Josh Ashman

Belly leather is stretchy and won't firm up. It also doesn't tool well, it's too mushy to have crisp defined marks. I don't have too much trouble with neck leather although it does often have wrinkles on it and if you're using skirting that hasn't been split it can get really thick in the neck. I buy leather by the side and always find a use for about everything. It seems to me that if you just buy the bend the price per square goes up enough that you could have had the whole side for the same final dollar amount. I have pushed it and thought I'd make some "questionable" leather work and had to remake the project because I wasn't happy with it. Just my 2 cents. Looking good Carguy. I'd stop your weave short of the edges and run a cam border around it. Have a good day folks!

Once the liner is glued and stitched to the front you treat it the same as a single layer of leather. It shouldn't be any more difficult to get tucked into the loops than a single layer of comparable overall thickness. Again, depending on how loose you make the slots and how "deep" the drop for the belt loop is you may have to dunk it in water to get it to bend enough to form it back through the loops. I used to make a fairly long belt loop but then decided I liked them to be tighter fitting to the cartridge belt so thy wouldn't "ride up". Once I started making them fit tight I had to start dunking them. I have to basically fold the holster part in half to get it through the loop. I cringe a little when I do it, but I do it all the same. The only "bad" thing I've had happen is the dunking causes the antique finish I use to bleed a little on the stitching and muddy it up. If it were me then, yes, I'd sew around the loop slots. If you just glue them they could come loose. Like everything else though there is no hard and fast rule. I've also stopped the liner before the loop and just had that be a single layer. I don't think I'd do that with 6 oz but I wouldn't think twice about doing with 8 oz. Mostly just depends on what you want it to look like. Good luck!

Thank you ma'am! I just use a set of wing dividers and cut each line with a swivel knife then use one of the nylon bevelers that goes in a swivel knife body. I want to get one of the JWP beaders from Weaver but haven't let myself pony up the money yet. I scribe the far outside line from the edge of the leather then scribe each line on in from the previous one.

Thanks JLS, you, Dwight and some of the others give so much good advice on here I figured that since I had a little experience with what CaptQuirk had asked about that I should chime in and try to be helpful as well. Good luck to you too Red Bear, I'm sure yours will be great! I was just scrolling through some old pics to see if I had something and the ones Red Bear linked are about the best I have on hand. Apparently I don't take a lot of pictures of the back side of my holsters . Anyway, these are the slots that the lace will go through; and although I don't have a finished picture of the back, you can see the laces in this one. I leave them long enough to hang down 5 or 6 inches. The bleed knot looks just like the one on the front, except I don't put a concho under it on the back. This one isn't lined CaptQuirk, but you get the general idea. All the best folks! Josh

Dwight's advice to double up your 6 oz is spot on in my opinion. I'd make up your pattern, use it to cut the front. Tool it if you're going to as it will "grow" a little with the tooling. Use the front to make a pattern for the liner and cut it. Glue them back to back and stitch everything but the main seam. I like to use a welt on the main seam, if you want one use the holster body for your welt edge pattern, cut it then use a compass to make it as wide as you want, glue it in and stitch up the main seam, or skip the welt and just glue and stitch. Depending on how tight your loop slots are and how much drop you have for the belt you may want, or need, to dunk it in water to fold it over for the belt loop and get it pushed through the slots. A few other thoughts; 1) I'd put the slots in after the pieces were glued. 2) I'd use a 3/16 "or so" hole punch at the ends of the slots and a head knife to cut between them. 3) I like to put a 1/2" latigo or chap leather "keeper" through the bottom of the skirt and main holster body to keep the holster from wanting to pull up through the loops. You can put a "bump" out of the main seam to hold the holster from pulling up, but the keeper lace provides some more insurance. I tie the ends with a bleed knot. A Chicago screw would also work. Good luck with it! Josh

Yup, that's a fine plan. Some do line with suede, but others will tell you lining with suede is the devil. I'm not a fan of it, but it's probably not the devil.

Hello Alpha2, Mop & Glo. I dilute it with water in roughly equal parts and use it for my final finish. I got the idea from fellow member Katsass on here and have been very happy with the results. I also know of other members who've tried it and don't like it at all. All the best, Josh

Thanks again folks! I appreciate the kind words! All the best, Josh

Thanks Red Bear! I cut the length of the hose just a hair under the width of the pistol. Once the screw is threaded into the T nut it'll squish down a lot. Part of my thought process is that having the tension of the compressed hose on the screw will keep it from backing out. I'm pretty new to tension screws, someone with more experience than I have with them might chime in and give you some more info. Thanks Eric! To get the pink I used some hot pink Angelus paint I had picked up some time ago and mixed it way down with iso alcohol. To mix it I put about 1/2 teaspoon into maybe 6 oz. of alcohol in a bottle and shock it vigorously. Another way of saying this is that I poured a little of the paint into the least full bottle of alcohol I had laying around. I applied it with a piece of scrap shearling. I thought it was "OK", it was a little to much like paint for me but my wife thought it was cool and the customer loved it. ext time I'm going try a few drops of Oxblood Fiebings in alcohol until it seems like the right color. I'm hoping to get more of a dye and less of a paint. Thanks again!

That's really nice Eric! Good on you for sharing. Aside from a few tool differences it matches what I do very closely. All the best, Josh

Like everybody else my suggestion is to glue and stitch. I would also recommend using contact cement instead of rubber cement. Barge or Masters are the 2 brands I use most often although I know a lot of people use Weldwood and have good results. One option, if you really don't want to bother with stitching it is to find a local shoe repair shop, saddle shop or holster maker and see if you can hire them to sew it for you. Another option would be to use heavy skirting (14/16 oz) and just make a single layer belt. It wouldn't be as resistant to stretching as a doubled and stitched belt but I believe it would be better than a doubled belt that was just glued. Good luck with your belt. Josh

Thanks Biker & Krusher! Finish is 50/50 water/Mop&Glo. The brown tones are Fiebings dye cut with alcohol and the pink is Angelous hot pink leather paint cut with alcohol. Next time I aim for pink I'm going to use oxblood dye cut heavily. I put a coat of black antique over the pink to highlight the carving. Thank you very much BHP! I'm just playing around with the tension screws as well. I've had personal holster loosen up enough after a few years of use that I'd tighten them up if I could, which was my intent with these. It's a new thing for me so I can't give a lot of feedback, but they are fairly easy to add it seems like they'd become useful as the holster gets more use. I can say that both of these holsters were plenty snug without any real tension on the screw, give the screw a few turns and you couldn't draw at all. Just in case anyone wondered, I picked up the stainless T-nuts and flat head screws from McMaster Carr. These are 8-32 and 3/4" long screws. 1" would have worked too, but they would have protruded slightly through the T nut. I have finishing washers on hand from my saddlery work but you can get them from McMaster as well. I am using hose from the auto parts store for the spacer, it's ID is probably between 3/16 and 1/4". I just went in and asked to look at their bulk hose in the back and got several feet of the sizes that looked like they'd work. All the best, Josh

Be prepared for an onslaught of "SOB holsters are the devil" comments. My 2 cents is that like any other carry position it works for some and doesn't work for others. There are several things to consider about SOB carry, i.e. possibility of serious back injury if you fall on it, serious printing if you bend over, etc. Then palm out or palm in bring up another round of discussions. When I get asked for an SOB holster I have these conversations with the customer so that they know what they are looking at, assuming they didn't already. If they are committed to getting one I'm generally fine to build them one. And, although I don't use it often, I do have a clip on IWB similar to the one pictured above, except it's "palm in" for an officers model 1911. In my opinion it serves some purposes just fine. All the best, Josh

I call them "half breeds". I don't think I invented the term but I don't recall where I heard it, or when I started using it.

Hello Barrel Pony, I am one of those novice saddle makers and I'll share a few thoughts. The last saddle I built was a working saddle for my wife and although I didn't skimp or shortcut on any material I also didn't go extravagant. It's a simple roughout Wade with Jeremiah Watt stainless hardware built on a Bowden tree with Hermann Oak leather. I spent just over $1,300 on the materials. A larger scale maker would be buying in bulk and would be able to get the material quite a bit cheaper. Larger makers will be run on a production basis by many different workers, which most people view as a downside. They will also be building based off of proven patterns and will likely be familiar with their job. A novice saddle maker, such as myself will be doing everything one step at a time by hand, but that doesn't mean they'll do it well or "right". I think the best value I have seen for what I would call a semi custom saddle is Jeremy Stead, you can check out his work on www.ranhcsaddle.com but it will be about double your budget. Another great option would be McCall Saddles, again they would be at least double the budget you have noted but they are a great semi custom saddle, in my opinion. Good, production saddles that would hit around your budget, again in my opinion, would be; Saddle Barn, My wife and I have owned 2, a swell fork and a Wade, both were hard working ranch saddles and they were both quite nice. Billy Cook, my wife has a Wade Tree Ranch saddle from them and it is very nice. Colorado Saddlery, we've owned 2 a swell fork and a Wade, both were good saddles. Another great option would be to look for a used saddle that fits your needs. I once picked up a used Scotty Derringer slick fork. He is a custom maker in northern AZ that was located in the area I lived at the time. It was my first custom saddle, although not built for me and it was great in every way. For background my wife and I have owned and rode horses all of our lives. We own and run a small cow calf operation in addition to our other endeavors. We do not compete in shows or rodeos nor do we ride every day. We do ride 3 to 4 times a week at times, we do start all of our own horses and have for over 20 years and we have occasion to rope a calf every now and then. When I say a saddle is "good" I mean it holds up to this level of use, works and fits on the horses I put it on (with reasonable padding) and is comfortable for the rider. Good luck, Josh

Thanks Jeff!

Thanks CaptQuirk!

It's been a while since I posted anything and had a run of Glock holsters that I think turned out pretty well. All are clip on and all built out of 7/8 HO. The G21 is IWB for rightly. The pink G42 is OWB for a lefty and my first time trying to make a pink holster. The other G43 is IWB for a lefty. Have a great Friday and weekend folks.

I'm going to guess it's a 8-32 T nut on the holster body, then an external tooth lock washer between the loop and the holster then the base of the snap screwed down with a 8-32 button head screw. You can get the hardware online from McMaster Carr or from a decently stocked hardware store. I'm really guessing on the button head screw. I don't, or at least haven't yet had cause, to screw down the base of a line 24 snap. Plenty of folks do it and would know exactly what size and type of screw will fit. All the best, Josh

In my experience better quality veg tan leather doesn't want to wrinkle as much as lesser quality and some areas of the hide are more prone to wrinkle than others. for instance, the neck seems to do it worse than the butt. both would have been on the bend you used. Tandy leather, even their "better" stuff is more prone to it than Hermann Oak. JLS is absolutely correct to say that on a lined piece the inner one must compress and the outer must stretch. However I personally don't think this makes a bit of difference. You used 2 pieces of 5/6 leather, if you used 1 piece of 10/11 leather the total thickness would be the same and the leather would be compressed on the inside and stretched on the outside the same amount. It's leather, one of the things that makes it great is that it compresses and stretches so well. I suggest to get it wet before you fold it. Make the fold slowly if it starts to wrinkle, get it more wet. If it still wants to wrinkle use a slicker and work the wrinkles out. All the best, Josh

I'm an extreme novice when it comes to building saddles. I've built 3 total over the last 5 years or so. Two were made with Chahin and one with Herman Oak. I do make quite a few holsters, saddle bags, scabbards, etc. and I always use H.O. for them. Anyway, one of the saddles I built with Chahin leather is my personal one and it's held up really well. I don't have any issues with it now after about 4 years of use and I don't recall any issues when I built the saddle. I will say that in ordering from Weaver you occasionally get a bummer hide. This will happen with either HO or Chahin. I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in and give you more to think about. Good luck with your first! Josh

Yep, what he said. All subjective.

When hand sewing anything, once I need to change threads I'd backstitch two holes then start over with a new thread and move forward. Run an overstitch wheel over the front of your stitches when you're done and the two back stitches are all but invisible. Certainly a person can make things as big of a deal as they like or keep them as simple as they like, what you do is up to you. The pic below is the last saddle I built, which was about 4 months before I bought a sewing machine. Everything, including the breast collar you can see in the background was hand stitched.

I use a 6' piece of aluminum angle for a straight edge. I roll the hide out on the floor, lay the angle where I want the first cut and then mark the line with a scratch awl. I just make it deep enough to be seen easily. Then I cut that line with a round knife. I use a poly cutting board, the biggest Wally world stocks and just move it up every few feet. Used to use a pine board but felt like the grain of the wood sometimes pulled my cut off line. Once the first cut is done I use a strap cutter like Dwight, Getting used to round knives, strap cutters, draw knives and assorted other leather specialty tools has really helped me out. I used to try and make do with utility knifes and they just don't work as well for me. A sharp round knife will easily cut heavy leather and you can make anything you like. A strap cutter or draw knife is essential for belts and other strap goods. Good luck, Josh

When hand sewing I'd use a manageable amount of thread and just splice as needed. If it could be done with one length, great! If it needed to be spliced, no problem!