Mark Garrity

ABC3, Almost all of the horse-butts avialable, no matter where you buy them from, come out of Horween Tannery in Chicago. What this means is quality isn't going to be any different no matter where you buy unfortunately. Trust me, I have tried them all, including direct from Horween. There is alot of waste and scrap. Just the nature of the beast, so to speak. Years ago the quality was much better; much larger pieces that were more consistent with less scrap. I don't know what happened. And BTW, hard-rolled is fine for holsters. (All of Kramer's holsters are hard-rolled). It will last the holster-user longer than it lasted the horse.

Vootzilla, Horween in Chicago is the only U.S. manufacturer of genuine shell cordovan. The stuff that Siegel of Ca sells is from Hoween, and Bretton's Village also occasionally carries some. Be prepared to pay a hefty price.

Has anyone else experienced any problems with either Fiebing's Leather Sheen aerosol or Tandy's Super Sheene aerosol since they changed formulas? Hard to describe, but neither is giving me a smooth gloss finish like I was accustom to with the old stuff. Both are giving almost a frosted look to the leather; drying matte, and leaving a light texture instead of a smooth finish, almost like very fine grit sandpaper. Another holster maker stated he has experienced spiderweb cracking with Fiebings, something that never happened to him with the old formula. Damn EPA! Anyone else having issues??

Does anyone know the statute #, or have a link to it; regarding which exotic skin and hide products are illegal to ship to CA? Or does anyone know for sure which exotics they are?? Any help would be greatly apprciated. Thanks in advance...

I Dremel it initially with various grit drums, and then use 320-400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to finish it. One thing to keep in mind when sanding it, and this was told to me by one of the suppliers - wear a filter mask when sanding it. Since it is pure calcium and organic, I was told that if you inhale too much of it into your lungs you can get a nasty bacterial respiratory infection.

Another method, if you are adhering it to a foundation leather such as making a belt and you want to keep the stitches straight on the leather side, is to sticth from the bottom or leather side.

To my knowledge, Horween Leather in Chicago (www.horween.com) is the only U.S tannery producing horsehide and shell cordovan. All of the horse-butts I have seen from other distributors (Siegel's, www.siegelofca.com) come from Horween. As stated, horsehide is sold by the pound, not by the square foot like cowhide. It comes it strips that are generally 35-40 inches long, 6 inches wide at the ends and 12-18 inches wide at the widest point in the center. And it is not consistent thickness it's entire length; the ends are thin are more maleable which makes it tough to get in lengths long enough to kae good belts out of without requesting them. I also believe horween has a minimum quantity order so if you just want one or two butts to try out you may want to go with Siegel. Also there are two varieties of horsehide offered by Horween (and Siegel) - hard-rolled and soft-rolled. If you want it stiff you want the hard rolled type. Soft rolled is rather supple, more-so than cowhide. (Bruce, you may have had a piece of soft-rolled because the hard-rolled stuff is denser and firmer than even cowhide. I've had hard-rolled in 7-8 oz. that had less bend and give to it than 12-13 oz sole leather). There is a general misconception, particularly amongst gun folks, that horsehide is thinner than cowhide. That is simply not the case. Horsehide can be gotten in just about any thickness that you can get cow in. It is just that hard-rolled horsehide is denser and firmer than cowhide, so a thinner piece can be used to accomplish the same project that may require a thicker piece of cow. Do I think it is the be-all, end-all holster material. No, not necessarily. I don't see much advanatge to it for the main body of the holster. I do use it for IWB straps because it wears better than cow and doesn't soften as quickly. I also use it for reinforced mouthbands and thumb-breaks, to keep them stiff but thin in those areas. And yes it does make an excellent belt if you can get it in the appropraiate length. Another alternative is to use the horsehide as the belt liner with cowhide as the top slightly longer layer.

I use a piece of kydex sandwiched between two layers of leather for reinforced thumb-breaks.

I'm using the Ohio travel bag clip. it's very secure and works well; even locks oto a waistband with no belt without coming off. I have alot of customers who wear it clipped to the waistband with the belt over top of and covering the clip to make it more discreet. To answer your question, I use to use jiffy rivets to secure them; but i am currently using a flat (no prongs) 6/32 1/4 inch t-nut, and a stainless 6/32 1/4 inch button-head allen screw seated in a finishing washer. I think this is a much stronger set-up, and also more versitile allows removal of the clip for replacement should it wear out, or for various styles of clips to be interchanged since I also offer the Comp-tac kydex ones as an option.

Ace Hardware also has the t-nuts in their loose bins. For IWB holsters I use a 3-prong 1/4 inch 6/32 t-nut mated to a 3/8 x 6/32 button-head allen screw. You can do it like K-Man said, setting the t-nut in a single layer of leather and pounding the prongs flat, so the back of the nut is concealed inside the holster, which is what I do also. Some makers just set the t-nut least after stitching, setting it thru the 2 layers of leather so the back is exposed on the rear of the holster.

Duncan's and Ring's Blue Guns are about the only games in town for good dummy guns. The true size on the ASP Red Guns is questionable. I have had them oversized to the point where a real pistol was a loose fit in the holster it was used to make, and when micrometered in comparison to the real pistol, the red gun was thicker thru the slide, so I stopped using them.

Soybomb, Beaverslayer basically nailed it. Some stuff you just have to mold first, prior to stitching. Alot of magazine pouches for hi-cap mags with a flat piece of leather for the back and all the molding on the front are done this way. Unfortunately there are two down-sides to this: it's almost impossible to do without some type of press, and you need a single-side presser foot on your machine so you can get really close to the raised up molded area. Not a big deal if you are stitching by hand. When I first started doing holsters it was trail and error. There were no internet forums for advice, and no-one who really wanted to let me pick their brain; and very few books on doing concealment holsters. The first holsters I made were cut and glued, THEN molded, and THEN hand-stiched because I didn't have a clue how to lay the stitch lines!

Hi, folks, I found this site while browsing one of the many firearms forums I frequent. I have been making custom holsters for about the past 12 years. This site looks like a great source for learning new information and sharing some experiences.