Dwight

A lot of the answer will be determined by the type of holster he wants. If for example he wants a flap over holster . . . similar to the old cavalry holsters of 150 years ago . . . the molding will be VERY minimal. If he wants a "wrap around" holster similar to what John Wayne wore in his westerns . . . you do a bit more molding. If he wants a pancake holster with lots of "grab" and no suicide strap or thumb break . . . you will do a lot of molding. Let us know which type holster . . . we can go from there with much better and more detailed information. May God bless, Dwight

You have your work cut out for you on that one. I doubt if any of the mold makers have one for that. You will either have to have him give you the gun . . . or . . . make a mold yourself. It can be done . . . I have a drawer full of mold models I've made over the years . . . a band saw, drill press, a 12 inch disc sander . . . and a 30 inch belt sander are all used for just about any I've done. Personally . . . I'd have to hit him up for some mold money as well as the holster . . . OR . . . you make just a generic fold over holster that wlll hold it. The one good thing about making the mold yourself. . . . you will learn skills that cannot be taught in a school or class . . . Best wishes my friend . . . may God bless, Dwight

If I'm cutting rounded pieces . . . I cut a bit . . . turn the leather . . . cut a bit . . . turn the leather. AND . . . I use a razor knife exclusively . . . nothing else. Can't get confused that way as to which knife to use. For sanding blocks of glued together leather . . . glue first . . . then sand. I have a 12 inch disc sander and a 30 inch belt sander. . . . they both do great jobs. I make holster toes . . . bottoms for cell phone cass . . . bottom for special purses . . . May God bless, Dwight

Go to the Salvation Army or Goodwill . . . you may find a leather vest there or a denim vest . . . I've done similar when I needed a pattern . . . cut the dude apart and you have the pattern. May God bless, Dwight

Then that should be a piece of cake to sew with a machine. After you sew it . . . get the outside piece pretty damp and roll it. That will stretch it . . . and you are good to go. Make sure you glue them together first . . . I use only Weldwood contact cement . . . works every time. May God bless, Dwight

Without a special machine, . . . I think they call it a patcher . . . it ain't gonna happen unless you have another seam behind your strap that we cannot see. The other alternative would be (what I would do) to hand sew it. Make a dowel that fits inside it quite nicely . . . use it to back up your punch going thru the leather . . . practice on some cheap belly leather first, till you get your procedure down. For me it would be a 2 hour project (the stitching that is). May God bless, Dwight

Biggest problem I've ever found is finding just the "right" piece of leather so it looks good. Inspect it real good . . . then go for it. I've made any number of em . . . pretty much always liked the end result. BUT . . . I cannot think of but one I always do that way . . . if I make one similar to Clint Eastwood's spaghetti western rig . . . Otherwise . . . they are all CCW holsters. The rough texture keeps it from moving around as much . . . and while some folks like that . . . I am NOT a fan of it. Personal choice. May God bless, Dwight

Ya got my vote for good lookin, . . . May God bless, Dwight

Hey, bcraig, . . . there is a holster originated as a driver's self defense holster . . . it's called a "Carjacker". See the video here: The part you want to see mostly is about 2 minutes into it, . . . the two guys are talking about it, . . . and the wearer un-snaps it and takes it off his belt . . . showing you the back side of it and how the two snaps keeps it on your belt at the appropriate angle. I've made a couple of them . . . may still have my pattern somewhere . . . don't recall the gun it was for though. If you are interested in this . . . you can either buy one from the maker as his info is on the video . . . or PM me and I'll see if I can scrounge up the pattern I have. But to answer a few of your questions: I would use 7/8 leather . . . you can probably buy a small single shoulder . . . it is good leather for that type weapon . . . and should give you plenty enough leather for your project . . . and dollar wise I wouldn't think it would be much more (if any more) than some pre-cut piece you would buy. This holster needs enough leather to wrap around your weapon twice and have a good 2 inches extra in length. Yes . . . do a really tight wet mold . . . let it totally, completely, thoroughly get dried out . . . assemble and sew that dude . . . use only the short welt you can see in the video . . . add a retention screw . . . should be plenty good on retention. May God bless, Dwight

I generally buy both double shoulders and sides. Shoulders are for holsters, . . . has worked the best for me for 15 or so years. But to each his own. May God bless, Dwight

You might just wet mold that flap under your thumb, . . . mold it around the phone, . . . tuck the little sucker down inside . . . be surprised how well it just might work. See the one above ^^^^^^^

I long, long ago gave up screwing around with fasteners for cell phones. Too easy to make this one, . . . works like a champ, . . . 7/8 oz leather, . . . metal belt snap on the back . . . held together with rivets. This one holds a samsung note 8 with it's kinda rubber like case around it, . . . I wear it in/on the computer chair, . . . dinner table, . . . tractor, . . . zero turn, . . . quad, . . . Jeep . . . van . . . up & down ladders . . . never dropped a phone out of it yet . . . May God bless, Dwight

Years ago, . . . I made one for a guy . . . had a Ruger .22 with a scope on top. The gun sat vertical in the holster, . . . I used stacked layers of leather that wound up 3/4 of an inch thick . It rested on the front of the trigger guard, . . . the front 3 inches or maybe less covered the muzzle of the gun . . . and it had a suicide strap to keep the gun in place. It was a sale thru a gun shop, . . . never met the customer . . . but the folks at the LGS said he loved it. But I like the thinking out of the box you did on this one . . . bet you get smiles and inquisitive looks wherever you carry it. May God bless, Dwight

Gotta say "Nahhhh" to the tuckable Idea, . . . I make em . . . and use em . . . reaching to un-tuck with the cell phone in the way . . . Rx for disaster. IWB pancake with a tongue going over the belt. . . . being the case for the cell phone, . . . that'll work . . . even make a loop behind the cell phone for the belt to go thru, . . . might be able to get away with no snaps or loops on the actual holster itself. Might actually turn out to be a hit. Go for it. May God bless, Dwight

That's what I'd do.........

The navy colored piece, . . . the inner one, . . . definitely is a wet mold I would bet. It is then placed in a two piece wooden mold and partially dried in it, . . . and removed for finish drying, . . . Then the two pieces are dyed, . . . cemented together, . . . edged, . . . and sewn. Quite a bit of work for a place to park an ink pen, . . . May God bless, Dwight

I sew with a Tippmann Boss, . . . using 346 thread for 99% of what I do. I stitch groove just about all of it, . . . it puts my stitches even with or below the edge of the finished leather, . . . making it much harder to abrade my stitches. But other folks do other things for other reasons. Those are mine. May God bless, Dwight

Couple of problems I see, . . . and not trying to be offensive, . . . but you are trying to be cheap, . . . and cheap usually equates to low quality. 1. When you dilute the dye, . . . use Feibings reducer, . . . and only go one to one, . . . not one to three. 2. For small projects like wallets and belts and holsters, . . . find a metal pan and "dip dye" the leather. Your sponge marks are perfectly legible on both pieces, . . . some had dye, . . . some were dry, . . . and you got streaks for your effort. 3. On lighter tan and brown especially, . . . always give it a light coat of neatsfoot oil about 24 hours before dying. Let the leather return to the original color, . . . that tells you it is evenly distributed within the leather, . . . and only put the oil on the hair side of the leather. I've done it this way for almost 15 years, . . . and the only time I ever had a hiccup on dying was when an acquaintance said he was having really good results using water as a thinning agent. I won't go into the gory details, . . . enough to say I tossed the project after the dye job, . . . and went back to Feibings reducer. May God bless, Dwight

I made a few Kydex holsters, . . . basically soften / melt the plastic in a sheet and drop it on top of the gun or mold, . . . it something near instantly hardens and then you simply take a pair of shears, . . . cut off the excess, . . . sand the edges, . . . put it together. I'm sure that in time, making a number of holsters in kydex would affect the blue mold as it is plastic as well. I began this leather holster stuff back years ago, . . . just got kinda serious about it in '05 or '06. None of my blue guns have ever let me down in the detail, etc. May God bless, Dwight

Blue guns have served me quite well for over 10 years. May God bless, Dwight

No . . . do not use full strength. And don't do like some folks here . . . don't dilute Pro Dye with water. Feibings makes a thinner . . . use it. Thin the dye 50/50. I pour the dye out of the 4 oz bottle, . . . into a larger container . . . then pour the thinner into the dye jar and swish it around to collect all the surface dye off the inside of the bottle. I then pour the thinner in with the dye . . . shake it good . . . you then have 8 oz of dye that will do the job. Been doing it that way for over 10 years . . . never had a problem but one time . . . tried the suggestion of using water as a thinner . . . was one of the dumbest things I've done in the last 20 years. May God bless, Dwight

I have a couple of "customers" for whom I make key fobs. I sent to China, . . . had brass stamps made . . . they work very well . . . the detail is beautiful . . . and the price was reasonable, even though it took almost 6 weeks to get them. There are folks here in the states who may make you a stamp for a reasonable price. May God bless, Dwight

Leather breathes, . . . and if water gets in it, . . . eventually it will dry out. Some synthetics can hold water and cause the knife to rust. Seeing the client is looking to protect his knife, . . . kydex is the best choice for THAT, . . . even if you cannot sew it. AND, . . . it can be riveted with only a few rivets. May God bless, Dwight

Kydex would be my first choice, . . . I don't like working with it, . . . but it makes a good product when it is done. May God bless, Dwight

Fredk's experience has not been the same as mine. Resolene is an acrylic finish, . . . in a common word, . . . plastic. If it is applied correctly, . . . it will totally cover and encapsulate the product. Think of putting something in a plastic bottle, . . . sealing it up, . . . then try to get it wet or dry, . . . See the problem??? If you want to condition and have it work 99% of the time like it should, . . . when you cut your blanks, . . . or at the latest when the item is getting ready for dye, . . . give it a light coat of neatsfoot oil with a bristle brush, . . . I only coat the hair side if I can reach it, . . . if not, where I cannot, I'll coat the flesh side, . . . but it is done sparingly because the flesh side will soak up the oil really quick and will take a lot of it. This will also tend to smooth out the color of especially light browns like Feibings Saddle tan. May God bless, Dwight