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This is my first IWB appendix carry holster. Sig P365 X Macro with a foxtrot 2R light. In the three years of don't business here in Montana, this is only the second IWB holster I've been commissioned to make. The first one was a beautiful single clip for a fullsize browning high power to carry in the 4 o'clock position. This one came out looking great, but.... IT'S A FAILURE. Yes I'm posting my fail in showoff to make a point. The gun, and light combo fits great. The holster is comfortable except for the left side (right side in picture). Apparently I make the corner a bit too sharp. That's not where the real failure is though. Today I got a dreaded text. The magazine button gets pushed and his magazine popped out in front of customers. He works behind the gun counter at a big retailer. There's two things wrong here. First, that's definitely something you don't want to happen in front of someone, especially in a retail setting. It not only tells everyone "Hey, I'm carrying a concealed weapon!" but it also looks bad on the company that employs him and the maker of the holster (me) Secondly, and this is the most important part of being a holster maker, failure such as this cannot be tolerated. That could end up extremely bad in a situation where he may actually have to protect himself. The mag could be in the gun, but not in battery and if he had to defend himself, it could be a death sentence. As a holster maker I have to take into consideration that this holster may have to save a life, it must function 100% correctly. It's a crushing feeling, but a good lesson. I'm glad it's only been a day and he figured it out before he actually needed his firearm. I will be making adjustments to the pattern and of course making him a new holster. Its unfortunate that this does happen occasionally. Especially when is outside my specialty. I'm not experienced in IWB holster design. 65% of my business is shoulder and chest holsters, with 20% pancake style holsters and the last 15% misc holsters, knife sheaths and other projects. I'm sharing my failure for others to understand. We're not perfect all the time and we have to fail to learn. I have about 4 or 5 holsters that were just not the right fit, either too tight for the weapon, or the wrong balance. This though, is my first actual failed design. I've already discussed with him where the flaws are. I'll make it work right, and I won't be charging anything extra. This is 100% on me and not the customer's crazy ideas.

Here's one of my latest holsters. Its a chest holster that rides like the doc holiday, low and cross draw. I used a Gormley hand of God pattern for the holster, modified a bit to ride on the harness instead of a belt. This one is for the 1858 Remington. The rope border is stamps using a triangle bevel. Time consuming but it comes out much better than the rope stamp the customer originally wanted. He was very pleased with this one. I pad and line the shoulder strap with water Buffalo. The rest is Hermann Oak "holster" veg tan. The holster is 9/10oz and the strapping and shoulder strap is skived down to around 6oz. I hand skive with the good 'ol safety skife, then come back through with my finger plane to even out the surface.

I finished my customer's order with the moose carved holsterthat I posted about a week ago. I ended up having to make the elk holster a second time because I forgot to adjust my pattern for the suede lining. I figured it out right away, and the entire time I was making it i thought something was off. The phone case was my first that I've been commissioned to make. My customer was absolutely ecstatic about it. Mainly I think he was more excited about the grizzly. The knife sheath is for a little damascus pattern skinner. We decided to go with the snapping turtle leather inlay because it's such a small window to carve on. I still have some of the leg leather left from a couple of tail inputs inlaid orders. Elk holster- Ruger P85 Moose holster- SCCY CPX2 Grizzly- Galaxy S+ series/size phone Snapping turtle inlay- unknown knife maker, small skinner

Made with W&C 10oz tooling leather. Primary pistol is a Cimarron/Uberti 1875 Outlaw, 7.5" barrel, .45 Colt. Cross draw is a my father's Ruger New Model single six, 5.5" barrel, .22LR

So... I'm hoping this isn't too much of a daft question after the lengthy back story... But... I've had a friend of mine ask me to push my still fairly limited skillset and build them a holster and drop gun belt for a replica Colt .45 SAA single action pistol (his description based on the replica he has provided me to work with, looks like a cowboy gun to me as i'm not a pistol person). I have followed a couple of very detailed descriptions on how to template and assemble the holster and have been somewhat successful... however, with both methods used after some gentle wet forming around the replica firearms the pistol is rather firm to both insert and remove from the holster unlike what I see in movie magic or the youtube gunslingers. I can hold the holster upside down and shake it quite vigorously without the pistol coming out. I will be remodelling the template anyway as it looks a little wobbly in places and I am planning on lining the holster for the final build so will require a touch more space. My question is this, how tight is too tight for a holster?

It's been well over a year since I made this holster for a customer that wanted something unique and flashy at the same time. It's definitely up the in the top 3 favorite holsters I've made. Any critiques are helpful.

I haven't been around here in a while...just wanted to share my latest work, a holster I'm making for a friend. The resist totally failed, but I think I like the finish so far. Not sure if I'll send it out this way but I'll wait until it's stitched up and edged properly and all before I decide. As an aside, I haven't been doing much leather lately...I've been having problems with my hands for a couple of years now. Last year it got so I couldn't really hold small tools for more very long, much less gripping them while I whack em. Docs don't know what's wrong yet, sooooooo....anybody have any tips for controlling hand pain so's I can stick with this a while longer? Thanks all...happy pounding!

Tried my hand at a revolver holster. Seems to fit a large N-Frame just fine. Open to suggestions, comments, critique, etc.!

My dad has been going to Lithuania for last 6 or 7 years on mission trips with his church. One of the guys they met this past summer who was helping them get supplies and help translate and other stuff is military/police officer as well. Him and my dad was talking about guns and such and my dad was showing him my website and some other pics of work I've done. He mentioned how he would love to have a custom holster for off duty use for his glock 17. So I built him one and the preachers wife is taken it over to him as a gift when she goes next week to deliver a Christmas care package to the families they help. I didn't go to over the top decided to keep it classic with a nice 2 tone black and brown. 7/8oz for main body. 6/7oz for the decorative stiffner/belt loop. And it's lined with some thin pig I had laying round.

Beautiful little pew pew remington 44 mag with a Burris 2x7x hand gun scope I happened to have a lg frame pistol pattern. All that was required was cut the pattern in half and add the leather for the scope add straps add a 6 oz veg tan linerI m

Large collection of aluminum dummy guns for sale. Used for holster making, nothing wrong with them just no longer use them. 238 aluminum, 14 plastic semi-auto 130 magazines $15,500 plus shipping OBO

Below is my take on Will Ghormley's 3 Persons 1911 holster, from the 1911 100th anniversary pattern pack. I modified it (very slightly) for a Springfield EMP4 (soon to be mine .) Tooling pattern is Al Stohlman; Angelus light brown, ecoflo tan antique gel, wax finished edges. This was only my second attempt to use a toe plug (last time was about 15 years ago,) so the stitching on the bottom of the toe is iffy, but I'm happy with it.

https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/xKz0ZJjqTyKa

Black Alligator for my CSX S&W pistol. Veg tan lined inside. The reviews on this pistol were way too harsh. .

I have a few bundles of DVDs for sale through a couple of eBay auctions (Ending 11/15/22. in the evening): - 6 DVDs on leather carving, Sheridan style and more: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255810778928 - 9 DVDs on how to make various knife sheaths : https://www.ebay.com/itm/255810991680 - 5 DVDs on bag making, carving and construction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255812182660 - 6 DVDs on How to make Holsters including the John Bianchi set: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255812221084 - Full DVD set of Leather Holster Making by the American Gunsmithing Institute taught by the talented Chris Andre: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255812206122 - 5 DVDs on leather lacing, turks head, etc..: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255812236482 - 6 DVDs on Dyeing, Assembly, Tool care: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255810974935

Large collection of dummy guns for holster making for sale. Includes 238 aluminum and 14 plastic semi autos and 130 magazines (125 aluminum, 5 plastic) I am selling all together $15,500 plus shipping

I recently bought a Ruger Wrangler as my first handgun however it is a birdshead grip model and the barrel is shorter than the normal wrangler. since it’s a $200 revolver I figured I might as well make a leather holster instead of buying one for 1/2 the price of the pistol it not to mention it would be more fun. I am extremely new to this and practiced a little with some scrap but I’m having trouble sketching good templates myself. Does anyone know of any templates online I can print out and use? Im sure any single six, or rough rider templates would work just as well.

I have a large collection of dummy guns and mags used for holster making. Includes 330 dummy guns 238 aluminum semi auto 14 plastic semi auto 74 aluminum revolver 4 plastic revolver 130 magazines (125 aluminum, 5 plastic) I am selling them all together. $19,750 obo plus shipping

Fist attempt at a holster for my P320 with suppressor sights and TLR7.

It’s been a couple years since I made any thing but wanted a comfortable holster for my 1911 and didn’t want to wait 6 months for Milt Sparks. This is based off of his Bruce Nelson style holster.

Been thinking on this one for years, and finally got around to putting it together. First version was too big, second version was a bit too snug! (you can see the slight bump on the end from the barrel sight) But that being said, the hand cannon thocks into place and stays very solid, won't fall out even upside down with shaking. Not sure if that is the intent? Any holster makers let me know! I debated putting this in the "critique my work" section, so if you can, give me some pointers! How do you decide when to put in a welt? Also, must say toe plugs are sure a challenge. Kudos to those that do them well. These are the only two I have ever done, and lets just say I need some more practice. YinTx

Hello, all. I believe this is my first post, although have observed for some time. I really appreciate all the wisdom shared through the forum. It's remarkable to find so many fantastic craftsmen who are also humble and encouraging to others who are working to hone their skills. I've made a few holsters over time. Have found that my different variations don't like sharp ejection ports. Especially noticeable on the recent project for a Springfield Hellcat (shown in attached pic). On this particular holster I find that almost any forward pressure on draw make the gun want to hang up as the forward edge of the ejection port digs into the leather, and especially the stitching. I did groove a stitching channel in hopes of mitigating, but this was not effective. In the past I have done holsters without a reinforcement panel, thus no stitching; this approach is an improvement, but still more scrape on draw that I like to see. On this latest project it is too severe to be acceptable, so I'm looking for methods to mitigate/eliminate the issue. What suggestions do you have? Am I missing something in my design or execution? Is this unavoidable with firearms with ejection ports with exterior edges that are not radiused? Thanks in advance for your wisdom.