my latest freehand designed pancake style holster

[Jordan]

Here are photos of my latest freehand designed pancake style holster. Just playing around with ideas. It is moulded to fit a Walther PPK which is one of the blueguns (actually black) that I bought. Haven't finished it yet or done any R&D as far as if it will work out but I thought I would post and get some feedback.

[gunfighter48]

Hi Jordan,

It's looking pretty good, the molding is coming along fine. You'll want to get the stitching as close to the molded parts of the holster as you can. That will help the molded parts from loosing their shape. I just bought two leather presser feet from Neels Saddlery for my Model 5 machine and made a left and right single toe presser foot. These will help get the stitching as close to the molded parts of the holsters as possible. I'll take a couple of photos and post them here as I know you have a Model 5 machine. The other thing I like is a more open end at the muzzle end of the holster. That lets all manner of stuff fall through the holster and not build up in the end. I like your sweat shield, it comes up far enought to keep the beavertail from sticking you in the side. Us fat guys appreciate that!!!!!!!! I won't build holsters or mag holders without a sweat shield.

John

Edited December 21, 2007 by gunfighter48

[Mike Craw]

Hey Jordan!

I like the molding job around the trigger guard. There doesn't appear to be too much molding in the area of the ejection port, and that's a good thing, since it tends to create drag when drawing the weapon. Speaking of drawing, one of the main points of an efficient combat draw is to gain a good, solid shooting position on the weapon before you start to draw so that you don't have to take time to adjust during or after you clear the holster.

From the last photo, it appears that the leather between the belt loop and the trigger guard, on both the front and rear pieces would prevent your middle finger (and therefor your ring and little fingers) from gripping the frame of the pistol correctly. This would cause the shooter to have to stop and reposition or shoot with a less than optimal grip.

You can fix this problem by cutting away some of that leather, or redesigning the holster to present the pistol slightly higher, with a little more of the trigger guard exposed.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[Jordan]

Thanks John, I left the muzzle end a little long as I wasn't sure how it was going to mold so I can open it up by trimming about a quarter inch off. I haven't got my model 5 completly set up yet so I hand stitched it, wrong size thread though it doesn't look quite right, I think there is a single foot in the drawer so I will definetly use it. Still figuring out how much leather I need for the front piece so I can get the stitching closer but still have enough to mold around the pistol. I like the sweat shield size also, it seems to feel more comfortable to me especially with a larger pistol like a 1911. This one has about a 20 degree foward cant according to my protractor, I think my next one will be at 90 with belt loops and snaps and I may need to add an extra piece of leather at the mouth of the holster to help hold it open, a strip of spring steel sandwiched and tension screws maybe? Getting the creative jucies flowing is half the fun of this anyway LOL. Mike I thought about that also and I am goint to incorporate exposing that area more thanks for the input....Jordan

Edited December 21, 2007 by Jordan

[Warren]

Like the design Jordan. I'm no expert but it looks good to me. Mind if I play with that design some myself?

[Randyc]

Jordan,

Your design work and molding skills are looking good to me. I'm a newby in the molding department myself. I can't tell from the photos if you cut a stitching groove in the leather prior to stitching. The stitching appears to lie on top of the leather in some places verses a nice even locked stitch or my vision is worse off then I thought. Maybe your machines tension adjustment may be a little off. Before I actually stitch on the real thing, I check the tension out on the same weight scrap. I've found out that even with the right needle/thread combo and correct tension adjustment machines sometimes seem to develop a mind of their own. It usually happens to me half way down the edge of a belt that I'm stitching. I've been following your holster building progress and learning a few things myself. Please post photos of your finished holster.

Randy

[gunfighter48]

Hi Jordan,

Here is a picture of the two presser feet that I made. The castings are off a little in the channel that goes onto the presser bar. I had to use some reinforced cutoff wheels and some grinding stones in my Dremel tool to alter the shape so that the needle went BETWEEN the toes and didn't hit on one side or the other. I emailed Ryan at Neels Saddlery and he said you can loosen the screws that hold the presser bar and rotate it slightly to get the presser feet centered. But I wanted each of them centered so that the dual toe foot that came with the machine fit correctly. Anyway after I got each foot centering correctly I cut off one side of the toe, making one right and one left toe foot. Ferdco sells presser feet for their 440R machine that will fit the model 5 but they want $99.00 ea, too pricey for me at this point. Ryan charges $60.00 each for his feet. I could afford to spend the time to make them fit correctly. They work great and let me get right to the edge of what I'm sewing, just what I needed for holster and ammo pouch making.

John

Edited December 21, 2007 by gunfighter48

[Jordan]

Warren, be my guest I figure once I post a pic, it's out there for others to use. Someday if I come up with something real good that will make me rich and famous I may copywrite it LOL, until then go for it. John thank you for the photo it will come in handy when I need to modify my stuff. Randyc I did use a freehand groover thats probably why the thread looks to skinny to me and my hand sewing did miss a couple of lineup spots. I guess today would be a good day to finish setting up my machine, a storm came through and dropped 4-5 inches of the white stuff last night and another is on the way, a white christmas is in the cards again this year. Man o man do my joints hurt today! Still I like my 1st one alot better probably cause it is for my own Bersa. As far as that one goes I based it on a photo I saw on the HBE website and I need to thank Eric Larsen for the insperation, the man makes some awesome gun leather and accessories.

Edited December 21, 2007 by Jordan

[Warren]

Thanks for the "Okay". I hear you on the getting rich thing too, LOL. When I get something started I'll post it so you can see.

[Jordan]

Well I finished it, made a few modifications, added another line of stitches closer to the pistol, trimmed the muzzle area and cut away some leather around the trigger guard and grip. The finish is not what I expected, a little to dark and some mottled areas, I've got to remember to keep my hands cleaner when working with the unfinished leather. I think I'll hang it on the wall as a reminder. LOL Jordan

[mliebs8]

I think it turned out very nice, I like the dark color. What color dye is that?

[Jordan]

It is tandy saddle tan dye according to the bottle, my minds eye pictured it a little tanner but it looks almost mahogany, then a coat of acrylic sheen. Two last pics b4 I move on to the next adventure in leatherwork.

Edited December 22, 2007 by Jordan

[Randyc]

Jordan,

Your holster looks real good. Your second row of stitches looks like it was planned all along. I have had problems with Fieblings dyes. It seems like my browns and tans are always way too dark so a lot of my work ends up looking mahogany or starts out brown and ends up black. The man who taught me to make western boots also taught me " if you make a mistake, make it look like you planned it that way." I enjoy the challenge of holster making. Every pistol is different and fitting that pistol to a particular holster style and customer preference adds to the challenge. Sometimes we are way more critical of our work then the customer will ever be. I guess that's what drives us to improve in our craft. That's one of the things that makes this forum really cool. We can put our projects out there for all to see and get some real helpful advise and often acclaim from some of the masters of our craft. Our own critical eye and that of our peers is what sets us a part from the mass produced cookie-cutter products on the market today.

Keep up the good work!

Randy

[Jordan]

I know what you mean I have been plagued with being my own worst critic for as long as I can remember. My wife keeps telling me " If you hadn't pointed it out I would have never noticed. I did find a belt that matches, one of those customers that insisted at 55 his waist was still the same size as it was way back when. LOL I think I will be giving this to my mom as she has a PPK that was purchased directly in Ulm Neu-Ulm. Just after WWII by my father-in-law I believe after he was repatriated. Kinda a forced retirement from the luftwaffe as he remembers. Jordan

[gunfighter48]

Hi Jordan,

Man that looks great now that it's finished, nice job! I agree about your stitching, looks like it was planned that way. I also use Fieblings medium brown and get the same brown/mahogany look. I mix my dye with alcohol, about 4 - 8 to 1, if I apply two coats of with this mixture it comes out a nice brown. But if I apply 3 or 4 coats I get the brown/mahogany look. Two coats doesn't always get a nice even dye job. My customers seem to like the brown/mahogany color.

John

[rdb]

I like it. For a proto, not too shabby. Certainly better than I picture my first holster.

Ever since I started using oil dyes, mixed with neatsfoot, all my troubles have ended trying to get the color I want. 3 parts neatsfoot, 1 part dye, always gets me close to what I want, and no streaking. Just add dye to oil to darken

[gunfighter48]

I like it. For a proto, not too shabby. Certainly better than I picture my first holster.Ever since I started using oil dyes, mixed with neatsfoot, all my troubles have ended trying to get the color I want. 3 parts neatsfoot, 1 part dye, always gets me close to what I want, and no streaking. Just add dye to oil to darken

You won't want to use neatsfoot on your molded holsters. The holster leather will become too soft and won't hold its shape when you try to mold it.

John

[rdb]

You are right gunfighter. Everyone would agree with you, including me. Take my advice only for unmolded things, I guess.

I never did figger out why that was. A long time ago, in a land far away, I used to melt beeswax, neatsfoot, and dye together, and dip my knife sheaths in the mixture. Then bake at about 170-200f. They always came out retaining the mold, stiff, and had a nice waxy feel. I guess it was the heat that did the trick.

[Jordan]

Yes the heat has something to do with it, can't recall the name some french word me thinks.Jordan