chiefjason

Is your problem flexing the holster to mount the loops on the belt? If so, that design in Dwight's post if the best solution for that. This wings are pretty flexible and would also allow you to tuck the holster in. But I've never had a complaint on that style with the wings or the summer special style mounting that Wizard posted. I just think reversing the holster moves the largest part of the holster footprint from against the body where it is concealable to against the pants where it is less concealable. And it moves the least comfortable part of the holster to the body side.

Take Dwight's word for it. Just don't. Just because you can do something does not mean you should. You are giving up all the positives on that design and gaining nothing but negatives.

You are not going to remove a dark dye and re dye the leather lighter. It does not work like that. You might be able to dye the leather darker, or maybe black. But that may not work, depending on how well the finish used on it held up. It might be hit or miss. My attempts at re dye upholstery leather were all misses. And that was trying to dye light green to black. The good news is that cordovan is a nice color. So at least you have that going for you. I handstitch holsters and use 00 harness needles and 346 bonded nylon thread. You will need thinner thread than I'm using for that weight leather though. 69 to 138 range should be where you are looking. Match the needle to the thread size. And look at stitching chisels to punch the holes too.

I appreciate the advice, since it's kind of hard to come by online. And you two guys seem to come up the most on what I searched here. The bobbin issue isn't a big deal to me. I offer a couple thread color options so I figured there would be a lot of changing or loading just what I needed for one holster. I saw the teeth on that foot and it did concern me. They are rather deep. That would not be a good look if they could not be fixed. And the thread size and stitch length may be what seals the deal as a no. I think of thread as both functional and decorative. So switching to a really thin thread just to use the machine bothers me. And obviously, the concern about what I want to use it for bothers me as well. But I'm close enough to swing buy and take a second look at it. I need to drop something by there anyway. But the odds are certainly leaning towards it not coming home with me at this point. But being the stubborn type I am I might tinker with it a bit to try and get a look at what you guys are saying. The one thing that I really liked about it is the movable foot. I build my holsters if a very specific way, pre molded. And the main issue I have had with the BOSS I tried out was making turns around the molded parts and the throat was too short. This machine looked to solve those but just my luck, it presents issues just as bad or worse. A machine isn't a must have for me, I currently hand stitch. But that won't last forever and this one was a good deal. But only a good deal if it does what I want, right.

Been doing some digging and talked to a buddy of mine. While I won't be stealing this machine it's a good deal and might get better if he budges on the price. From my digging it looks like it uses 207 thread on the top end of the spectrum. Does that sound about right? I'll be stitching holsters and similar leather pieces, so I will be using the largest thread I can. I like the look of it and currently hand stitch with 346. Just a quick tinker with the machine the hand crank works, needle and walking foot move. It looks to have some needles and bobbins with it in the drawer but I didn't look that close. Has the original manual with it too. My buddy suggested asking to try and stitch with it a bit if possible, which I'll take some leather and ask to do that if I can. What do I need to look for? I know Adler parts are not cheap. So any help on making sure the parts are there is a plus. Also a plus, I may be able to get the owner to stop by and talk to him. Looks like he did some shoe repair and that's what it was used for. That might be invaluable if I can get him to the store. Thanks for any and all help. Unsolicited advice is also appreciated. If it helps it's a semi gloss black with brass trim plates and matching treadle base.

Got the Tokonole in yesterday. Burnished a few project by hand and got the best and easiest edges I've done burnishing by hand. Then burnished some on the drill press today. Even better! And this stuff really lays down the fuzz on the grain side inside a holster. So far I could not be happier with this.

Looks good. I really like the bump in the sheath to match the handle. Nice touch.

Are you using a stitch groove on the back? Trying to figure out why that are wandering around like that. Or are you punching the holes by hand with an awl? Thats a skill all it's own to get things straight by hand. Too square for my tastes, I like softer lines. But it's also not my holster so that's worth exactly what you paid for it. lol I do like the color though.

Thanks for that. I've been burnishing with water and edge coating. Had some recent problems with that. I was previously burnishing after dyeing the edges. The Pro Oil dyes do well for burnishing except when I don't want a black edge and my burnisher is now black. And if the build up gets thrown off the burnisher it can ruin a light colored project. And I hate the smell of Gum Trag. So I've got some of this inbound now.

Dye, oil, finish. If you do dye, finish, oil you didn't oil the leather. And that leather is bad. I'd also be contacting the seller and see what they say. I had a set of shoulder straps do that and the company sent me another strap. Thousands of reasons why, but most of those reasons fall on the manufacturer. Then age. If a maker gets old leather there are times you could not oil it enough to get it back. I've since started keeping a 5oz side from Wickett & Craig around for straps and no more issues. On the upside, looks like you have a new belt. Hope it's your size.

I do what I call an antique brown on my holsters. Theres nothing perfectly placed about any of it, that's the point. But there is years of experience in knowing what I want and how to get it. The lighter band on the left looks like it has oil spots in it. Might be neatsfoot oil on a natural leather. You need something that would darken leather like neatsfoot. The other two look like they have some oil spots and are physically damaged. Not sanded, but the grain is removed in places. The right one might use dye for the darker spots. Either a darker dye or use the same color with some of it cut with alcohol and some used full strength for the darker spots. The bottom one looks to be a leather with a nice pull up and airbrushed edges to cover the pull up on the edges. Looks like they are running something through the holes after the hole punch to damage them too. I appreciate a well done distressed look as much as flawless.

You have a couple options. One is to stop the sheath at the bolster and secure the handle with a strap. Since that knife is half handle I'd put the strap as high as possible. Second option is to put a serious welt on it but skive the welting. So that it's thicker at the bolster. But you are looking at 4-5 layers of leather at the bolster. Doable but might be tough. Third is to flare the top of the sheat at the bolster. Welt the sheath like normal. But flare the mouth like a Y. That way when you wet the sheath and put the knife in you have enough room for the bolster to fit into the sheath. I'd have to tinker with it, but you might have to flare it out .5" on each side. It will suck the sides in as you drive the bolster in.

To add to the above, both of which I agree with. If you can punch the "corner" the punch usually bevels it. I used to try and edge the top and bottom of belt slots. I just leave the edge beveled by the punch now and bevels he sides that I have to cut. If at all possible edging before assembly and burnishing it helps a lot. Anything 90 degrees on leather is a bad idea IMO. Inside corners are a pain, outside corners will wear poorly.

For the second, single holster. None. They want a couple holsters, maybe. The more local the more likely. If they have gotten to 6 or so holsters I might make an exception if they ask. Or if I have raised my prices I'll continue to offer them their original price, within reason. IN other words, I make it up as I go along. lol

Depends on your strategy. Full time or side business? How much time do you want to dedicate to upkeep of the site? Or how much money do you want to spend on that? Payment methods? Tax collection? Marketing? I've gone the other route as a side business. I use etsy, eBay, word of mouth, and some local gun boards exclusively. I don't have time for a full time job, family, side job AND dealign with the minutia of keeping a website up or paying to keep it up. So I pay for the opportunity to let other people do that for me. To Ncvstarleather's point, on one item he's right. But if you list several items as inventory that .20 gets divided among them. And if you catch it before you sell out you just edit your inventory and divide it even further. You just have to be clear on lead times in the description or shipping section. And even then folks will miss it.

I think it depends on your market. Where technology makes solid competing materials at better prices, expect a decline. Cell phone cases might be an example of that. I only sell a handful of them. Where it does not, there may not be a decline. The slight decline in my sales over the last year has nothing to do with the leather industry. But mostly the gun industry and the saturation of the market. It's still trucking along though. I'm staying pretty busy with holsters right now. All that said, I don't think I could make a living at this. Unless I could quadruple my sales or find someone else to pay my mortgage.

Depending on how old they are, I would contact DR Martin before I did anything to them. They may have some ideas or offer a repair service. Other than that, I think the guys above are right.

I don't question their dreams, I just make them come true. LMAO. Based on the pics of the gun it's not really that big. Hope I get pics of it in the holster. I'm finishing one up for a M&P shield now. Lined but not exotic accent. And building another for the P365 with lizard accent.

Gotta love the crazy requests. I sold a full cover one like above, then got a message that it's for a P365 weight a red dot optic. Got some photos from the customer and came up with this. Now to see how he likes it. I'm going to try and get some pics of the actual gun in it.

Pull off a good section of extra thread and double that. The doubled section thread tends to pick up the extra dye. I tend to pull of 6X the length of the stitch line. With white thread I'll pull 7 or 8 depending on the color I've dyed the holster.

The only thing I do after edge kote is to apply 2 coats of acrylic sealer. Mop and glo with water 50/50. I don't see any bleed, no complaints either. I'll test it a little more soon. What I do notice is that it's tacky for a while after sealing so I let it dry 24 hours between coats.

Looks good. Did you oil it any? Oil can really darken saddle tan.

The odd thing about this one is that it does not really add any size to the gun. But mentally it just looks enormous. I even put a little warning in the description that the holster was large. The base is the same as the rest but covering that slide really makes it look bad. But hey, I sold it.

I've been told it's elephant. Which is what I was leaning towards anyway. Rivet is a throwback to when I didn't stitch around the hook. I've just kept it around. I figure that part of the holster will take the most abuse so might help it out. I need to post a pic of the one that just sold on etsy. It fully covers the slide. For a pocket holster it looks HUGE! It was one of those projects to see how it would look. Figured it was too big so tossed it on the desk. When I made another regular pocket holster for the P365 I took pics of both and listed the full cover as an option. It sold first. lol

Haha, I pocket carry a P238. This one is a bit larger. But it fits in my bluejeans pants. And I shipped a version of this pattern as a rough out holster and the customer loves it. That pattern is what got me thinking about doing this. And it gives me something nicer with a little more profit margin to toss on my etsy page. That's never a bad thing.