Denster

For the gouged in stitchgroves you basically need tow grooves and adjustable edge groover and a freehand groover both work very nicely in dry leather. For a creased in groove you just need to lightly case (wet) the leather and crease it in.

One other question crosses my mind. Since that style of buckle requires constant tension, what happens when you say draw the weapon and that nice flexible leather collapses a bit and you loose tension on the buckle. Where does the holster go if you have to run, squat, go prone or roll over?

I'm having a hard time understanding why you believe it will be difficult to grove the leather for the stitchline and for that matter to difficult to use an awl for the holes?

I have an inquiry in with them do they have it in stock. They have a very spotty history. If they have it you will get it quick if they don't they will charge your card and you'll wait a long time and very hard to cancel and get your money back.

Anyone have one they would like to sell?

A sharp head knife can easily cut down to a 3/8 radius curve smaller than that punch it. When going around curves you want the tip of the handle as low to the leather as you can get it.

I use 346 top and 277 bottom poly thread. I try to plan my stitchruns so I overstitch 3 or 4 stitches on an outside edge. Back stitching where necessary is easy just take a little pressure off your presserfoot and back up and put the needle through the hole. I know that Eric (Particle) airbrushes his dye. Check out his website and click on the how it's made link. Neat video that will give you a lot of answers.

You are right I'm going to have to increase the clearance by about 3/16 in. I have slender fingers and this works for me but just barely. As to the stitch groove/crease. they are the same width. I don't generally do that, just on a whim continued the stitchgroove all the way around to see how it would look. Thanks for the input.

I came up with this design for the P7 PSP and M8 pistols. I wanted something with a lower ride and security without a strap and without a severe cant suitable for wear from about 3:00 to 4:30. The holster is 8/9OZ Hermann Oak. I'd appreciate some input on anything I might have missed or changes that should be made. Thanks.

Are you machine sewing or hand sewing?

Wow! Now that is sharp. Any special tricks to working with gator as opposed to elephant and shark?

Bill It's the leather. I have the same thing with my aerostitch. No marks with Hermann Oak (very firm) others more or less marks. I sew before oiling and just lightly case the stitchline and tap the stitches with my cobblers hammer. Closes the stitches and removes the marks. Tippmann sells an aftermarket valve you can install to make the presser foot pressure variable. On the other I think I'd call Tippmann and ask to speak to one of their service reps. Nice people and they can talk you through what to look for.

Buy some .090 kydex from Springfield leather, a heat gun and some small scraps of 1/8 and 1/4 in plywood for forms are all you need to make your own. About .20 apiece.

Awesome holster Scott. If you had trimmed the loops in shark it would have been teetotaly awesome.

Highdessertleather.com Go to the do it yourself section. Very high quality clips.

As a general rule anyone can sue anybody over anything all it takes is money, lots of money, and a lawyer. Whether the case would have merit and generate a recovery is another story. In this case the burden of proof would be on the person filing the action. That being said it also takes a lot of money to defend against a lawsuit whether it has merit or not. Generally the only ones who win are the attorneys. I don't know of anyone, other than Tucker, commercially making that style of holster. Probably because it really isn't a good idea. The only thing it accomplishes, in my view, is to make a thicker holster that is harder to conceal. It does nothing that a regular avenger style allready accomplishes. Just my opinion YMMV.

The convection oven's air flow maintains an even heat throughout the oven which is important. I think I paid $29 for mine but it may have been on sale. You can accomplish the same thing with the heat box. Just make it about three feet tall and eighteen inches square with the bulb in the bottom and leave the top open. Punch a few holes around the bottom to let air in. What you have then is a chimney effect as heat rises. Shove your meat thermometer through just below the holster racks and adjust your dimmer till the thermometer shows a little over 120. Works great. I used this in a slightly different form to dry wood for traditional bow making.

Heat curing a dampened holster properly can make a major difference in it's firmness and how well it retains it's retention abilities. You need 120 to 135 degrees for at least a half hour. The cheap convection ovens at walmart work good but you need to hang an oven thermostat inside to determiine the temp. Generally when the thermostat reads 120 the surface temp of the holsters will be right at 130 which is ideal. The combination of heat and moisture releases collagens in the leather, think liquid hide glue, and actually glues the fibers of the leather in position. The same reason you see leatherworkers heating their creasers for a lasting crease. It's easy to make a heat box also just furnace tape some insulated board together and install a light bulb base with a dimmer switch wired in line with the plug. Shove some dowels through for a rack for the holsters. Shove a meat thermometer through the side to show the internal temp. A 60W light bulb will easily bring a 2'X2'x1' box up to temp and adjust with to hold with the dimmer switch.

Thank you for the kind words. The backs are 7/8OZ HO and the front that the Elephant is bonded to is 5/6. With the stitching I used the right toe of my presser foot as a guage and freehanded it. I used a freehand groover for the straight lines but I found out that trying to use an adjustable groover on the perifery was an excercise in futility. The elephant is some I got from Kevin at Springfield Leather.

Nice clean work Jeff. Atractive design too. Can't see anything to fault.

I just recently started using exotics. Here are a couple of mag pouches for the P7-M8 for a customer who wanted full frontal coverage with elephant. He specified a shield with the double pouch and none with the single. Tell me what you think.

Sorry! Should have knowen you would have a strategy. That was a nice gesture for the Marine though.

I have to ask. Was there any time left in there for beer and poker? If not you're working far too hard.

A few things I noticed. First I'll second what leathercaptain said. It looks like you intended the gun to go further into the holster but got your stitchline too close. I noted the pinched off muzzle of the holster. With large weapons like the 459 those cheap clips from Tandy just don't get it. Try for a smooth flow in the lines of the holster. The eye likes curves and those straight lines and square corners at the rear of the holster are not pretty. It looks like you are getting too much moisture in your leather when forming. That gives the leather surface that kind of wrinkly effect you are getting and also hurts your boning detail. If you are going to handstitch invest in a stitchmarking wheel, a good awl and matching harness needles for the thread you are using. Punched holes are for lacing not stitching. Spend some more time on your edges they are looking better however. It looks like you are getting the idea and improving but do study others work and see where you need improvement. If you don't know how do accomplish something, ask a specific question, the folks here will be happy to answer. None of us, with the possible exception of Particle, did quality work from the get go. There is a learning curve. You can shorten it with the proper questions.

In a word no. The 21 is a larger frame weapon.