Deanimator

[Here are my two tuckable IWBs, the first for the Glock 19/23, the second for the Glock 17/22. The clip attachment on the first is unsatisfactory and has been superseded. The attachment on the second is better, but still not optimum. I think I'm going to have to use a lighter weight of leather to sew the clip on the way the commercial makers do. The G19 holster used 5-7oz. leather while the second used 8-10oz. The next piece I get will be something in between.

A very nice holster. I like how you continued the stitch grooves past where the stitches are. It gives it a nice symmetrical look.

I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures of my pocket holster. I'm pretty happy with the way they've turned out, and have switched from the DeSantis Nemesis I was using to my first prototype.

At the recommendation of the guy at Tandy, I bought a #3. Initially I wasn't that happy with the results. Now I'm kind of ambivalent. I'm leaning toward a #2.

I'm well into my tuckable IWB for (initially) my Glock 19. I've come up with what appears to be a workable mount for the standard Tandy belt clip. The problem that I've run into was that I attempted to duplicate the way the clip is actually attached on my Don Hume 715Ms and the garbage Bianchi that was my first IWB. They use a piece of leather and a piece of plastic sewn over the clip, respectively. I'm mounting the clip to a sort of reverse paddle, but the concept should be the same. The problem that I ran into is that using the same ~1/8th" leather for the paddle and for the clip retaining piece doesn't allow the clip to actually be slipped over the belt and pants. I spent a bunch of time yesterday cutting the retaining piece which didn't work. I eventually punted and riveted the clip to the paddle, which seems to work ok. What's the secret to using a leather retaining piece? Thinner leather in the piece? This holster looks like it's going to turn out pretty well. I'm looking for ways to make successive versions better. Thanks.

That involves my bete noir, freehand design! What I did, which is similar but takes my artistic incompetence out of the equation is to take a bitmap of a Glock 19, and use Corel Draw to trace it. (Used to be a separate program, but is now built in) I then measured my Glock 19 and dimensioned the drawing for X and Y values to match. That's how I finally got this one right. It's what I'll do when I do the M1911/MicroCompact version. Trust me, you want me doing freehand work about as much as you want Stuttering John from the Howard Stern show as an air traffic controller.

Yesterday I came across some card stock which I inherited from my aunt. That means I can print final patterns directly onto card stock and skip the step of printing to paper then gluing to cardboard.

Success!!! I first laid out the Glock 22 pattern on my new (and better quality) piece of leather. Digging around, I found the last usable piece from my first piece of hide. I laid out the Glock 19 pattern on it. Rather than potentially waste a piece of what looks like better leather, I cut out the Glock 19. It fits the Glock 19 great! Tomorrow I'll lay out and cut out the mouth reinforcement, paddle and the piece which retains the spring clip. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting these holsters done and start testing them. I really hate untucked shirts and can't wait to replace my Don Hume 715Ms with these. I like the Humes, but these will work out so much better for me. Next will be versions for the M1911, Springfield MicroCompact and Browning Hi Power.

We're using similar if not identical techniques. If I didn't have Corel Draw X3, I don't know what I'd do. I make extensive use of trim and weld to modify shapes easily. I also use a tracing of a bitmap of my target firearm. I also use the fillet/chamfer tool to give myself nice rounded corners.

I think I've finally got the body laid out properly! I think I've done more drawings than North American did of the P-51. The nice thing was being able to do a Glock 17/22 version, then take 1/2" off the bottom for the Glock 19/23 version.

I hope my upcoming tuckable IWB looks as good. Personally, I'd be inclined to radius the places where there are sharp angles.

I just picked up a pack of the Stanley "Fat Max" blades for my razor knife. I'm almost ready to start cutting on my tuckable IWB design. We'll see how much better (if any) these do than the blades which came with the knives.

Thanks for the recommendation.

If I had to bet money, I'd say that I got the "medium" blades in that package deal, since I'd bet their cheaper. I'll probably see if Home Depot or Lowes has the medium blades.

Yep, that's it, a fine Stanley product. The Home Depot website mentions medium and heavy blades.

I'm not sure if I have light, medium or heavy duty blades. The knives came in a kit with a couple of tape measures. What weight blade would you recommend?

I've got a knife sharpening kit which I use for a couple of military knives. How often would you sharpen blades like that? Thanks.

I'm using a utility razor knife with a retractable, double ended blade that can be removed and flipped when one side gets dull.

The head knife discussion was interesting. Given the cost however, that's not something I'll be getting soon. Right now, I'm using an X-acto knife for cutting paper and carboard patterns. For cutting leather, I'm using a standard razor knife (box cutter). I notice that I rarely get through on one pass with the razor knife. The blade is new, so I'm sure my technique is lacking. For those not using a head knife, what are you using and do you have any tips on cutting more accurately and effectively? Thanks.

There are definitely similarities and differences in how we do it. I lay out the basic shape in Corel Draw. What I've tried to do with this holster is to get a bitmap of a Glock 19 and dimension it for length and height. I then lay the bitmap on top of the one side of the holster drawing and size around it. If it's a simple holster, I then only need to mirror that side and combine the two. The issue that I'm running into here is that since parts of the sides are different, it's tricky to match the shape of the trigger guard area on the opposite side after modifying it. I think I may have hit on a way to do it, namely, breaking the two sides apart and laying the smaller one onto the larger. Then I can tuck in the outline to match the desired shape. We'll see how it works. Thanks for your help.

I designed and laid out my pocket holster using Corel Draw. That worked out very well, especially considering that I'm a miserable freehand artist. I'm working on an IWB holster and am running into issues relating to making adjustments to the drawing after printing the pattern. My pattern has an integral body shield, making one side somewhat differently shaped at the mouth. By trial and error I incrementally stretch the pattern to get enough space around the gun, especially the trigger guard. The problem is that when I stretch the overall horizontal dimension, it somewhat exaggerates certain dimensions, such as the depth of the area around the trigger guard. I can manually tighten that up on one side, but that creates the problem of duplicating that modification on the opposite side. Does it even matter if one side is bigger than the other, if I can outline around the correctly dimensioned side when the pattern's folded over? That would be fine, although that would still leave me with a correctly dimensioned cardboard pattern, but an inaccurate digital one. I know that I'm probably missing something very simple that other people using Corel Draw or a CAD program have already solved. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the tips and offer of the stitching pony. I've got the tools necessary to build one at reasonable cost. Heck, maybe I can sell those too! :D For my next holsters, I'll try dampening the leather before using the stitch wheel. I dipped my holsters this morning and am letting them dry before applying additional coats via dauber. I REALLY like that Eco Flo bison brown! As far as leather goes, I had to go cheap when deciding whether this was for me or not. It seems as though the reception is going to be good enough to justify buying better leather for the third batch. This is speculative income, not ADDITIONAL income. Thanks again for your help.

I'm actually using an old Windows 3.1 manual as a safe resting place. Would you recommend that I just try to push it through unsupported? As you an guess, I'm new to this.

Well, after having made the first prototype, I've turned out my first four production J-Frame pocket holsters. It was a lot of work, but I've gone from absolutely zero leatherworking experience to being fairly confident of what I'm doing. I'll post pictures when I get a chance. My design is far better than I'd expected. It fits most reasonable sized front jeans pockets, stays in the pocket, and fits my Smith Model 36 quite well. I was debating sewing putting more stitching in it below the trigger guard, but it doesn't appear to need it and I'm afraid of it holding onto the gun too tightly. I've got a system down pretty well of construction. One problem I ran into was the materials. I'm using Tandy remnants for these first few. I've run into issues where the leather towards one edge is stiffer than that towards another. That makes it hard to stitch groove the softer leather. It wants to bunch up in places, rather than allow the groove to be cut. Another problem, due to lack of experience, is keeping the stitch wheel in the groove. I find that I can either get good, distinct marks, or I can be accurate. Both together are tough. Anyone have any suggestions? Pounding the stitch holes with an awl and a rubber mallet is hard work, but I've gotten the hang of it. My first dye job turned out vastly better than I expected. I used the "buffalo brown" Eco-Flo and it looks great. I invested in more leather, more die and more tools (adjustable stitch groover). My next investment is going to be a few plastic or aluminum guns for forming of belts holsters. There's a big CCW community here in Ohio. You pretty much can't buy a job here these days, so holster making is at least a source of some income. I've got people at my club who liked my prototype and are interested in buying a copy. Thanks to everyone who had advice about IWB designs and sewing machines. Maybe I can sell enough handmade holsters to eventually finance a decent machine.

Having gotten through my first J-Frame pocket holsters (see other thread), I had enough time to resize and reprint my pattern and glue it to cardboard. I think it's going to work, although I'm thinking about adding another 1/2" to the width, to allow for different guns. I tried the pattern on my ex-boss's Springfield XD9 and it was JUST big enough. I need to streamline things a bit too. I think my mounting design will work alright. The first time I tried it as a prototype, I glued together two 1/8" thick strips, which I think may be too thick for comfort. One strip will probably work with another shorter piece glued and sewn on to retain the clip.