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Very cool! Love the colors.

Thanks Mark - I agree completely. I tend to be overly critical of my own work. In a business situation, this isn't always a good thing. Good for obvious reason, but bad if you are overly analytical and it ultimately affects the profitability of the company. I felt this was one of those times when it was best to fix it than to ship it out as-is. My wife didn't agree, but I'm glad the good folks here did!

Looks great! Looks like you've done a nice job of making good use of the available tooling area - something I'm still working on.

It's a Flash player, so make sure your Flash player is up to date. http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Neat piece on M.L. Leddy's - saddle and boot maker in the Fort Worth Stockyards. http://www.nbcdfw.com/around-town/shopping/The_Art_of_the_Custom_Saddle_Dallas-Fort_Worth-106132848.html

Don't groove the back. You don't even really need to groove the front unless you just really want to. The problem with grooving the back - sometimes it's very hard to keep the holster perfectly flat against the needle plate (for example, Avenger style holsters where the holster is folded). You can't see the back side while you're sewing, so you can ruin your holster in a heartbeat if the needle exits the leather outside the stitch groove.

Did you perhaps sharpen the punch when you first received it? I received a pair of punches from a local shop that's very well known - I won't mention their name because a lot of people seem happy with their work, but I certainly wasn't one of them. From day one, I couldn't punch through a single layer of leather with a 3lb mallet without striking it about 10 times. I sharpened it considerably because the edge was way too blunt of an angle. After that, it cut WAAAAAY better - once or twice, until it rolled the edge over because the angle was too shallow... I've since reduced the angle, and even had a member here sharpen them for me a while back. They cut okay, but I'm not at ALL happy with them - especially when they split the leather at the curved end of a belt slot on a double-layer of 8/9 oz. I can't afford new ones at the moment, and I didn't feel like sending them back because the lady on the phone was rude and tried to blame their dull punches on me, saying I must have dropped them (way out of line, and I NEVER dropped them) and then said I ruined their punch when I tried to sharpen it. What a joke.

For those of you that use lead blocks - do you get any transfer of the lead onto the leather, like a grey smudge?

I can't really say what the actual differences are, but I will say that the first time I formed a holster with Herman Oak, it was like night and day - it just molds much more easily than the cheap stuff from Tandy. Now, Tandy does have a premium imported hide, though I've never tried it. The guy at the store said it's very nice stuff to work with. Here is one of my early holsters done with a hide from Tandy. It was the 6th holster I'd ever made. And here is my very next holster done from Herman Oak. It was #7 for me (and the first time I'd tried an Avenger style holster). I didn't magically get 10 times better at boning a holster - it was just easier with H.O. Even the coloring was better.

Certainly can't argue with an 8 x 22 footprint! I didn't realize it was that small. I should note that with a vacuum press, you are only boning the rough details of the gun - the holster comes out of the bag looking like a gun made from a melted stick of butter. It is still necessary to go back and bone the final detail after you remove it from the bag - the vacuum just helps you manipulate the leather to the basic contours and shape of the gun. The vacuum alone will not pull ANY notable detail through 8/9 oz leather. K-Man, how long do you have to leave your holster in the press? Does the 5 minutes include the time in the press?

I use an airbrush exclusively. The drawback I see is that you don't get as much penetration of the dye as you would with other methods, but I try to apply at least 3 good coats. I do mostly holsters, and most of my orders call for an airbrushed feathered edge coloring.

I followed Denster's advise and built a vacuum setup like his. I've been very happy with it. I've made quite a few tooled holsters with no affect on the tooling - at least none that I've noticed. The advantages I see to a vacuum press: It can be disassembled and placed in a drawer when not in use It sucks some of the moisture out of the leather to expedite the forming process - you can dampen the leather more initially to help make it easier to mold, then leave it in the vacuum for a little while longer to help suck some moisture out and then remove it from the press and do your detail molding on the bench ('cutting' in the lines, enhancing the edges, etc.) You get vacuum from all directions - not just up/down (two sides of the weapon), which helps to pull the top of the holster against the top of the slide There is no worry about putting excess pressure on a firearm and risking any damage to the gun from the pressure of a hydraulic press I don't know how long you have to leave the holster in a hydraulic press, but with a vacuum you can pretty much devote about 30 seconds for each side to bone the holster to the firearm. So, in about 2 minutes, you're ready to take it to the bench for final detail boning and adding the curve to the holster, etc. If you go the route of a vacuum press, I would suggest you build yourself a little table top specifically for use with the vacuum press. This will elevate your work surface above your bench so you can clamp down both ends of the bag. This table top should be slightly shorter than the vacuum bag. If a bag is 2' x 4', your table should be about 2' x 3'-4". Your table top should have a "skirt" on it (look at your kitchen table - the top is supported by a skirt, or box frame that's inset from the edge of the table a couple/few inches. This allows you to place the bag clamps on both ends of the bag, then you put your clamps over the bag clamps and secure it to the ends of the table. If you try clamping directly to the vacuum bag, it won't stay put because the bag is too slippery and your clamps will slip off and the bag will wrinkle up under vacuum. When you're done, you can hang the table top on the wall, or slide it against the wall, etc. to get it out of the way. If you decide to go this route and want more information on the table top work surface idea, let me know and I'll try to post a picture to this thread. Here is a couple holsters I've tooled and formed using the vacuum press that Denster suggested.

Last night, I yanked out the stitching and re-stitched it. It was pretty difficult at first to remove the thread, as the two coats of Satin Sheen had helped to hold the thread in place. Plus, it was pretty hard to hold steady since it's so curvy now, which made re-stitching it even more difficult since it was hard to hold steady in my stitching pony. There was quite a bit of resistance at times, but I was still able to hand sew without having to resort to pliers. Turned out well, looks as good or better than before, and I can comfortably send it to the client and not have to make another one. My wife walked into the garage and asked what I was doing. I cowered behind my bench (not really...) and told her you folks told me to do it! I use a dauber dipped in a little cup of dye. I burnish first with water to smooth the edge, then apply the dye in the direction of the grain so it goes on smoothly. I just had a little too much dye on my dauber and it dripped.

LOL - true enough. My wife told me I was not allowed to remove the stitches until I got some second opinions, so in the interest of a happy home, this thread was born... I appreciate all the feedback everyone - dying the thread on the back sounds like the easiest fix, though I'm a tad afraid the dye might bleed over onto the top thread. Still open to this approach though... One thing I'm afraid of with ripping out the stitches and re-stitching it is whether or not the holes will close back up at this point since the leather has already hardened from its time in the oven, thus not adequately securing the thread in the holes. Anyone have any experience with re-stitching a holster at this point in the game? Since it was machine stitched, I'll probably have to use an awl to enlarge the holes enough to hand stitch it, correct?

Okay - I'm a perfectionist by nature. As I was dying my edges, some dye accidentally dripped down onto the backside of the leather and I didn't notice it until I flipped it over to finish dying the edges. My first thought - I need to rip out the thread and re-stitch the perimeter. My wife? "it's on the back side - no one will ever notice!!" Uh.... Let's just say she's not in charge of my quality control department... The edges still need to be burnished one last time, and it needs a couple coats of sealer before I mask off the stitching and apply antique to the tooling. So, here it is - would you yank out the thread and re-sew it? Or just cut out the affected portion and re-sew that portion only? I'm afraid it'll be pretty tough to sew since it's already been formed and hardened (oven-method). It'll have to be hand sewn - I tried sticking it on the Boss and there wasn't enough clearance without smashing it down a bit and dinking up the leather with the presser foot / stirrup plate. Oh yeah - this is for a customer, so someone is paying for this item and I personally feel like they deserve a blemish free item. My wife thinks I'm being too picky... What do you think?

Hi John - the leather is Herman Oak, and the dyes are Fiebing's Pro Oil Dyes -the colors are Light Brown for the top holster, Dark Brown with Black Airbrushed Accents for the second holster / mag pouch pair. My personal favorite is light brown with dark brown airbrushed accents, with the dark brown sprayed on pretty heavily towards the edge. The antique was Tandy's Eco-Flo Dark Brown Gel Antique. I always apply my dyes with an airbrush and the antique per the instructions on the bottle. Make sure you put on a couple good coats of finish/resist before you apply the antique...

Yes - any piece you won't have easy access to later should be burnished (and dyed if you want that look) prior to sewing onto the substrate. For reference, here is one that I had to dye and burnish prior to gluing/sewing onto the holster body. Side note - notice the "fuzzy" dye edge particularly on the magazine pouch lip that sticks up past the top of the holster - I didn't get a good burnish on that edge prior to dying - thus, the dye bled into the flesh too much and gave me a nasty inconsistent black dye job on the edge..

Will you be detail molding the holster to your gun? If so, I'd suggest applying the neatsfoot only after the holster has been wet, formed, and dried in an oven at about 130 degrees for about 40 minutes to stiffen the leather. Even if you're not forming it, I'd still only apply the oil about 24 hours prior to when you're actually ready to put your final finish coats on it. Don't dye/burnish the edges until after you've sewn it. Without seeing your pattern, I can't really say for sure, but it sounds like you'll definitely want to run a border of glue along where you'll be sewing the holster together. How are you going to hold the holster still when you run your awl through the leather to hand-stitch it? Or are you pre-drilling the holes in a drill press? Once the holster is glued together, just prior to stitching, you'll want to trim/sand the edges flush & vertical - this way, you'll be sure your stitch line runs a consistent distance from the edge. If you sew it before trimming the edges flush, you might have to trim too much away for a flush edge and get too close to your stitch line. Once sanded, run an edger over the edges to round them off, then dampen the edges with water to smooth/burnish it. You don't want to dye prior to an initial attempt at burnishing, as the dye will be MUCH more difficult to apply to the rough surface of the edges. Once you've dyed the edges, let it set for a couple hours, then come back with Gum Tragacanth for a final "fluff & buff" on the edges to burnish/shine them up. You'll probably be ready for a coat of neatsfoot oil at this point - but only apply it to the smooth side. Let it set for 24 hours, then apply your first coat of finish.

I hear ya' Lobo - that spider I killed was brown, and when I approached him he got reclusive. That's close enough to a brown recluse for me! I have 3 young kids in the house - all under 7 years old. I ran across a copperhead while I was mowing - right where my kids walk through the yard to get from the front of the house to the back.

Okay, I hate spiders... especially brown ones, black ones, large ones, ....well, you get the idea. I was about to sit down to sew some holsters, when I happened to notice this little guy crouched by the clamp holding down my Boss.

While the holster is still damp from forming, but after you're done forming it.... place it in an oven at about 130 degrees for about 30-40 minutes (I place mine on parchment or wax paper on top of a pizza stone - do not place it directly on the metal rack in your oven), then remove and place in front of a fan to air dry overnight. I have been using Satin Sheen for a finish on my holsters - I've noticed if I apply it quite liberally so it soaks in pretty deep, I get an added amount of stiffness in the final product.

Holy Grapefruit Batman!! That's a sharp knife! I'm embarrassed at how dull mine is after watching that video...

Very sharp looking! I love the color. I haven't made this style of holster yet, so I'm FAR from an expert, but I wonder if the snaps (both of them) need to be moved over to the right some? It seems like having the forward snap further from the slide and the rear snap closer to the trigger guard would allow the belt to force the rotation of the pistol grip inward towards the body a bit more. Just curious, because like I said, I haven't made an IWB of this style yet.

I appreciate the responses everyone. I've ordered a hide from Springfield before, and some dyes and stuff, but had gotten accustomed to the Satin Sheen results. This time I need to order a quart of dye too, so I figured I'd reduce the shipping cost a bit and just order both from Tandy. NOT! Dickf - you asked why the two coats of Satin Sheen and a coat of Resolene - the thing I really like about Satin Sheen is that it absorbs into the leather so much, which I feel helps to stiffen the holster more. It's MY belief that this will also help to set the dyes a bit more too, helping to prevent/minimize dye transfer (I haven't gotten any complaints at all about dye transfer from any of my holsters, so I'm reluctant to change up my workflow too much). Lastly, I feel like it will help to glue/hold the thread in should the stitching ever begin to fail. Is any of this true? Yes, No, and Probably Not, but Maybe So! I started putting the Resolene on lightly with an airbrush as a final step just to give an added layer of protection against moisture. Personally, I don't like Resolene because I can't stand the tacky feel (even when lightly airbrushed). But, lots of people seem to use it so I figured the trade-off must be worth it... My preference would be to find a single product that I can sponge/brush on (like Satin Sheen) that will give all the protection a holster will need. It looks like Angelus Acrylic Finisher #600 may be just the ticket (Thanks Kevin)! This may cut out at least two steps in my process by (1) eliminating the need for Resolene, which in turn will (2) eliminate the need to apply a teflon spray to the interior to kill the tack/grab on the gun created by the Resolene. Any other happy users of Angelus Acrylic Finisher products? Do you apply multiple coats? Do you give a final coat of something else like Resolene or a coat of wax, etc.?

I've been using two coats of Tandy's Satin Sheen, followed by an airbrushed coat of Resolene on my holsters. I've been pretty happy with this combination, but I'd like to find a more cost effective, but equal or better product to Satin Sheen. I was about to place an order last night from Tandy for a quart of dye and a quart of Satin Sheen, and my order was around $75 after tax and shipping!! I don't want anything super glossy.... I'd like to maybe order from Springfield. Any suggestions?