TKanaley

Sure, you cut the thread by inserting a knife between the layers of leather, pull out a few stitches and remove the damaged Tnut with a pair of needle nose pliers. Replace Tnut, clinch, glue and handstitch through the old stitch holes (or machine stitch if at all possible), re-burnish the edge and you're done. Like I said, it's a simple procedure and it usually takes me less than 15 minutes. I've replaced quite a few corroded brass snap studs with Tnuts on old 20 to 35 year old Summer Specials. Same procedure as above, but additionally I have to grind the barrel of the Tnut down once the Tnuts are set in the leather, so that the male snaps sit flush to the topband once they are screwed in place. Makes them good for another 20 to 35 years. T

Generally we go through roughly 15,000 - 20,000 Tnuts in the making of our holsters each and every year. We also as a matter of doing things the way that we do, bury our Tnuts between the layers of leather rather than having an exposed metal flange on the backside of the holster. The only exceptions are our tension welt holsters and a couple of our mag pouch designs where the baseplate of the Tnut doesn't show or come into contact with bare flesh. Though it is possible to spin a Tnut if you overtighten, or cross thread the screw going into it. It is an event that very rarely happens, at least with our product. Last year I replaced Tnuts on two different holsters that were at least 10 years old and failed due to operator error. Both repairs took me less than 15 minutes. Keep in mind that we ship between $800,000 and $900,000 worth of holsters/mag pouches/belts every year. That's a lot of product each year with little to no returns for repair. Spinning Tnuts have not been a problem for us and we've been using them for well over 40 years. One thing we don't do with Tnuts is clip the prongs shorter and there's a reason for that. We set all our Tnuts with a 1/4" thick, flat metal tongue that has a hole drilled near the end that's just a little larger diameter and a little thicker than the barrel of the Tnut. To drive the Tnuts into the leather, we position the base of the Tnut over a small anvil and wack the metal tongue with a lead weighted, rawhide mallet causing the tips of the prongs to clinch over as they are driven through the leather and into the bottom of the metal tongue. Occasionally we'll find the need to have to remove a Tnut during production, but I can tell you that once the nut has been set in the above manner, it takes more than just a little a bit of effort to remove. Driving and clinching the tips of the Tnut prongs has roughly the same effect as clinching a horseshoe nail into the wall of the hoof after you've drove the nail and clipped it. As any experienced farrier knows, a horse won't be wearing his shoes very long if the nails aren't clinched. And if you don't clinch a buried Tnut, you might end up spending more time repairing spinning Tnuts than you want. Lastly, anyone concerned about the aesthetics of the clinched-over points being exposed, they are covered up with the snap or strap for which you put the Tnut there to begin with. No problem... T

I don't know that the guy's reputation was ruined, but I did speak with Bill Wilson and if you peruse the Wilson site, you will note the holster in question is no longer available. Bill didn't have to discontinue that model and I didn't ask him to. That was a decision he made probably based on the fact that Wilson has had enough of his own product designs "borrowed" to have a sympathetic ear to the dilemma. As far as copying other designs go. As been mentioned by another poster, I don't think it's too much trouble for one maker to give credit to another where credit is due. Personally, I don't too much care if a maker copies a product of our innovation as long as they at least make an attempt to improve on the design. When Milt first asked Bruce Nelson for permission to make the Summer Special, Milt didn't intend just to copy it. Milt added sight rails and later a second loop which differentiated it quite a bit from the original. Even still we have always given Bruce the recognition as the original designer. If a maker can't replicate one of our designs without being blatant, or at least give credit, or ask permission. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but they shouldn't ever expect my respect as a peer (not like they would care anyway). I know of two current makers that pretty much owe their entire existence to the innovations of Del Fatti and Sparks. They won't admit to "borrowing", much less give credit, because to do so would be like admitting they have nothing to bring to the table other than what they can steal from the hard work of others. Tis sad, but true. I would say, be respectful and try to bring something to the table instead of just being content to sit at it. We all have to start somewhere and sometimes it evolves around the ideas of others, but that's no reason to limit yourself and let everyone else do the thinking for you. To quote: "there's only so many ways to wrap a piece of leather around a handgun" That may be true to an extent, but in the 25 years I have been at this professionally, I've managed to come up with quite a few unique ideas of my own. Don't ever use that as an excuse. Tony

Sight channel; If you're commercially making holsters and you don't provide some sort of sight protection into your holsters, you're going to have a lot of people that will complain about that little ball of leather hanging off their front sight everytime they draw their pistol. That much I will guarantee. The way I look at it, if you're just making holsters for yourself, it really doesn't matter whether you incorporate a sight channel into your design or not since you will be the only one using it. Experiment and decide for yourself. BTW, a sight channels usefullness has nothing to do with a holsters cant as has been suggested. All the guns I carry have very sharp front sights and are of a semi post profile and are usually very sharply serrated. When practicing my draw stroke, I do not like looking at a ball of leather scrapings where my front site ought to be, so I provide some sort of channel to preclude that from happening on any holster I make for myself. It just so happens that the holsters I make for myself are also the basis for any holster we make for our clients and all our designs for semi autos have that feature incorporated into them. It certainly doesn't hurt anything to have a sight channel built into a holster even if a person thinks they don't really need it. And it certainly doesn't require a lot of engineering or labor for the hobbiest to incorporate it into their own designs either. Do as you will though. Stitching around the trigger guard and close to the gun; We do it several different ways depending on the model and type of sight channel we provide in that particular model. But in a nutshell, no matter how we stitch and mold the holster, our goal is to always do it in a way to provide resistance for the first inch or so of movement out of the holster after which, we like the holster to provide a clean effortless presentation from that point forward in the draw stroke. That always involves stitching close to the trigger guard since that figures into that first inch of initial resistance and whether it's IWB or OWB it is something we always do. The welt is in the shape of the outline of the gun it's fitted to. There is a small relief that starts below the trigger guard and ends at a point below where the stitching stops, which acts as a hinge for the adjustable part of the welt. Other than that, the welt is fit tight up against the gun. The adjustable (lower) part is set according to the end users requirements for retention. The stitching on the CC-AT might not follow the outline of the gun, but its only real purpose is to anchor the welt, which is fit tight against the trigger guard as well as the muzzle end of the gun. I guess I'm really not interested in getting involved in this argument any further, nor do I really have the time. My name was brought into this, hence the reason I'm responding. I'm would suggest that those who are reading this, glean what they can from these posts and then take a close look and see what the folks who are sucessfully making a living at this are doing. Cheers, TK

Make yourself up a solution of 50% water and 50% acrylic finish. Dip for about 20 to 30 seconds, quickly wipe any excess solution off and hang till dry. Obviously you will want to dye the holster and buff edges beforehand. Also obvious is that making up the solution is only viable if you are doing more than just one holster and plan on making more in the future. Gets kinda rank if you don't use it and replenish it often. Angelus and Fiebings are the best choices for acrylic. Good luck! T

Since we're quoting proverbs, how about this one. Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience! Confucius say, or something like that. I'm done here.

Actually we've been in business for almost 40 years. Milt started the business in 1969. He was a tinkerer and craftsman, just like myself as I'm sure are most of the people on this board. I've been with the company since 1983. I bought into the business in 1990 and took over in 1995 after Milt passed away at the age of 78. Anyway, it took a long time to get where we are today and we pretty much accomplished that by building upon our own ideas. Care to know who some of the fellas are who may have influenced some of our designs? All you need to do is read through the text on our site as we always try to give credit where credit is due. As far as the expense of having employees? That' the single largest expense any business has I suppose. My employees all get paid around the mid 5 figure range, so they're not complaining. Workmans comp, health insurance, retirement and matching FICA all add to the pot. But there's plenty left over for me, so I'm not complaining either! I didn't see any reason to get involved in that other thread where some of the posters seem to have a problem with my odacity for speaking out. One person commented to the effect that if you put something out there on the world wide web and you don't have a patent, it's fair game for everybody! As if that makes it ok. Patents are expensive and are easily defeated. And just because somebody can, doesn't mean that sombody should. Course I'm sure that everybody on this site would be quite ok with it if the Chinese knocked off an idea that was the result of the ingenuity of one of the members here, right?? I wonder because it appears to be ok with some, if one american does it to another. Just an observation. T

....or maybe too much Maui Wowee?? Mahalo.

You mean as a gratuitious means of generating a little attention??? Naw, no business to be had here to go though that much trouble! Hey, maybe Ozark and I are one and the same!! Better check them IP's....

I got an email that said I should come here and take a look. 50 hours a week indeed. No rest for the wicked!

Which is why we use two snaps to secure each loop instead a single. If one fails, the other will secure the holster until the failed snap can be repaired. On top of that, the uppermost snap is a directional snap which will not break free by the weight of the holster. The lower most is a regular hard action that adds strength and security to the upper snap. Another makers variation of the snap on design is used by members of Delta Force as well as Law enforcement and others in the special ops community. Our snap on the belt, inside-the-waistband holsters are used universally by LEO's all over the country as well as by members of the special ops community to include members of Seal Team 8. Snaps aint like clips and if the holster is engineered right, snaps do their job just fine. TK TK

Our business grossed about $625,000 last year. Far from being the "Multi Million Dollar Holster Manufacturer". And that is with 6 full time guys working 50 hour weeks. We are small too, so don't turn this into a reverse David vs Goliath thing. Wilson Combats revenue dwarfs us in comparison. And I do appologize to the members of this board as well. Any further posting I do on this site will hopefully be in the spirit of comraderie as it should be. TK

Jordan, The Axiom hasn't been around that long to where it has developed a large following like some of our holsters have. One particular model of ours has been around for about 10 years and has developed a very large following. In fact, you can log onto just about any handgun related site, on any given day and on the holster and accessories page of those sites you will find people raving about this particular holster. Many makers have come up with holsters that carry the gun in a similar manner, but by looking at them you may recognize only the concept that it is based on, not by the holster that may have influenced the design. And I'll be frank and say even though this particular holster of mine may have had some influence on the current trend, it wasn't the very first of it's kind. The concept wasn't brand new, only the way I designed it that set it apart from the couple examples that came before it. The same with most of the other makers that later built on that concept. The makers, by reasons of their own ingenuity, managed to come up with competing models that totally set theirs apart from the rest. That's what holster making on a custom/commercial level should be all about. Improving, not just feeding on the status quo. I can't do anything about the blatant ripoff factor that is prevalent only within a small minority of our trade. But I sure can try to make them feel uncomfortable about it. TK

Hey Ross, There are only so many ways to bend a piece of leather around a handgun. I respect someone that would try and come up with something useful on their own rather than just depend on others to do their thinking for them. I'm speaking of the commercial aspect of holstermaking as opposed to someone just doing a single project for themselves. Someone who just wants to make a holster for their own personal use would benefit to emulate the work of others so that they can get a feel for the craft and learn what it takes to get from point A to finished project. Unfortunately, many of the so called professionals in my trade that are completely devoid of any ideas of their own, are only too happy to let others come up with workable ideas for them. Many don't even try to improve on those ideas, but simply copy the look so that they can market it by association. In the commercial aspect of holstermaking, there are makers that actually bring something to the table and then there are those who are content with just sitting at it. TK

I know Bill Wilson. I've met him on a couple of occasions and have talked to him on the phone more than a few times. Is he aware where you got this idea from? If not, he will as I have just fired him off an email and directed him to this thread. There once was a time when Bill wouldn't have approved of ripping off a competitor, as I'm sure it has happened more than once to him. I dunno, maybe things have changed. My comments on your loop configuration stands. But, what do I care if Wilson has to swap out stretched loops several months down the road. The thing is, if you're going to copy something, you at least ought to try and improve on it, instead of just going for the "look", which in my opinion, you and Wilson are just trying to capitalize on, since by virtue of my hard work I have already proven the "original" design to be sound. Oh and by the way, if by your own admission you have never worn our version of your new holster, how would you know that having two snaps like what we utilize on ours is more difficult than one? Changing something for the worse just so you can call it your own, doesn't make much sense unless making the quick buck is all that matters. A one snap attachment is the cheap way to manufacture that particular design, as it is much less labor intensive than adding the second snap. Our Axiom has two attachment points on the back as well. However, unlike yours, the top attachment which gets all the stress from the belt is screwed through both sides of the holster which means it will never rip out. You keep throwing out stuff to make yours sound like its unique, but for the better? TK