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DoubleBarP - thank you for the photos. Those help a lot. It seems I was drastically over-complicating things.

I agree with Lobo that you should stick with the American tanneries - obviously to support the "local guys", but also because it's a nice buzz word that you can put on your website to promote your "American Made" products. For what it's worth, you can order directly from Wicket and Craig with NO minimum order - so you can order one hide at a time. When I spoke with a salesman at Wicket & Craig, they said their average square footage of backs was about 20 SF. For the "A" (they call it "Standard") grade, you'll pay just under $7 per SF. If you get the back (instead of the whole side), you'll tack on $0.95 per SF. I did the math, and it was actually a little cheaper to buy the back because I was paying for less square footage. Another thing to think about - once you start buying your various thicknesses of leather, you're sort of "invested" in that tannery - a bit like buying camera equipment - once you buy a Canon and buy all the Canon lenses, it's hard to switch over to Nikon. Okay, stupid example. My point is - I bought a bunch of hides (bulk buy) from Herman Oak. I used all my 8-9oz hides, but still have some 6-7oz and 5-6oz left. I bought a 8-10oz hide from W&C just to see the difference. The W&C leather is very pale whitish in color, where the Herman Oak has that nice warm "amber" tint to it. If you start mixing leathers from the different tanneries, it can make it a little difficult to keep your finished product's colors consistent across an entire order. Plus, if a customer comes back to you in 6 months and wants to order something else to match the stuff he already bought from you - well, you get the point. Lastly - I highly recommend you get yourself a nice round knife and learn how to sharpen it properly. I think you'll find it's much easier to cut with a round knife than it is with the exacto knives. There is an excellent video on YouTube that was posted here a couple weeks ago that shows the proper way to sharpen them, which would also apply to any other knife as well.

Thanks Art - I just looked up the PDF owners manual on the Tippman site, and this is what it said. I think I must have assumed that the stitch length was being shortened because the thread was traveling further through the leather, in effect shortening the stitch length - once the needle feed hit tension (pulled tight) on the thread, it stopped pulling the leather through the machine. Maybe thread tension was the wrong term to use. But I honestly have no real idea what actually causes shorter stitch lengths with thicker leather. I just assumed it was a unit of measure determined by the thread's passing through the leather somehow.

Do yourself a favor and get a Tax I.D. Setup accounts with Weaver and Springfield. I believe Springfield actually gives you discounts if you setup a business account. Weaver is a pain because you have to order everything by paper catalog and paper order forms that have to be mailed or faxed in. I'm too impatient for that, but I still order from them every now and then.

For those that are just now seeing this thread, the mag pouch was fixed and shipped out a while back. I took out the stitching, and hand stitched it - looks as good as the customer was expecting when he placed the order for white thread. Regarding the use of white thread on black - some like the detail it adds to the overall look of the holster. I'd love to buy some red thread and add that as an option - I think red thread looks fantastic on black leather. I'm all about giving the customer options, within a given set of parameters. They feel like they're getting a custom holster, while I'm simply giving them options that don't force me to deviate much (if any) from my standing workflow. I'm not really sure what the max stitch length is on the Boss. I know it will go much shorter, but I 'm not sure how much longer. It's super easy to adjust, but hard to get exact, as I believe it varies slightly based on the thickness of the leather you're sewing because the thread tension has an effect on stitch length (to my understanding - if someone knows different, please chime in). That being said, it's easy enough to mock up a couple samples to duplicate your project's thickness, run a test sewing strip, measure the stitch length, turn the dial to adjust the length, sew some more, measure again, etc. until it's "perfect". I say "perfect" because you don't want the presser foot too tight because it will mar the leather. Too loose and the leather will slip around a bit as you sew. It's all a trade off. I'd much rather spend a few minutes machine sewing a holster instead hours doing it by hand.

I haven't read every post in this thread, but if it hasn't already been said, I'd suggest that next time you make sure to glue all the way to the edge, which should eliminate those gaps in your edge. It sounds like you're a wood worker. Also, If you have a drill press, take a wooden dowel (like the wooden dowel from a sponge paint brush) and cut off the sponge tip. Place it in your drill press, turn it on, then use a round wood rasp (like a chain saw blade sharpener, but a little bigger) and cut grooves in your dowel. While it's still on, wrap some sand paper around it to sand it smooth and you have yourself a custom burnisher! Not the greatest (wood's too soft), but it should last you for about 100 holsters or more. You can see an example of the one I made in my video on my website.

First attempt? Looks as good as most of the stuff for sale at the big-box gun store holster section! Nice job!

You're looking for something similar to the following? I have one just like the lighter colored one in the middle that I bought at Cabela's when I first started making mine. If memory serves, it has a filler neck similar to the one I've indicated on the pattern above.

I made these a while back. I love shooting with them because they work great with lots of different sizes and styles of stocks... Probably not the style you're looking for though.

Thanks for posting those pics BanjoMan! For the one with the leather tunnel - I guess you still have plenty of room to lock the badge clasp? I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask the customer to send me his spare badge before I can wrap this project up.

Sorry about that - should have included the following picture to show the fastener his badge uses for that particular style of badge holder. The only direction I received from the customer was "I don't want the one you'll make to be a clam shell arangement like this one and I would like a tunnel attachment for the belt." I'm almost embarrassed to post these, but here is my very quick first attempt. The build quality is horrible, but I didn't want to waste a lot of time as I was just trying to test the design. I tried to build this in such away that the badge pin could travel through the holder, and not actually make contact with the belt. Glue is only applied around the edge where it is sewn. I probably could glue a little more than that and just leave a 1/2" clearing through the middle where the pin/needle would travel. As you'll see below, the stitching is horrific. I pre-formed the belt tunnel before I attached it -I should have just waited until it was sewn so I could "mash it around" a bit as I was sewing. I might actually have to hand sew this one with my next attempt, which I think will still be difficult to clamp in the stitching pony. The following photo shows the circular cutouts in the belt tunnel. These can almost be eliminated -they did not need to go nearly that high. As the previous photo shows, I just needed the hole just big enough to allow access to the clip mechanism. Anyway -there is my first attempt. I debated sending it to the customer so he could try it out (I don't have a badge to test with it), but was too embarrased with the way this one came out. It's been hanging on my fridge for probably a month. I wanted to get some feedback before I tried it again. Any thoughts?

A while back, I was asked to create a badge holder to match a holster I made for a customer. He wasn't happy with his current one, and wanted to get away from the clam-shell design. He said specifically that he'd like one with a belt loop. I mocked something up, though I don't have a picture handy to post for comments. I was curious if anyone might be willing to share some photos of badge holders they've made that did not use the clam-shell design. Just looking for inspiration - it's my first badge holder and I'm tripping over my own feet with this one. Here is a photo he sent of his current badge holder that he's not happy with.

Not that I have a huge collection of dummy guns or anything, but I have a few more coming in the mail in the next couple days and I've started thinking about a better way to store my dummies. So far I've just been using a plastic storage basket, but have been thinking about installing a peg board in my garage and hanging the dummies by the trigger guard. Since I do all my work out of the garage, I've debated building a lockable cabinet so the neighbor kids won't be playing with them if I turn my back on them. Anyway, just curious what others here are doing to store and organize their dummies -anyone care to share a photo or two showing their setup? Here's my current setup in case anyone is interested...

The spurs - yes - they were intended for use in wood - but they were more directly intended to keep the post from rotating in whatever material they are used with when tightening. You'll need some method to secure the post, and the spurs are your best bet in my opinion. If you want them without spurs, you'll need the studs that were intended for use with brad nails - it's a flat "washer" (without the spurs cut into it) with tiny holes for brad nails. I bought some at Lowes in the specialty fasteners bins.

John - your workflow sounds right. You didn't mention oiling it, but that can be done just prior to the first finish coat. I have never used Super Sheen, though I have used Satin Sheen, and was very pleased with the results. I always applied it with a damp sponge paint brush - brush it on liberally so it soaks in pretty well to the leather, and keep going back over the areas you already brushed so you can keep the whole holster wet until all surfaces are covered. If you have access to an airbrush, you might give that a try for applying your dye and finish. I was never very good at applying dye any other way - it always came out splotchy. For what it's worth, I have a how-to video on my website (see my signature below) that shows my basic workflow. It's an old video soon to be replaced, but it might be of some benefit to you. -Eric

I tried it twice - before I broke down and bought a proper diamond awl. My finding was that I made my awl WAY too sharp, and the point was much too long. It deflected as it was passing through the leather and was almost impossible to aim for and hit the exit point. Sure did glide through the leather though!

I'd say you should dye the edges with your initial coat of dye. No sense in trying to avoid getting dye on them as it's harder to avoid them than to simply dye them. If you haven't assembled the holster yet, you'll only want to burnish those edges that you won't have access to later on in the build process - like the edges of reinforcement pieces, etc. If you burnish everything prior to gluing and sewing, you'll just be wasting your time. Glue, then sand the edges flush and run around the edges with your edger tool, then sew the pieces together. You might find you'll need to sand a little again, but probably not so much if you're just hand sewing and not machine sewing. Don't apply your finish coats until after you've sewn the project and burnished the edges - which can't be done until after it's sewn together as noted above. Neetsfoot oil isn't a necessity (unless you warm the holster in the oven after forming), but you'll definitely want to apply the neetsfoot oil BEFORE you put your finish (sealer) coats on it, and only apply the neetsfoot to the outside / smooth / grain side of the leather. Just know that it will significantly darken the color of your holster.

Thanks for the input fellas! I have updated the graphic based on the information y'all have provided. If anyone sees any mistakes, please feel free to let me know and I'll update it in case this graphic is of benefit to anyone else.

Thanks! I've seen that post, but forgot all about it. I appreciate you tracking it down and linking to it. Using that information, along with the dummy gun list from Rings, I added a bit of information to the model table. Basically, "H1" means "Holster Pattern #1". Likewise, "M1" means "Magazine Pattern #1". Can anyone provide any clarification off-hand regarding the models with an "X" for the pattern indicator? Will those guns/magazines work with any of the other models? Yes, I'm a geek. And bored - I'm out of leather.

Let me start off by saying I don't own any Glocks and have never really had any interest in them so I know very little about them... I'm currently offering holsters for Glock 19/23/32 and Glock 26/27/33 models, and am about to order dummies for the G36 and G17/22 models. My question is this - if I'm making mag pouches for these guns, do I need to have a different magazine for EACH model? Or are the external dimensions of each group of Glock mags the same, so I only need one mag per "cluster" of guns? I see Rings sells a dummy magazine for each and every different Glock model, so I'm assuming they all have different external dimensions but wanted to ask the good folks of this forum before I place my next order.

Dang - that's some darn fine work! I would love to watch you work some time. Any chance you could shoot a video of yourself tooling a flower? Not a whole project - just a coaster or something small that wouldn't take too much of your time. I bet you could stick it out on Ebay for us to bid on to cover your costs... Very inspirational stuff!!

Very cool! Nicely done.

Cool! I love my boss, but look forward to the day I can afford a powered stitcher. The only thing I'd suggest you give serious consideration to - if you're sewing large items like that, you'll need one arm to cycle the action on the Boss, and the other to hold the item you're sewing.... How are you going to curl/maneuver such a large piece of leather as you stitch your item? It's easy enough to do with a small item like a holster (the only thing I sew right now), but I've still found some difficulty when it comes time to work with wide holsters and curling them to turn them as I stitch - the throat on the Boss is pretty shallow.

You should cut your slots prior to forming, as you'll need the leather to be flat when you punch the slots, and you'll also need to manipulate the shape of the slot and curve of the holster when you form it to allow the belt to pass freely behind the holster without deforming the opening of the holster.