Cowboy Holster Tutorial

[Poncho]

Jim,

That tutorial was great. I've made four holsters so far and as a Cowboy Action Shooter, I compare mine to the "store bought" ones and have found several short comings. It seems like all the things I couldn't figure out, you answered. You just saved me a lot of disappointment and a lot of money. Thank you for taking all that time.

[Jarhead44706]

Thank You Very Much For This Tutorial

[Denny4kids]

I shoot IDPA and 3gun. The last gun show had a Super Blackhawk 44-mag. Now I need a holster. LOL

Thanks Jim! I've collected all the tools and leather...no more excuses. I'm going to get started!   Denny

[SLP]

Thank you Jim.

I enjoyed making this one quite a bit. I admit that it was a bit of a challenge, but well worth it in my opinion. It's my fifth holster so far. I built it for the client's Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 mag. 5.5". He was very pleased, but probably not as much as I was. I think this is my favorite holster to date, although It's not my most extravagantly tooled.

Some of the details:

• 6/7oz. lined with 4/5oz.
• Fiebing's Leather Dye British Tan
• Border was Fiebing's  Professional Oil Dye 2:1 (Light Brown:Chocolate)
• Thumb Break from Will Ghormely's Hand of God Rig (boy that blood knot was a pain)
• Designed the pattern and built the holster using the Bunkhouse Tools mold, then borrowed the actual gun for some photos. (The Bunkhouse Tools mold was the 7.5"; you have no idea how nervous I was the first time I slipped the actual gun into the holster for the first time...in front of the client.) It fit perfectly, almost like it was made for it...
• Hand stitched with #415 Bonded Nylon (Coyote) from The Thread Exchange (Thanks to Nigel Armitage and Ian Atkinson on YouTube for the stitching tips) I'm not elated with the stitching, but it's the best I've managed to date, so I'll take it.

Anyway, I had a blast. I think I've got a couple more Super Blackhawk orders to work on. Both of them are the 7.5" and one guy wants all kinds of elaborate tooling. Should be fun if not a little nerve wracking.

[24VOLTS]

Jim's patterns are the BEST!  Great instructions and Jim is great for help and advice.

I cant wait till he sells his cd with all the patterns again.

[arrudad]

I am still very new to leather work, especially when it comes to using dye and tooling.  I have a question on Jim's use of dye around the edges. Does anyone know how he is able to get the dark color to extend to the tooling and then it seems to fade out.  Is the fading due to the natural coloration you get from using the camouflage tool and then he maybe colors the part next to the edge using a brush? Thanks for any help and I apologize if this question should have been asked elsewhere.

And thank you Jim for the tutorial! I am making my first holster as I type.

SLP... Nice job on your holster! I guess I could ask you the same question as your holster looks very similar to Jim's.

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by arrudad

[SLP]

On 12/20/2016 at 5:30 PM, arrudad said:

I am still very new to leather work, especially when it comes to using dye and tooling.  I have a question on Jim's use of dye around the edges. Does anyone know how he is able to get the dark color to extend to the tooling and then it seems to fade out.  Is the fading due to the natural coloration you get from using the camouflage tool and then he maybe colors the part next to 

SLP... Nice job on your holster! I guess I could ask you the same question as your holster looks very similar to Jim's.

 

I've attached a link to a more detailed explanation of my process. Generally,  I dyed the whole holster british tan, then hand painted the camouflage tooled edges with a mixture of brown dyes.

[Dragonfly42]

Thank you so much for this! Walked me right through my first one!

[arrudad]

On 12/29/2016 at 11:23 PM, SLP said:

I've attached a link to a more detailed explanation of my process. Generally,  I dyed the whole holster british tan, then hand painted the camouflage tooled edges with a mixture of brown dyes.

SLP, sorry for the very delayed response to your post.  I appreciate the link that you posted concerning my question. I ended up using a Q-tip, of all things, to color in my tooling. I just loaded up the Q-tip and placed it at the edge of the tooling and the dye just wicked down into the areas that I needed dyed, crazy.  Thanks again for taking the time to answer my question; additionally, please accept my apologies for the delayed response.

[Mark3031]

is this tutorial still available?  I keep getting an error

[Northmount]

11 hours ago, Mark3031 said:

is this tutorial still available?  I keep getting an error

Fixed broken link in original post.

https://leatherworker.net/SimmonsHolster.pdf

Tom

[Mark3031]

thanks.  my son wants me to make a holster for his 44 mag and I've been researching a lot before I start

[KustomKreator]

I know it really doesn't apply to this particular post but I am trying to get one of your old patterns. I can't seem to find the callahan shoulder holster pattern available anywhere. I really would like to make 1 of these holsters and was wondering if you knew a place where they were still available?

Edited June 13, 2019 by KustomKreator

[RemingtonSteel]

On 6/13/2019 at 2:39 PM, KustomKreator said:

I know it really doesn't apply to this particular post but I am trying to get one of your old patterns. I can't seem to find the callahan shoulder holster pattern available anywhere. I really would like to make 1 of these holsters and was wondering if you knew a place where they were still available?

@KustomKreator,  This is a long time overdue, but it you are still interested, Double K Leather has the Callahan Holster Pattern along with the Callahan Shoulder Holster Pattern here:  https://www.doublekleather.com/product-category/educational-resources/patterns

*** Jim Simmons' Plains and Ranger Gun Belt Templates and Instructions ***

Also Jim provided us with his method for making and sizing both the Plains and Ranger style gun belts in a thread years ago that is buried somewhere deep on this forum, that I stumble upon from time to time.  I requested that it be pinned, just as this thread along with the California Holster threads are, as it is a valuable resource that should be easily accessible, but it never was. So here is the next best thing.  For those looking for Jim's pdf's on his Plains and Ranger Gun Belt templates along with Instructions pdfs, here are links for those files. The Ranger Belt Instructions file #2 also has the instructions for the Plains Gun Belt. These belts go great with Jim's Cowboy Holster tutorial in this thread, as well as the California Holster thread also pinned in this category. Clicking on the links will download the files.

• Ranger_Gun_Belt.pdf
• Ranger_Belt_Instructions_1.pdf
• Ranger_Belt_Instructions_2.pdf
• Plains_Gun_Belt.pdf

*If you can print on 11" x 17" (tabloid) paper, the templates will print to the correct scale.

I hope you find these as useful as I did. For those of us who make western style holsters and rigs, we all owe Jim a debt of gratitude for making these resources available to the community.

@Jim AKA @Brazos Jack If you are still out there and possibly lurking here, I just want you to know how deeply gratefully I am to you for passing on your knowledge.  I doubt that I would be able to make the quality rigs that I do, if it were not for you. - Thank You! You sure are missed around here.

Edited April 14, 2021 by RemingtonSteel

[jrdunn]

Callahan Holster pattern.  @RemingtonSteel, Thank you for the link to Double K Leather.  I tried ordering the pattern from them but at checkout was told that "there are no available payment methods for your state".  Tried contacting them via phone and email about 2 weeks ago but no response. 

I also tried to PM @Brazos Jack with no luck and saw that he hasn't been on here in a while.  I know these times are tough on businesses.  I hope everyone is OK.  Would sure like to buy one of these patterns if you or someone else knows where I could get one.  Thanks in advance.  Jim

[jrdunn]

Update:  I finally reached someone with Double K Leather.  The numbers from their website didn't work but I found one that worked on their FB page.  The person who answered the phone told me "We don't mess with patterns anymore." and "Yeah, our website doesn't work either."  So, no joy there.  If someone knows someplace that I can purchase this pattern, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Jim

[whistleshortbritches]

Amazing Holster work. I know it is a few years old, the post.

I am mainly commenting so I can find this pattern later.

That is a great tutorial, a ton of info.

Thanks to all the other posts 'with info too.