Temporary

nice gun, nice grip, and nice holster.

After initial wet molding, I let the holster dry, then place on the gun or knife and bake it at around 150 in the oven for 30 minutes or some. Keep in mind, you want the leather close to dry, or the heat with cause it to shrink and then deform.

Nice and functional. Do police allow cant in a holster? I don't recall ever seeing a cop with a canted holster before.

The easiest why to determine pricing is to see what others are selling their works for. That will give you a good idea, then you can always come in a few bucks lower :D

Not that I have found. Experiments will usually get you there in two tries. Make sure you make a pattern first with still paper. Loose fit, then your in no man's land until you get it just right. In general, error on the side of big. You can always cut something down, but adding something is a no go. For holes per inch, it is up to you. I use longer stitching just because it shortens sew. IMO, a sewing awl makes it easy and painless assuming that grove and punch your holes first. Air. Just leave it out and move it around every once and a while to make sure that both sides dry even.

Awesome. I like how you reduced the stress points of the belt loops by merging them with a wrap around strap. Good design for long life. Not to mention I own an XD

Thanks. This gets filed under must learn.

Yep, the hammer can be a problem, but by placing your thumb directly under the hammer your thumb knuckle will allow the spur to clear the pocket. It works and is the way I pratice drawing. Should have bought a hammerless gun though. Dirt and lint are a concern. Even more of an excuse to wash my pants now Thanks hedge for the stitching tip. I knoted and glued the knot. Move of a trying to delay the enevable than anything else. I'll try back stitching in the future.

Well, after my first attempt, while functional, wasn't thin enough for my liking, I decided to try out some thoughts that I have been keeping in the back of my head. Not to mention that I wanted to try out some of the things that I have learned about leather working. So with much ado about nothing: Yep, the whole issue with my first attempt was that the width of the cylinder plus three layers of leather was just two thick for a pocket holster. I decided to remove the leather covering the cylinder to minimize it's bulk. The holster's retention is pretty surprising. The holster part was glued with some superglue, grooved and hand stitched with a stitching awl. Then heat treated to harden. It is held to the back plate with a short Chicago screw. The coloration in the above photos is due to the dampness of the leather. I just finished edging and assembling it 5 minutes before taking that photo. So how thin is it? Well, pretty thin. About as thin as you can get with a back plate to stop the gun from printing in a pocket. It was a learning experience to be sure. This is the first time, save for a few test scraps, that I sewed leather. Still not sure how to properly hide the knot. I dabbed it with superglue after tying it, then stuck it back into the last awl hole and then added just a tad more glue to hold it in place. I also had issues with the thread unraveling and holding knots. Using a pattern help immensely, but the finished leather doesn't really resemble the original pattern any. I had to keep adapting the leather to fit. The next one will be easier though, now I know what to expect. Gluing the holster together and then sanding the edges even was a life saver, even though I still didn't get the grooving on the back side even with the front. Thankfully, the texture of the back side of the leather and the holster design hide it well. In the future, groove one side, punch, then grove other. Edging is still a mystery to me. Polished edges don't really go well with a suede like texture in my opinion, so I mostly just rounded the edges the best I could and called it a day. All in all, I impressed myself with it. Not really sure how the heat hardened leather will hold up to use, but for now, it works great. Now if I can only get the concept to finished holster time down under three weeks I might have a productive hobby

Nice watch and fitting band. A lot of sewing for such a little thing, but well worth it.

Nice, simple, functional. You and your customer have good taste.

Very interesting. It's like a watch for a band, instead of a watch band. I like it.

Keep in mind that I am very new at this, but I have a question about molding leather to shapes. As of right now, I am working on some gun holster ideas and trying to mold the leather to the gun before riveting/sewing the holster together. This works ok, but I am thinking that I might get a better mold if I rivet/sew a cut piece of leather first. Then soak the unmolded holster and then mold it to the gun. With that in mind, the guns that I am trying to fit the holsters too are irregular shapes (revolvers). Is there someway of making a pattern easily out of something that will fit the irregular shapes without having to build numerous prototypes to get the fit right. Also, if I do go the prototype way, after I stretch a holster to fit a gun, then take it apart to use as a pattern, If I press it flat so that I can trace it, how much distortion will the leather have from the shape I want, and is there a way to compensate for it? Thanks in advanced.

Wow, beautiful.

Nice simple set up. I like it.

Wow. I always wondered what people did with moose antlers. The shape is rather conducive to usefulness. I always wanted a moose head on the wall so that I could convert the antlers to cat beds for my kitties.

Looks good, but I would consider covering the trigger more, else just toss the gun in your pocket and call it good.

Thanks all. Just lurking and reading I have learned way more than I came in with. A big thanks to you

You might also check the legality of such a thing in your state's law. No doubt they would land you in a world of hurt here in California.

Also, if you are made of money, buying used guns and demilling them is pretty easy. Removal of the firing pin is a sure fire way, or you can just fill the barrels with epoxy puddy.

That is freaking awesome.

Far better than I could do, but it looks like the trigger is too exposed. Cocked and locked, the trigger would be fully exposed, and to me, that is pushing the limits of safe carrying.

I decided to try out making myself a holster instead of buying one for a new gun. This was posted on some gun boards, so you might have seen it before. I didn't even consider looking for a leather working forum before trying it, so I thought this would be a good frist post. I'm glad I found this place (curse you WoW) to help out answering my questions and helping me grow my skill. Please feel free to give me hints, pointers, and critiques. Anyway, welcome to my first attempt at leather working..... Okay, so I bought one of these Being a cheap ass and a person with little knowledge, I decided that I would craft my own pock holster. Doing some research, I found the holster that I want to mimic. No I am not going to tell you which one. Consider it an exercise for the reader. So we're off. A little bit of water, leather, and some basic tools led to this experiment. Yep, I have a knife sheath for my pocket knife. Woot! But proof of concept. Basic tools used, water, knife, and a rivet/set tool combo for sale for $5.99 at the local leather craft supply store. First off, have you ever wondered why leather holsters were so damned expensive. Well, this chunk of leather cost me $25 Yep, the side trimmings of a skin. I was thinking about doing a leather hat until I found out that the leather alone for it would be around $85. I'll stick to cloth hats. So for the holster, we would do what any good engineer would do, make a pattern. The back side to avoid printing: The holster side: Using a magic razor bladed knife, I cut the leather shapes. Next I soaked the part meant for the holster in water until it was well waterlogged. Watch for the bubbles. Wait for them to go away, then wait some more As you noticed in the above picture, while the leather was soaking, I wrapped my gun in two layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of press and seal. Be very careful to warp your gun as fully as possible. You will be subjecting it to moister until the cows come home during the molding of the holster. Happy dry gun Now, we move into the leather molding part. To do this right, your going to need a press of some sorts to hold everything in place. I'm a cheap ass, so I used part of a shelf kit that happened to fit my revolver rather well. Now we need some weight. Where I am I going to find pounds of crap in a small package? Well with that in mind, we wait for the leather to dry.....ARG!!!! I'm not left handed. Much better now. Keep in mind, while the leather is drying, you can mold it more into shape with your fingers and tools. As it gets drier, the easier it will be to mold it. Now the morning after Inside Out side Top down See, the leather does amazing things when it is wet. Now for some permanency. Call in the rivets. Note, a leather punch will make life much easier here. Make sure that you leave enough room for the rivets to not be strained, unlike I did on the top most one. Now for the back panel. Punch holes in the holster so that it can be riveted to backing Next, use some longer rivets to insure good mating of the two To be honest, the rivets are not the best, and you need to bash the heck out of them to get a good hold. I have no idea how long they will last, but this being my first holster, it is more of a proof of concept than an actual holster Trim with a razor to clean it up and correct the fit. I need to get an edge beveler from the leather supply store so the sides don't look so rough. Final product, and how to draw All in all, a J framed sized piece is pushing the limits for pocket carry IMO, so the less a holster adds to it, the better. While the above holster doesn't print in the pocket like a gun, it looks like I am carrying a large sized bible in my front pocket. I need to play with what I have and determine if it is functional or not. It works well enough, it is just large. I have more than enough leather to play around with though, so hopefully, I'll be able to get something that works for me.