jackd942

Haven't tried it bigorange...I always apply after the spirit dye has dried for at least a day.

That's pretty dang fancy! Awesome work!

Looks good!

Same here...heat lamp. And I've been keeping my oil in the house where it's not 50 degrees like my shop. I take my pieces in, stick them under the lamp and apply the oil in the toasty house.

That's awesome Red Cent! Love it!

The front panel being larger does give it a natural curve which is very comfortable in my opinion. It hugs the body better. When I was talking about being careful to bend it to line the edges up, with one side stitched, you have to kind of bend the back and then line up the front to get the edges to line up. When I mentioned casing before dye, the Fiebing's spirit dyes recommend dampening the leather before application. This opens up the pores and helps the leather accept the dye better. I use either resolene cut 50/50 with water or mop n glo cut 50/50 with water. Applying heat/neutral shoe polish over that and giving it a buff just gives it a nice subtle shine (almost a glow). There are other waxes/blends that would work for this, but neutral shoe polish is easy and available anywhere. I tell my customers that if they ever want to freshen a piece up to use neutral polish and buff it. The last thing I want (for my taste) is a holster that looks like glass. I like a nice satin leather look. This is just my preference. Some of my earliest work was probably a little heavy on the resolene with no polish and therefore a little shinier. Look at some of Katsass' (among others) holsters and you'll see what I mean about the nice satin shine. Hope that clears it up, if not, let me know. Jack

lol!

Very nice work...I like!

Almost forgot...between 9 and 10, I rough up the leather and cement the stiffener on. After that, the stiffener is stitched on before the sides are glued and stitched.

I really appreciate the information and help I have received since joining this forum. I have had several requests from members about different things in private messages, and I sat down and outlined my process in one of them. I figured that while I was sharing, might as well post it for all to see. Please understand that I have only been doing this for 3 months and I'm sure there are things in my process that will change...this is just how I currently work. And please, if anyone has any suggestions for improvements, let me know. Well, here it is in a nutshell... First of all, all of my holsters are my own design. They look similar to other pancake style holsters out there, but the first thing I do when I get a new model handgun is to set down and design a pattern. I make sure that as I am drawing it out that I am not looking at someone else's pattern that might influence me. Instead of going through that process, I'm going to give you a link to a video by Andy Harlin. His YouTube channel was a great source of information when I started 3 months ago.https://www.youtube....user/revelcraft is his YouTube channel. His particular video on pattern making is (part 1) and (part 2). One particular thing to pay close attention to is how the front panel of the holster is slightly wider than the back. You can make a fine holster without that, but I have found that this is my preference. Another common mistake is to not allow enough clearance between the top of the holster and the grip to get your fingers in between, so keep that in mind as well.My step by step holster process is as follows, but I want to give you one more video link that was also a good source of info for me...Eric Adams at Adams Leatherworks. The link ishttps://www.youtube....rticlerealities. In particular, these videos are VERY similar to my process ( , and ). He also has some subscription videos you can pay to watch if you're interested, but these will give you an overview.1) After developing the pattern, I usually digitize it (optional) on my computer with a free program called Inkscape. This allows me to just reprint the pattern at any time. I scan in the drawing and then digitize it in layers so that I can print individual components as needed (ie. front panel, back panel, stitch lines, belt slots, stiffener). There are many videos on youtube about digitizing drawings and you should be able to get a lot of results with a search. Again, this is purely optional. 2) Lay the patterns on the leather, mark them and cut them out. I use a utility knife and try to stay either right on the line or just to the outside. I always sand the edges flush so I'd rather have too much as not enough. 3) Run a stitching groove around the stiffener. 4) Case the stiffener and then carve/bevel if needed. 5) At this point I either use my overstitch wheel around the groove or use my stitching chisel (pricking iron) depending on what method I will be using. Lately I've been using the diamond stitching chisel (pricking iron) a lot. 6) Run a groove all around the front panel of the holster. After that, I mark and make a groove for the double inside stitch lines. 7) Overstitch wheel or pricking iron on the inside stitch lines. 8) Case all of the leather parts and apply dye with my airbrush. I use Fiebing's spirit dye, it works really well in my airbrush and allows me the do the "sunburst" effect. For the sunburst, I spray the whole panel and after that dries a bit, I fade in the outside with a darker color. I believe this is shown in Eric's video. 9) Allow that to sit for a full day. 9a) Carefully rough up the leather on the front panel and glue the stiffener on. Go ahead and stitch the stiffener on before continuing to the sides. 10) Glue together one side with contact cement and let it sit for an hour. If using a pricking iron you can go ahead and punch through the second layer with the iron, or use an awl to finish the hole as stitching. 11) Prepare thread, place in stitching pony and stitch up the one side. Note that I concentrate a LOT on my stitching. Ian Atkinson and Nigel Armitage have a lot of good videos about stitching on their YouTube channels. IMO it is worth it to really study the information on stitching and practice this a LOT. 12) Repeat 10 and 11 for the other side...but if you made the front panel slightly bigger, you have to take great care to bend the holster and line up the edges well. 13) Cut belt slots. I use a 1 1/2" slot punch to cut the belt slots after the stitching is done. 14) Sanding. I use a oscillating spindle sander to sand all of the edges and flush them up. Many use a belt sander which is good as well. If you don't have either, a trip to Harbor Freight may be in order:) It is WELL worth the money. 15) Soak the stitched holster in WARM water for around 30 seconds to a minute or so. It needs to be good and wet, but it doesn't have to soak for 30 minutes like some people say IMO. 16) take out the holster and lay on a towel. Blot off the excess water and let it rest for a little bit. While it is sitting, heat up the oven somewhere between 150 and 170 degrees. Mine will only go to 170 and it works fine. 17) Now, if using the real handgun, you will need to spray it down with some oil and wrap it in Saran Wrap or stuff it in a ziploc bag. I have done this many times and it works just fine. If I am using a bluegun, I normally go ahead and wrap it as well, just to make sure none of the blue comes off on the inside of the holster. You can scrub your blueguns with denatured alcohol to get the finish off of them, but I have always been extra cautious and just wrap them. 18) Stuff the handgun into the holster. Make sure the it is even on both sides and look it over really well to make sure it is all lined up the way you want it. Sometimes they are a real bear to get in, but if you work at it, it will eventually go in. The harder it is to get in, the tighter the fit will be when it is done. There are a lot of variables, from the stitch line to the temper of the leather that determine how tight it will be, but even though some are tighter than others, I have not had a holster yet that didn't turn out well in the end. 19) Molding or Boning. Now it is time to start molding the holster. There are different opinions on this, but I will tell you mine. If I wanted every piece of detail in my holsters, I would start using Kydex. This is just my personal preference...a lot of people are making fantastic holsters with a lot of detail in them. When I first started, I used to use a modeling spoon and all kinds of different tools to mold it. Now, I use nothing but my fingers. I pay a lot of attention around the trigger guard as well as down the front and back of the slide. I'll push and rub with my fingers for probably 10-20 minutes, and then take out the gun. 20) Baking. Now I take an old wooden cutting board, put the holster on it and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes. After that, I go back to step 18. Re-insert the wrapped gun and start molding and shaping with my fingers for another 10-20 minutes. I stick it back in for another 20 minutes. I then repeat. I usually do 20-20-10-10 depending on how the holster is looking. if it is looking like it is drying out on the inside I may only do 20-15, 20-20 or 20-20-10 and leave off the last bit of time. You just kind of have to get a feel for it. 21) At this point, I'm pretty well done with it for the night. I test fit the gun 1 more time and then take it out and leave the holster alone for at least 24 hours. 22) After it is thoroughly dry, I apply tan-kote to the inside in one direction and kind of wipe it down to burnish it a little. I used to use gum trag followed by resolene. Since then I have started buying better quality leather and don't really need to "glue" down the fibers on the inside anymore. 23) Apply neatsfoot oil to all the outside surfaces with a foam brush. Wipe off any excess after it has sat for a bit and then walk away and leave it alone until the next day. 24) Edges. I apply black dye to my edges and let it sit for a bit. I then chuck up a wooden wheel in my drill press that I made and burnish all the edges. If there are areas I can reach, I use a wooden slicker to burnish them. I then chuck up a 1/2" dowel that I sanded down to a long point in my drill press and burnish the belt slots after black dye as well. I spend a lot of time on the edges...to me the first thing I look at to see quality is the stitching, followed by a close second, the edge treatment. 25) Finish. I spray all my finish with an airbrush. I have used resolene a lot and like it. I usually cut it 50/50 with water. It tends to leave a shinier surface. LIGHT COATS...and you only need 2 or 3. You don't want it to look like a big glob of glass. Lately I've been using Mop n Glo cut 50/50 with water. Yes, the floor polish. Search for posts by Katsass on here and you will find what I am talking about. Again, 2 to 3 LIGHT coats. It leaves a mellow shine, but it still looks like leather and not glass which is something I appreciate more and more as I gain experience. 25) Finally, whether using resolene or Mop n Glo, I heat up the holster gently with a hair dryer or heat gun on low. I then rub in neutral shoe polish all over with my fingers. I then heat it a little more and buff with a soft cloth. If I'm using resolene, I don't do this until it has had a day or more to cure. If using mop n glo, you can wait 6-8 hours. Just make sure the finish isn't tacky at all before you use the shoe polish...you want it to be fully cured. That's pretty much my process as it is today...Again, if anyone has any comments or suggestions, I'm an open book and I really appreciate everybody's advice I have received on here. Jack

They look great Scott

Thanks for the kind words everybody. Matt, I know what you mean. I had no intentions of anything more than making a couple for myself and maybe my brother and friend when I started. Once word got out and people saw what I was doing, it felt like a flood rushing in. So now I have to seriously consider buying a machine. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I feel like I need to wait until after the first of the year just to see if orders continue to pile on. Thanks, Jack

Very nice work!

+1

Nice work. Really like the color.

No problem vaalpens. I'll try to answer as best I can. Keep in mind that there are probably plenty of other opinions on here, but this is how I have been doing it. 1) The JB Weld was just the standard stuff that I purchased at WalMart. The Chicago Screws I have are not solid on the bottom (the screw protrudes just a tad), so I hit the bottom of the screw with a belt sander just a little so that the screw didn't go all the way to the bottom and run the risk of dislodging it. I use blue loctite and didn't crank extremely hard, but it tightened up well and I doubt he'll ever have to bring it back because of the screw. I did make sure that it cured in a warm environment. 2) I haven't been dyeing the inside of my holsters. The first several I made, I was using gum trag. I would burnish that and then seal with whatever sealer I was using (usually resolene). I since have been buying Wickett & Craig leather and the flesh side is much less "fuzzy" that the Tandy stuff I was using. The last few I have made, I have just been using TanKote and burnishing it down. 3) I dye all my edges with black dye before I burnish. Sometimes I'll burnish 2 or 3 times at different stages depending on how it's going, but I always dye before the first. I tried using EdgeKote and it was ok, but I like the dye first and then burnish better. Hope that helps, Jack

Thanks for the comment Chris...I do not own a machine. Everything is hand stitched. If my orders continue at even a quarter of what they have been, then I'm going to have to invest soon! Thanks Dwight...W&C 8/9 oz natural tooling back. Thanks for the JB Weld tip by the way, it worked out great. I love having you guys and gals to bounce things off of. Finally got around to using Katsass' Mop n Glo and I really like it.

Here are a couple of my latest. The first is for a Glock 22 and it is for a Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper. He wanted his collar brass attached to the stiffener, so I JB Welded a Chicago screw on the back and attached it as well as stamped and beveled his number in it. The second is for a customer that needed a holster for his new Baby Glock 27. I swear I never intended to do initials and/or numbers on every single holster I do when I started this, but ever since I did the first on request, that is all anybody wants...I guess as long as I keep getting orders for them, I'll keep makin em:) Been having a hard time with the lighting in my photo box as of late, so the colors are just a bit off. Think I'm going to see if I can remedy that soon.

Very nice!

Hello and welcome Lee. I'm just up the road a little ways in the MO Bootheel. Nice work!

Thanks Nigel...I really appreciate your time and effort in making your videos.

Hey Jimbob, thanks for the comment. These Glock 22's have a square trigger guard in the front. There is no glue in there. In fact, I guess it's the angle that the pics were taken, but if you look at them straight on, the square trigger guard follows the stitch line. Must be an illusion from that angle.

Love it...excellent!

John James size 2 harness are my choice. I started with the Tandy needles, but they seemed to be brittle and break easily. Hobby Lobby sells a RealLeather brand of stitching needles that are ok, a lot less brittle than the Tandy ones. You can't go wrong with John James IMO. I just looked them up on their website www.jjneedles.com and they're listed as 55 mm, so actually a little over 2 inches. No problem with the follow ups, hope it helps.

Vaalpens, I use a size 2 harness needle which should be a little smaller than the 0. They are just under 2 inches long. I have read a lot of people who do not like the Tejas thread, and I didn't either at first, but have come to like it after conditioning it a little before use. It is very thick and very strong...a lot stouter than the regular Tandy waxed thread you get on the 25 yd spools. You get the Tejas in 4 oz spools. After removing some of the wax, I flatten out the end by running it between the needle and my thumb and have no trouble threading it. When I first started, I used an overstitch wheel and awl exclusively. Since then I have got to the 5/32 diamond stitching chisel. It works pretty well for what I'm doing. Sometimes I chisel through both layers and other times I chisel through the front layer only and finish up with my awl. Not sure on what the stitch per inch the 5/32 chisels are, but it has to be somewhere around 4-5. It looks pretty good for the thicker Tejas thread. I am going to order some Barbour's at some point...I just have a spool and a half of the Tejas left, so I'm going to wait til I get closer before I order some. This is just what has worked for me...ymmv.