billymac814

I get the smaller padded envelopes for 2/1.00 at the dollar store and first class mail typically costs me between 1.39-1.73 and even the biggest padded envelope costs .75 and 2.07 to ship. The total with the envelope and a ziplock bag is less than 2.50, priority is around 4.75 (I think) I shipped 8 yesterday, so I saved somewhere around 20.00. That would add up quickly over a years time. I don't get insurance or confirmation and haven't had an issue yet, even if I did it would be much cheaper in the long run to just send another holster out. I don't know for sure if it's the same amount of delivery time, but I think it is in some cases. Even if it does take a day or two longer my customer has already waited a month so another day isn't a deal breaker. By doing all this I'm able to ship for free, I do offer other means of shipping if they want to pay for it, but it doesn't make sense in most cases. For what it's worth, I used to always use priority and seen a few of Lobo's posts about shipping first class and it all made sense and not only saved me money but customers typically like not having to pay for shipping. Anything bigger or expensive I use UPS insured for the value at the customers expense but for a small holster first class mail is an inexpensive solution for me. I didn't know about the third party company thing, I'll have to check that out, although maybe it just makes sense to go to the PO, I'd likely still have to drop them off anyway.

I've been shipping a lot of holsters lately just using first class mail in a padded envelope, they arrive in the same amount of time as priority did and it's half the price. The downfall is I can't seem to figure out how to print postage myself. The PO keeps telling me it can be done, but I haven't figured it out yet. It's not the end of the world if I can't but it would be nice if possible. Anyone else do this, or just confirm if it's possible? There is a program that can be downloaded from the USPS site, but I didn't want to download it if I don't need it.

Welcome to the forum. I'm not too far from you, in Altoona Pa. The pics are quite small but it looks good from what I can see.

I just ordered 2 quarts of dye and a cement container from Springfield and it was only 65.00 with shipping. That was regular spirit dye though. I could be wrong but I would think you'd be fine with just resolene. That is what I've been using, sometimes I'll follow it up with leatherbalm with atom wax, but realistically I don't know if that adds much, I just like the way it looks, the black is nice too. I've experimented with a few different finish procedures with very little difference in the final look, I shoot for something with a mellow gloss, not to shiney or plastic looking. I've heard of the mop and glo from a few people, I might try that sometime, it sure would be a lot cheaper. Let us know what you end up with, I always like seeing other peoples finish steps, it's amazing how many different ways there are.

I have always had good results ordering supplies from Springfield. They are always helpful and ship quickly. They have made a few mistakes but always resolved them quickly and painlessly. I don't order leather from them because at this point I exclusively use Wickett& Craig (they are close and I've never had a reason to try anything else, the leather is always flawless) The people at springfield never try to sell me things I don't need either. I have a gold membership at Tandy that is an hour away and usually find that Sprinfields prices are about the same and I don't have a membership there, although I may look into it. I agree with practicing on good stuff, you can get a special grade side for 100.00, that is a whole lot of practicing and you'd be able to know exactly how the leather is going to react. I paid 70.00 for a shoulder from Tandy that was way smaller than a side and not near the quality when I first started, I still have some of it because I won't use it on anything, it doesn't color right.

I didn't really read through so this may have already been discussed but there are snap backers available that cover the back of the snap with plastic, I got some from High Desert Leather. They push into the hole and are quite secure. Nice looking holster.

As long as your happy then all is well. It would seem to me that your price is low though. Mine start at 55.00 and go up from there for a small holster. I probably have a bit over 2 hours in each one and use less than a square foot of leather plus dye, thread and finish products so the materials are probably about 6-7 dollars a piece. I don't charge for shipping either so there's about 3 dollars. I also keep in mind all the time spent checking emails, maintaining a website, phone calls to order supplies, getting shipping supplies, going to the post office, etc. It all adds up and takes away from the profit, but is all a necassary part of the puzzle. Either way you already have holsters at a gun shop so it's not really any different if another guy is selling them, as long as he isn't making changes to them or misrepresenting them but he should be upfront about it. I do have a guy that is well on his way to getting a holster for every gun he owns which is a lot. Every time I give him a new one he starts thinking about the next and places an order so just about every 6 weeks he gets a new one. Best thing to do is just ask, can't hurt to know even if it doesn't matter.

I just thought of this, it might work, If you take two pieces of thinner wood to drill all the holes for the punches, drill them together so they are exactly the same and make the holes large enough to fit any, then sandwich a piece of foam rubber in between the two pieces of wood and cut a slit in each hole, that should keep the punches from moving around a whole lot and you'll only need one size. I didn't think of that when I made my rack but it's not really a big deal for me as I don't really move my stuff much.

Lobo summed everything up quite well, I line mine with Veg tan as well. I feel the stitching and double thickness keeps it from stretching. I've used the utitlity buckles from Springfield that are very inexpensive with good results, I'm sure you can find much better but they serve thier purpose, I always use chicago screws so the buckles can be easily replaced. Now I'll add a question to this. Does anyone cut thier belts on a curve?

I recently sold a holster to a gentleman who wants something somewhat specific for his wife. He wants a fanny pack that holds his wifes gun, the gun is an M&P 9c which I have and can make the holster portion if need be, but don't have to. He seen zippers that are break away that he'd like to be used and wants probably two of them, one in black and one natural or tan. I'm not sure that I'm really set up to make something like this, he is well aware that this likely wont be a cheap endevour but I didn't give him any idea of cost as I didn't want to give too much info too early. His main concerns are that it's a well made item, and that the dye won't bleed onto her clothing. I told him that if I can't do it I'd try to find someone who can, I probably could do it but I don't think I have the right sewing machine for this type of project and it would probably take me forever to make, if anyone is interested just email me at billy@mccabescustomleather.com and I can give you his contact info. I'll update this thread if it is no longer needed. Thanks

I haven't tried it, I thought about it but I thought I remember hearing that it wasn't really needed but I don't know the reason. I doubt it would hurt.

My thread turns about natural, It's not too bad, I can deal with it if thats the way it's going to be. It's fine up until I wetmold the holster. I haven't tried it with the oil dyes, I have some but the smell of it really bothers me when I airbrush it on so I usually just use the spirit dyes. It doesn't sound like it would make much of a difference anyway if ours turn about the same color. I think letting it dry a little longer may have more of an affect than anything else although I haven't tried it yet. I did get another order for white thread so I'll give that a shot. I'm using the Boss as well now so I don't wax my thread anymore either.

Is your apprentice married? You are right you don't find to many young people like that. I am younger people though so I shouldn't talk. I'll look into getting some replacement parts for my Boss. Although operator fatigue can be bad with it it's not near as bad as an awl and two needles. I probably wouldn't have chose the Boss if I didn't get a really good deal on it, I wouldn't have paid "New" prices as it's too close to a powered machine in price. So far I'm happy with it, it cut my times down significantly. I'll use it until I outgrow it and then it'll be replaced with something that I can't outgrow. I was suprised you don't take phone orders, I would like not to in all honesty, I work a full time job and then this every evening and weekend and people call at the most inconvienient times and I'm not much of a phone guy anyway, but I don't want to turn too much business away(unless I get a PITA customer) at this point and I don't get too many phone orders anyway. I do have my number listed but I also note that they need to leave a message because I'm a one man operation and I'm not stopping to answer the phone. Then I call them back when I can. Here's my shipment for the week, minus a few. Not near yours, but I'm ok with that. I actually hate shipping stuff, I have a seat going out tomorrow too.

I'm still pretty new to this also, so I don't have a number to give you for the year, but I will be shipping 12 out this week. Everyone that carries guns usually has multiple guns and multiple holsters for each, most of which they probably don't use because they don't fit right or don't like the way they wear, which is why they probably seek out a custom maker. I've been selling to a lot of new gun owners suprisingly. I think the reason that is is because of my 380 holsters, it's a small gun that first time gun owners aren't intimidated by and can be carried very easily. I'm actually suprised by how many I've been selling, selling holsters really came as an afterthought for me, I started out making MC seats and then made a few holsters for myself and friends and it spread very quickly. I don't advertise as well other than my free blog site. Of course these are all my assumptions so take that for what it's worth, I could be way wrong on all of this.

Lobo, Is your shop just a manufacturing shop, or do you have a store front as well? It's good to see someone that can make a living doing what they like, that's pretty much my dream. I realize though that if you jump into that before your ready it can have disasterous results. I'd take the plunge if I could stay consistently busy for a few years. I'm going to be moving soon and I'm going to make sure I get a place that's big enough to at least have a room dedicated as my shop, Right now I have a table that's 3X7 and thats pretty much it other than my sewing machine stand that I recently added. It seems like all I get done is cleaning up messes. That Cobra looks awesome, When I'm ready to buy a machine I'll definately look into that one, I just picked up a used Boss and it should be fine for me for quite a while and is a whole lot quicker than hand stitching. I should easily be able to get my money back and then some when I'm ready to upgrade.

Getting a tombstone was my next "cheap" method after glueing the tile to the paver, It was ok but the piece they gave me was a hair on the small side, the edges were very rough, (like a lot of tombstones are) and it was so thick that unless I inlaid it into my bench it made it too high, and since it wasn't big enough anyway I wasn't modifying my bench for it. The machinist slab has been much better for me, it's 3" thick which makes it extremely heavy yet not so thick it affects me working on it and it only cost 25.00 with FREE shipping. It's hard to beat that deal for a perfectly squared off 3" thick piece of granite. I'm pretty sure it cost them money to sell it. Even if they got it for free they paid more than 25.00 to ship it, and I'm sure they didn't get it free. If you get the right piece for you at a monument place and build it into your bench it would be fine though. I didn't feel like going back and being more specific when they give me something for free, I'd rather pay and get what I want.

You did all that in 20 hours? I must be doing something wrong. I'm sure your workflow is spot on has been honed over the years, thats something I need to get down a little better, I'm just limited on space right now, I'd like to set up stations to do different things, I'm not there yet though. Nice work as usual.

I glued a tile to a paver with a liquid nail type adhesive and it held just fine. After monkeying with that and a few other "cheaper" methods I finally just broke down and ordered a 12X18X3" granite slab from Enco.com. Reg price was 80.00 plus around 40 to ship it. They are on sale all the time for 24.99 and if you do a very quick internet search you can find a coupon code for free shipping with a 25.00 order. I ordered that and a file for less than a buck(to bring the total beyond the 25). It's a great slab it's heavy and would be the equivalent to 4 of the 3/4" tiles glued together. I'd imagine you'd spend close to that after buying the tiles and whatever glue you get and the time cutting and glueing it. I'm pretty sure it has to cost them money to sell you it. They ship VERY quick too.

How long does the order take to come in from Rings?

How do you guys keep your thread white? I have been dyeing my holsters last and most of my holsters to date have been black/black thread or just natural oiled with white thread. Now I'm getting into some different colors so I've experimented with dyeing first, then glue together, then stitch, then wetform but after wetforming my dye is visible on the white stitching. I only left the dye dry about 24 hours, this maybe part of my problem if I were to guess. I'm using Fiebings spirit dyes. I'll try letting it dry longer, but any other tips or tricks?

I think for a heavier gun I'd still feel better with a clip on each side, however I see the concept and I"m sure it's just fine, the rough out and tension of the belt should keep it in place just fine. I have seen holsters that are shaped like a wallet and have access to the trigger so that you can fire it while holstered, I forget who makes them, but a google search would find them easily. I've been working on a back pocket holster but not the kind your talking about, mine has a flap that prevents printing and also keeps it positioned, you just reach behind the flap and pull it out. I haven't had much time to finish it though.

Ok, thats good then, I was trying to keep it on the outside between the lip similar to the primary one looks, but it kept getting pulled in between, after fixing it 100 times I started thinking maybe its supposed to be around the bolt. Thanks.

I got a Boss last week and just recieved the correct needles for my thread for what I'm doing. My manual shows the thread going around the secondary tensioner once, the one online says to go around it all the way. My question is; the secondary tensioner is made up basically of the two rounded disks with the spring on top and after a few stitches the thread pulls in between the disks and is basically wrapped around the bolt that holds it together. Is it supposed to do that or should it be outside on the lip in between the two disks? That should make sense to anyone who has a Boss, if not I can get pictures of what I mean.

What about the orange ones that Galls sells? Anyone ever use those?

Good to know, I may make one that style and try it out. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the size of gun, I doubt I'd make one for a heavy gun but it looks good for a small concealed pistol like a Keltec, Lcp or BG. I'm not as worried about reholstering on a gun like that anyway, if it carries well and the draw is clean is my main concerns with a concealed carry holster like that. I too have sewed an extra piece and put the t-nut inbetween layers, usually on the mouth reinforcement. That makes it easy to replace a belt loop if it gets worn out, although I haven't been doing it long enough to come accross anything wearing out yet, or be able to switch it out for a clip or different size loop.