chiefjason

Thanks Jeremy. I had gone shorter, and had issues. I cut a couple longer, at 6 1/4". I might back down to 6" and try them too. I've not had a lot of time to dedicate to this process, so it's in fits and spurts between other things. I have some pull the dots but cannot figure the darn things out. Part of it is that I ordered the insides because I wanted a black snap on the outside and IIRC Springfield only carried silver. They were supposed to work with the line 24 outsides but they don't. At least not trying to build an entire snap. If I use t nuts and screws it looks like it would work but I can't get the snap to function when I mount it. More tinkering is in order I guess. I have some loops in the garage drying, and I skivved them down a bit. I'll test them tomorrow. I'll keep tinkering with the line 24's on my demos (I've got plenty to tinker with) and look more at the pull the dots.

So, the question is; "Do you use snap loops or static loops that you thread the belt through on your IWB loops." I like the idea of snaps but I'm having snap issues. They may also be related to loop length as well and that's my next change. Line 24's are not the strongest but they have held up fine in other applications for me. Pull the dot's are more expensive and I'm having different issues there with even getting them to work. Static takes the cake for ease of making them but they would be more difficult to put on I would think. FWIW, I would be using them on hybrids and fairly widely spaced on leather holsters so the rear loop tends to be in the back pocket area already if you carry just behind the hip. Just wondering what everyone else is doing. Gonna do some more research and trial and error ( more error currently), but figured I would ask here too.

I'm telling you, going on 3 months on a stanley blade. Sharpening will do the same thing. I'm sure those are great blades. But stropping a stanley blade a few times gets it right back where it needs to be. Worse case hit it on a fine stone then strop. I'm a diehard cheapskate so I'd rather sharpen my cheaper blades than spend more money on "good" blades and toss them when the are dull, even if they do stay sharp longer.

If you don't have a strop you need to make one. Those sharpeners only do so much, and it ain't much compared to someone that knows what they are doing. I just ordered a new Osbourne #70 from Springfield and I had to strop it before I got started. Not because it was not sharp, but because it was not sharp enough. Take some leather and glue it with one rough side up and one smooth side up. Put some jewelers rouge in the rough side. After sharpening pull your blades across the rough side, but pull them backwards so they are not cutting. Repeat that on the smooth side. There will be a huge difference. I sharpen my box blades and have been using the same blade for nearly 3 months now. Here is my system. The strops are on the right side, it's actually 2 double sided strops but I used them to shot both sides in one picture. A buddy of mine was commenting the other day that collectors were driving the price up. I would be the steel is better too though. I'm not a fan of some of the newer stuff. I hand sharpen and can get a knife shaving sharp pretty quick. The really hard steels make that tougher to do by hand IMO. I have tossed a few knives because they are too much trouble to sharpen. And to answer the OP, I'm loving the new round knife. I find it much easier to make some of the cuts. The sharp inside cuts will take some work and I have been just doing those with the utility knife. I did manage to do one with the round knife tonight. I find that if I hang the cut line off of the table I can push the round knife quicker and easier than I could use the utility knife. I may be committing some type of round knife sin doing that, but it sure works well.

Sounds like this is what you are talking about. I tried to talk the guy out of it and what did he do? He ordered this one and the standard body shield. Go figure. He said he wanted one that completely shielded the gun from his side. I'm not sure what he's planning on doing with it but I hope he does not need it really fast when he decides. Little pistol on a big ole hunk of leather. Go figure. Personally, I don't see any sense in it. A few years ago I ordered one of the brand name hybrids and promptly cut the darn thing so I could get ahold of my gun.

If I had to guess, I bet they did not sit down as far as you wanted because the end of the holster is sewn shut. Unless you lined them and that's what the stitch line is. With blue guns I've had to beat them in with a hammer before to get them where I wanted them. Overall, it looks sweet. I think the holster is from a movie, just can't place the name. I've seen the style holster before. Probably the same pic he saw.

I'm not a fan of horsehide. Just a personal thing. But that hide is stunning!

Finished up another on for an LC9. This one is going to the brother of the guy that bought the LCR. Thoughts and comments are always appreciated.

I recently sent a Kahr back for a replacement barrel. I shipped directly to them via Fed Ex with their shipping label. They shipped directly back to me via Fed Ex. I think owner to manufacturer is handled differently. Honestly, I was a bit surprised. I also had a request to stipple a firearm a while back. I went to my LGS and it was going to cost shipping both ways and FFL transfer fees to me and back to the customer. That's about $90 give or take. It pretty much ended the deal. Interstate would have to go through an FFL and it would require the FFL transfer fees. Unless you have an FFL I guess. To the original question, I imagine engraving is seen as gunsmithing. ie, working on the firearm instead of working with the firearm. And it might be important to know what the state law says about possession of a firearm if you are not the owner. I am legal to possess any firearm in NC that is legal to have, whether it's mine of I just have permission from the owner to have it. The only real stipulation here to possession is age. That might not be the case in all states. The FOID card comes to mind, IIRC in Illinois.

If I'm showing someone a holster they generally make a comment about it being nice, maybe well built, and inevitably they mention the edges look really good. Not claiming I'm really good at any of that all the time. But I think one of the things that sets me apart is taking the time to finish the edges nicely. I've had problems with bad edges making carry uncomfortable. I don't want that to be the case on something I have made. With that said, there is a big difference in how I finish the edges on some holsters. I'll accept a little less on the cheaper ones, mainly single layer hybrids. But the leather ones get a lot of work done on the edges. And yeah, it can eat up a lot of time. But I have found a few tricks to get what I want along the way.

I needed something I could take on and off and made myself a very similar holster a few months ago. I love it. Carry it every day. I just got a new gun belt and I think it's carrying even better now. I'm sure that will be a popular one. It makes the no carry areas a little easier to deal with. And that one seems to carry much tighter than some of the others I have seen. They generally seem to have a large gap in front of the slide and don't pull in tight to the belt. Looks like you took care of that issue nicely.

Good question, but with 8-9 oz leather I think it would be fine. I make single layer hybrids out of 8-9 and 9-10 oz and have not had a loop fail yet. Sewing another layer would be pretty time consuming and bulky I would think.

As an aside, I had a guy on a local gun board want one for a TLR-1 so bad he sent me the light to work with. I had 2 requests for this light in a week. So I OK'd it with him to make 2 holsters with his light and I'll be looking to build a mock light in the process to use later. Going to mock up a CT laserguard for a G19 tomorrow too for a customer. But I don't have anything silly like a backlog of work to keep me from scrounging up work where I can. I don't turn it down until I'm positive I just cannot do it. If I was as busy of some of you guys are, I'd probably not go to all that trouble.

Thanks. The front looks good, at least from that distance. But winging it is really not a good plan with leather. I got into working it and remembered I wanted snaps and tried to work them in. Not a good idea. What I can tell you is this. The belt loops need to be a bit longer than you usually want them. And you will need more room on the bottom than I have allowed for. This holster is likely not even usable in it's current state. Although it will snap together fine. I did not leave enough room to compensate for fitting over the belt. At this point I can't get one of the snaps to fasten over the belt. Lesson learned. Plan it out or waste leather. And longer loops and more room for the snaps. To the technique. The outside of the loop is designed to pass behind the belt. So my cuts on the front are from the bottom of the loop straight to the outside. On the back my cuts are from the other side of the loop and towards the bottom. The best plan would be to work all this out before glueing; make your cuts and not glue the area you want to place the snaps in. Like I said, more planning would have helped. But this was kind of a demo holster anyway. First flat back and first try at snaps. So I'll chalk it up as practice. Here's a pic of the snaps that might make this more clear.

So, after being in some discussions about flat back pancakes I decided to give it a try. It took some thought to figure out the process I wanted to use. I initially started with one for my wife's Kahr CW 9. In the middle of making it I remembered I wanted it to have snaps. Well, that's where my problems started. This holster is pretty much a mess. I'm simply not going to show the back, it's bad and I know where and why. I'm going to let my wife try it out and I'll be replacing it pretty quick. My step brother has a buddy that is a detective in a local PD. He called me wanting a pancake for his LCR. We kicked around a few ideas. First it was a thumb break. But the LCR really does not lend itself to a thumb break. So we went with a standard pancake. And it gave me a chance at another flat back. Now the revolver was a bit tougher to work with than a semi. But I am pretty happy with the result. My biggest concern is the trigger guard area. I want to see what the real gun looks like in there. I thought I gave it more coverage than that. I have an LC9 in process now too. Both holsters are 8-9 oz Hermann Oak. I bought some of the shoulders that were on sale at Springfield and I have been very happy with them. I got to use my new groovers, an adjustable and a freehand. I also got to use my awl some more. I have to say, the right tools really speed up the process. Hand stitched at 5 spi. Vinegroon black with black atom wax and mop and glow finish.

For me, it all depends on the mistake. And for me, the price point has an effect too. I'm doing this on the side with no real reputation to stake my price on. I won't sell something that I don't trust. But every holster that is made 99% by hand is going to have some flaws in it. At this point the only thing done to one of my holsters mechanically is I use a dremel to square the edges. Other than that it's all by hand. And since I'm not perfect neither are my holsters. That said, I have thrown several to the side. The first one I was going to toss had an absolutely horrific dye job. I let it sit for a week or so. Then I tried to strip the dye off. When it did not come off completely I went to try and buff it off. What I ended up with was a really cool antiqued look. That one sold quick. One I tried, and failed, to recycle it into a holster for my wife. One sat in a shelf until a buddy got his hands on it and he absolutely loved it. I explained what I did not like about it and he told me to shut and and let him buy it. He got it REALLY cheap BTW. One is in a bag of holsters I use to show folks what I am doing. Without a gun in it you can't tell the stitch line is too far out. I just did a demo for my wife that has some horrific flaws in it. I just got in too much of a hurry. I finished it to let her wear it enough to see if she likes it. If she does she gets a new one. And a related story. I posted some pics a while back and got a lot of critique on them. I had already tossed one in the process of making those. I shipped them out and the customer really liked them. So most of the time we are out own worst critics. And as an artist, I can point out nearly all of the flaws in my artwork. While non artists just stare at it in disbelief and think it's perfect.

8/32 is a touch too big for snaps. It's what I use for non snap attachments like clips though. The snaps get 6/32 screws. I don't use many of them, but I've just gotten the silver ones. Easier to find than black. And they are pretty well hidden from sight anyway. You'll have to cut them down to the length you need if you get them at Home Depot. They are generally a bit too long, and it's harder to find short ones.

6/32 screw with matching T nut on the back. You can use nuts with or without the spikes depending on what you want. The 6/32 head will fit right in the snap. I buy the screws long, clip them off flush, grind the extra off, and use them. If you thread them into the t nut then cut it flush and grind it will recut the threads when you back them out. I hope that all makes sense.

Nice! The vast majority of my refusals are either odd guns with no molds or accessories. With accessories I generally ask the customer to get me accurate measurements of the accessory. From their I can occasionally work something out without the actually light/laser/etc. I'm also doing most of this in kydex which is easier and more forgiving IMO. Leather would seriously complicate the process. And none of the manufacturers list any real measurements to work from. I figure if the customer is willing to get me the measurements they are serious enough about it for me to proceed. Then, once I have my mocked up accessory I keep it with the blue gun to use later. I built a Lasermax laser for an LC9 last week out of scrap leather and it worked great. But then again, I'm the kind of holster maker you are referring this guy too. Someone who is willing to do all that extra work for a sale.

I like the idea of a pattern for the front, but can't quite wrap my mind around it. I cut a rectangular piece of leather and laid the top side along the cant line I wanted for the firearm. This reduced the amount of cutting I had to do on the front piece. Basically, just some cutting to around the trigger area to ensure a full grip. Then some cutting on the bottom to trim it up closer. I cut my back piece larger and trimmed to the front. Just the opposite. However, take all this with a grain of salt as I am trying to figure this out as I go. Thanks for the details Dwight. Good to know a pattern is possible. I won't say I wasted a lot of leather, but more than usual. And I may have gotten the front too short. I'm going ahead with it to see for sure. Next one I'm cutting longer though. I got it glued, cut, edged, and sanded so far. Might lay out my stitch lines tonight or tomorrow. Retention seems pretty good right now.

So far I have gotten through cutting, molding front, and cutting back. I'm kind of at a standstill for a while. Other things are taking priority right now. But yeah, that seems to be the basic concept. It makes some things easier, but it also makes some things a bit tougher. So, it's a trade off and I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth it to me. And yes, you set up your stitch line after the molding which takes away the guess work. I could see some benefit to IWB as well. A flat back is very comfortable on an IWB holster, ie all the tuckable hybrids out there.

Not exactly. Just some makers hanging out in the holster section of another board. See below. There are a few familiar faces over there. Not quite. The molding, stitching, and all the other details hold the gun. Same as always. But the way the belt routes around the mold of the holster can INCREASE the retention of the holster. Sometimes to the point that it's hard to use. Moving the belt slots out is likely solving the same issue as molding less on the back. Relieving tension from the belt. And I have seen that in one of my first beltslides that I purchased. My Tagua slide had much more retention when worn. Think about the outward pressure that a good gun belt could but on the back of a holster. A little extra is probably not too bad. But too much and you get the problem the OP is having. A molded back could be the cause of it, as the maker was pointing out on the other board. It can also cause the mouth to shrink or possibly collapse making re holstering more difficult. Basically, he was making the case for flat backs on beltslides. Pretty interesting concept and one that intrigues me a bit. I've got one started if I can just find time to work on it. If you want to check out the thread I'll link it below. And I'll fore warn you. You can argue with him if you want, but you will be arguing with one of the best pros out there. Even if he is out of the business now. http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/defensive-carry-holsters-carry-options/150569-we-can-learn-even-newbies.html

I was in a thread on another board recently where they were saying the the "belt retention" is made worse if the holster is molded as much on the back as the front. Basically, the belt routing around the gun mold is what tightens it up when worn. Wearing it will certainly break it in. Trying to have less mold on the back side will prevent it some. Not the easiest thing to do. I'm tinkering with a holster right now that should be flat on the back side. I want to see how that compares. And don't move the stitch lines. Belt slots maybe, stitch lines no.

I think those are official called "Muffin top protectors." Welcome to the addiction. How does it wear?

The dowels are 1/4", so just a touch larger. I also lay 2 on top of the slide. So there is room to tweak that. It's a carry over from the kydex work. But I have a specific way to build in my retention with the kydex to overcome that. Looks like I can use smaller dowels, just use one, or try to bring my retention trick over from my kydex. But I'm not sure I want it much tighter. I was surprised how good the retention was. Good eye on the ejection port goof. I think that was the first line and I never corrected it.