chiefjason

FWIW, there is zero design in this "holster." Just an attempt at trying something new and bringing my stitch line in closer. It will end up in the trash or hanging on the wall. And yeah, the bottom of the trigger guard caught my eye as well. Unfortunately that was after the fact. Though the Kahr's tend to have a very rounded trigger front. It kind of sweeps, but I swept it a bit to much. Especially looking at the back now that you mention it. I went back and messed with it a bit more and could have likely pushed the leather in more where the trigger guard meets the frame and that would have allowed me to get that stitch in there deeper. It also pointed out an issue I would have with doing this seriously. My drill will not get into that tight of a space. You can see where the drill hit the leather in front of the trigger guard. Looks like I need to practice with my awl. Or get longer bits. Basically, this was an exercise in molding the top first and using the mold as a guide for my stitch line. I think it shows some promise, but needs more work. One thing that did concern me is that the site channel seemed to allow for a bit of front to back movement. Not that it shows up in a picture or anything. Just noticed it when holster it.

OK, I'm just mainly interested in stitch line, spacing, etc. The molding was probably not quite as detailed as I may do on a finished product. Just a quick shot to get the general idea of the gun. But anything that you see feel free to mention. The gun is a Kahr CW9. Scrap 8-9 oz leather. And using some of my new tools. Man have I made my life harder by not getting these sooner. The trigger guard side I drilled the holes. The slide side I Awled the holes so that I could get a comparison of the technique. I'm pretty darn satisfied with the end result and will likely build my wife a holster with this technique so that I can flesh out how to move from molding only to a full holster.

If you order them from bluegunstore, then no. The coating is not even on the guns. No color comes off when molding a leather holster or heat molding a kydex holster. If you order them from someone else you might want to ask. FWIW, bluegunstore sells the rings blue guns. I believe they special order them without the top coat of light blue. Maybe you can tell from this pic that his blue guns are darker. Ebay changed that a while back. A lot of my pictures have actual firearms in the holster. They also started selling gun parts again.

The coating is just a lighter baby blue. The plastic itself is darker blue. If you can get your hands on a Crimson Trace or Hogue demo or factory demo blue gun you will see the color difference.

If you buy them from Rob at bluegunstore.com they don't have the extra blue finish layer. I borrowed a blue gun from a LGS and I cooked most of the blue off molding kydex. I have never had blue come off of one I bought from Rob. Ever. Been heat molding kydex on some of them for probably 4-5 months now. Even when the kydex sticks to them a bit, no blue comes off.

I tossed one that had some leather issues I did not think I could work out. I was trying to cut around a soft spot and still got into it. Real fleshy and would not sand well. I changed leather because I had not been doing any all leather holsters. This works great for the hybrids. But a lot of the leather is covered anyway. I'm looking to just order 2 different leathers in my next order. The import shoulders are not quite what I like for this work. Also the HO B side leather has been hit or miss. Don't get me wrong, a lot of it is great. Just a lot of softer belly side leather sometimes. Some orders I can use nearly all of it, some orders I'm tossing a pretty large piece in the odd leather box. I may look into ordering a shoulder instead. The square foot price has kept me from it. But if it's only for all leather rigs then it should work out. My 1.5" punch arrived a few days ago. I am already liking it. Kicking myself for not ordering it sooner. Could the holsters be better? Certainly. Are they functional? I believe so. I would not ship them out if I did not think they were going to function properly. And I can assure you I'm not breaking the bank on my price either. I'm not saying I'll turn out a low quality product because of the price point. But since I am just getting going I'm not fetching the prices that other makers are. I'm going to deliver the best quality I can. But at this price I think I'm generally on or exceeding expectations. I'm working towards more exceeding and less meeting. If they are not happy I would either buy it back or replace it. That's what I do with my other holsters. Although I've only refunded one in the last 8 months. But before that happens, the check actually has to arrive. Still waiting.

This! It's hard to verbalize. But once you figure out how to do it, it makes a lot of difference. I find that my stuff is edging better if I spray just a little water on it with a spray bottle. Bonus that it burnishes a bit as it edges if its wet too. Also, I don't know that there is 100% accuracy. You may still have to sand them up a bit to get them where you want them. And the leather moves around a bit when you burnish them too. You want as good a base as possible to start with, I can certainly understand that. But some of the work will be done after they are beveled.

Along with the grip issue, I always try to keep the mag release uncovered. If the mag release is covered by material then you can inadvertently eject the mag. That would be the holsters fault. If it's clear of any material and that happens, it's the carriers fault. Just a though. And since I'm being grilled (and rightly so) over some stitch lines in my thread. You could probably move them in some on the bottom of the trigger to move the gun up and create both space for the grip and expose that mag release. Nice and simple. Looks good.

Wow guys, thanks. A lot to think about for sure. As for the patterns, similar yes. Same, not quite. I try to tweak each one for size of the firearm, sweat guard, etc. For the Shield and G26 I shortened the pattern a bit, and may have gotten too short from Chris's assessment. And I see what you mean now that you point it out. I certainly have a basic design that is beltslide inspired. And the holster the guy saw was a beltslide. He just asked for complete coverage of the muzzle. In the process of building for the smaller guns I guess I went a touch too small. As for the payment issue. The holsters are still in my garage. No way am I going to ship them before being paid. I got the request off of a gun board I am a member of. I've had several orders like this and this is the first problem. The plan was for me to begin work and him to send payment. Once the issues started I was into the build and just went forward figuring either he pays or I try to sell them somewhere else. I did get a "payments in the mail" email today. So we shall see. I normally use paypal. Checks, MO, etc are much less common these days. One of the reasons I got started on them so quick was I have been wanting to get back on an all leather holster. I've not done one in a bit and pretty much just jumped all over the opportunity. I need to work on tweaking those patterns a bit while I have the holsters in my possession for comparison. I've already reworked the stitch lines on the G26 pattern. Now, to the leather and casing. Generally I run water over the outside until it loosens, then run a bit on the inside. After that I let it sit a while before I mold them. So I'm guessing the solution is 2 fold, less water and wait longer? Also, this is a different leather than I have worked with before. It's great for the hybrids I have been making. But I've pretty much decided that any new leather holsters will get treated to better leather. It did not seem to mold as easily, which certainly could be a water issue as well. And I'm not as happy with the overall finishing process. This leather was harder to groon and seemed to have a more matt finish in the end.

OK, so it's a small stack. I've been busy building a lot of hybrids lately. So when I was contacted to make some leather holsters I jumped at the chance to make a few and tweak my pattern a bit. It started off with just the Shield, then a M&Pc 9mm and Glock 27. Front and back pics. Here is the Shield. Retention is good but I may shrink the pocket just a touch. It was by far the easiest gun to get into the holster to mold. I'm very happy with the muzzle end too. Worked like I wanted it too. The M&P was pretty difficult to get into the holster. Certainly got the stitch lines closer this time. I need to get just a little more length on the muzzle end. It's flared open a bit at the front sight. Then "the beast". The G27. I started developing the patter with my G19 as width reference and using the length measurements on the Glock website. I'm not sure how they are getting their measurements, but I can't replicate them on my G19 or G26 for length. Which is the reason the holster ended up a touch longer than the others. I also managed to trace the silhouette a bit too wide when I was making a pattern for my pocket. Luckily I found it before molding and moved the stitch line in on the trigger side. And I had to stretch and beat this thing in the leather. It was a beast to get in. But it sure holds well now. I've already tweaked my patter for future use. Now for the downer. I'm having issues with the guy actually paying me. No mention of not liking them. But I've gotten a couple of checks in the mail emails and no check. He's got another week or so and they are off to a local gun board then ebay if I have too. I guess you get a few knuckleheads occasionally. As alway, criticism is fine. One of the reasons I post them is to get them looked over by you guys. Thanks.

Seeing your stuff on paper is always fun. Congrats!

Guys, this rarely happens to me. And I'll think I'll have to pass on all the generous offers. lol Basically, I saw the strap cutter, adjustable gouge, overstitcher, dye, finish, and bag of snaps. At that point I was figuring I wanted it, but they had not priced it yet. I was figuring about $100, and that would not have been bad. But when he said $60 I just told him to leave it on the counter and we would take care of it in a minute or two. He thanked me for saving him 3 hours worth of work researching and pricing each piece. Hey, glad to help! The crazy thing is he paid some guy LESS than that for it. Yikes! I need to find out what some of this stuff is. It's just not stuff I was working with so I have not educated myself on it. I was staying out of tooling because I did not want to buy the tools. hehe I guess I can start looking into that now. BTW, we went back and picked up the horn. We got a Yamaha Baritone Horn that was tagged at $799 for $200. It had set in the case so long it had tarnished into the finish. I bet it's been there for 10 years. It looked bad aesthetically, but there was no damage and my daughter can play it fine. I'm in the process of taking the tarnish, and unfortunately the lacquer finish, off with brasso and steel wool. Looks like I beat the house twice today. I'll trade some elbow grease for that price. And my daughter is practicing on it now.

So I'm scouring pawn shops for a Baritone Horn for my daughter. I get a lead on a shop that might have one. When I go I'm OC"ing my G19 in a my snap on leather holster. I'm looking at some handguns while I wait and another employees asks if he can help. We talk guns, I mention I make holsters and he asks if I'm interested in some tools. Sure. So he goes and gets a bowling ball bag full of tools. Then only thing that annoys me is that I just ordered 3 of the tools in the bag from Springfield. Anyway, he had not decided if he was selling the whole bag or going to part it out. So I ask him to make me a price for the whole bag. I walked out of there with all this for some change under $65. And going back later to have may daughter try the horn that they did have. I'm still giddy about this. Most of this stuff is not even used. But a lot of it is getting ready to be. And just to relate this here, I might have to try tooling a holster soon. The overview Closer images

Don't get me wrong, those are fantastic holsters. But that seems like a lot of work for little gain. Either in function or aesthetics. But I generally stitch around my loops anyway. That said, I've been know to want to do things simply because I wanted too. With no thought to time invested of functionality. But I'm generally asking myself if a step is needed, not trying to add more. Good luck though.

One of my tricks is to use the same edger I do for the outside, but I turn the leather into the edger instead of pushing the edger into the leather. Kind of hard to imagine, or type. But I have the edger in my right hand, and my left hand is turning the leather while the edger is stationary. But for the most part, my punch does double duty on the front. There is not much of a reason to edge the curve there after I punch them. I still edge the backside though, since it is straighter from the cut. Also, if you don't edge them they tend to bunch up as you sand and burnish the slot. It just looks bad.

Rob (post above) is great. I've bought all my blueguns from him. Great service. I have been know to beg and borrow guns if I can though. My biggest score was getting the shield blue gun from a local gun store a solid 6 weeks before it went on sale. I made a few bucks. hehe

Actually, the edges are the main complaint I have heard about CB. Not many folks complain about them. But the one's that do talk about edges and poor cutting. I do mostly OWB hybrids, but I try to edge them nicely. A rough edge just does not wear well next to the skin. FWIW, here is a quick pic on one of my current holsters I'm working on. This is sanded and burnished with water. I used a plastic clay modeling tool to burnish the edge. Basically, a round plastic stick. I have not molded the holster yet.

I guess I'll throw in my method. I sand the edges with a dremel and sanding drum until they are even. Then I edge. Now for the time consuming part. I hand sand them starting with 80, 110, 220, then 800. I also only sand them in one direction. By the end they are pretty nice. Then I spray them with water and hand burnish them with a bone folder or some other tool I have on hand. After I vinegroon the holster I generally have to go back and possibly sand it with the 800 again. The wet raises the grain. Then I will use saddle soap and hand burnish again. Then I generally go back and wax the edge and final burnish with a piece of denim on a wooden dowel. A lot of this is because I use vinegroon I believe. Burnishing with wax before grooning was keeping the groon from working. And trying to burnish grooned leather is difficult. But slicking it a bit with water allows the groon to work and keeps most of the grain down. I've tried other processes and they do not work as well for me. It takes time, but the finished result is very nice. IMO And I have tried powered burnishing drums. I have the plastic one and a couple hand made wooden ones. I'm just not a fan of them. But I'm not putting out a lot of holsters either, To each their own though.

My Father in law told me it's not about getting everything perfect, it's about learning how to fix your mistakes. As best I can, I try to fix them and move one. But I have a holster in the garage that got to my second round of sanding before I just threw it on the rack and started over. It's salvageable, but not sellable. Messing them up drives me nuts. This one will likely be reworked as an attempt at a snap on pancake holster for my wife. Keep at it. It's a learning process.

Nice. I really like that skinner. I could have put that to use Tuesday evening.

I'm starting to get the itch to try one of these. That could be trouble. I have too much going on right now but it's on my short list of things to try.

I got on the Glock site and did some looking and noticed that exact same thing. I'm all into DIY and making do, or building instead of buying. Heck, I mocked up a CT Lasermax for a SR9c the other week and it worked like a charm. But I bit the bullet on this one and added the G26 to my order. BTW, Rob at Bluegunstore was very responsive to my request and actually responded and sent an invoice on Sunday. I guess we are both working today, lol. I'm going to get started on patterning and getting things mocked up, and I'll have the gun for the molding process. I've been wanting one anyway. At least breaking even isn't loosing money. You gotta build the inventory somehow. Thanks guys.

So here is the deal. A guy contacted me on one of the gun boards I am a member of to have me make a holster for him. He wanted a M&P Shield, we agreed on terms and I ordered the blue gun. I need it anyway. Then he contacted me and asked me to make a M&Pc 40 and a Glock 27 as well. I don't have access to a G27 or 26. What I do have is a G19. The frame dimensions are the same, the difference is in the slide length. So here is my thoughts, and my question. I'm considering molding the gun over the G19 to just past the trigger guard. Once I am happy there, I'm thinking of pulling the gun out to finish molding for the barrel length. Brilliant, sketchy, just a dumb idea? Anyone else tried it. I want to get a G26 blue gun at some point. But I would prefer to make a little money on this deal instead of breaking even. I'm also trying to get in touch with a buddy that I believe has a G26, so this may be a moot point in the end. Thanks.

Not exactly in either width or slide height, BUT they can be close enough to work. I do a lot of OWB hybrids and if I change the way I build in my retention on the kydex I can use some of the 9mm to do .45's. I just did one for a G21 using a G19. I'm getting ready to build one for a Kahr TP45 using a Kahr CW9. With leather you can expand the stitch line a bit to achieve the same results. I always research the widths on the manufacturer's site then make my adjustments. If I can't get the measurement I want there, I get it from the customer or check with my local gun shop.

The first order has to be $1000 was the response I got from them. Looks like you are there or close to it though. It used to be considerably less from what I understand. I just get them from RMB Custom Leather who is a member here. Here is my .02 on the OWB holster game. Stick to guns that are too big for a pocket. Most of my sales are compacts or the 9mm's that are just slightly too big for most pockets. Like the LC9, Kahrs, and shield. Then the double stack compacts do well too; M&P, Glock, SR9, and XD. The Bersa .380, keltec P3at barely sell while the J frame's and Bodyguard .380 will occasionally sell. I just bought an LCR and hope it does well. Most people seem to just stuff them in a pocket holster.