Hybrid avenger holster- horsehide

[Jc911rsa]

I am trying out a new holster design (M&P shield) that has the close to the body results of a pancake without the bulk. I tried horsehide for the first time. VERY dense  leather tough to cut and sew. Edges beautifully. Very stiff for relatively thin 7 oz leather. What do you think?

[sideforce]

Looks good.  Is it thinner?

[Jc911rsa]

Yes sideforce the horsehide is stiffer for the same weight compared to the Hermann oak I use. It was really hard to cut!

Anyone else using horsehide for holsters?

[JLSleather]

still looking at 3 layers of leather plus the gun... not seeing how that's "thinner than pancake" ...  and the stiffener is kinda negated by the design, not gonna get a lot of "stiffener" from a flat piece on the front.

Edited March 20, 2023 by JLSleather

[Jc911rsa]

Ok point well taken. Thoughts on the design?

[PastorBob]

Great thinking out of the box.  I love avenger style holsters, that's typically all I use.  I like the thought of this hybrid, but if I were going to use a pancake holster, I think I might want more substance (leatherwise) around both belt slots.  I don't know if I would be comfortable wearing a holster with just a single piece of loose leather supporting the gun on my belt.  Maybe, instead of folding the leather over the gun like a traditional avenger, you used 2 pieces of leather to form the holster similar to a pancake, then skive down the portion that would be covered by the flap you have extending.  Just to give it a little more material.  Or have 2 flaps, 1 on each side that come together and culminate at the belt loop.

[Jc911rsa]

Thanks Pastor Bob for your suggestions!

[Hags]

I agree with Pastor Bob.  Not really li,ing the single layer out on the end. Not sure what I could do to make that work better than an avenger or pancake. I do appreciate seeing something different though.

[Jc911rsa]

Thanks guys. I think that next try will be two layers for the tab to give it more thickness. Nobody commented on horsehide. Anyone else ever try it? 

[Joon1911]

Good on you for tinkering.  The best way to improve your skills is to always to be questioning that which came before.  Keep in mind your new to you design is not new.  If you look back far enough, you’ll see that most everything draws from previous makers.  
 

Not that I know for certain that Bill Tucker is the originator, but his HF-1 has been on the market for at least 20+ years as I recall.

https://tuckergunleather.com/hf1-belt-holster/
 

I’d suggest shortening the forward panel some will give some structure to the front belt loop.

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Joon1911

[Joon1911]

As for horse hide I’ve tried it a number of times but never found my results satisfactory from a cosmetic standpoint. 
Andy Arratoonian has a really good article on his website outlining the differences.  
 

http://www.holsters.org/which.htm

[Jc911rsa]

Great article thank you for sharing! I agree the cosmetics are not as good as cowhide especially Hermann oak. I don’t think the extra effort  using horsehide was worth it for me. Wet Molding was very difficult as mentioned in the article. I did find the horsehide is more dense and harder when dry for similar thickness cowhide.

[Joon1911]

Based on the Arratoonian article, I’d guess you need a 30 ton clicker to make enough pressure to get good definition with horsehide.   I think you’d have to invest in aluminum molds to make that work. So base investment would be at least 3-4k and a source of three phase electric…

that’s too expensive a proposition for a hobbyist like myself.

[AlZilla]

On 3/20/2023 at 7:14 PM, Jc911rsa said:

Thanks guys. I think that next try will be two layers for the tab to give it more thickness. Nobody commented on horsehide. Anyone else ever try it? 

Red Nichols recommends horsebutt strips. I keep looking for some to order but the link below only has thicker pieces for now.

https://maverickleathercompany.com/product/russet-horsebutt-narrows/

[Jc911rsa]

Yes, I bought mine from maverick. The strips are narrow,

so finding the section to create a holster ends up with a fair amount of waste. FYI