Josh Ashman

I've made single layer belts out of heavy saddle skirting (14/16 oz) that have held up very well. If you cut them along the back parallel to the spine they have a minimal amount of stretch. For comparison, this is where you'd cut stirrup leathers for a saddle. That said, they do not hold up as well, nor are they as rigid as a double layer, glued and stitched belt. I have hand sewn many belts. Get yourself a stitching horse, a sharp awl, some thin leather gloves, a small pair of pliers and practice up on your saddle stitching. It's been a while but if I recall correctly you're looking at around 3 hours of mind numbing work (or relaxing, depending on your outlook). Since I've purchased a sewing machine (Cobra class 4) I haven't been even close to tempted to hand sew a belt, or really anything. I usually make my doubled belts out of 2 layers of 7/8 oz because I usually have it on hand. Although I have also used 10/11 with a 4/5 back. Basically somewhere between 14 to 16 oz for a total thickness which will come in just under 1/4". The nice thing about using 7/8 is that it's thick enough to have the top layer make the fold around the buckle then skive it off and pick up the liner and it's all one thickness without the doubled up bulk at the buckle. with the 2 colors of leather you can see what I'm saying in the picture below. Good luck with your belt, however you decide to make it! Josh

Those would be screw back conchos holding it together. Lots of "show" and "arena" type saddles are built with them. It's hard to say but my guess is it's a relatively cheap 60's to 80's saddle that was made in Mexico or in the saddlery equivalent of a sweat shop. This isn't to say it's not a "good" saddle, if you like it and it fits your horse/mule, then who's to say it isn't good for you. The leather on most all of the saddles I've seen that were made in Mexico is tanned in a way that it leaves some kind of a white salt stain on it if it gets wet. All the best, Josh

Looks nice! I have more trouble the littler the holster gets. To build one that small that looks good is a challenge for me. Good job!

Thanks gents, I appreciate the kind comments! TSes, I lightly scribe a guideline for the outside line of my bead with a set of dividers using the outside of the piece as a guide then I cut it with a swivel knife. I use that cut as a guide for the next line in and scribe it with my dividers and cut and repeat until they are all cut. Then I use one of the white nylon bevelers that go in a swivel knife handle. I bought a ceramic bead blade for a swivel knife and couldn't get good results with it so I just started hand cutting and beveling them. Skipper, The pistol in the pic is an Uberti. It is some sort of an NRA commemorative something or another, which is why it has the NRA on the grips. And I did use it to make the pattern. Good luck on yours! Have a great day folks!

Thanks Forester & Red Bear! In regards to the slots, I am always happier when I include them as it keeps the skirt from pulling up through the loop when drawing the pistol. I "borrowed" the idea from fellow member "Treed".

It's not the most original thing I've ever built as it's a pretty close copy of a Ruger Single Six rig I built a while back. but, that;s what the customer wanted and I am happy with how it turned out. 11 oz HO for everything but the bullet loops, which are 4/5 HO. After tooling it got a good coat of NF oil then Fiebings black liquid antique followed by 50/50 M&G mixed with water. Once that dries I wiped it all down with saddle soap. Which doesn't change the appearance much but it does make it smell like a leather product not a floor. Here are a bunch of progress pics snapped with my cell phone and my "glamour" pics once finished. Thanks for lookin, Josh

Looks good Supercub!

Craig & BHP, thank you! Boriqua, thanks and you heard correct. I use the Fiebings antique, after it dries for a good long while, usually overnight at least I'll give that a good rubdown with Leather New (or a no-name equivalent). This pulls a lot of the excess stain off and helps minimize the amount it mitigates when it gets wet. It gets total submerged in water, but just in and out. Not held down and soaked by any means. It still runs and I have to be careful with it, but it usually work OK for me. This is all with the Fiebings liquid acrylic antique, I've never tried the Tandy stuff and hearing how it worked for you, I don't think I ever will! All the best, Josh

Ditto what BHP says, just in case you were looking for a 2nd opinion. Good luck on your Officers holster!

Thanks again folks! I appreciate the positive feedback. I'll happily take negative feedback as well as that's how you get better. Dwight, I'm right there with you. I often carry a single action around the farm, although it tends to be my old .357 Blackhawk as opposed to my Colt SAA clone. But anytime I use it for my actual carry gun I find myself wishing I had a 1911. Neilyeag, correct, it's 2 layers of 7 oz leather cemented back to back. I cut the "front" piece from a pattern and do any tooling to it first. Then I use it as pattern to "rough out" the shape of the liner. I'll cement both pieces and put them together then cut the liner, or back piece to match. Sometimes I'll cut the back piece before gluing them but it makes it pretty important that you get all the edges lined up when you stick them together. It's easier for me to glue then trim. Have a great Friday and weekend folks! Josh

Thanks JLS!

Thanks Dwight! Plinker, I gave it a good heavy coat of neatsfoot oil and let that "soak" in overnight. After that I used Fiebings liquid acrylic antique in medium brown. I use a scrap of shearling to apply it and put it on heavy making sure to get it into all of the tooling. After I apply it to all of the pieces I go back and "wash" the top off with a damp paper towel. I let that dry for a good 24 hours then wipe it down with an old t shirt misted with liquid glycerin saddle soap (basically Leather New, but I buy a generic brand from Weaver by the gallon as it's cheaper and the same thing). After that I stitched it up, gave it a quick dunk in a tub of water and stuffed the pistol in. It's not quite right to say I did any "molding" but I did have to form it as the holster was quite tight. The liquid antique is pretty bad about wanting to rub, and or run, off so I try to be pretty careful with it, no rubbing with your thumbs or anything like that just stuff the pistol in give it a little twist back and forth and try to wipe anywhere the dye is trying to run. From there I let it dry overnight then wiped on my standard top coat of Mop & Glo cut 50/50 (or so) with water. Let that dry overnight then wiped the whole thing down with the liquid saddle soap again. That's everything I had done when I took the pictures. Since then I rubbed a little neutral Kiwi shoe polish on with my finger tips, let it sit for an hour or so and buffed it out with an old t shirt. that has it ready to ship out to the customer and it should hold up nicely. Based on previous holsters I can tell you that at this point the antique is all set and doesn't try to run anymore if it happens to get wet. Dikman, some folks like tooling and some don't. For me it depends on the type of holster and what I have been doing a lot of. If I build very many tooled holsters I really like the looks of a smooth one and if I've been building a lot of smooth ones I really like a tooled one. I guess for me it's about doing and seeing something different. See above in my response to Plinkercases about the "wet forming". I tend to carve pretty deep and the antique really helps to set it off, so the amount of definition lost when you stretch and form the holster to the gun is fairly minimal. If this had been basket stamped it would have probably lost a little more, but again, if you start with deep clear impressions they usually hold up OK to any forming for me. It is a bit of a guessing game though and sometimes things don't quite play out like I had hoped for. Thanks Red! going from hand stitching everything to using the Cobra has been a learning curve. I will say that now that I'm more comfortable with the machine I rarely, if ever hand stitch! I appreciate your compliment on my edges! Coming from you that is really something, as your edges are extremely nice and I know you put a ton of effort into them. My process on the mainseam is to cement it all together then sand the seam square with a dremel and the little sanding drum. I wet the edge to help cut down on dust plus I think it helps get it nice and smooth. Once I think it's all nice and even I'll gouge the stitch line (sometimes I don't gouge, like on a pancake, but if the stitch line is parallel to the edge I usually do) then I'll stitch it. From there I'll wet it with a sponge, not too much, just a little, and I'll round out the edges with a beveler, my latest favorite is the no name bissonette ones from Weaver. They work well for me and they're cheap enough that I just replace them when they get dull as opposed to trying to sharpen them. From there hit it with a sponge again and go after it with a scrap of cordura, I used to use canvas but the cordura seems to get the edge glossed up quicker. I run in one direction until it's nice and smooth then go back and forth pretty aggressively, friction and heat with some moisture seems to be what gets the job done. From there sometimes I wet it again and hit it with a wooden burnisher I picked up from Weaver, sometimes I use a bar of glycerin soap and sometimes it's already good enough to not mess with anymore. My process on all of the other edges is basically the same, the items that only apply to a glued and stitched edge just get skipped. Thanks again folks and have a great day! Josh

Thanks Plinkercases! Just friction Red Bear. Although the size of the thong and the size of the hole it's a pretty tight fit. To adjust the length through the holes takes a lot of effort. It's easy enough to hook and unhook the hammer as the oil tan thong has a little stretch to it. Here's a picture of that side.

Thanks Red Bear, I'm glad you like it! I was happy with the T nut idea. I'm not sure if I imagined it, or if I saw it somewhere else and conveniently "remembered" it. I will say that the holster was fit pretty tight which angled the T nuts "out" when I force stuffed the pistol in there. This in turn made it a little tough to get everything fit up and put together. I'd mocked it all up and wrapped the pistol in 2 ziploc freezer bags and let it sit overnight before putting on the top coat and doing the final assembly. It went together pretty easy the 2nd go around. I mention this in case you do use the idea you might want to set yourself up for easy success by punching the T nut holes in the skirt after the main holster is sewn up and "formed". If I had done that I'd have saved myself a few cuss words when I put it together! All the best, Josh

Thanks Devil Dog!

This is assembled a little different than what I normally do but seems to have worked out pretty well. My customer wanted a carved loop holster for a Single Action Army with a Morgan dollar on the loop. He wanted it to sit fairly high on the belt and for it to fit a 1-1/2" belt. I decided to use stainless T nuts to put it all together. It's built out of doubled 7 oz HO. It got 1 fairly heavy coat of NF oil then was dyed with Fiebings liquid antique in medium brown before stitching. Top coat is Mop & Glo cut 50/50 with water. Thanks for looking. Josh

Thanks! I buy leather by the side and keep most everything cut from the "top" 2/3's. I'll use the bottom 1/3, aka the belly for linings and the like to some small degree, but I try to be careful as using inferior leather can ruin a whole project. I don't remember exactly where those would have been cut from but more than likely they're from the back or the butt. The cartridge loops are from 4/5 leather, again I try to stay clear from the belly as it's too stretchy. Especially in that light of a weight. All the best, Josh

I either line the whole thing or not at all. JLS's comment about doing a partial lining on a pancake type holster does make a lot of sense for that particular style. As for finishing the flesh side, the better quality leather you use the nicer the flesh side typically is. Also, the better parts of the hide will typically have a better flesh side. If you're using strap leather that has been gauged down to a specific weight the back should be pretty dang smooth to start with, skirting leather is a little more course as it hasn't been split but that would make for a pretty thick holster. You can burnish the flesh side if you feel it's needed. Just get it damp and take a glass slicker or piece of canvas/cordura to it. When I do this I do it over my tooling slab. Anyway, since pictures are sometimes helpful, here's a pair of unlined holsters where the back forms the loop. And here is a lined one. The unlined holsters (and cartridge belt) was 10/11 Hermann Oak and the lined Threepersons was 8 oz with a 4/5 lining, both Hermann Oak. Using quality leather helps get a quality product. Good luck with your holster, Josh

Looks like a great start Steve! Congrats on the pistols and the birthday! Sewn toe plugs are cool but I haven't been tempted to try them yet. I know from sewing cantle bindings that my awl blade doesn't always come through where I think it should . Good luck with your holsters! Josh

Thanks BHP! Blowing them out is a great idea. I'll have to give that a try. All the best, Josh

Thanks! Tie downs were cut from some oil tan chap leather I had left over.

Thanks Adam! I like your thoughts on having enough room to clean the end out with an old toothbrush.

Plinkercases, It's open on the bottom but the length is long enough that when I mold it the ends pretty well touch. I'm not sure if it's desirable or not. I do like for my carry holsters t be open bottomed and I do like for the leather to mold over the end of the barrel to some degree. This may be a little too much though. I'll have to ponder on what I think about it. I'd be interested to know what everybody else thinks. Thanks, Josh

That's a good answer JLS! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I dug up this old picture of a double buscadero rig I made a while back. I cut this off a new hide, I used a straight edge and just cut far enough down that the belt fit upside-down on the cut off piece. Anyway, it was cut perfectly straight. I formed the curve into it when I tooled it. I based the radius on what I thought looked "right". I'm not sure what John Bianchi or Billy Bob from Wal-Mart do to make their belts, nor will I loose any sleep worrying about it. Have a good day folks!

Thanks JLS! I lost a little weight and went from OWB to IWB for my every day carry. It sold me on the "Summer Special" design and put some wear and tear on the old holster for sure. All the best, Josh