Shooter McGavin

Heres one I did a couple weeks ago. It is meant to be worn horizontal to the belt, at about 11 o'clock for a right handed shooter. The strap is attached in the back, and is designed to be unsnapped, slid up behind the belt ( holster in front of belt ), then brought forward and snapped in the front. Works nicely.

Are you using stain or dye? Theres a difference. For a topcoat, I've been using the Eco-Flo satin sheen mixed 1:1 with water, with a half part super sheen, as the satin was a bit too dull for my taste. Just recently started trying out the Angelus 600, so far so good, seems to take much longer to fully cure than the eco-flo stuff. My experience has been, in regards to finish coats not necessarily leather based, that the longer something takes to dry, the more durable the finish.

I just finished this one yesterday for a Glock 19/23/32. I used Fiebings Professional Oil Dye ( Black and Light Brown ), a light wipe with neetsfoot, and finally Angelus 600 sealer.

I cant see them

Horsehide.... just read an interesting article regarding horse vs cow on Friday while I was looking for pre-cut horsehide belt liners ( no joy, BTW ). The article I read was written by a man who says he has 30 years experience working with both cow and horse, and he feels that the cow will outperform the horse in all aspects of gunleather. If youre interested in reading it, I'll scour through my browser history and see what I can dig up. The PF9 holster looks great, I like the concept of the clip on with the built in cant. Most clip types ride straight up. The Bersa holster I'm going to nitpick a couple of things. The first being the trigger guard coverage. Theres a lot of trigger and trigger guard exposed. Dont know if its a real safety concern, but most prefer a bit more coverage, builders and end users alike. Second, You might find it better to move you belt slots away from the gun a bit. Unless you plan for that to be between the pant and belt, you might find some difficulty with the slots that close. The slots themselves look nice though. What did you use to cut them out with? _dan

I ordered some strips from Springfield but theyre too short for what I need. Same thing with the horsebutt. Is there an online supplier that I can buy 1 1/2" horse strips for a 44 inch belt? Thanks

I'm not so sure I can make a nice pancake holster with adequate retention for this pistol. What does the LW.Net mindhive have to say? Any pics of something similar youve seen or done? Thanks Dan Sorry for the bad image quality... I upsized it from a very small cell phone photo.

If you dunk leather in near boiling, or boiling, water, it shrinks quite a bit and gets as hard as a rock.

Beautiful. The depth of the stamping is impressive. Looks like you used a 10 pound sledge

I dyed a few pieces with Fiebings Pro Oil Dye in Saddle Tan. After they had dried for a few days, I touched o couple pieces while my fingers had some water on them. it's been a couple days and the dark spots where the water was are still there. Think they'll go away? I'm not sure why this would even happen. Thanks!

Care to share the rolling pin method with us?

Dude I was cracking up laughing here so badly, the wife had to come see what was so funny. Thanks, it's been a tough week, I needed that moment of comic relief. But ya, both at the same time. You will need a good belt before attempting such a thing.

Ya the double stack mags sure do a job at "recontouring" you design lol.

I've never made a belt yet, but thats my plan. Maybe particle will post, he recently had a similar issue.

I still use the tools that came with the Tandy Basic Stitching kit for hand sewing. I'm sure there are better ones out there but these have done fine for me thus far. I've also added the Tandy freehand groover and an Osborne Tandy Stitching Kit http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/home/department/Tools/Stitching-Lacing-Tools/11189-00.aspx Tandy Freehand Groover: http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/search/searchresults/88074-11.aspx Osborne Awl : http://springfieldleather.com/store/product/1866/Awl%2CStitching/ Tandy Waxed Thread: http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/search/searchresults/56450-101.aspx After grooving the line, I use the overstitcher to mark out 6 TPI, then, heres where it gets labor intensive... I use the awl that came with the Tandy kit, a block of soft pine, and a rubber hammer, and some beeswax. I stab the beeswax with the awl, line it up on the mark left by the overstitcher, and hit it with the hammer to make the hole. I stab the beeswax every 4th or 5th time. After all the holes are stabbed, I groove the back of the project, then start sewing. I first punch the Osborne awl through each hole, then the needles using the saddle stitch method. Sometimes the thread is a bit too waxy so I rub it down with a brown paper bag before using. When done stitching, I back stitch 4 or 5 places, make sure both thread ends are on the backside of the project, then trim and burn the thread down flush. Hope some of this makes sense.

I've been using a mixture of 2 parts water, 2 parts satin sheen, and 1 part super sheen. not too dull, not too glossy. I sponge it on and let it cure. Usually 2 or 3 applications about 15 minutes apart. It does seem to stiffen up the leather a bit which is good. I've been messing around lately with a cheap airbrush as, especially on black, I would still get streaking now and then. But I did just purchase some 600 and 610 made from Angelus that I'm going to try and see how I like them. Slowly moving away from the Tandy line of chemicals.

Thank you for all the feedback everyone, gotta love the amount of knowledge and insight you all are willing to share! Yes, I'm referring to the full size Desert Eagle, either in 44mag or 50 AE. I used to Mexican Carry the pair of them quite comfortably, but I think some would find it rather odd that a guy who makes holsters for people, doesnt use them for himself. Being an IWB holster I think I can get away with a bit less retention than any sort of OWB just due to the extra "squeeze" applied by my body and the belt. Appreciate all the help, I'll be sure to post pics if this actually comes to fruition. In the meanwhile, feel free to continue the discussion. Dan

Thank you for the feedback. I'll order her some Fiebings Paste this weekend.

I've been wanting to build a Versa-Max style IWB holster for my Desert Eagle for awhile now. I can quite wrap my mind around how to fabricate it though. It looks as if the reinforcement piece around the mouth needs to be sewn onto the front and back patterns first, then the whole mess stitched up into one piece. Add the piece of steel inside the reinforcement panel and the difficulty factor seems to go up. Am I missing something obvious here? Anyone made one in the past and take photos along the way? Thanks a bunch Dan

Looks sort of like what I had planned to do. Did you dress the edges or leave them as cut?

Looks dang good. I always feel like theyre entirely too large when I'm designing the pattern for one.

I bought one of the grab bags from Springfield Leather and it came with a variely of elephant hides, different colors, textures, and patterns. Some of it is meh, some of it looks awesome. Just wondering if anyone has worked with it on a holster before, and if so, can the edges be burnished like regular cowhide or does something different need to be done to it? Thanks in advance! Dan

Pretty cool. How well did it form?

Hmm, thanks for this thread. I just molded an IWB holster for a 1911 using my actual firearm and anywhere "bare" metal touched it left nasty black marks. Of course, this holster is slated to be dyed saddle tan. I'm going to try the lemon juice first, and, if that fails, the rust remover. Oh, why didnt I just saran wrap like normal? :brainbleach:

Is that Mexican Loop style holster the Tandy kit? I just picked one up myself for an 8" S&W 629. Yours came out really nice, love the tooling! I want to try to assemble mine with domed rivets instead of lace though.