chiefjason

It will most likely soak through. It's a pretty strong chemical reaction in the leather that makes the leather black. You may get some rub off of the fleshy parts, but it's not the color coming off, it's the leather. If you are dying black, just switch to groon. If you are doing another color you could dye the flesh side and then coat it with an acrylic finish. Or you could buy bridle leather in the color you want. It's colored on both sides and pressed smooth on the back. It has wax and oil in it too, which means it's pretty much finished leather.

I dauber on liquid saddle soap too. Just burnished a few holsters and it makes it so much easier! I've tried several different things and I think I'm sticking with this.

Go with contact cement. I use Weldwood on my holsters. It will give your stitching some extra support by permanently glueing the leather together. No issues with how it will hold up over time either.

Now if you could just give me the secret to stitching the trigger side with a BOSS and get the foot to turn away from the frame. I can't get it to turn with the mold in the way and seem to throw too much slack in the thread trying to wiggle, move, and side stitch it. I might have to start a thread on that.

Good news is you get the stitch lines right. I do all of my holsters like that too. Cut the back piece the exact size you want to finish with. Cut the front larger to give yourself some wiggle room. Mold front. Then position it where you want it on the back piece. Mark it for the correct position and glue it. Cut it to final size. Edge the edges. Set your stitch lines. Awl and stitch. Dye. Finish. That's pretty close to my process.

Wet the leather in warm water a few seconds. Let it sit for a few minutes, you can let it sit longer if you put it in a plastic bag. Put the item in the holster, or mold the leather to the item with your thumbs. Toothbrush handles work well if they are smooth too. Once you are done put it on a shoe rack in the dryer and dry it on high for 30 minutes to stiffen the leather. First though, figure out if you are going to stitch the holster and force the light into it. Or mold the holster and stitch it after.

I picked up an Osbourne from Springfield and I have been very pleased with it. I would say I have to re strop after cutting 2-3 holsters out. I can cut more when I'm cutting bridle. Strap leather seems to dull it more. Probably the wax in the bridle helping me out. I rarely have to sharpen it on the stone. And then just on the finest one I have. The strop keeps it running well for me. As a possible cost saver, try stropping your current knife on 800 or 1000 grit sandpaper before going to the leather strop. It's worth a shot, but I find it actually polishes the edge too much on my Osbourne. It's sharper but actually harder to use. Seems that the small cuts from the stone let it pass through the leather better. I use the sandpaper on my skivers though.

If I find that it's a bit snug, I'll leave the gun/bluegun in it overnight before shipping. The one's I have sent out that were a bit tight have broken in in a day or so with wear. I recommend wearing it a bit to break it in anyway. Wears and conceals better after it's broken in. A broken in holster lays flatter than a new one right out of the box. Probably stating the obvious there, but I've been know to not think of the obvious before. Yeah, moves the humidity out and replaces it with more warm, dry air. FWIW, with standard holsters you might want more than 30 minutes. My holsters are still in 2 pieces when I dry them. So there is more surface area and it will dry faster. Yes, I do thing different. Yes, it's more work. But I'm gonna keep dancing with what brought me. Getting the moisture out of a glued holster might take longer. Although, my mag holders are glued and seem fine with 30 minutes. I guess you'll just have to tinker with it.

I'll throw my .02 onto the pile. I form the holster. Then put the leather in my clothes dryer on a shoe rack. Run it on high heat for 30 minutes. The dryer is more of an indirect heat than the oven. And the shoe rack does not have food grease on it like my oven. After getting greasy lines on the leather I looked for another option. The dryer is also constantly circulating the hot air around the leather. I've been very happy with the results. Red, that's twice I've seen you mention casing a holster. I've got a few coming up and I need to try that out.

Troy, on more than one occasion I have nearly thrown it into the front yard. And I think that little screw was most of my problem. I need to stitch a holster with it. I do mine very non traditional. If I can do that, I'll probably be buying it.

Seems it may have been that simple. Turned down the tension screw on the bobbin. Turned the top down a bit to compensate. Stitched 2 double mag holders without a problem. Things are looking up. Thanks.

Details- used BOSS 1, about 10 years old. 346 thread and appropriate needle. 2 layers of 8-9 oz leather. I am really trying to get this machine up and running, and like it. But it's just not going well. Good thing it's on loan instead of paid for yet. I was stitching in a mouth reinforcement for a holster. As said, 2 layers of 8-9 oz leather. Top stitches looked good. I would get an occasional grab or catch on the up swing of the handle. First try had several loops on the bottom side that were sticking off the leather. After taking the thread out I realized it was the top thread that had looped and not pulled tight. Second try, I was able to see the thread catch on the tension adjuster screw. I could stop my stitching and manually pull the thread up and get the right seating on the knot. But I had to feel it catch in order to stop. Good news, I kind of know what is going on. Bad news, how to fix it? Is it as simple as tightening the screw some? Seems that will throw off the tension that seems to be pretty good right now. Tighten top and bottom? Or is this one of those quirks I'll have to get used too? Top stitch looks good on the second try. Bottom stitch looks OK, with a couple bumps. But stitches on the inside of the holster always look worse IMO. But that first run with the loops had to be removed and re stitched. Like I said, I want to like this machine and get it working. Just having trouble dedicating the time to it. Especially when so much of that time seems to be trouble shooting. Thanks.

If I had to guess, I'd guess daubered on by hand or sponged. Too blotchy, in a good way, to be airbrush. I also bet the lightest part is leather that's just been waxed after the fact with no dye applied. It's a bit similar to what I do on a lot of my holsters. Trick is, to work lightest to darkest. Might take several dye passes to build up the darks. Or like I saw in the link above, varying the dilution of the dyes. I apply a neatsfoot and oil wax as my finish and it always darkens and evens things up nicely. My .02.

Welcome aboard Red. Or back aboard if that's the case.

What I don't understand is why not a single stack 9mm? Understand it or not, I've considered buying one because I'm sure it will be a big hit.

Prep the edges well before grooning. Square, edge, sand, maybe even a bit of pre burnish with just water. Do not use gum trag before grooning, it is a resist and will not take well. Grooned leather is the hardest thing I have found to burnish, especially if it's by hand. I've worked with a lot of grooned holsters, and the edges are always a bear. With the above list I would burnish with gum trag, then go back behind that with the wax to lay down any stray leather and fill in any gaps left.

Great, anybody else notice that the Glock website says the 30s has a slimmer slide then lists it as the same width as the standard g30? And they show the measurement as the slide measurement? Glock is getting as crazy as dealing with Sig's.

I do a lot of light colored, contrast stitching. Cream and white. It's done last. Well, technically since I'm still hand stitching it's all done last. lol Heck, my normal process sounds a lot like Dwight's way. The only thing I do after stitching is wax, burnish, and finish the interior. I'm odd like that. I really need to make that BOSS something more than a coat rack. Of course, it's my odd method that's causing a lot of my problems there.

I wish I could charge hourly. I look around at similar products. Figure material cost and associated fees, shipping, etc. Can I get their price? Can I sell lower and make money? I find the places I can compete and work there. Some things I either can't compete with, or wont. Some things I set the price and it's a take it or leave it proposition. Maybe they can get it cheaper somewhere else, but just not from me. Word of mouth and reputation help greatly. As that has grown for me I have been able to expand, bump up price some, and charge more than other guys and still sell stuff. I thought I could not sell leather on ebay because of how cheap some of it was. Trick was to do it better, set a price, and let it ride. I've sold everything I've listed.

Darnit, scratch my earlier comment. I had the G36 on my brain. I just built one for the 30s with a standard .45 frame blue gun. My apologies. I was thinking slimline instead of short frame. Doh!

A buddy of mine makes custom knives and he said guys are starting to use magnets in the sheath on some of these more unusual blades. I want to try one like that soon. The one I bought from him did not have a hilt so I had to put a tight wrap and kind of offset it so it wrapped at an angle to grip the handle. Worked pretty well. I would have preferred to not have the strap on the edge side, but I wanted a cross draw sheath for camping and wanted to use my thumb to unsnap so no way around it. And since it's mine I didn't complain to myself and demand a refund. lol On a serious note, I found that putting the snap on the body of the sheath allowed me to get a much tighter wrap than trying to but the snaps centered over the handle. I did a strap with snaps centered on the handle and the knife falls out with it still snapped.

I did not feel like it was close enough and turned down an order a while back. Looks like I might be ordering one soon though. The main problem is that the 30 is wider, if you stitch it closer there may be no way to check fit with the larger gun. I had considered using a 9mm, but that was too far off too IMO. And now there is the Glock 42 coming out. fun, fun.

The only solid color I offer is black. All the rest are not dyed uniformly. I prefer it and apparently a lot of others do too. I just like the depth you get and the mottled look with lights and darks. But I'm pretty intentional about how I go about and and work it until it's what I want. One of my best selling colors is a hand applied brown that looks like most of it has worn off. My approach is to make what I like and see if it sells. Seems to be working pretty well. But there is certainly a market for uniform color, no doubt about it. I dye before oiling. If I want darker color I usually rub the leather with denatured alcohol to clean it and strip any oil off the surface. If I'm not worried about it, I just dye it without wiping it down. You will find that certain things will act as a resist to dyes.

I have used both Thoroughbred Leather in Kentucky and American Leather Direct in Kentucky and have been happy with the products. Which one I use depends on what leather I need. Both have been good to work with even for one or two hides.

My FIL gave me some great advice years ago. He told me craftsmen aren't perfect and don't make all perfect projects. They have learned how to fix their mistakes so you don't see them. It drives me nuts when I let something get out that isn't right. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's materials. Drives me nuts though. I'm currently rebuilding a holster for an SP101 2.25" barrel after the customer received a beautiful new holster for a 3" barrel. Doh! Told him to carry it till the new one arrived. I'll loose money on this one but probably get another one down the road for making it right. Then there is the box of miss cut leather in the garage, the burnt kydex, the 75% finished piece that was just wrong, the belt that was too short because the guy swore he was a 34". It happens. Re think the project, do more research on how to do it, then come back to it. Or maybe just work through the mistake and finish it. You will learn plenty in the finishing to carry over to the next one.