brinyar

Excellent! Very nice dye job.

Some of the tools are from some sort of pick set that I found in my fathers shop, some are from what I think were clay modeling tools. I have ground on some of them to get the shapes I like. I'm not really satisfied with anything I have now. Some just are not comfortable to hold in the hand and apply pressure to the holster, but they work for now until I can find something better.

I edge the reinforcement piece and give it a slight burnishing before I glue and sew it to the main body of the holster. Cutting the front belt loop or tunnel that way does pull the slide in nice and tight, I think I'll try another holster for my Kahr in this style. As for the final molding detail lines I use a variety of stainless steel molding tools to draw the lines in. They are pressed in, not cut in with a groover.

Thanks for the comments. I polish the leather by hand with a cotton cloth and also use a buffer with a cotton wheel to lightly buff the holster before I dip it in an Angelus acrylic finish. So far I haven't had any rub off.... This was the first time I tried just cutting the front hole out for the belt to go through. I was holding my breath hoping it would work; it turned out better than I thought it would.

I just finished this Askins Avenger style holster for my G19. I haven't made too many holsters in this style, but every time I put one on it strikes me as a very comfortable type of holster. It works well for my body type. This one is also from Wickett & Craig 7-8 oz. leather for both pieces of it, and dyed with Feibings USMC black. I really need to get some more brown dye one of these days....

For the hand detailing I sometimes use a ruler or something as a straight edge to help keep the lines straight and smooth. I'll post up one more holster until I can make some new stuff. It is a brown iwb I made several months ago.

I have been making holsters for about a year and two months now. I was looking for a new pancake holster back then and saw that a lot of the professional holster makers were back ordered for months. I had seen some info on holster making on another forum and decided to give it a shot. I thought "how hard could it be?". So I gathered the basic tools and leather and proceeded to butcher my first few holsters:] I enjoyed making them, though, so I kept at it. I needed a good hobby anyway.... I eventually realized that I hate hand stitching and bought a Toro 3000. Thanks for the info on leather shears, I've been looking at the Ginghers in the Tandy catalog.

No clicker dies here...it would be nice to have some in the future, though. I usually use a heavy duty x-acto knife with a chisel point to cut out the leather by hand. It's kind of slow going doing it that way; I might try some leather shears out sometime.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. For the iwb i just used a screw through the base of the snap screwed to a t-nut on the back of the holster. I might sandwich the t-nut between the leather of the holster for the next one, although I'm not sure it would be as strong of a connection that way. The t-nut on the outside isn't that appealing cosmetically.... I haven't use Angelus dye yet but I would like to, especially for browns. The Angelus finish has worked well. I really enjoy working with the Wickett & Craig leather, it has molded much easier than the Tandy leather I first started with. It holds the molding nicely. Boomstick- thanks for the advice. I will definitely pull the rear slot/loop in on the next holsters I do. I admire your work. Again, thanks everyone for the comments and advice. Here is another holster I've made for a Kahr.

Thanks! The snaps are the standard black line 24 snaps from Tandy. I think I'll try to get some one-way snaps for the straps soon.

Hi, I thought I would post several pictures of two holsters I've done recently and thank everyone for all the how-to info that's been posted in the forum. It has been extremely helpful. Both holsters are made from Wickett & Craig leather, Feibings USMC black dye, and finished with Angelus acrylic finish. The IWB is 6/7 oz leather and the pancake is 7/8 oz. Any feedback and criticism is welcome.