Shooter McGavin

The stud portion is quite different as well to work with the socket.

So when I do mine.... I cut my standard front shape of leather, then cut the exotic overlay a little bigger all around. If you glue to the grain side, use your awl or some sandpaper or whatever and scuff the leather up a little bit. If you glue to the flesh side then no reason to. This helps create a stronger bond ( maybe it doesnt, but it makes me feel better so..) Trim the exotic to the size of your front piece that its glued to. Lay your pattern out and mark your stitch lines on both sides of the gun. Stitch the top and the bottom(if open bottom) From there on, build it like a regular holster. Did you pick up some of the pieces from Springfield? If so, what colors did you get? Pic for reference of stitching

Thanks all. cleanview: I typically do overlays of most of the exotics. I try not to with stingray though, but have. Just takes more work. I find that most of the exotics edge and burnish out nicely. Especially shark and elephant. Gator can be tough due to the bony parts. Quill ostrich usually takes a little wax compound to get it looking good. But ya, for the most part, really simple. Just sand well to blend the seam and use a good edger to round it all over nice, then go back and burnish the heck out of it. Let me know if you have more questions on it!

Just random pics of some of the items Ive built lately. If you have questions or comments feel free to post em! more

The ejection port of the 9mm is shorter than the ejection port of the 45. Also the mags are different.

If getting your exotic wet messes it up, then you need to have a chit chat with your supplier.

I dip seal everything, and also dip everything in water when it is time to wet form. Never had that happen. I've also never used foam behind leather either, who knows what kind of chemical reaction may have taken place.

Depends on how your gator was finished. You would have noticed in your dunk water if the color ran off of the piece. Probably still just wet.

Beautiful Work!

Josiah, I found a fella looking for your contact info.

Wow at first I thought this was one of my holsters.....

ARe you guys dip dyeing with the Angelus also? I bought a few bottles to try out.

I have no interest in building this type of holster, but still feel like I need to say "THANK YOU!" for taking the time to share this. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow and do not seem to leave anything up to guessing. Great job!

Im not sure why the glue would make a difference, as it doesnt really seem to absorb into the leather. Just for the sake of research, I built my last mahogany holster and completed all of the steps as normal until it was time to seal it up. Cut, dip dye, dry, glue, stitch, wet form, burnish... Then for the heck of it, I used a dauber and applied the mahogany Fiebings Pro Oil full strength to the holster. Wait a day or so, buff, then seal. No discoloration.

I have a mahogany holster right now with the same issue. I use W&C saddle skirting and dip dye in a 50% Fiebings Pro Oil/ 50% Denatured Alcohol solution. I leave in piece in the dunk for about 30 seconds then work the color in with my hands until nothing wet remains on the surface. Saddle Tan, Light Brown, Dark Brown, and Mahogany will all do this to some degree or another. I hate that the Angelus dye comes in such a small mouthed bottle. I have trouble getting the dauber in there without making a mess.

Thanks for the heads up!

Ok, so I have been asked if I can build a pancake holster with a "Challenge Coin" to be shown off in the design. Not quite sure how to incorporate this. How have you all done this in the past? Do I just cut an overlay panel with a tight fitting hole and glue the coin in place? I mean, I have no clue at all. Thanks!

Im with Lobo on this.

sold. thanks

Use better dye and/or buff it better before sealing?

I have bought a bunch of them and like them way more than the blue guns at this point. If I need a new mold and both rings and multi has it, I will buy the multi every time. I dont mind not having the ejection port at all. I can still get detail around their trigger guards. But the game changer for me is the fixed sight channel. Using the blue guns with a dowel rod, I sometimes end up with the dowel rod shifting and giving me an off center sight channel. ever an issue with the mulit molds.

Brilliant!

For almost 4 years, I have been using the same sort of leather on my hybrids that Alien Gear uses on theirs. It is unmoldable. Ive tried. Weaver has tried. Its not gonna happen. It is very nice leather for hybrid backers though,

I think I will end up going with horsehide. Appreciate the input guys! Puerto Rico has, difficult at best concealed carry laws form what he tells me. He already has one of my OWB's for this particular shooter but says that he cannot chance it accidentally becoming "exposed" while going about his daily routines. Dont know if he is 100% correct, or just worrying too much about the laws of his new location. Either way, Im going to make him his IWB and hope it all works out. Also Im sort of jealous. I love Puerto Rico. Especially the food.

A buddy of mine is moving to Ponce, Puerto Rico next month and asked me to make an IWB for his Taurus before he takes off. He inquired about some sort of cloth to absorb the sweat, I told him that I though a sweat sponge attached to a holster was a bad idea. He kind of agreed, then asked about something to repel the sweat. Just wondering if the mindhive here has encountered anything similar and if so, what did you end up doing? I dont see either option being all that great. Thanks!