's what I carry every day. I've made the last few holsters using 8-9oz and I think I like it a little better. The width that it adds to the total rig is so nominal that no one would ever notice. It's a bit thicker but makes a really sturdy holster. I think both are suitable. It's just personal preference. Detail molding is obviously easier with thinner leather. You just don't want to go too thin.

Thanks. I'm covered up in work right now but I'd be glad to contact you as soon as I get a breather. (Hopefully sooner than later!) Thanks for checking my stuff out. I made an IWB for a Ruger LCR about a month ago. It turned out pretty nice I think. I'll post a photo as soon as I get some time.

Thanks for the compliments, guys. I'm not a pocket gun guy myself, but it seems like that AMT 45 would get a little heavy in my pocket. Those are cool little guns though.

Here are a few holsters that have gone out the door recently. Have a look. Comments and critiques are welcome.

Ken, I had the same question/issue. I drill and hand stich my holsters and even after perfectly squaring up the mating edges I could rarely hit the groove on the back side. An old pro told me to groove the back after drilling the stitch holes. This only works and looks good if your stitch groover is nice and sharp. It also only works if you're drilling and hand stitching...not so much when using a machine. Considering how much time it takes to make a holster and not wanting to ruin all that work, I finally decided to bite the bullet (pun) and skipped the groove on the back side. I think it looks TOTALLY acceptable and none of my customers even know the difference. I think only a holster maker would even notice the difference. I say just skip the back side groove and save yourself the time and headache.