chiefjason

Trigger guards are quite different. PPS has a rail and the G43 does not. That alone is going to cause a lot of fit issues. If he just has not bought the pistol yet, wait until he gets it and use it for the holster.

Got lucky, I do have some. I didn't think I took any. And thanks. FYI, the leather wraps around the mouth on the bottom and a separate piece runs up the front. If you look close you can tell the metal strips are pulling the leather out on the back pic. It was really stiff. I think I used a 1/2" strip. You can see the scuff on the top pic where the scope was REALLY tight. lol

I used metal pallet strapping. It was solid. FWIW, be very careful of the leather thickness if you pull it up close to the scope mount. I nearly had to scrap this one, but caught it while molding and was able to press the leather down to make room.

They work great for scaring customers that come in the shop too. I learned early on they want to know about it. So I pick it up, push it straight through piece of scrap leather, and tell them not to touch it. lol As to size, the round knife is a couple knives in one which has already been covered. And that takes some size. Another good part of it is that you can flip it over and use the other side instead of stopping and stropping. Flip the points if you will. If you let it get dull, you waited too long. I strop before any serious cutting project. And if I am doing a lot I may stop and touch it up in the middle. I can't tell you the last time I sharpened my round knife. It's probably been months since it's seen a stone. I have a leather strop, 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and a piece of cardboard that do all I need to do. As to the push cut, I feel like it gives me more control now that I have it figured out. In the beginning, everything about a round knife is intimidating. But I would not cut leather with anything else as far as making my holsters. To funny. But instead of esoteric, I find that the right tools help me do the job easier. Sometimes even better. I can assure you, I have made holsters with scissors, utility knives, toothbrush handles, drill bits, and various home made tools. Having a round knife, real molding tools, awls, edgers, and burnishers makes for an easier process and a better process IMO. This discussion fits into my idea of the difference between works and works better. For me, the round knife works better. I don't care if the end customer can tell the difference or not. I can in the time and effort saved. That's all that matters to me.

I'll give you the same recommendation I give my customers on break in. Wear it. Nothing else. That flat back will wrap around and break into your carry position on your hip and the gun with body heat and a bit of sweat in a day of wearing it. I tell folks to wear it around the house until they are comfortable with it. A guy emailed to complain about how tight the holster was a while back, told him the same thing, 8 hours later I got an email telling me it was the most comfortable holster he's ever worn. IMO, it's better to have it break in on the body than pre forming it. YMMV and all that.

I've used both. Started with a utility knife because I had one around. Saved up an bought a couple head knives and will not go back. I can correct a few things in the above. I don't spend hours sharpening. I strop the knife on a couple different surfaces before I start cutting. If I'm cutting a lot I'll strop mid project. But I did that with utility blades anyway. Because I never found blades that were sharp enough to drop and go. And I can assure you, my round knives are sharper than any utility blades I got in the store. Don't like them? No problem. Don't ever want to spend the money? No problem. But you are not saving time, and I'm not wasting time because of the difference in blades. Because for me the time spent stropping my round knife is saved by not having to clean up the edges as much as I had to with utility knives. For me, they were one of the best investments I made in hand tools. I can cut my patterns far easier with them than I ever could with a utility blade. Curves are where they really shine. And off board cutting with them is a handy thing. Roll cutting straight edges without a straight edge is handy too. They also suit my personal style of holster making better. I can glue a holster together, then use the round knives to trim both pieces of glued leather to the shape I want. Did that with a single clip IWB today. Hung the ear off the table and trimmed it down to the width I wanted it. It would take me 3-4 passes with a utility blade and much more risk of miscutting something.

Yep, it's flat on the back. Good start. One recommendation. Uncover the mag release. If the material releases the mag, that's the makers fault. If you clear that mag release, and something gets to it, it's not your fault. If you get my drift. Pretty much standard with most makers to clear it. Helps allow for a better grip too.

Duncan's sells the S&W X frame in the 8" barrel configuration. Mine was $75 plus shipping IIRC. Although I've manage to borrow one in 6.5" for the 4 I have made. I should really make one to justify the dummy, although having it around for laughs is worth the price. FYI, the underlug is full length on the 8" and partial on the 6.5" I use rough patterns and mold then stitch as opposed to a firm pattern that is stitched first then molded. Makes sense to me, but not something most could use.

That's always fun. I walked into a pawn shop one day and was making small talk over the gun counter. Mentioned that I made holsters and he says, "You need any tools?" They had a bowling ball bag of tools, dyes, snaps, and assorted stuff come out of pawn that day. He had not gotten to price it out. So I asked him to price me the whole bag, less work for him. I got OTD for $64 and quit counting at $350 worth of stuff. Some was duplicates but a lot of stuff I did not have and was getting ready to buy.

Have you checked Duncan's? They have some odd ones.

I mold them less than I used to. And not at all on IWB holsters anymore, or just enough to get a bit of detail but little to no retention. Stitch lines will do more for long term retention than the ejection port ever could. And with something like a Sig P238, boning the retention port deeply will result in a useless holster. BTDT. That port has a VERY sharp front edge. BTW, hybrids don't get their retention from the ejection port either. Whoever told you that is probably helping speed up some finish wear. I mask my ports out almost entirely on hybrids now and no real noticeable reduction in working retention. But a noticeable increase in smoothness of the draw. And getting a vacuum table has forced me to mask them out more than pressing them did. That vacuum press will almost mold a logo on the inside. Speaking of rails, I had to heat the rail mold out of one Sat for a buddy. Draw felt like a zipper being pulled.

If it's the same style board they cover our pallets with at work it's fantastic. I keep a few every couple months. Bought time to grab a couple more. Just heavier than poster board but easy to cu with a razor knife. Stiff enough to hold up for a good bit of use too.

I'm bored so I'm flipping between the Springfield sight and Bluegunstore. The 3.8 slide is flush with the frame. The XDm40 is the 4.5" .40 mold. There is no model for the 5.25" But you would think they would clarify or put the 4.5 on the slide like the actual gun. Multimold can be even worse, they fill in all the markings.

Had a guy blame me for not knowing what 1911 he had and whether it was a standard 1911 frame or one of the odd ones Kimber has turned out. I was 99% sure it would be standard, but asked to be sure. Kimber has a couple 1911 style guns though. Dude snapped. It's like me yelling at the auto parts guy for not knowing what car I need parts for. FWIW, the 3.8 is the compact, the 4.5 is the standard full size, and the 5.25 is the competition. My best guess is that if it does not specify length its the standard full size. You could just message Rob.

Not sure about innovative but the customer and I were both happy. The fire steel loop was integrated into the welt. I shortened the welt on that side so it would not add thickness. My personal sheath. I've since replaced the screws with pull the dot snaps so I can take it on and off without re threading my belt.

When you are doing gun holsters the starting point for a stitch line is half the width of the gun wider. So the patter is basically the outline of the gun with half the width added to that outline plus leather thickness. Might give you a starting point and from there flare the top a bit more. Also, I would welt the blade in really close. You mention retention, but if it's too loose on the blade it might let it rock and the customer could confuse that with retention. It's not about what is, it's about what they think sometimes. I'm guessing if you can get the stitch line worked out the retention would be adequate since you will have to wet mold the handle and force it in there anyway.

I would most likely do something like CR is showing. However, if I needed it thinner for some reason I would use a single welt and flare the stitch line out from the end of the blade to the top of the pouch. Making it wider than necessary so that when I wet formed it the thicker handle would be accommodated. Figuring out how much to flare it could be tricky. And in the end the stitch line will not appear as flared since it will pull in closer with molding. As the leather if forced open by the handle the stitch line will be pulled in closer to the handle. Just be sure to not mold behind the finger guard to far so it does not catch. Hope that makes sense.

The only thing wrong is I usually come here to get away from talk of sharks. At least that shark can't bite anyone now. lol Nice work.

The list is long and glorious. Dropping the new round knife and chipping the end. Dropping a round knife onto a side of leather and cutting it. Hope I can work around it. Dropping contact cement on the same hide. GRRRR. Putting 8/32 T nuts in instead of 6/32. Putting a hole in a nearly new membrane for my vacuum table.

Saddle soap to clean. Neutral shoe polish to shine. Stay away from conditioners and oils. I put a bit of oil on it before it leaves, that's all it needs.

I add a bit but a different way than most. It's based on the saddle makers way lobo mentions. But I melt the beeswax and neatsfoot 50/50 by weight. Then I let it set up in a container. The first step in finishing my holsters is to apply the paste and use a heat gun to melt it and let it get drawn into the leather. I do 3 light passes front and back. Then let it set, usually overnight. Next is M&G followed by Atom wax. If I'm doing a field strap or thumb break I'll generally add a bit of straight NF oil or Saddlers oil before I use the oil/wax. With the extra flex expected from a strap I tend to oil them a bit more. And yes, the oil certainly darkens the color. The oil/wax mix does also but a bit less so.

6/32 T nut and 6/32 flat head machine screw, IIRC 5/16" long. The 6/32 flat head machine screw fits down into the snap so it does not interfere. Link just for a pic reference for the head style. https://www.fastenal.com/products/details/1172621

Best thing I've done is start casing the leather. I let my tap water warm up, as warm as I can stand it. Run the leather under it about 3 times on each side. Then put it in a ziplock bag for 15-18 minutes depending in actual thickness. Then I take it out and go to work. If it dries too much I'll re wet it before I start or while working. Force drying helps to really set it up.

The easiest way to keep that under control is to keep it self sustainable. Which means saying no early on, which is painful when you want to sell something. If you have personal guns, using them to create some cash flow to expand into blue guns. I've said it before, I started with $500 or so and a pass fail proposition. It sustained itself, or we eat the loss. I'm still going. FWIW, I don't consider myself anywhere near a serious player in the field. But I take the product seriously and have a good enough fan base to keep me busy. IMO, better to start of slow, stable, and debt free than to go head long into it and neck deep in debt.

8-9 oz.