D Fingers

Jboss I messaged you.

Because of a snafu I now have a duplicate Rings Springfield micro compact 1911 (3" 1911). This thing is brand new never been used. I would love to trade this to somebody, anybody need one of these?

Eagle What maul has helped you so much? Not sure how you keep the tooling from washing out during forming, I have gone to putting tooling on a separate panel because mine washout so bad. Looks great as usual.

I'm not judging anybody because they can't afford a high quality holster. I'm a working man with a large family so I know about the value of things. I've just had a couple of rude potential customers lately. Example: I engage in a lengthy correspondence with a customer about a very customized holster requiring a magazine pouch integrated into the holster. So I figure the price of a holster and the price of a mag pouch, knock $20 dollars of that. After sending the price message never hear from the customer again. That just rude. At least tell me "no I can't afford that thanks, I'm going to have to stick with my uncle mikes". He could have even negotiated with me, he might have told me he was vet in which case I would have given him a substantial discount.

I scare a lot of people off with price. I really don't know why some one would even want a cheap leather holster? I won't sell a holster for less than $80 and that sends the cheap skates running. With $20+/- of leather $5000 worth of dedicated tools in the shop you are still basically giving a holster away at $80. Sorry ranting had a couple of annoying cheap skates this week.

The correct terminology I believe for that style would be a 'wallet holster'. This is a pocket holster:

5 5/16" long x 7/8" wide, wholes drilled 3/8 from end and 5/8 from end respectively. That's how I do it. I used to make them a bit shorter but those were not compatible with heavy gun belts. I agree 7/8 is a little heavy.

I like your use of negative contours(I don't know what else to call them) very unique and very cool!

I agree with Jake 100% on this. Less than 20° for sure, I like to start my duty sized patterns at 15°. I really dislike the "dislocate your shoulder" awkwardness of the extreme canted holster.

Should fit Gen 3 holsters perfectly. The only dimensional change is in the blackstrap.

As usual your fit & finish is exceptional! Love the color too.

Fair enough Lobo. I'm not going to argue with a guy who's been in the business since before I was born. I was asked by Josh to state my opinion and I did. Let me change my statement to this: in my own situation I know that I can make a vastly superior holster using cow hide than i can using horse. Also maybe an up charge is necessary because many of the horse butts you buy will not be suitable for holsters.

Josh I was not insinuating that you were doing anything wrong. Far from it, I think that your shoulder holster looks great and at $120 you are practically giving it away. I was speaking generally about the use of horse in holster making, not you. I just think up charging $10 to make a standard holster in horse is silly. Just my opinion. You were correct I have had bad experiences with horse, SLC horse butt same as you.

I dislike it so much that it would be easier for me to just say that I feel cow hide is superior in every point of comparison. The absolute worst feature of horse in my experience is that it does not hold its rigidity after formed and dried, like say a month down the road your retention is massively degraded. I find it silly that some holster makers are promoting horse as a premium product. They are up charging customers for materials that cost less, I find that a little bit disingenuous to put it nicely.

I don't like horse but I got to admit that you really made that look nice.

This is just an idea and I don't have any personal experience(hopefully someone who does will chime in), but you might try airbrushing the Eco-crap on. $50 +/- at Harbor Freight might be cheaper than a drive to Nevada.

Part of your problem is you are using Horse which in my humble opinion is junk and if you are using USMC Black you will continue to suffer. If you have any hope of using white thread on black you need to use Fiebings Pro oil dye. Even still you may have a problem with that hand stitching.

This is a $300 holster?

Kydex vs leather can get very contentious, lol. My dislike for Kydex is based on my own empirical experience not just theoretical bias. If you have carried a gun for a year with negligible wear I'm impressed. Maybe that's the difference between custom/craftsmanship and production garbage I have tried in the Kydex and injection molded market. I also love the mag release protector.

Very nice! Color and finish is out standing! I also would like to know what and how on the dye?

Wow your workmanship is totally excellent, that is some of the best Kydex molding I have seen. Your leather looks great too. However like mlapaglia I am ideological opposed to putting $1000 +/- handguns in Kydex and wearing the finish of by the end of that day:(

I agree with Lobo the pancake is inherently less rigid than other designs but excels at keeping the gun tight to the body. That being said my pancakes stay open fine and reholstering is never a problem. Recently I have been using Katsass 4 layer laminated technique, these holsters are extremely rigid I'm guessing it would take 50 lbs +/- to collapses them.

I dip with M&G 50/50 and like it. Lately though I have been brushing on a coat of resolene 50/50 after the M&G dip, just because I decided I like the more "satin" finish better.

Yes. I used 1/2 cup baking soda to a gallon of water or something like that.

I'm my experience no. I all ways put the gun back in the holster before setting it aside to dry to double check fit, you could retouch boning if needed at this time. If using real gun bag it you don't want vinegaroon on the gun.