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I had a 97 4x4 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a V8, and I loved it - but I always hated when I had a furniture project and needed plywood and other lumber, or when spring came around and I needed some new landscaping that was too tall for the cargo area. It was my "turn" to buy a new (used) vehicle and we were planning on buying me a truck, but then we found out we were expecting baby #3. So, I got my wife's little 2001 Lexus is300, sold the jeep, and bought her a minivan. In about 52 months, It should be my turn again to buy a vehicle. I do love driving the little is300 though - but sad that I can't drive on the logging trails in SE Oklahoma to access those hidden fishing and camping spots, or crawl over snow covered back roads in Colorado, or climb to the abandoned mines and do a little photography and exploration. Yes, 4x4 isn't a necessity for most people, but when you need it, it's sure nice to have it!

Thanks! I actually had to rip the stitches out of one tonight - it was natural. I'm wondering if the natural, un-dyed leather affects tension? I sewed another holster without any problems, but the natural all the sudden wasn't pulling the top thread down into the leather very well. So frustrating getting tension adjusted sometimes.

Well, the pictures stink, but I finally did a holster for a Glock. I was amazed at how much I had to edit the pattern from the 1911 to fit a Glock. The trigger guard is HUGE. I forgot to take final photos before I shipped it out the door. These pics are prior to being oiled, burnished, and finished. Comments / critiques always welcome.

For grins, here is a holster I just completed for a 4" that was built with my 4.25" gun. I used my standard 4.25" template then sliced off .25" from the bottom of the holster body piece before assembly. Mine sits a little proud of the surface, but a 4" gun should fit nicely with plenty of protection around the muzzle.

A 4.25" barrel can easily be made to fit a 4" gun. Just trim the bottom a little shorter - flush with the 4.25" barrel so when the 4" gun is in the holster, it'll still have a little protection from the extra leather at the bottom. Here is a photo I took a little while back to demonstrate the different frame lengths to a customer. Left to right: Duncan's 5" My Dan Wesson CBOB 4.25" Ring's 3"

There is an extra "http://" at the beginning of the links. Just click his links, then remove the first "http://" and the address should work fine.

Even if you had the funds to buy the 10 hide minimum directly from Herman Oak, which option would you choose for buying hides in bulk (more than one or two hides at a time)?

That tacky feeling drives me nuts! I left one in front of a fan overnight, and that seemed to help a little. I might try waxing it with car wax to see if that cuts the tack. I have a feeling the tack will go away once the holster is worn a bit, and gets dusty from lint and stuff. I'm attaching a really bad picture of an old pocket holster attempt that I made for my dad. I dimpled the surface of the leather with one of the smooth tools (I don't have a clue what the craft tool number is), then airbrushed the surface at a very shallow angle so the dye pretty much just ran across the high spots. Sorta looks like it's on fire. The holster was pretty lousy, but I loved the coloring. Fiebing's Pro Oil Dye - Light Brown as the base color applied with an airbrush Airbrushed Fiebing's Pro Oil Dye - Dark Brown around edges, then finally transitioned to black at the edges.

The only advertising I do is posting on message boards, and putting my website in my signature on those boards. I post pictures of my completed holsters here for critique, but I've had at least one person here refer one of their friends to me. The other boards (my state's big CHL board and the 1911 forum) have had the biggest impact. I was getting maybe 2 orders a week. Then someone posted a review of my holster on the 1911 board, and I got 8 or 9 new orders in one day. One of those orders told me in the comment box I was also being talked about on a concealed carry forum. Viral Marketing. It's a powerful thing. I also posted an overview video of me making the Avenger style holster on YouTube. It hasn't gotten a whole lot of views - 400 something - but it certainly helps spread the word. As I get some of these new orders complete, my hope is that those people will also start posting images of my holsters and (hopefully) saying positive things about them on the forums. Those threads on the forums will be viewed for years down the road as people stumble across them on web searches. I've tried to tell my parents the same thing - they need to be marketing their cabin the same way. I've put it in a couple signatures, linked to it on my site, promoted it on some boards, etc., but I don't think they really understand the value of Viral marketing. Before I linked to it in my sig/site, they were getting several days a week with zero views and most of their visits were coming from emails they sent out (according to Google Analytics). While effective, their target audience is "1" - the recipient of their email. I built their website with Joomla. Someone asked about Joomla sites on another board, and I posted my parent's site in my comment as an example site. So, not only do people searching for cabins find their site, but now people searching for Joomla find it too...

Okay - I'm not a full-time holster maker, but I am in a situation like you. My wife and I were expecting our 3rd baby last year, and we wanted her to be able to stay home with the baby. My new job gives out bonuses twice a year, which we were hoping would cover a good portion of her lost income. Bonus aren't happening due to the economy, but I'm just lucky to have a job so I'm not complaining (yet...). I would love to get out of the rat-race and do my own thing, thus I started pursuing holster making. I still have an 8-5, so I'm limited in my capabilities - like most of us. I'm gonna go with $10,000-30,000 as a number that's easy to achieve. That's PURELY a forecast. So far I've gotten 16 orders for March, and we're only half-way through with the month. Let's assume I can carry that forward for at least 32 orders for March. 32 orders a month times an average price of $80 per holster = $2,560 per month $2,560 * 12 months = $30,720 Fortunately my wife is starting to take an interest in my holsters and has expressed a (mild) desire to help with production. 32 orders a month isn't a lot. It equates to about 7 a week. But, at about 2 hours of cumulative time per holster, it's hard to produce much more than that while holding down a day job and spending time with the wife/kids... If I recall from past conversations and inferences, some guys here are cranking out 30+ holsters a week. At an average price of $70, that's well over $100k/yr. Based on the overwhelming backlog of holster makers, I don't think that's an unrealistic number and one I REALLY hope to achieve! Insurance ain't cheap, so I'll have to go well above my current income just to bring home the same amount of bacon. But I can make holsters anywhere, and I'd really like it to be on a nice plot of land with a 1,000 yard rifle range off my back porch... After all that, I'm sorry, but I doubt I've provided anything valuable...

He never mentioned what style holster he was after. As far as dimensions on the gun, there are some basic dims on the manufacturer's website, but I haven't gotten into any specifics with him regarding that.

Did they mention if you have to buy that in bulk quantities? Their website says you have to order at least 10 hides for the veg tan hides if I remember correctly.

Hello all - I was contacted recently by a guy that would like one of my holsters. Unfortunately, there aren't any blue guns available for his particular handgun. Are there any makers in the Suffolk County, NY area that could outfit this guy with a holster if he dropped his gun off with you for a day or two? In case you're wondering, it's for a FNP-45 USG.

I'm still up in the air with the best finishes to use. But, someone told me recently that he spoke with Tucker (Tucker Gunleather), and Tucker said he uses CR42 (Leather Sheen) finish spray, which is what Mr. Tucker (Tucker Gunleather) recommended as the sealant and uses on his holsters. That being said, I took a scrap piece of leather, sanded it just like I did this holster, then coated half with Leather Sheen, and the other half with Satin Sheen. The Leather Sheen, once dry, left barely and noticeable change in color. The Satin Sheen left it quite a bit darker, and seems to pretty much negate the reason for leaving rough-side out. If anyone has any better suggestions, I'm all ears.

Wow - that looks like a LOT of work... Thanks for taking the time to post this. Excellent work. Would this style holster be able to be sewn on a Boss? Looks like you need quite a good deal of clearance.

I bought my last hide from Weaver, but I was not impressed. It was covered in scuff marks, the back was inconsistently sanded and had lines running across it like their sander/scraper had a nick in the blade, etc. I too would like input on an affordable alternative that might likely have a better product.

Indeed - my thoughts exactly! Very nicely done.

Thank you Tac for your compliments! An update to the holster - the customer received it yesterday, and as BigRiverLeather suggested, I'm going to have to revise the top cut line and build him another one. He was very pleased with the quality of the holster, but it didn't sit low enough inside the waistband and it flopped out at the top a bit. No worries though - it was my first IWB attempt, and I learned a valuable lesson right off the bat with this one. I'm going to order some thinner leather before I build it again. Here is a quick Photoshop'd example of what I will be revising. Before: After:

Hi happyhermit - those look real nice! I can't really offer any valuable input, but I may be able to answer part of your question. Weaver Leather sells a product very similar to yours, though theirs is turned differently. I'm attaching a page out of the catalog for your reference. One thing I will mention is I'm not sure how much benefit the bottom tear-drop portion would serve. Something cylindrical at the bottom would help with belt slots and the like. Edgers.pdf Edgers.pdf

Thanks for the feedback everyone. BRL - yes, I tried it on, and it rode very well in my opinion. It felt a little thick, but was comfortable. The muzzle put a little pressure on my thigh, but I have a good bit of muscle atrophy in my right thigh (BK amputee from a MVA about 15 years ago).

Do you think 5/6oz is a good general purpose thickness for almost any holster? I'm about to run out of this current hide and need to order some more leather. Should I just go ahead and get 5/6oz this time, and maybe 2/3oz for linings?

Monica Kuehn Leather has an excellent (and free) website. She simply took the free Blogspot site and built her own right there. Blogs are easy to update, quick to stylize, and you're only out your time to build it. http://monicakuehnleather.blogspot.com/ I have one too (so you can see another skin of the same Blogspot layout), but I haven't bothered updating it in ages. http://particlerealities.blogspot.com/

Well, took a stab at an IWB for the first time. The customer has an El Paso Saddlery holster that he really likes for a different gun, and asked me to make something similar to it for his Sig. I didn't want to outright copy their design, so I made a few tweaks and built this. Overall, I'm very happy with the way it turned out - although, it's VERY thick... Perhaps too thick? I suppose this design, with the location of the snaps, will have no choice but to be a tad portly. The customer wanted to make sure it didn't collapse, so I marched forward with my current stock of 8/9oz Herman Oak for all the parts. Thus, the overall thickness is about 2.2" thick... It's for a Sig P239. Any comments/suggestions greatly appreciated, including preferred leather weight for projects such as this... My Don Hume IWB is maybe 5/6oz, and it doesn't have any problem staying open with it's leather-reinforced opening...

Thank you sir! My wife is pleased to finally see a little return on our investment... Be a while before we're back in the black though!

I'm not discounting anything you said (regarding the formula for determining the stitch line). However, here is my approach. Lay the gun on your piece of paper, trace the outline of the gun onto the paper, then figure out your perimeter cut line. Offset the line around the bottom of the slide and trigger guard about 1/2" to 3/4" inches, depending on if it's a relatively thin/thick gun. Go ahead and stitch it up and form the holster. Once you've built the pattern once, you can very quickly determine if you need to pull the stitch line in/over/up/down exactly by X amount. Simply get out the ruler and measure the needed offsets, revise your pattern, and you should be good to go with the next holster! Take a nasty section of your hide (scuff marks, scars, insect bites, nasty looking backside, etc.) and build your first holster. Here is an example of one I recently did for a 3" 1911. I didn't have time to build a mock-up version first, and all of my "scratch-n-dent" sections of the hide are already gone. The holster is in the customer's possession now, but now I can look back at my photos of it an know exactly how to tweak the stitch line - bring it in about 1/8", and bring the trigger guard stitch down about 1/8" - the curve was good, just a little bit in the wrong location.