Shorts

Thanks for the link Tom. What I need gum rubber for is to be the bread in my "holster sandwich" so to speak, in order to compress the leather around the dummy gun to form the mold lines on my holsters. I found the post where Mr BOOMstick posted his setup and listed McMaster-Carr as his supplier for the gum rubber pads

Where can I buy from? I'm going to go ahead and put together a press for my holster molds.

lol..."krinkly" Nice work on the holster

The 'smooth finish' you saw was a coat of (more than likely) Resolene. It's an crylic sealant for the leather to repell moisture. Many holster makers when they finish a holster will also coat the inside with Resolene so it doesn't absorb oilsd or moisture that will deteriorate the holster over a long period of time. Cosmetically, a rough out build just adds a visual dimension that's differnt from your typical dyed leather holster.

Good work on the sheath. I found it funny you said you wore the original sheath out. Mine's pristine - of course, it sits n the console of the truck and doesn't ever see the light of day! I especially like the lacing. Where did you get instruction for that? Any particular book/technique? <-- as you can see I'm totally clueless to lacing!

I use a leather/canvas gardening/work glove that's got leather reinforced palm pads. To supplement that, I glued additional leather pads on the palm and index finger so I can really push on the end of the needle. This also keeps my pinky from getting torn up by the thread like it use to. There's lots of good options listed above, try em out and see what works for you. Can make all the differnce in the world. My fingers index finger and thumb get a little swollen/sore from cutting leather with the utility/craft knife (need a head knife) - from the pressure I put on it. I normally sew every other day to give my fingers and neck a break (I need a stitching pony too!)...but a holster a day, usually have two going so I can do a separate part of the project...like molding and dying or cutting stitching to let my bdy rest. Who'd have though this would kick my butt...lifting weights and marathons didn't get me this worn out :D

mikeymoto, excellent explanation and pictures. Thank you for your time.

One thing I did differently on this build was I dyed the leather before molding. It was much easier to swab the dye on to a flat piece of leather. I also liked that I was able to keep a good eye when boning the holster and make note of inputs vs finished results.

Just curious in the differences between these two snaps. I'm using snaps on holsters on 8/9oz leather.

Thanks

Rough side out looks great! Nice work

I am in love with this holster. Not necessarily for the design pattern, but rather the quality that made it out alive. On this holster I was able to go through each step with minimal boo-boos. I'm really thrilled about this one. Alright, enough tooting my own horn here ...the pics! Compared to the previous snap on (Service) I narrowed the wing width for more compact carry.

Nice work. I particularly like the color. I'm a fan of classic brown leather and white thread What color is that?

Has anyone converted a bench grinder to hold an edge slicker? Seems it would work as well. Remove the safety shield so you have room to work. You can put the slicker on one side, the horse hair on the other and end up with beautiful edges in one quick station.

Tom, I think it will stay put. Another factor is where the holster loops are relative to the jean loops on the belt. For me, I place the rear holster loop on thebackside of the jean loop. So, it has no chance of sliding forward past that point. Now, it can be slid backwards: livingeasy, that is a very legitimate concern. I've been getting in and out of my desk chair here the last hour or so and I hit the gun muzzle on the arm rest several times. So far, the gun has stayed in place, but there's surely a possibility it can be pushed out. Longer barreled pistols would be even more prone to that mishap. Incorporating a thumb strap would help security. Though, not sure if I'm quite ready to tackle that one (I personally don't like thumbstraps) but others do It's certainly an option.

Thanks yall Regis, I did not make the belt. It's my everyday Carhartt I thought I'd give some face time. Tom, I definitely understand the hip irritation. Hopefully this one won't. One of the things I work on is once I make a pattern, I wear it and see how it fits, then adjust the pattern and make an updated version and hopefully hit the nail on the head. I am female so my figure is a decent test for 'how it fits'. I realize not all people, or women are built exactly like me but I thought that if I holster is comfortable on me, it may have a good chance to be comfortable on others. So, hit or miss but we shall see! A lot of the times the irritation is from the belt on my off-side hip. I believe that is due to some structural differences I have sagitally Srigs, I have not sent this one out. This is for me. I currently don't make holsters for sale, but I am in the process of establishing some patterns. Once I get some made I'll send them out to friends to try out. I'll go from there. How's-it-fit? pics:

I though a simple belt slide in the batch would work. Here it is. Dyed and edges burnished, but no top coat (come on Tandy, where's my order??)

Trace your stitch lines about a half inch away from the gun. This width will vary slightly due to the width of guns (if you have a wider gun, make it a hint wider...narrower, make slightly narrower). An easy way I trace my stitch lines is with a pencil that I have taped to a pen. The pen acts as a spacer for the pencil. Then I trace the gun lines on my paper pattern. To transfer stitch lines to the leather pattern I pin prick each end of the line with the scratch awl and then use a straight edge to connect lines (straight ones. For curved ones I prick the dots at intervals and handdraw the scratch line). Then I groove each scratch line.

Not a clue - I'm not a cop - I just named it 'Service' :D If its too confusing I may juts call it Number 2.

Thanks 'Wearing it' pics

Alright, so the Dremel is hanging off the wall. I know we all have Dremels and use them for all their worth and then some. So all this Dremel on leather makes for a lot of dust. What do yall have for means of vacuum and ventilation? That leather dust gets everywhere! I wear a mask when using it so I can say I didn't inhale and I've taken to running a vacuum right off the edge of my Dremel setup to capture the airborne dust. What about yall?

Completed the 2nd of my back-to-holster-making venture. I'll call tis the Service holster. The black color and no nonsense functional give it that feel. This is a commander length but I left the bottom edge about 1/4 - 1/2" too much so it's a hint long. This is a slight variant of the Utility holster. I wanted to clean up the pattern and get those straps up to snuff. I'll have the "but what does it look like when you're wearing it" shots in a bit.

I've been needing to get something for my edges, I've been using a halfbrained1/2" wooden dowel I crudely shaped with a round file. I'm going downstairs to cannibalize a peg from the coat rack

What's the sewing machine there on the right? Are you setup in the workout room? I see a bench and the leg extension heh If so, that's my setup too. I'm sharing the room with the stationary bike and dumbbells.

That's a nice setup. I must echo the reply of 'it's too neat!'. Mine starts that way, then gets cluttered through the project. Things get tidied here and there, but....ehh.. I'm trying! Anyhow, I need more shelf space. That would be great. The wall board there you haev is definitely needed in my place - I just can't make holes inside the rental. Oh yeah, dark brown carpet is excellent.