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Lance - you are correct. I'm not cutting a groove anywhere that I'll be stitching - they're just decorative cuts. Reason being - the Boss does a good job with the stitches on the front side, and if I were to cut a groove on the back side, it'd be VERY difficult to align the stitches with the groove. If I were hand stitching, I could angle the awl to align with the groove. But with a machine, I'd rather just make the grooves decorative and let the machine do it's own thing. The machine does a pretty good job of flattening out the stitching on the back side.

Interesting - good to know! I was going off of the clips on my Don Hume holster. I have the clips from Tandy sitting on a shelf (the version with, and another without the hump), but have never actually tried them on a double-layer belt - I just assumed they were all the same - guess not! Thanks for the clarification.

Probably not the best place to order, but I just bought 100 Pull the Dot sockets/caps/studs from www.dotfasteners.com. If someone has a better priced source, feel free to post it. I was thinking it'd be nice to have a pinned/sticky post directly related to holster hardware. For metal clips, I bought a couple from Tandy. A quick google search brought this company to the top of the list. http://www.albest.com/product.asp?Func=DispProd&SelCat=Holster+Clips My caution with metal clips would be this - they don't seem to work with double-layer gun belts. Not a problem with a small firearm like my daily carry Kahr, but not good for the heavier guns like my 1911 that I bought the clips to build a holster for. I would probably attach it like Don Hume did with the holster I bought from them - a slit at the top, and a slit at the bottom that grabs the hump formed into the bottom of the clip. The clip that Don Hume uses actually has teeth cut into it that grab the inside of the leather - not sure where they buy their clips.

Here was my attempt with it a while back. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19888&view=findpost&p=128727

Thank you sir - glad you were able to eventually view it. I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Sorry, no DVD available - at least not yet... The video should actually be downloading - if you leave the window open in the background, it should continue downloading. Give it 5 or 10 minutes, then come back to it - it might be downloaded by then and you can watch it without interruption. My parents had the same problem. DSL that is WAY less than what they're actually paying for...

Neatsfoot oil, for one, darkens the leather a bit. With exposure to sun, it helps to tan the leather a bit giving it that cool golden color you usually see on saddles. It also helps to add a little flexibility and moisture back into the leather after the baking process that hardens and dries out the leather.

Thank you everyone for your kind words! Glad people are getting some use out of it. I hated that I forgot to hit record during the boning process, and that I put the Gum T. on the edges before I dyed the edges... and forgot to show the first time I drilled the belt slot holes, etc. - no telling what else I might have missed! Lance - glad this has helped you out. Yes, definitely save your money on the punch you mentioned. I bought the same punch you were looking at, and it was extremely dull from the factory. It wouldn't cut a turd. I sharpened it gently and slowly with my grinder to make sure I didn't overheat the edge, then followed it up with a file to smooth it out. I didn't even change the grind angle! First hole I tried to make the steel curled over and flattened out. Total junk steel. Thus the reason for the drill press. One of these days I'll probably order a weaver punch. Till then, it's the drill and a sharp chisel. And yes - the oven part came after molding, and before the oil. You could probably burnish the edges while the holster is still damp from the molding, but I've found it's too pliable still and it generally gets deformed a bit when I burnish. Thus, I just wait and burnish afterward.

Thanks for the kind words - I'm glad to hear some people are finding it helpful. I had a lot of fun putting it together, and hope to do more in the future.

It seems YouTube only allows those whom have posted longer videos with a "Director" account in the past to continue to upload long videos. Perhaps the mods here can help me find a way to make it available here without having to go to my website first. And perhaps a mod can remove the YouTube link in my original post since I no longer have the ability to edit the post?

Okay - after a long week of late nights and hours of video editing, I've finally finished my first "real" attempt at producing a video. As many of you know, I'm relatively new to holster-making (and leather working in general). Like many of you, I've found there to be a shortage of videos that demonstrate the process of building holsters, boning, cutting, stitching, etc. I've learned SO much from this forum, and decided I'd like to give back to the community by providing a condensed overview of the overall process. There are MANY here that do "this" or "that" better than me - again, I'm no expert and I learn something new every day. But I hope this video will give some of you a step in the right direction. Should you find yourself interested in viewing my attempt at wrapping some leather around a gun, feel free to visit my website and click on the "How's it Made?" link at the top of the page. My camera quality kinda' stinks, my lighting was poor, my knife was dull, but I still managed to create something I'm proud to carry my gun in. I posted it to YouTube, but it's too long and was rejected. Oops! I should also add - if any of you seasoned pro's out there see something blatantly wrong that I did, please feel free to PM me to let me know. I plan on making more of these videos in the future (with a better camera...), so I'd be nice to not repeat the same errors in the future. Take care, Eric www.adamsleatherworks.com

Okay - odd question, but my wife is making prayer journals for the women in her bible study. She wants to make them unique, hand crafted, etc. She was asking me for ideas on how she could bind it - and I got to thinking about sewing the book together with my Tippmann Boss. The overall thickness would probably only be 1/4" thick. Obviously the Boss will sew 3/4" of leather, but how will it handle 1/4" of a (much more) dense stack of paper? I figured I'd use a leather needle to help penetrate the stack. Is this inadvisable? Will it damage my Boss? Or can it handle it without a sweat?

Looks awesome!! Blue is obviously lizzard, I assume the small shapes are pig, is the light brown buffalo and the dark brown cow? Stellar job.

I'm the guy Denster mentioned - working on the video right now. It's about 22 minutes long, and my first "real" attempt at making a video. Hope to do it again in the future with a better camera, better lighting, and a better hand model. LOL I'll probably post it on YouTube when it's done, as well as on my website, and I'll link to it here. Should have it ready sometime this weekend. Trying to find some royalty-free background music...

Thank you! Yes, airbrush before assembly. Basically.... Cut pieces Smooth edge of reinforcement piece Airbrush dyes Glue reinforcement piece to main piece Mark stitch locations Stitch reinforcement piece together Wet holster Bend in half and let dry Glue mating edges of folded holster Stitch together Sand edges Bevel edges Burnish (with water) edges Dye sanded edges Form holster to gun Warm in oven to aid rigidity Dry overnight Burnish edges again Apply finish ....I probably missed a step or two. Should have a video available by the end of the weekend. It's about an hour long, and I trimmed a bunch of the clips to keep the video length down...

Interesting that you experienced the same thing with the HO leather. Guess I won't rush into re-profiling my edge just yet. Meanwhile, here is some low quality shots from my iPhone of the new holster...

To me, it looks like Fiebings oil dye in Light Brown, followed with Neatsfoot oil. Here is a holster I recently did with it. The dark edges could simply be from burnishing the leather (notice the edge of the reinforcement piece on my holster), or perhaps hitting the edge with Dark Brown, or even Black oil dye, which has a tendency to flow a little into the leather, darkening the edges. Could also be the neatsfoot penetrating the leather more around the edges, darkening it in those areas. That's my guess... Regarding the difference between the airbrush and the dauber - the dauber is going to go on much thicker, and is very difficult to apply without getting streaks. If you're doing a small piece, and have a large dauber, probably not a big deal - but the color is going to be very dark and saturated. I like using an airbrush because I can more easily control the intensity of the dye, and it's easier to achieve a smooth, consistent coloring on the whole piece.

Yep - I'll post pics as soon as it's finished. Just put a coat of neatsfoot on it tonight, and will finish it tomorrow night. Then I guess I'll spend the weekend editing the video together, so the vid should be done in a few days... Regarding the head knife - it's a Weaver knife. It was pretty sharp from the factory (cut myself the very first time I pulled the thing out of the packaging - literally the first time I touched the dang thing. But I think the angle on the grind wasn't steep enough - it never has been able to "glide" through the leather like everyone talks about. It really does take a lot of effort, even with a mirror-like polish on the edge - I strop it every time I pick the thing up. May just be the portion of the hide I'm cutting through right now for the holster pieces.

Thank you! Started anther one a couple nights ago - but this time for my Kahr P9. Thought I'd try shooting a video of the process. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out... and see how many people tell me I'm doing it all wrong, or my knife is dull, or I should wear gloves, or... My round knife really was dull though... I need to re-profile the edge.

Thanks Luke - had not thought to try Midway.

Thanks fellas - I realize this has been a topic of discussion many times before, I was just hoping to find somewhere that stocked them most reliably. I was not aware (and had never seen mentioned before) that Rings simply drop-ships the product (meaning that no stores actually stock blue-guns for immediate purchase). I have sent Duncan an email asking for availability of of a cocked-n-locked 5". I don't really have the tools to mill off a safety. Last time I contacted them for a 3", they were out of stock on that as well and they had no idea when they would pour a new batch.

The photos of the guns on the Duncan site - the guns look less than stellar in terms of accuracy, edges, detail, etc. Do you find that it makes any difference in holster making? Can you get just as sharp of detail in your boning with an aluminum dummy vs. the blue guns?

Interesting - thanks, I'll give that a try. I looked on their site, but didn't see any direct way to order them. You just contacted them via "info@blueguns.com"?

Okay - I ordered a 3" blue gun from Cops Plus over a month ago. I emailed them about 3 weeks later to ask for a status update - never got a response. Several days later, I decided to call them. Supposedly they were waiting on a response from Rings to tell them when they'd receive the gun to ship out to me, but never heard from them. Thus, they never responded to me, the customer. If you were to order a dummy gun today, whom would be at the top of your list? Blue, Aluminum, Red - don't care - if you need to build a holster, who gets your money the fastest for dummy guns?

Thanks! I haven't timed myself yet, but I know the hand stitching was taking close to 4 hours - partly because it's hard to clamp this style holster in a pony. With the Boss - maybe 10 minutes total?