Deanimator

Corel Draw is a graphics design program. It's advantage over things like MS Paint is that it natively works with vector drawings instead of bitmaps. Jpegs and other photo files are bitmaps. It's difficult to do design work with a bitmap program because you're working with individual pixels (dots). Vector drawings, instead of being dots, are instructions which specific color, direction, dimensions, etc. That means that you can easily stretch and modify vector drawings. It's very easy to combine simple shapes to create more complex objects and to break them up as necessary. This allows you to reuse drawing objects for different projects and modify them to suit your current needs. A few years ago, I bought an OEM copy of Corel Draw X3 for $99. That was in a local used computer store. You can do as well or better on Ebay or other web based resources. If I didn't have Corel Draw or something similar, I wouldn't bother trying to design and make my own holsters. I just don't have the manual artistic skill.

I do most of my leather cutting with a razor knife, in addition to often having to make multiple passes, I find that while trying to closely follow the outline of the holster and components, I end up angling the knife, creating a beveled or irregular edge, tapering toward the tip of the blade. Does anyone tips on how to avoid this problem? Thanks.

I am a MISERABLE freehand artist. Acknowledging my limitations, I use Corel Draw to lay out my patterns. I can scale and shape them as many times as I need to. I can easily modify a pattern for one gun to fit another, especially different length versions of the same gun. I did this with my Glock 17/22 holster to create the pattern for my Glock 19/23 holster. I'll do the same thing with my M1911/Commander/MicroCompact holsters that I'm working on now. I print prototype patterns to paper to see if I'm close. When I've got the pattern where I want it to be, I switch to card stock. This saves me the step of having to transfer anything to separate pieces of cardboard. I use plain old scissors to cut out the patterns once they're printed on card stock. I've cut leather with both a razor knife (box cutter) and my grandmother's 70+ year old seamstress shears. I'm not completely satisfied with either. Her shears need sharpening, which I'm finding a bit difficult to do, since I have little experience sharpening scissor like implements. I find that I usually need to make multiple passes with the razor knife and have problems making a proper vertical cut (see separate post). A head knife would probably work better. Maybe after I sell a few more holsters.

I DEFINITELY have to second the labor and workmanship factor. I've never owned a holster as good as the ones that I'm starting to make now, and I like the Don Humes that I've bought. There's not THAT much price difference in any reasonable amount of leather used. Labor is another story entirely. I just found that out a few minutes ago while fabricating (what I hope is) my final tuckable belt clip paddle design. If the customer wants a custom, especially hand sewn, holster, he should expect to pay a price commensurate with the leather.

Not THAT nice. It was Pinhead from "Hellraiser" or Joaquin Phoenix. I figured Pinhead was a lot less creepy!

I like it! Just what I need to replace my Hunter that I use for my 6" Model 29-2. Of course my OWB for my 4" for winter needs to come first.

I bought myself a 7-8oz. double shoulder today, along with 4-5oz. for clip covers and a few more tools and some Eco-Flo glue. I hope to get my first M1911 tuckable done toward the weekend, then a replacement Glock 19 holster to replace the one I sold to a friend. I hope to get the final clip attachment arrangement done on this holster.

I wouldn't worry about it wearing through. If the strap is reasonably tight, there shouldn't be that much movement, and the movement is what causes wear. If you're really concerned about it, you could sew a piece of thin plastic between the liner and the strap. I doubt it'll be necessary.

Anybody have a recommendation for the weight of the clip cover? I'm thinking under 5oz., but would like a recommendation for somebody who's actually made one. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, since I know the way that Hume and Bianchi (albeit in plastic) do it works. I just need the proper material.

I was told right off the bat that veg tanned was the only way to go, and I've never heard anything to contradict that. Shoulders seems like the way to go. Thanks.

Thanks. That's useful information. I called them earlier and asked about veg tanned sides, and the guy I talked to said that a medium grade 7-8oz. was in the vicinity of $200. I didn't know if shoulders were acceptable or not. My looking around on the web tells me they're more in my price range. As I said previously, my selection skills have been iffy at best. At least by now, I'm starting to build up a little knowledge and experience. I'm still trying to figure out what weight to use for the belt clip cover. I figure something 5lb. or less is necessary for it not to interfere with use of the clip. I want to get started on the M1911 versions of my tuckable IWB, but want to do things in an economically rational, repeatable way.

Does anyone know anything about Cleveland Crafts & Leather? They appear to have two locations. Heretofore, my leather buying has been guided by a keen ignorance on my part. I'm trying to be smarter in my purchases, since I don't have much money to spend and none at all to waste.

When you buy a good piece of hide, what part do you get? Side? Shoulders? What's the best, most economical choice for general holster making? And while we're at it, would you just walk into Tandy or mail order, either from Tandy or somebody else? Thanks.

I'd put the top five as: M1911 Glock 19/23 Small Glocks J-Frame Smith Springfield XD That's based on what I see at our club. If you make it the top ten, then you throw in Ruger LCPs, Keltecs, Kahrs, H&Ks, and S&W M&Ps.

I'm not going to be doing any lined holsters for the foreseeable future, but that's definitely an interesting way to do it. I've never owned a lined holster. Of course the best holsters I've ever BOUGHT were the Don Hume IWBs I use. For my purposes, the ones I'm making now are better, and neither are lined. That doesn't make it a bad idea, just not something that currently justifies the effort, although that could change. When I make an OWB for my 4" S&W Model 29-2, I might consider try that technique just to see how it works.

I've gotten all of my leather and 99% of my tools from the Cleveland store on Pearl near Brook Park Rd. They've been quite helpful for me as a beginner. I plan to buy my first good piece of leather rather than a remnant from them soon.

My Glock 22 holster is 9-10oz. You could use that thing as a brake shoe!

Thanks. I have no plans for lined holsters, although if somebody actually wanted one, I'd do whatever they were willing to pay for.

My first piece of leather from Tandy was 5-7oz. The next was 8-10oz. The first was maybe a little light, but worked ok. The second worked, but is probably much thicker than it needs to be. A guy on another forum uses 6-8oz., which I'm thinking of standardizing on. I'm probably going to get myself a piece of good leather in the near future, instead of the remnants I've been using and want to avoid wasting money, by buying what I really need. Also, for the cover that's sewn over the belt clip to hold it in place, what's a good weight? I suspect something lighter than the 5-7oz. that I used for my first IWB. Thanks.

It's very stylized, especially the back. I'm not sure how practical it is, but it certainly has a good look.

It's definitely got a different look. Kind of "Planet of the Apes"!

If you don't want to use tape, an alternative would be to mount two brass pins on side of the brass rod or dowel that you use and drill two corresponding holes in the top of the blue gun. You could then insert the pins into the holes, keeping the rod in place during the forming process. It wouldn't be permanent, but wouldn't come loose when it was damp.

That was my first exercise in a form fitting holster. I couldn't afford to waste leather and I wasn't sure how it would work, so I left myself some leeway for adjustment via boning.

The only real issues I have with my second IWB are that the adjustable rear sight still has a tendency to poke me in the side, even with the body shield. I think the solution to that problem is to just put the cheap plastic Glock rear sight back on. The other issue I have is that the reinforcement at the mouth of the holster makes taking the holster off a little bit more difficult than it needs to be. A combination of lighter weight leather (all around) and more aggressive edging should fix that. After I do my IWBs for my M1911 and a friends Springfield MicroCompact, I think I'll do some kind of OWB for my 4" Model 29 for carry in the winter. Actually, I've been thinking of doing a large "pocket" holster for use in the car in the winter. Ohio law requires a holster for on-body carry in a vehicle, for which a pocket holster is acceptable. I was thinking that a "pocket" holster for my parka would both comply with the law and keep the gun accessible.

I would consider the epoxy kind of extreme. I just made a couple of tuckable IWBs for my Glocks. I don't have any dummy guns yet, so I just scotch taped a piece of hardwood doweling (cut to fit exactly the distance between the front and rear sights) to the guns and wrapped them in plastic wrap before doing the forming. That worked just fine. I used scotch tape because I didn't want anything too aggressive to have to clean off of the slides. Besides, the saran wrap protected the tape from moisture. I'd probably use clear packing tape on the blue gun, since there's no need to protect it from moisture. Blue guns aren't as expensive as a real gun, but I'd still be reluctant to permanently (or semi-permanently) modify one when it wasn't really necessary.