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Thanks for the compliments everyone. I really struggled with a tooling pattern for this one. It's funny, my 8-5 has me doing marketing and advertising graphics and publications, 3D renderings and photoshopped perspective renderings - but coming up with a simple pattern to tool a holster gives me the shivers! Maybe one of these days I'll break down and buy some good videos that demonstrate tooling. The YouTube videos are helpful, but the quality on most isn't high enough to really see what's going on. I just bought the Sheridan floral pattern design book that Tandy sells which I think will help quite a bit. If anyone can recommend a good tooling video, I'd love to hear some suggestions.

Thanks! I use a vacuum press for initial forming, then use my thumb to manipulate the tooled area a bit. The rest is all boned with a bone folder.

Thanks fellas - yes, the dye is airbrushed on. I might try a rag on my next belt, though I'm a little worried I'll waste a lot more dye.

Does anyone know where I can find dummies for these? They don't seem to be in current production from Rings, ASP or Duncan. S&W L-Frame / Colt Python Colt D-Frame

Tooled pancake for a S&W M&P Full-size. This was my first attempt with this gun - muzzle should have been a little longer, and the tooling pattern feels a little jumbled, but I'm otherwise happy with the way this one came out. I didn't notice until I'd already shipped out the holster, but looks like I missed a little wax along the sight channel. Oops!

I had the same problem at work for two days last week, but it came back suddenly - I was getting plugin errors.

Yep - Very frustrating to get to the molding and realize you have to make adjustments. I'm not sure of your workflow, but I tool (if necessary) and dye at the very beginning, so I waste a lot of time if I have to go back and edit my pattern. That was the case with the last two holsters I posted - they were both firsts for me (S&W J-Frame and a Sig P238), and the Sig was not usable beyond showing me what I needed to fix in the pattern for my next attempt - too tight and the leather was too thin. Glad to hear you got it right on the first attempt. Out of curiosity - will you carry that notch forward for all your future 1911 IWB holsters of that design? Or only incorporate it on special requests? I've always wondered if something like that would be good to incorporate across the board to allow greater flexibility to the customer's firearms collection.

Nicely done! Did you get it right on your first attempt?

I typed up a response this morning, but got distracted and hit cancel. You are right - you're doing all the work, but you're not having to do any of the marketing. You have a (hopefully) guaranteed buyer, so you are out nothing. Yes, you could make more if you made them yourself and bought all your own materials, but you're also out a lot more money for the gator hides. I'm about to start making belts, so I haven't tested this number yet. Someone here said you can make a belt in about 15 minutes. I'm going to say it's more like 30 minutes for me. If I can sell a gun belt for about $80 (judging by the price of The Belt Man's even higher priced belts), I can probably make about $160 per hour, minus maybe $10 max in materials per belt. $80 might be a little too high, but even if I sold them for $60, I'm still making about $100/hr once you back out materials. Do this first batch for the guy as a trial run. Get the kinks worked out, figure out how much time it's taking per belt, your own material costs, etc., then arrive at a comfortable hourly rate (based on your production speed and belt-output per hour). I would include in the contract that you will be keeping the scraps. If he won't let you keep them, charge him more per belt!

Sixer - I know exactly where you are at. I was in the exact same situation just over a year ago. My finger tips were going numb from hand sewing, and 2-4 hours to hand sew an item simply makes it unrealistic if you want to make a profit. I agree - there is a limit to what the market will bear, especially for someone starting out with little following and name recognition. I debated adding an option for hand-stitched on my order form, but in the end, I'd rather save my fingers and work less! Personally, I use the Tippmann Boss. It's a great little machine. I didn't have a lot to spend on a sewing machine for a "hobby" a year ago. As it stood, I was already spending more than I could really justify for the Boss - it was a roll of the dice since I had no idea if my holster "business" would really catch on. However, had I known I'd have a consistent backorder for my holsters, I'd have opted for a powered machine for "just a little bit more". You might try looking up some local saddle shops - swing by and see if they might have any old machines they'd like to get rid of. Times are tough for everyone - someone might be happy to let an unused machine collecting dust in the corner of their shop go for a good price to an entrepreneur. Maybe not quite $500, but ya' never know!

Looking back, I don't think I actually said why the customer wanted it left natural - he will be wearing this holster to work with his suit, and doesn't want the black transferring to his dress shirts, so he asked me to leave it natural. In hindsight, it probably would have been wise for me to leave the edges natural as well, but I didn't think it looked as nice from the front so I dyed them. Best bet would probably have been to ask the customer which he preferred to cover my bases.

Thank you! Glad the video was inspirational to you. Hi Bob. You can find the video on my website (in my signature) on the "How is it made" page. Typically I dye the back to match the front, but this customer specifically requested that I leave it natural. I actually kind of like it and am debating adding it as an option.

Here's a little pancake I recently made for a S&W J-Frame. I actually made two - I gave the first one to my dad to carry his little S&W 642 in. He wore it to church last week and was very happy with it. Till then, he's just been carrying a little Taurus .380 in his pocket. I'm pretty happy with it, though I'm not too sure about the size/shape of the little sweat shield. I hadn't really planned on including one, but when the customer was looking at my order form (which only included pistols), he saw the sweat shield option and asked what it would look like on a revolver. I don't have any revolvers with an exposed hammer, so I had to look at photos for reference. Anyway, here it is - tell me what you think! And here is a little Avenger style for my new Sig P238. This was my first attempt. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. It was a little too tight - I couldn't form a deep enough sight channel, so the front sight was snagging on the stitching on top of the slide. The leather was too thin too - I made it from 6-7oz, but it's not firm enough for my liking. But, that's the great thing about the first holster - once you finish, you know exactly how to make the 2nd one even better!

I don't want to bash TCD, because I know a lot of people are happy with the punches they received from them. I was not one of them. But like Denster said, be prepared to grind down the shoulder on the punch and sharpen them, because as they come from TCD, they are not suitable for 1/4" thick leather - they simply stretch the leather too much and will tear the ends of the slot if you aren't careful. I recently ordered one of the master punches from Weaver - a 1" oblong. I'm simply amazed at the difference. Now if they'd only make them cut wider slots for thicker belts...

Another thing you should keep in mind - when you're making sharp curves, say maybe a 1/2" - 3/4" radius and smaller - don't try to sew right around the corner. When you hit the curve - stop, lift the presser foot, turn the piece, lower the presser foot, stitch one time, stop, lift the foot again and turn the piece, lower the foot again and stitch, etc. - repeat this until you get around the curve. I was able to completely eliminate the top thread coming through the back of the piece by doing this. Every time I forget and sew continuously around a tight curve, I have to push the thread back into the piece in one or two holes when I'm done sewing. Also, there seem to be a couple types of needles that Tippman is sending out. One has an angled chisel point, and the other has a chisel point that is NOT angled. I don't know what an "S" type chisel point is that Denster mentioned, but if it's the angled vs. non-angled, you definitely want to use the angled needles. Do NOT try to rotate your non-angled chisel point needle so that it cuts an angled hole, as this will cause other stitch issues, mainly (in my experience) the failure of the top and bottom thread to lock which causes skipped stitches. My machine came with the straight chisel in the little plastic accessory box. When I ordered extra needles, they were the rotated needles - I did not specify one vs. the other as I had no idea there was a difference until my extra needles arrived and I started using them. As soon as I used them, I noticed my stitches looked better (staggered like hand stitching). I compared the new vs. the originally included and noticed the difference. I have been chatting with another user and suggested he order some replacements - his replacements do not seem to be angled like mine were...

I'd be very careful with that... Sounds a little too close to a 'straw purchase' to me... When you fill out the 4473 form to purchase a firearm, the first question asks if you're the actual buyer of the firearm listed on the form. Your are not considered the actual buyer if you are buying the firearm for someone else. If your friends are buying the gun for you to obtain the discount from S&W, they are not buying the gun for themselves and are indeed lying on the form, which is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison in addition to fines.

For what it's worth, I believe the Boss was on "Holiday" sale for a little over a year. I love my Boss, but with the price going back up - I'd either buy a used one or save a little more for a powered machine. When I first started my holster business, I had no idea I'd have a steady source of income coming my way. It would have been well worth it to save a little more and get a good powered machine.

Didn't think to ask them that when I called in my order. Probably should have, just didn't think of it...

You'll want plenty of seam allowance to make sure the paper ticket slides in easily. If I were you, I'd leave the window on the outside (if that's what you're after), make it a clam-shell design, and put the slot to insert the card on the interior so you have to open the wallet to insert the ticket, but it's visible from the outside. If you made your slots parallel to the fold in the wallet, your cards could only be removed once the wallet us opened so everything would be securely held in place. 1/8" leather is very thick if you want it to fold (too thick). Plus, if you're gluing two pieces together, you're looking at 1/4" thick overall, plus the thickness of your plastic card(s).

Tippmann has a needle and thread guide on their site. Whatever thread you choose, their chart will tell you the needle size to buy. For what it's worth, I buy 277 thread, use it in the top and bottom, and without a doubt, use the chisel needles. If you buy the Boss, be sure to also immediately buy a pack of chisel needles. For whatever reason, the needles that are included with the boss do not have an angled chisel on them - they are chiseled, but it slices parallel to the stitch line instead of angled - at least not the ones I received nor do the needles of another forum member that just received his new Boss.

How many blanks can you get out of a hide? I seem to remember someone here saying you can get about 12-15 blanks out of a hide. If you're paying $150 for the hide, that's well over $10 per blank. I ordered mine from Weaver, and payed $4.61 per blank.

This has been posted elsewhere on this site, but it's worth posting again.

Was looking at splitters earlier, but they're pretty pricey... Would love to have one though.

Okay - my wife and I put pen-to-paper and determined it would be cheaper to order pre-cut 1.5" blanks from Weaver as opposed to cutting my own. We bought about 40 of them to tide me over for a while on my first few batches of belt orders. I'm thinking two layers of 8-9oz leather is too thick, and would like to thin them down to maybe 6-7oz. Should I try to find a local saddle shop to thin them down for me? Or is there another option that I'm not thinking of? I know some of you order the pre-cut blanks and would like to know how you avoid ended up with a 1/4" thick belt... Do you use the precut blank for the top, then cut your own thinner liner to glue to the back? Or thin them down yourself?

If you'd like to make one yourself, go to the local tool store and buy a wide wood chisel - run it through your grinder to round the end, sand or file it smooth, then polish it. I debated making one too, as my Boss leaves tracks on the backside of my holsters, though I'm usually able to smooth them out with my bone folder.