Day Dreamer

I've been making some snap-on OWB pancakes using doubled 4/5 oz for each side of the pancake. One thing to consider, at least from my experience, is two pieces of 4/5 is way, way stiffer than a single piece of 9/10. By the time you get done molding it, it's about as stiff as Kydex, but thicker. That works awesome for OWB, but might be too much for IWB.

Wow!!!

Thanks all. I guess I was thinking that over time residue oil and solvents left on the pistol from cleaning would get absorbed by the liner and could damage the leather. Looks like I'm over thinking it.

OOP's. Thanks for the correction on the grain side. Do you dip the holster in neatsfoot oil or just rub it into the surface with a wool dauber/soft cloth?

I did a search on this, but didn't find anything. My google-fu today may be weak. I've started making some snap-on OWB pancake holsters. I'm using the approach I saw Mike/Katsass and a couple others detail here. Each half of the pancake is made from two 4/5 oz pieces of leather glued together, so it has a flesh side both on the outside of the holster and inside the pistol pocket. I'm really liking this approach. It makes a holster that's almost as stiff as Kydex. After I glue the 4/5 sides together, but before I start assembling the holster, each flesh side gets a light coat of cold pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Other than that, the inside liner is natural. For people that use this "flesh on all sides" approach, do you apply any treatment to the flesh side liner in the pistol pocket to improve durability, etc.? Thanks

Nice work. What's the tan finish on the holsters?

Thanks guys.

Thanks all for taking time to provide feedback. You guys are experts. I really appreciate the info. I try to carry less. Maybe that won't end up working for me. I checked your website and your products look great. If I can ask, which thread do you use? Are you machine stitching or had stitching? I had tried a thinner thread, but it didn't seem to grab the stitching holes as well. In terms of the adjustment holes, when I was looking at "best practices" for how to make belts, the two options seemed to be 7 holes spaced 3/4" apart or 5 holes spaced 1" apart. I used 7 holes, but what I was really after was the 3/4" spacing on the holes. I like 3/4" better than 1". I skived the first three belts. I think the skived versions looked better, but somehow I convinced myself the un-skived belt would be stronger at the buckle bend. Not sure if that's true and I'm still mentally going back and forth on the skiving. So far I haven't seen any cracking in the lacquer. There's pretty good bending at the buckle bend and at the hole used for the buckle tang to stress the lacquer, but my earliest belts only have been worn three months, so not much of a test. Again, thanks all for taking time to provide feedback.

I started making belts maybe 3 months ago. I'm up to my 7th belt. I've been using tips from here and think I'm finally getting the process down. So far, everything has been for friends and family. What got me started down the belt path was I wanted a belt to support an OWB holster for a polymer compact pistol (Glock and HK USP). I looked at lots of belts. The single layer belts I looked at weren't heavy enough. The double layer belts I looked at seemed like there was a race to see who could build the thickest belt. For me, 16 to 18 oz of leather is sort of like wearing a Michelin tire and not needed for a compact pistol. So here's my medium weight belt. Any feedback on how to do it better would be totally appreciated. I cut the inner and outer straps from sides I purchased. The outer layer is from an 8-9 oz walnut colored, drum dyed side from RJF leather. The inner layer is 4-5 oz side I got on sale at Tandy. The belt is hand stitched. I tried a few different types of threads. I'll probably take some flack for this, but the thread I like the best is 4 cord waxed linen from Hobby Lobby. On the first belts I did, I creased the stitch line. One of my belt "testers" is really hard on belts (work stuff). He started to see some really early thread wear, so on this belt I grooved the stitch line to get the thread in deeper. For burnishing the edges, I used a black Sharpie for color, then hand burnished with Neutrogena/water using a stick followed by parafin using some denim. The inside is coated with 50/50 mop and glow. The outside has a lacquer finish. The buckle is nickle coated solid brass. The keeper is from the RJF leather and hand sewn. The buckle is held on using 2 stainless Chicago screws from McMaster. Appreciate any feedback to help me improve my craftsmanship.

I used a 6 prong diamond stitching punch to punch the outer layer before I glued the layers together. I did that so I could get the dye into the stitch holes on the outer layer. After I glued the layers together, I used an awl on the inside layer.

Thanks for the feedback Dwight. If I can, I'd like to leave the inner layer with a natural finish. If I can't get my burnishing right, I may have to dye both sides.

Hi all, I'm new to leather work. I like to shoot and wanted to start making concealed carry belts for lighter poly pistols. This is my fourth belt. All hand done. I've been pretty much following a process I found on this site. It's a 1-1/2" belt with a nickle plated solid brass buckle. The outer layer is an 8-9 oz I cut from a Tandy Oak-Leaf side they had on sale (trying to learn the whole process). The liner is a 4-5 oz I cut from a Tandy craftsman side. The outer layer is dyed with Angelus black. It's hand stitched (saddle stitch) using a 4 cord waxed linen thread from Hobby Lobby. I trimmed, punched and stitch punched the outer layer (diamond punch), then dyed it. Then I glued the layers together with contact cement. I trimmed the liner layer and sanded the edges. Then I punched the liner layer. Stitched the belt and burnished the edges. Finished with 50/50 Mop and Glo. Here's the photo. I'm mostly satisfied with the belt. The two areas I'm not so thrilled with are how the stitching looks on the inside of the belt. It's too wavy. Also not thrilled with unevenness of the burnishing that you can see on the liner side. Haven't figured those out yet. Appreciate feedback on improving the craftsmanship and apologies on the quality from "guess and shoot" camera.

I did a search for this, got some hits, but didn't see a definitive answer (maybe there isn't one). I've been making 1-1/2" belts from a side I bought. I've been cutting the belts out with a strap cutter. I end up with straps that are about 72" long, but for the belts I probably don't need a strap longer than 55". I end up with a lot of waste. I was wondering, from a best practices standpoint, if people cut the neck/front leg section off so there's an extra piece of leather for other work. My max strap length for that hide would only be 55". I may cut a couple 72" long straps when I first get a hide so I could have a couple long straps handy. Just curious about best practices on efficient use of the leather.

I'm a n00b, trying to learn to build holsters. I like the basket weave on yours. More importantly, thanks for you service.

Hi Chief, I'm a n00b to leather work. I want to start making my own holsters and a belt or two. I hope I can get to where the quality of my work is as good as yours. It's a beautiful holster. Since I'm a n00b I'm not qualified to critique anyone's leather craftmanship, but if the holster was mine I'd have a conern with it, not as a leather guy, but as a Glock guy (I have a 21 and a 26). Because of how Glock's "Safe Action" trigger works, it's important for the holster to cover the trigger guard. My concern is you covered the trigger guard too much. It looks like the edge of the holster is pushing on the mag release. When you holster the pistol, it could push in the mag release button and cause the mag to release. When you draw to fire, the first round will fire, but the second round could misfire or the recoil from first round could cause the magazine to drop out. Just my 2 cents as a Glock owner. Again, awesome craftsmenship. I hope I can get there some day.

Thanks all for the responses. Very helpful. DavidL - You totally changed my way of thinking about the knot. I was thinking about it as a way of centering the thread and preventing the stitch from slipping in the awl hole. I hadn't thought of using the knot to set the slant of the thread coming out of the first hole. Tannin - Thanks for your book suggestions. I looked at them online and think I've got a book order coming up. Take care Al

I did a google search plus searched the leatherworker.net forums for this question, but I didn't find anything (my search skills are usually good, but there may be a disturbance in my google-fu). To knot or not? I'm starting into leather work. My end goal is making belts and holsters. I'm learning and practicing saddle stitching. As I've read through the various forum threads here related to saddle stitching, there are two common pieces of advice. 1) Read and follow Stohlman's "The Art of Hand Sewing Leather" (usually with a sincere admonition to actually read it and don't just look at the pictures) and 2) Watch Nigel Armitage's saddle stitching videos. Sometimes both suggestions are in the same post. OK, I did both of those things and I have one question (until the next question comes up ;-)). When Stohlman starts stitching, he puts a knot in the middle of his thread and pulls the knot into his first stitch hole (page 9 of the book). Nigel doesn't do the knot (at least in the videos), but usually starts a couple holes from the end and back stitches a couple holes. At least that's what I saw in his videos. So I get there are two ways. My question is which approach do people usually use? Is the Stohlman way an American approach and Nigel's way a British approach? Or is Stohlman an older way and better thread technology have made it obsolete? Or is it just a preference? Thanks.