Colt Hammerless

If you can split, skive, or sand the leather down to 4/5 oz, you can get No. 1 grade 6/7 oz veg-tan double shoulders from American Leather Direct for $4.50 a sq. ft. They have No. 2 also, but it's only 5 cents less per square. http://aleatherd.com/ They don't have their prices on the website, but I just got their price sheet at the leather show in Wickenburg last week. They have no minimum order, and I've heard they're pretty fair on shipping. They're the U.S. importer for Chahin leather. I have some sample swatches of their skirting and latigo leather, and it's nice. Another option is Double K leather, who import Sadesa leather: They have A grade 6/7 double shoulders for $4.16 a square, and B grade for $3.65. The website says they just opened a new wharehouse to serve smaller orders from leather crafters and such http://doublekleather.com/ I would think both of these options would be quite a step up from that Craftsman Oak from Tandy, for close to the same price. Colt Hammerless

I'm surprised nobody has answered you yet. That's normal for the finish to come off in your holster like that. I've heard you can remove the finish off of the blue gun itself with denatured alcohol. You can also order your blue guns without the finish on them to save that step in the future. Colt Hammerless

MHolzer, Call W&C and talk to Matt Bressler. He told me they often have double shoulders available, usually in russet or natural, but may have drum dyed as well. I don't know if they have shoulders in carving leather or just skirting, but it makes no difference. You can mould, tool, and stamp skirting the same as carving. You'd be buying less square footage that way (probably around 13-15 sq. ft. for a double shoulder) so you won't get quite as many projects out of it, but it will cost less. I'm not sure if they will split shoulders or not, but I bet they will. Phone (814) 236-2220 and Matt's extension is 216. Colt Hammerless

Thanks Steelhawk! I just looked at the photos in that link again, and think I finally figured it out.

Those look really really nice Steelhawk! I've been wanting to make a reinforced IWB for a while and have a question. Do the pieces of the main holster body that wrap around the top of the slide (the "fingers" that the reinforcement piece wraps around in the front) meet each other in the middle, or is there a gap? I've never seen an interior shot of this style before, and have been wondering that. Does it even matter, or is it just a personal preference thing on the part of the maker? I looked at that thread you linked to, and still can't tell. Colt Hammerless

I hadn't heard of this before HellfireJack. That's really interesting! How long would you say you submerged the piece for? Colt Hammerless

Wow! I just looked at your website, you make some nice stuff!

I'm going to the trade show in Wickenburg probably Friday, though maybe Saturday. I was just wondering if I might run into somebody from here. Colt Hammerless

Exactly why I wanted them to carry it. If I'm ordering a couple of horse butts, or a grab bag of ostritch hide, it would be nice to simply have them throw some Kydex in with the order. I also didn't like the idea of 10 bucks per square.

This is interesting and timely. I was thinking of writing Kevin at SLC to suggest they start carrying .125 thick Kydex. I've been wanting to make my own clips for holsters, mag pouches, and such, as well as holster bodies. The pricing seems very nice. Count me in as very interested. As for quantity, I'd probably make a small order first to see how well I work with this stuff. Thanks for doing this TwinOaks! Colt Hammerless

A good, cheap, easy to find tool for molding and boning is a tube of Chapstick. The cap is very smooth. The flat, top part of the cap can be used to press the leather against the firearm, and the tight radius of the side of the cap can be used to press the leather into the lines of the gun. I discovered this on my first holster, and have used it for at least part of the boning on every holster and mag pouch I've made since. Keep a paper towel folded several times (at least four layers thick) over the cap to start with. This keeps it from burnishing the leather. As the leather dries more and starts to hold the lines you're imprinting, you can use less layers between the cap and leather. Eventually you can use the bare cap to the leather, and bone in the lines pretty nicely. It can still burnish the leather a bit though, so do this only if you've dyed the leather prior to wet forming. If you burnish the leather it can make those areas of the holster not take dye very well if you dye afterwords. Oh, I use the Chapstick after I've already molded it a bit by hand first. Also, very nice for your first work! Colt Hammerless

I'll have to stop by and say hi and see your knives. I'm not in the market for one right now, as I just bought an old Newark marked Osborne that I need to take the time to sharpen properly. I probably won't go until the last day though, so if the show does well by you, you won't have anything left for me to look at! Have fun at the show, and welcome to AZ! You'll probably want to bring warm weather clothes. Colt Hammerless

I haven't dip dyed yet, so can't help you on that part, however here's a place that sells Angelus dyes in pint bottles as well as the 3oz. bottles: http://www.turtlefeathers.net/text/angelus/dye.html I haven't ordered from them before, but others on here have, and say they're good to deal with. I've also read on here of people buying directly from Angelus in gallon containers. This was a while ago, I'll see if I can dig up that post. Colt Hammerless

Thanks everyone. Gicts, I have a hard enough time concealing full size handguns in Arizona friendly clothing, wouldn't stand much chance with a machine pistol! Go2Tex, the holster is a bit shiny, but I'm not sure if it was neccessarily the shoe polish, or if it was the Angelus 600.

I had a little bit of material left from the first piece of leather I ever bought (6/7 oz single shoulder Craftsman Oak from Tandy.) I decided to make an IWB for my Steyr M40. I dyed it with Fiebing's Mahogany (regular spirit dye, not their pro oil.) I had used this same bottle on some Hermann Oak holsters before, and it turned out lighter and more red on those. I airbrushed the edges black on this one, thinking it would be a nice and subtle contrast. However the mahogany came out much darker on this piece of leather, so it came out too subtle, as in, I can't see the feathering effect unless the light is just right. I oiled it with EVOO after wet molding and heat drying. Finish is two coats of Angelus 600 cut 50/50 with tap water. An application of neutral shoe polish was put on top of that using a heat gun to melt the polish and then buff it in. I learned this method from Troop at the leather trade show in Wickenburg last year, and it works very well to prevent the wax from building up in the stitching. Thanks for the tip Troop! Colt Hammerless

Got the SR9c dummy today. This guy ships fast! Thanks ShortBBL!

I'll take the SR9c. E-mail inbound.

I see you also airbrushed the edges on the belt loops. I've done this as well, though I keep getting it too much towards the center and wind up with only a thin stripe of the base color showing. Looks neat, but I've been trying to get it more like you have there. Nice work!

Reading this thread has had me again thinking about an idea I've had for some time now. I was thinking about how to keep the grip of a 1911 or some other long gripped pistol tighter against one's body, even when at a regular ride height. I too was picturing the holster as sort of a see-saw. I thought, what if there was a thick piece of leather on the outside of the holster on the back side along the slide (or barrel in the case of a revolver,) and below the belt, that would keep the holster and gun from tipping away. It would have to be pretty thick, at least a 1/4 inch, about 16 oz. Go put your highest riding holster on and wedge something about that thickness (maybe even thicker) between the holster and your body, and below the belt, and see what you think. It seems to work. I think it might even be a good option for IWB and normal ride heights. I've read about a high ride design by Bob Mernickle that I think may be along the same lines, though I'm not sure. Colt Hammerless

Katsass, I had to laugh at your story about your friend losing his Smith out of the helicopter. I have a friend in Border Patrol, and they've been having lots of problems with their shoulder holsters. Lots of guns falling out unexpectedly. One guy he knows was leaning out of a helicopter searching the desert brush when he lost his H&K. I don't think they ever found it. My friend has had his fall out several times. Once in a meeting at work, once in a hotel as he was opening the door to his room, and once in a grocery store parking lot while he was off duty and not in uniform. Some people in the parking lot started to scramble, but oddly, no one called the police. That fall broke his rear site, and he had to get a new gun. Sorry for the tangent, back to regular programming. Colt Hammerless

Very interesting. I'll probably try just oiling it first and see what happens before I put a finish on. If it evens out the figure, I may dye it, then finish. Funny that you and I are worrying about the dye jobs on our projects turning out too even!

Sixer, here's a post about a mag pouch I made: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=36575 Hopefully that shows up as a hot link. Anyway, at the bottom of the thread there's some pictures of how this goes together. I decided to go with seperate straps on that one for the advantages that Woodandsteel mentioned. Also, I like them to come up from the bottom of the holster or pouch for when I'm putting it on or taking it off while sitting (i.e. in a car) as I don't have to lean so far as the straps enter the belt from the top vs. coming from the bottom. No doubt a minor point, but still convenient. It's an idea I gleaned from somebody here. Might have been Lobo, can't remember. Colt Hammerless

It certainly doesn't look bad. I had to look at this thread about 3 or 4 times to come up with my guess. Kept wondering, "What's here that he doesn't like?" We're our own worst critics. I don't have a 4.25 inch 1911 (sad face) so I didn't realize there was much difference in the dust cover length. I'm about to start my first project with horse hide. I've got a piece from Springfield that's got some figure to it like yours. I'm debating weather to dye it something light like saddle tan, or just oil it. Deffinitely don't want to cover up that grain, it's like walnut with tiger stripes or curly maple or something. Colt Hammerless

I'm going to take a guess at what you think is wrong with it. Where the dust cover on the frame and the recoil spring housing on the slide meet, you tried to follow it with the stitch line and missed a little. Am I right? Happened to me on my first 1911 holster. Anyway, it's easy to adjust the line for the next one. And I agree with Eaglestroker, your stitching is looking good. Colt Hammerless

Are you able to get a full grip on it? It looks like the leather is a little close to the gun right below the trigger guard. What dye did you use? I really like it. Looks like mahogany on my screen. Also what finish? I was just looking at your website. Those knives look great! What are the grips made out of on the knives on your front page? They look like engraved blued steel. Really cool!