chiefjason

Anybody know of a successful lawsuit against a holster maker? I know of one. There may be others. And from what I remember of reading about it, it was a rather bizarre turn of events that led to them being sued. IIRC, it include a LE agency asking for something the maker was not comfortable doing, refused the alternative design, talked the maker into the original design, design happened to fail in a gun fight and an officer got shot.

Great looking rigs. I do have a question, are you pressing or hand molding? Just curious. Well said and very true. After trying a number of things I settled on a 1 9/16" Sz 1 French Skiving knife by CSO. I like that it cuts through more than punches through. Those slots do look fantastic BTW.

You can run it through a double piece of pinched leather or cardboard. Or poke an awl hole in scrap leather and pull it through. My thread tends to twist if I pull it through the needle too far.

I dampen the leather slightly with water before I dye it. Not wet, just rub a wet sponge brush over it until it darkens a bit. Then I dye. Got the advice from Lobo for using Pro Oil Black. Works fantastically. So much so that I do it with my other colors now too. Seems to take less dye to get the color I want doing that. And swirl it on like have been suggested. You can pretty much bet on one coat not being enough if you are hand dying something. I generally dye the front, flip it and dye the back; then repeat as necessary.

I have fillet gloves that are like a mail with a rubber coat. Never had a problem with the leather getting marked up. Been using them for a year or more. Saves on bandaids. lol You can still cut yourself but it takes a lot of effort for even a minor cut. Points have a way of getting through occasionally. I slipped bad a while back and don't want to think about what my finger would look like without those gloves on. I rarely touch one of my knives without the glove on my off hand.

I started a couple years ago with $500 that we could afford to loose and not get hurt. Started small. Made a lot of tools when I could. Rolled 99% of my money back into better tools and more materials. We built up slowly while not accumulating any debt into the venture. I still have no debt in it. It's self supporting and a nice side income now. I could stop tomorrow, sell everything, and walk away in the positive. I suggest you keep that in mind as well. Debts make it work. And that can make it miserable. FWIW, I've probably spent $1000 in the last month on materials and new widgets. Good news is that I'm set for a little bit anyway. Wife does not mind because we don't mix the money in with our normal income. That way it's completely self sufficient and we invest none of our normal income in the venture. To a point we will spend out of the account or move money out into personal savings or investments. But when I have to move personal money into the venture account, I'll be looking to shut it down and sell off stuff. I can deal with break even for a bit. But not negative flow.

International shipping is probably a killer. Maybe keep tabs on ebay and see if anything pops up. Or look into prop guns. Next problem is that not every gun has a training mold.

I'm with Dwight. Weldwood Contact Cement, red can. As long as you can find it on your side of the world. If you can't find Weldwook in particular, look for a contact cement used for cabinet making or laminating wood. Something that dries harder than a flexible rubber type cement.

I don't use any attachment. Thread the needle and stitch. I pull on the thread, not the needle once the doubled thread comes through. I hand stitch a lot. Don't have many needles come off.

I'm considering a cabinet/box. But currently still using the shoe rack and my dryer. 40 minutes get's them dry and stiffened up nicely. But I have to work around the wife's laundry schedule and it does not work as well when I want to get several things done fast.

I could never work in there. Not nearly enough junk for me to trip on, step over, and dodge. Yet. Nice looking digs. Congrats.

That is nice. I delivered one to a family friend today. He has money. By his questions he would have gladly paid more. But I'm happy and he's happy. Next one does not get sold for that price though, lol. A couple weeks ago I had a guy buy 2 hybrids and order 2 leather holsters, paid upfront and threw in a bit extra. Refused change. Yeah, it's nice. What's even better is that he's thrilled with all of them and told me he would be back for more.

I use stacked leather to build mocked up Crimson Trace lasers. One thing to keep in mind is where the buttons are. I just turned down a Walther P22 with laser after looking at the Walther laser. Little tiny switches for the laser and attaching the laser to the rail that stuck straight up. I don't want to be on the hook when the holster breaks one. I really wish the laser and gun manufacturers gave a couple seconds thought to holster making on some of these guns. The Bodyguard comes to mind there as well as the CT Railmaster. Both are really annoying.

I'd like to find that answer too. Can't seem to get it figured out and I have both right and left presser feet. My problem is that it hits the holster much higher up the presser foot during the turn away from the mold. Basically, you can't turn the holster and stitch. I can't anyway. About the closest I got was sewing some combination of forwards, sideways, and backwards at different times. And you can't get the tension right doing that. Or you turn the wrong way and unwind the lock in the stitch. I was lucky enough to get the machine on loan. But I'm about to give it back because I can't figure it out.

I made a gun belt for a guy, and I believe it was his first real leather belt. He loved it, but said it had a strong smell of leather to it. Uhm, yeah. A buddy of mine bought one and jokingly said the first thing he does in the morning is smell his belt. He loves it. Go figure. On a somewhat related note, I used to deliver mid to high end leather furniture. People would absolutely freak out when they saw some of the leather imperfections and want to send it back. Never mind that they got told about them when they ordered it. Grain issues, scars, sometimes odd dye spots. Nothing super crazy, but part of the character of leather is that it's not mass produced and perfect. It's like distressed wood not veneer. And you can't really cherry pick your cuts when they are that big. When I first started I tried to figure out how to make those perfect looking rigs. Finally came to the conclusion that some if it likely has to do with pressing those rigs and really evening out the look of the leather. I kind of prefer the look that's just a touch less perfect. I build it to be used, want it to be used, and don't want folks worrying about banging it up over time. I also don't charge prices that would lead them to believe they are not getting what they paid for. There's room for everyone so I don't knock the path others take. Unless it's obvious it's poorly delivered or borderline unsafe. And I still admire those rigs too.

Rayban, After wearing it around a bit, I'll probably recommend suspenders. He has a sturdy belt from me already that will help. But that's still a lot of weight to tote around. In reality, I don't see it getting a lot of use. But he wanted it, he gets it. I bet I went through about 8-10 cardboard patterns. I'd rather waste paper than leather. And I would have hit it out of the park with the first shot if I would have trusted my gut and went with the front snap.

Paul, I have to say I seriously question firing one shot through that gun. Much less 5 and having to reload. BTW, for those that have not seen one in person, the bullet is a half inch across and the round is 2" long. Big boomstick! Thanks guys.

Have not posted pics in a while. These are two of the more interesting one's lately. Took the most work too. But doing different things is a nice challenge from knocking out mostly cookie cutter pancake holsters. And shooting this bad boy is part of the deal! Here is the Beast, S&W 500. He wanted a cross draw holster, retention strap, and ammo loops if I could manage them. I managed to get a full reload on board. I putzed up the first one trying to do a thumb break on it. Did not work well with the cylinder and the reinforced back. Second had a pull the dot snap on the front and worked out much better. Decided to run a full length reinforcement on the back integrated into the belt tunnel. This thing weighs 4.5 lbs UNLOADED!!! It's going to need it. The rivets are anchoring the strap. And yes, you can actually wear it. Might need suspenders, but it fits. I can sit down with it on, at least on my kitchen chairs. He mainly wants to be able to ride his 4 wheeler with it if he goes hog hunting. At least that's his story. lol And the scoped Ruger. This one has metal strip reinforcements running under the leather reinforcement. One running vertically, and one around the mouth on the bottom.

I've done a couple paddles and used pre made paddles by Uncle Mikes. Mine were around $10 each if you ordered four. Got them from Rob, but not sure if he still carries the one like I have. I might make a leather paddle for a personal holster. Mainly because I'll only use it in the car when I need to take it off where I arrive anyway. Or cannibalize one of my SERPA holsters around here. And nice work! I prefer saying the customer is sometimes right. lol But given where a lot of your jobs come from, I would eat the cost to buy the positive word of mouth too.

Kat, Put the shoe rack in the dryer and put them in for 40-50 minutes depending on size. As an extra benefit it will stiffen the leather. You can let them sit additional time to keep drying. And seal with an acrylic sealant on the inside too. It's what I do with my holsters.

Picked up a Round Hand Burnisher from Pro Edge Burnishers a while back. It's my go to tool for molding know. Really lets me push hard into the front of the trigger guard on Glocks. I mostly use the larger round top on it. I'll use if for final hand burnishing and pre burnishing after edging the damp edges. This has become a really handy tool to have around. And as a bonus, it's a beauty! I also have one of their burnisher for my drill press, the Hole Burnisher, and it is fantastic. Saves a ton of work. Gets in the belt slots and makes short work of them. http://www.proedgeburnishers.com/hand-burnishers.html

I'll add that I cut the stitch groove twice as wide on the inside. Just to ensure that the thread lays beneath the surface. It's not seen anyway, so it does not hurt. Occasionally, I would get a stitch that stood out on a single width groove. I get none of that with a double width groove. And I'm using 347 and hand stitching so it's big thread.

Why not. Cut. Sand with drum sander to square the edges. Dampen edges. Bevel edges. Light burnish with rub stick while damp. Later, wet with liquid saddle soap and burnish on drill mounted burnisher. Let dry. Rub with beeswax/paraffin mix and burnish by hand with rub stick. Finish with M&G 50/50.

In case that's directed at my liquid saddle soap comment, I got mine at Tractor Supply. They only carry the 16 oz spray. It's made by Fiebings. Springfield leather sells it too. One thing I noticed is that the liquid is less likely to leave any color. I would get some residual yellow from the paste soap. http://springfieldleather.com/22086/Saddle-Soap%2CGlyc%2CLiq.Spray4oz/

Yeah, those 938 holsters are tough, but they are so darn cute! lol Every time I make one it makes me chuckle because the holster is so small. I did a single clip IWB that was absolutely tiny! Nice work.