Guy W

i assume once the glue is dry it's perfectly safe? like once you've glued the front and back of the holster together and let it dry i don't have to worry about bringing that piece into my house or anything to do the stitching or whatever? any other opinions or knowlege on the oil dyes? thanks also would this respirator work? it says it comes with organic vapor cartridges and particulate filters? you think the seal will be adequite with my beard, especially since i will be using it in a fairly well ventilated area with a fan blowing away from the area I am standing? http://www.amazon.com/3M-R6211-Low-Maintenance-Half-Mask-Respirator/dp/B00004Z4EB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316048483&sr=8-2

when using fiebings oil dyes and barge contact cement, how concerned should i be about the fumes? i was using them briefly in my open garage with a rotating fan but the smell was still very strong. i do wear good eye protection but should i have concern about the inhaling of the fumes enough that I should get a respirator? not that I could find a repirator that would probably work with my 6" long beard I would imagine. but it does have me a bit concerned and could use some tips and advice on this. thanks, guy

anyone ever try these black and decker power scissors? any chance they could "cut the mustard" so to speak? http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2364577

i'm not in the business of making holsters i'm still just working on my first one. but i do make websites and when i get someone that wants it "yesterday" i tell them that is fine my fee is doubled. that's what it is worth to me to have my life disrupted and work a ton of overtime. i'd probably do the same on a holster. for a 75$ holster i'd say ok you can have it in 3 days for 150$. probably seems steep but unless you want everyone that ever orders from you to take the rush option you have to make it expensive enough to weed out the people that don't really need it rushed. the thing is you aren't going to have to work overtime on just their project. you will have to work overtime on all your other projects in the pipeline to meet your delivery date on those too. someone's gotta pay for that time and it's not the customers who didn't ask for a rush and just expect a standard delivery time frame.

with round knives how do you guys keep them sharp? a good double sided (course/fine) stone and some leather for strouping? where do you recommend getting the stone from? also what compound do you use to stroup with and where do you get that?

what are you guys using to cut our your leather? i marked in the pattern on the leather with a scratch awl, which worked great. then i got to cutting it out... it was a pain in the a$$ I tried a utility knife with new razors and scissors. both worked but my edges on the front and back of the pancake holster were miles apart. i was able to clean them up ok with a dremel sander after i got it glued together but i wasn't pleased with the process. should i try something else for cutting? my hands are sore, it took almost an hour, and because it took so much effort and the results were sub par i'm not sure what to do.

no i hadn't seen that one, thanks for sharing the link.

i should have probably noted in my first post that i'm working on an iwb holster now, but for something with an inlay or decoration i would build it to be worn outside the waistband. i agree with all your points.

hey thanks shooter, i found the thread. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=33263&st=0&p=206623&hl=caimen&fromsearch=1entry206623 if anyone else wants to read it over. your holster turned out really nice. that's pretty much what i was thinking about but i was thinking a snake or ostrich stink for the inlay. once i decide to tackle that project i suspect questions will be abound.

i like it. you should video tape the class and put it on youtube (or sell it but i like the youtube idea personally )

thanks for the replies. has anyone tried mink oil? I use that on my rifle sling to give it a little more flexability when it seems to dry out too much. i don't know what neatsfoot oil is exactly and i haven't seen it locally but i know i can get mink oil around here.

so i'm working on my first iwb pancake hoslter and ofcourse i'm already looking ahead to the next one. i was wondering what i need to do to put an exotic skin inlay in the front of the holster? something like rattlesnake or ostrich leg? I would think you'd make your back out of the normal 8oz tooling leather and then the front of the holster would another pancake with the front most piece having a window cut out and the exotic skin glued and sitched in between? is that correct and if so should i use 2 layers of like 4oz leather to form the front or just use 2 layers of the normal 8oz (seems like the whole thing would be pretty thick then? thanks for the tips appreciate it!

so i've been spending and buying stuff for the last couple weeks to get everything i need to start getting into the leather craft hobby and i just gave myself sticker shock! needless to say i could have bought 2 top end holsters for what i spent so far, and i haven't even finished making anything yet!!!!! atleast i am having a good time, but don't tell the wife

i've made tobacco pipes in the past and i used olive oil to bring out the wood grain then just waxed it for a shine. was curious if i could do the same sort of thing on leather. i've smoked the heck out of that pipe and haven't needed to redo the finish yet, but leather and wood are obviously 2 different animals. thanks for the tips.

so i guess i forgot to order anything for my final finish when i was buying my supplies. I have my dye, and gum trag and edge kote for the edges. so i guess i have a few questions. 1.) can i use olive oil instead of neatsfoot oil after I dye my leather? I didn't order any neatsfoot either but i thought i read somewhere that people use olive oil with good results. 2.) for the inside and outside of the holster can i use the gum trag or is that strictly for the edges with edge coat. what about just giving the outside a wax with a good carnuba wax? or am i going to have to order some leather sheen? more questions to come i'm sure. thanks!

well i placed an order with springfield leather last week for some tools and leather and other odds and ends. i am expecting to get everything in today and i'll be attempting to make my first iwb holster. i have a feeling i'll be tossing out some leather tomorrow but i guess it's a learning process so it's all in the name of science. this forum has been a lot of help already and i can't thank the people that have spent the time to offer help enough. so wish me luck and if you have any last minute tips for me before i start i am sure i could use them. thanks, Guy

here is an image of a check rest on a mosin nagant, while synthetic you can see has the band that goes around the butt of the rifle. it's pretty common to do this on a rifle that doesn't have a curve for the grip that you can run the leather up to for support. On your shotgun I don't see why the leather would move forward once it's wedged up good and tight to the grip. I'd just make the leather longer towards the rear of the rifle.

i have no experience making them but one thing you could try is to add a band that goes around the back similar tot his image. It should solve your problem with the band wanting to slide forward. I guess it also depends on the rifle, but on one like my M1a or say a Garand you could make it long enough to hug the lines of the grip area, this should prevent it from having any room to move forward. This would not be possible on a rifle like my mosin as it has no curve where you grip. But putting a strap that hugs the butt of the rifle in those cases should solve that problem. looking at the lever action rifle you have there, you wouldn't even need a big butt band like this image i'm posting, but just a little over the top and bottom perhaps.

Another idea, since you can't attend gun shows. Hire a graphic designer and have him design and then get printed some eye catching flyers/brouchures/rack cards or whatever you like best. Ask gun stores if you can put those on their counter at their shop and ask them to put them on their booth at the gun show. Possibly even give them a rig to setup for display with your marketing materials. Offer to pay some of the booth expense or give them a commission for every order generated from their advertising for you, in exchange for the tiny amount of realestate your display piece and brouchures will take up. If you make a really nice display rig that will probably get more attention.

Have you created a facebook page? Not a personal page for yourself but a Product or Business page? If not log out of facebook and at the bottom it says create a page and follow the steps. Once the page is created and images and information uploaded share that page with as many friends as you can, and ask them to do the same. This helps if you have a lot of friends on face book. I have an aquaintence who has over 1500 friends collected up on facebook solely for the purpose of spreading product and business pages through facebook. It's easy and free and worth a try. Update the content on the page often so people see it on their news feed after they have joined the page. Do you have a local business address/shop/location? If so add it to the google places directory. From the bottom of google there is the advertising programs link, from that page under products you will see google places. This will be useful when someone types into google, Chicago IL Gun Holster, if you were in that city/state obviously, and someone was looking for a local business to purchase from. Create Youtube videos. Buy an inexpensive Flip HD video camera (about 100 bucks i think) and a tripod and make videos of people using your holsters in cowboy action shooting (if that is your main product/demographic), make tabletop reviews of your holsters so people can see them, make videos of you building holsters, whatever. Put links to your website in the video's description text and put your logo and website link at the start and end of the video. Sell some products on ebay. I kinda hate ebay but setting up an ebay store with a few of your products is a good way to get exposure. Make a few products and just be sure you always have a few on ebay at all times so when people search for cowboy holsters they atleast see one or two of your products with your company name and website in the description. Also list some products on gunbroker.com (ebay for guns). Putting items on the auciton site doesn't have to be about getting sales directly from the auction, although why not get sales from it if you can, but more about exposing your business name and website to people who are searching those places for the type of products you sell. Creating a blog, already mentioned, and linking it to your main business page is also a good idea. Link your videos to your blog and vice versa. Link your blog to your auctions. Link everything. Advertise on gun forums. This may be something you can do for free by becoming parts of threads and conversations that are talking about holsters and pointing out a "website you found" that sells really nice stuff. Most forums want you to pay for banner advertising however so you have to be delicate with how you handle this. You can also obviously pay for the forums banners if the forum gets enough traffic that you think it is worth the expense. Also from google you can do some research on adwords from their advertising programs. This one isn't free but might be worth budgeting a little money every month on. Create an account and sell on etsy.com. I'm not to familiar with this site but it's a selling community and probably worth looking into. Just another way like the auction sites to get your business some exposure. These are just some of the internet marking ideas you can try.

I had wondered that too. From what I've looked at there are 2 things i've seen. One is a holster with a flat back the other is without. It would seem if you wanted to have a flat back you would need the front to be bigger so the pocket the firearm sits in doesn't buldge on the back. But i don't think it's necessary to have a flat back, not really sure.

What would be the best glue to use for glueing a pancack style holster together before stitching? I was considering Gorilla Glue but thought I'd see if there is a better type for use with leather. Thanks

that's a really beautiful holster. i hope to make something that nice someday.

thanks for the info colt hammerless, i watched those videos and it was helpful to see how some of the construction was done especially pointing out the sight channel. as for the holster i want to make, i do want the muzzle end open. maybe this is a bad idea? but my thought was with an open muzzle end dirt/debris or whatever won't collect at the bottom of the holster. do you guys recommend such a design? also thanks for the info on the leather. I'll give the 7/8oz a try for my first one. would you recommend using a thinner leather for the belt loops? maybe i should get some 6/7oz for those and i'm sure i could find some other projects for that type of leather also like mag pouches or a small folding knife pouch? or would you do it all in 7/8oz?

jlaudio29 thanks for the picture that gives me a much better idea of what i need to shoot for in regards for spacing. and thanks for pointing on i didn't have the hammer cocked i totally missed that when I was drawing. twinoaks thanks for taking the time to give all of this advice I really appreciate it. and thanks to everyone this forum has been a ton of help already.