Big O

"Gunslinger" rigs aren't really my thing, but.........DAMN, that's nice!

I post pictures of my work in progress on my personal Facebook page, and have ended up with several orders from friends, or friends of friends. Mind you, I'm mainly doing it as a hobby. This just makes it pay for itself.

I don't bone IWB holsters in much detail, and the rear surface, not at all. Just hand-molding on the rear. From my own experience wearing these holsters, retention is not an issue due to them being pressed against the body by the belt. That's a gorgeous holster. Hard to believe it's a first.

I don't use a stitching horse, either. I do my stitching while sitting in my recliner, kind of halfway watching TV. Poke three, stitch three, lather, rinse, repeat. There's a lot of fumbling around, and wasted motion. Al Stohlman would be appalled, no doubt, but it works for me. The key to the Avenger style is to stitch the reinforcement piece on first. Probably an obvious point, but there it is....

That stamp would be perfect for me. It looks exactly life the symbol for the US Army Military Police Corps.

Just made this one. Dye is a mixture of Chocolate Brown and Red. We won't talk about me screwing up the stitch line BAD.....

Some horse butts I've gotten have been a bit brittle. I've had some pieces crack when I bent them. So, now, I inspect my pieces carefully, and if they seem a bit too stiff or dry, I'll soften them up with a coat of neatsfoot oil on both sides. I really really like horsehide. While it's a bit harder to cut, it seems like it cuts smoother. I find it actually easier to edge than cowhide.

I recently made a basic belt slide holster for a customer who wanted it for a Sigma .40. I told him I didn't have a mold for it. He assured me that it would fit in a Glock holster, and said that it even fit in a Fobus kydex holster. I was still a little uncertain, looking at pictures comparing the two guns, but I went ahead and made one just a LITTLE (about 1/8") loose, with the stitching rounded around the trigger guard, like the Sigma, and did only basic molding. He was perfectly happy with the holster, and said it fit PERFECTLY.

I draw the stitch lines on my template. I not only use the template to mark the leather for cutting, but also place it on top of the cut piece, and then poke holes along the stitch lines, into the leather beneath, to mark the line location. Then I use a freestyle groover to connect the dots. I just use measurements to get the stitch lines as close as possible. They're not perfect, but close enough to be functional and reasonably attractive.

I have access to a HiPoint in .40, since my stepson, against my advice, bought one. And I have a Glock 22. I'm nowhere near Wisconsin, but I have it on good authority that the postal service delivers there...... How "custom" does your friend want the holsters?

There are SOOOOOO many things in this video that I had to learn through trial and error (mostly error), but still a few more that I just learned from watching it. Thank you so very much for sharing this video.

Nice! If that's not perfect, it's gotta be the next best thing.

I've hand-stitched two belts. It's VERY time-consuming. Not that much of a factor, though, if you're doing it for yourself, or as a gift. Especially if you do your stitching like I do, while watching TV. I'm not seeing a benefit to handstitching belts for sale, though. Unless I was charging $100+, I'd be working for less than minimum wage. And I don't personally feel that my end product (when it comes to belts, at least) is worth that much.

That's some gorgeous coloring on that 1911 holster, and a very attractive design and worksmanship.

Ya know, a zebra is, technically, a horse......

As for the stitching, it looks like there is no groove for the stitches to sink into, which will keep them straighter. The stitching around the belt slot is probably unnecessary. Speaking of the belt slot, is it REALLY that much wider than the belt, or is that just a random belt you pulled out of a drawer as a prop? Belt slots should be SLIGHTLY wider than the belt itself, so that the holster doesn't flop around. I prefer the bottom edge of my holsters to be at least flush with the muzzle, if not to extend just a little bit (1/8 inch or so) beyond. With belt slide holsters, it's ESPECIALLY important to mold in a tunnel for the front sight, because snagging the front sight against the bottom of the holster is a real show-stopper. It looks your holster has such a tunnel, but I wanted to be sure you understood that. Hard to tell for sure in the picture, but the edges look very square. I'd recommend using an edger on the corners, and burnishing the edges.

I've got to weigh in on this one. It looks like there's MAYBE a half inch of clearance between the point where the trigger guard meets the frontstrap and the top edge of the holster. Yes, the grip angles up and away, and there's room to wedge your hand partway up there. But that's not ideal. What IS ideal is the ability to get a FULL FIRING GRIP (minus the finger on the trigger) while the pistol is still fully in the holster. With the exception of hunting handguns, folks carry handguns in holsters because they anticipate the possibility of needing the handgun on very short notice to defend their lives. Under those circumstances, the draw is going to be as fast as they can manage it, probably faster than they've ever done it before, and a whole lot sloppier. The more advantages we can give them, the better. One such advantage is lessening the possibility of fumbling the pistol due to a haphazard, partial grip. Yes, on a casual day at the range, it's no problem to wiggle the gun into a proper firing grip after you pull it leisurely from the holster. In extremis, though, it's a big problem.

The biggest challenge I had to begin with, beyond sharpening, was learning how to apply consistent, unidirectional pressure to the awl so that it wouldn't wobble and flex. Sounds like you've got that licked.

Given that there's still a little bit of space between the handgun and the stitch line, I'd agree that it's probably the molding that's the problem. I'd try casing, smoothing it out, and remolding with less (or even NO) emphasis on the trigger guard area. You might lighten up on the ejection port, too, because sometimes that's a factor. And did you remember to mold in a sight channel for the front sight? Because that can lock a pistol into a holster REALLY well...... (My computer's acting up and I can't get the pictures to expand right now)

I use mostly a heavy-duty pair of scissors or a utility knife. I use waxed nylon thread, and snip it with scissors and then melt it flush with a lighter.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=27604&st=0&p=173620entry173620

That is some VERY nice work for a FIRST holster! Well done. You might also consider a variation of the Avenger design, getting creative with the belt slot and belt tunnel locations. I've adapted it to an SOB design, and it worked well. Not too sure about the crossdraw, though. I did make one dual-carry Avenger design, that caught a LOT of flak on here. LoL

Now that you mention it.....it does look a bit too close to vertical for a crossdraw......

Too radical. MUCH more of an angle than necessary to correct the minimal change in angle. Also, it completely fails to address the simple vertical shift. Just keep that tab more-or-less horizontal, but move it down on the pattern about 1/2 inch. About even with the stitch line corner, I think.

I'm pretty sure that's caused by the deformation of the nice 2D pattern by sticking a gun in it and making it 3D. I struggled with the very same thing with sweat shields and belt slots on Avenger holsters. You might do what I did - learn from the experience and...... Note to self: on the pattern, move the right belt loop down 1/2 inch.