Order Of Things

[saxxin]

Greetings all. I'm as new as I can be and have several questions that I'd appreciate your expertise on. I've been dabbling in making some holsters - I've made six or seven with varying levels of success. As I have had such wildly different results I would appreciate it greatly if you guys could share the order in which you do things. For example, I have been casing the leather and then slicking it with a plate glass slicker before cutting out the pattern. At what point should I transfer the pattern and cut the leather? If I do it just after slicking it, while the leather is still very wet, do the pieces shrink up or should I wait until the leather is completely dry before cutting it?

As for hand stitching - it really seems much much easier to sew the leather while its still in that clammy stage after casing. Is that OK or does the leather shrink up again as it dries?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

[MADMAX22]

Just my small amount of experience with holsters so there are others that will probably chime in that have been doing this far more then my couple of years.

What I do is figure out my pattern, then cut out all the pieces.

If I am going to slick them I will do it now. If you want to avoid the small amount of stretch that comes from slicking, you can cut the piece big enough for the pattern. Slick the leather, let dry then cut out your pieces.

Once slicked while slightly damp I will do my stitching grooves also as this seems to make it cut a little easier. This can be done dry also. Up to you.

Then I will glue everything together (if its a pancake style). This has to be done when it is dry by the way.

I do my handstitching while it is dry. If you have your awl nice and sharp and polished up you should be able to do it relatively easy. One main reason I do this when it is dry also is any mistake, finger nail, awl haft, anything else can leave marks which some times are a bear to get out of the leather. If I sew while it is still wet I also have the problem of stretching the leather as I sew. This can cause slight ripples along your stitch line and if you arent careful I have sunk the thread too far into the leather.

[Dwight]

Lou Alessi, an old time professional holster maker who passed away not too awful long ago, gave anyone who asked, his proceedure.

Cut the pattern. Dye the pieces. Edge the pieces that will not be sewn. Tool as necessary (optional). Glue em together. Sew. Wet and mold. Finish up left over edging. Apply final finish. Done.

All glueing and sewing was done with DRY leather.

I also make custom holsters, . . . and I prefer to to move my dyeing process most of the time to the slot after wet and mold, . . . just my way of doing things.

Both ways work.

May God bless,

Dwight

[LeatherCaptain]

Interesting that you ar casing the leather before you're molding. Why are you casing it at all? Won't the molding process negate anything you've done?

[saxxin]

Interesting that you ar casing the leather before you're molding. Why are you casing it at all? Won't the molding process negate anything you've done?

Maybe I'm saying it incorrectly. The first thing I've been doing is totally submerging the leather in water to soak it all the way through. As soon as I'm finished with that, I put it on a smooth flat surface, and slick the rough side in all directions with a 1/2" glass slicker then turn it over to the flesh side and repeat the process. I may have misunderstood, but was under the impression that this was supposed to make the leather more uniform and reduce stretching down the road. On my last holster I went ahead and transferred the pattern and cut it just after slicking. I'm pretty sure that the leather shrunk up during the drying process.

Anyway, after finishing with the handstitching, I wet the leather enough to mold it. I really could be doing the process so wrong that it's not funny. If so, don't hesitate to correct me. Thanks in advance.

[MADMAX22]

Na your fine, although you may wanna wait till after it drys to cut your pattern to prevent any shrinkage affecting your pattern cutout.

Edited May 7, 2010 by MADMAX22

[LeatherCaptain]

I don't think there's a wrong way to do anything around here...just different than the norm. I'm just curious if casing the leather before molding will help achieve a smoother finish. I've become obsessed with getting as smooth a finish as possible, both inside and out. Maybe I'll give this a try.

[saxxin]

I don't think there's a wrong way to do anything around here...just different than the norm. I'm just curious if casing the leather before molding will help achieve a smoother finish. I've become obsessed with getting as smooth a finish as possible, both inside and out. Maybe I'll give this a try.

I'm using Tandy single shoulders right now. Am hoping to get some 7-8 oz Hermann Oaks ordered within the next week or so. Anyway, there are so many scratches and whatnot in this Tandy stuff that if I didn't slick the leather - the finished product would look horrible as far as trying to get a nice finish. I'm really having a time in getting the brown dyes to take evenly. On this last attempt, I used Febrings Deglazer and everything, but I don't think the entire piece was uniformly dry before

I applied the oil dye and it showed with this little sweat stain looking mark in that same area.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the Hermann Oaks will be in much better shape starting out than this Tandy stuff is. From what I've read on the forums, it seems to make a significant difference in the end product.

Na your fine, although you may wanna wait till after it drys to cut your pattern to prevent any shrinkage affecting your pattern cutout.

I'm thinking that you may be on to something here. LOL. Do you slick your holster leather?

[katsass]

Greetings all. I'm as new as I can be and have several questions that I'd appreciate your expertise on. I've been dabbling in making some holsters - I've made six or seven with varying levels of success. As I have had such wildly different results I would appreciate it greatly if you guys could share the order in which you do things. For example, I have been casing the leather and then slicking it with a plate glass slicker before cutting out the pattern. At what point should I transfer the pattern and cut the leather? If I do it just after slicking it, while the leather is still very wet, do the pieces shrink up or should I wait until the leather is completely dry before cutting it?

As for hand stitching - it really seems much much easier to sew the leather while its still in that clammy stage after casing. Is that OK or does the leather shrink up again as it dries?

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

Saxxin, Just my two cents. First, I expect that you are using 8/9 oz leather for your holsters, most makers do.........of course I'm a little different. Almost all of my holsters are made from two layers of either 3/4 oz or 4/5 oz (depending on the weight and size of the weapon to be holstered) bonded (glued) together rough (flesh) side to flesh side. This ends up giving my holsters a smooth interior as well as the outside. I use a good quality of shoulder leather. I case my leather (I use a DAMP, clean sponge to MOISTEN, NOT SOAK, the surface of the leather) and transfer my pattern with a ball stylus. I initially cut my pattern with a swivel knife the follow with a 'dedicated' cutter. Pic. (Mine is a 70+ yr old Murphy knife) for a very clean cut. I 'dry' fit all areas and trim if necessary. I bevel all edges except the welt, case the leather, run my stitching gouge then my overstitch to mark the stitches. Allow to dry then dye all parts. Allow to dry. I saddle stitch all areas except the welt, then burnish all edges....except the welt. Glue places needed as necessary while stitching. NOTE: Since all edges of my stuff are stitched, timing for the gluing of pieces together is something that must be worked out in advance. Finally I, glue up the welt, stitch, and burnish the edge. Wet the thing down, mold, and let dry thoroughly. Apply finish. The same steps are followed is using a single thickness of leather....but you won't have to do so much stitching. The only time there is a need to run a glass slicker (and you are not 'casing' your leather, you are soaking your leather) is when you are doing carving and stamping designs on/in pieces of leather that need to maintain their exact dimensions. Many carvers will allow the leather to dry after the slicking (which is to reduce stretching during carving and stamping) then use rubber cement to affix the piece to a sheet of slick sided poster board prior to doing that kind of work. This further reduces stretching. No need or reason to do it when making holsters. Here's a pic or two of a quick, toss together holster showing all the stitching I mentioned. OK, I think it takes longer to tell about it than to do it, but that's the way I do things......pretty close to most people I think.....and, of course, the advice is worth all you paid for it. Mike

[Denster]

Just a couple of suggestions. Skip the wetting the leather and slicking you are not accomplishing anything. If you are making a molded holster, dye your parts prior to glue up. The reason for this being that molded areas of the holster will have the fibers compressed and will take the dye differently if you do it later. After you are done molding the holster and it still has some moisture in it buff the entire holster briskly with sheepskin. This will burnish the surface and give you a nice sheen. The tips from Lou Alessi pretty much lay out the process.

[saxxin]

Thank you guys so much for the input. I've pretty much finished this one. For the final coat, am planning on trying a 50/50 mixture of neatsfoot oil and beeswax. The leather I was using was 6-7 oz which was the stuff on sale at Tandy. It had all sorts of scratches in it - like it had been thrown down in the parking lot a few times or something. I first soaked the leather and slicked it - mostly to see if I could minimize the road rash it look like it had. A couple of things that I've noticed right off the bat was that the stitch lines around the trigger guard have a funky angle to them. I'll correct that on my next pattern. I think I'll probably shorten the length of the pattern on the next one too because the muzzle just seems to be sitting up in there a little too far. The belt loops look stinkin bad - I think this is because I put a belt blank in while wet molding and formed the holster to how I thought it would sit on my hip. The plan is to get a punch made to make these uniform, so maybe that will help in the future.

I'm not made of glass and am here to learn, so please don't be gentle with me.

[MADMAX22]

Turned out really nice. Congrats

[saxxin]

Turned out really nice. Congrats

Thanks. I would have uploaded more pics but one was all I could post and stay in the limit. Not that computer savvy, so I guess I'm gonna have to find out how to make my picture files smaller.

[MADMAX22]

Thanks. I would have uploaded more pics but one was all I could post and stay in the limit. Not that computer savvy, so I guess I'm gonna have to find out how to make my picture files smaller.

What operating system do you have?

If you have windows you can use paint to resize the photos manually, its not overly difficult once you figure it out.

Also there are variouse photo editing tools that you can download for free allthough they range in difficulty to use.

[Vikefan]

Saxxin, Just my two cents. First, I expect that you are using 8/9 oz leather for your holsters, most makers do.........of course I'm a little different. Almost all of my holsters are made from two layers of either 3/4 oz or 4/5 oz (depending on the weight and size of the weapon to be holstered) bonded (glued) together rough (flesh) side to flesh side. This ends up giving my holsters a smooth interior as well as the outside. I use a good quality of shoulder leather. I case my leather (I use a DAMP, clean sponge to MOISTEN, NOT SOAK, the surface of the leather) and transfer my pattern with a ball stylus. I initially cut my pattern with a swivel knife the follow with a 'dedicated' cutter. Pic. (Mine is a 70+ yr old Murphy knife) for a very clean cut. I 'dry' fit all areas and trim if necessary. I bevel all edges except the welt, case the leather, run my stitching gouge then my overstitch to mark the stitches. Allow to dry then dye all parts. Allow to dry. I saddle stitch all areas except the welt, then burnish all edges....except the welt. Glue places needed as necessary while stitching. NOTE: Since all edges of my stuff are stitched, timing for the gluing of pieces together is something that must be worked out in advance. Finally I, glue up the welt, stitch, and burnish the edge. Wet the thing down, mold, and let dry thoroughly. Apply finish. The same steps are followed is using a single thickness of leather....but you won't have to do so much stitching. The only time there is a need to run a glass slicker (and you are not 'casing' your leather, you are soaking your leather) is when you are doing carving and stamping designs on/in pieces of leather that need to maintain their exact dimensions. Many carvers will allow the leather to dry after the slicking (which is to reduce stretching during carving and stamping) then use rubber cement to affix the piece to a sheet of slick sided poster board prior to doing that kind of work. This further reduces stretching. No need or reason to do it when making holsters. Here's a pic or two of a quick, toss together holster showing all the stitching I mentioned. OK, I think it takes longer to tell about it than to do it, but that's the way I do things......pretty close to most people I think.....and, of course, the advice is worth all you paid for it. Mike

I recently had trouble basically doing my fathers holster, in the order you have listed. My Tandy Pro stitching groover slipped on me when putting a stitching groove into the leather (everything was done, except sewing and dying). Now I have to start over... I've been told it is probably better to put the stitch groove in the leather, before one bevels the edges...

Live and Learn I guess... Still a little P.O'd I made this mistake on this almost completed project.

Vikefan

[katsass]

I recently had trouble basically doing my fathers holster, in the order you have listed. My Tandy Pro stitching groover slipped on me when putting a stitching groove into the leather (everything was done, except sewing and dying). Now I have to start over... I've been told it is probably better to put the stitch groove in the leather, before one bevels the edges...

Live and Learn I guess... Still a little P.O'd I made this mistake on this almost completed project.

Vikefan

Vikefan, Personally I think you will be better off with the more original 'Adjustable Stitching Groover" (the pro thing is rather new). I bought one of the new 'Pro" models, and found that it was VERY easy to slip with it. The older style has the cutter on the little extension, where the new 'Pro' model has it on the handle end. It seems easier to me to control the handle end and keep it down on the edge of the leather and allow the little cutter to do it's thing, rather than trying to keep the gouge down on the leather and allowing the 'guide' to stay over the edge. It may be that I'm more used to the old style, but I'm also left handed and every tool that is, is built for right-handers so I have to work things out in my own way anyhow. The new one is just sitting (out of the way) on my bench, mostly unused after some initial tries. And yes, it is easier to make your groove and mark the stitch length prior to running your edger. I must sand all edges early on because I stitch ALL cut edges, and even fold my holsters over and align the main seam edge, tack it down with a few spots of contact cement and sand it so that front side and back are even. I then cut it apart, lay it flat and run my groover. After stitching I run my edger. Mike

Edited October 15, 2011 by katsass

[Vikefan]

Vikefan, Personally I think you will be better off with the more original 'Adjustable Stitching Groover" (the pro thing is rather new). I bought one of the new 'Pro" models, and found that it was VERY easy to slip with it. The older style has the cutter on the little extension, where the new 'Pro' model has it on the handle end. It seems easier to me to control the handle end and keep it down on the edge of the leather and allow the little cutter to do it's thing, rather than trying to keep the gouge down on the leather and allowing the 'guide' to stay over the edge. It may be that I'm more used to the old style, but I'm also left handed and every tool that is, is built for right-handers so I have to work things out in my own way anyhow. The new one is just sitting (out of the way) on my bench, mostly unused after some initial tries. And yes, it is easier to make your groove and mark the stitch length prior to running your edger. I must sand all edges early on because I stitch ALL cut edges, and even fold my holsters over and align the main seam edge, tack it down with a few spots of contact cement and sand it so that front side and back are even. I then cut it apart, lay it flat and run my groover. After stitching I run my edger. Mike

Thank you for your reply...Tacking down with contact cement then cut apart....Never thought of that, but might try that myself.

Thank you,

Vikefan