oldsparky

Can you give me a name of a internet leather supplier where I can be pretty sure I will get good leather? I live in Arizona around Mesa and only know of one brick and mortar brand of store and would like to have other options. thanks a lot

I also had never had leather crack once. What else comes to mind is I have old belts and tack that set in a hot horse trailer that don’t crack, my boots bend everyday and I have some in the closet that are 30 years old and they don’t crack when I put them on. I need to buy some more leather and need to find a supplier that has a reputation on line. I will post that as a question.

Hello, I am not a holster maker by any means. But I have made a few holsters that are exactly what I am looking for. What I have done is lay the pistol on a piece of card stock that I steal from my wife and trace around the gun comping up with a pattern that covers how you want. I have even taken my rough pattern and staple it together to figure out the sewing lines. If you take your time its not that hard. Where I always struggle is if I make a thumb break. Figuring out the location of the snap can make me nervous. Also I need to figure out where to buy good leather. The only supplier I know of in my area is Tandy where I can look see and smell. And I have bought lousy leather. I am not a pro by any means but its satisfying My 2 cents, Jim

Thanks for the reply's. I guess it needed wet with water or oil. I wish I could find it to post a picture. As I was making this holster without a known pattern I folded the leather around the pistol more times than I can count. It wasn't until after dying the cracks happened. the leather would crack when flexed maybe just a 10 percent bend and the leather would crack all over like it had been heat damaged. Before thudding I had flexed the leather over and over coming up with the design. It seemed like the dye did something to the leather. The dye also didn’t penetrate much. Another thing is the leather was in a loose roll from when I bought the leather. I have used the dye on other leather and it was not the problem. Anyway thanks for the help. I knew to wet with water before shaping. I didn’t know I could oil before dying. I am glad that was posted. Thanks, Sparky

Hello, I have made a few projects over the years. I'm 56 and started making Tandy leather projects for myself back in the 70's. Recently I made a fold over type holster from 12ish oz leather. I cut the leather out then dyed it with pro dye (black) let it dry then started stiching it. the darn leather started cracking. Just the surface about 1/16 deep, everywhere I would bend it it cracked. What happened? The leather was a new piece I had bought from the Tandy store. thanks, Jim