Hello From Tampa, Fl

[TEKoken]

Hello all I'm Todd. I am new to the forum & working with leather. I'm interested in making concealment holsters for myself & friends. I got tired of spending hundreds of dollars on gun leather so I decided to give it a try, besides I need an indoor hobby too. I'm doing some research & soaking up all the info I can as of now. I'm gonna start making my first holster(a pocket holster for my S&W J-Frame) in a couple weeks. If anyone has advice for a beginner I would love to hear it. Thanks!

[King's X]

Todd ~ Welcome to the forum. My first piece of advice is measure twice, cut once!

[TwinOaks]

Welcome to Leatherworker.net!

As far as advice goes....well, you're in the right place. You can read the holster/sheath forum to get some ideas of what you want to make and how to do so. We have some awesome tutorials in there.

If you're looking for tooling instructions, check out the stamping forum, and if you're trying to figure out what you might need for tools, look at the "getting started" forum under "The Business". There are some specialty tools you'll need, but many "regular" tools can be used 'as-is' for leather working. One of the most spectacular figure carvings I've seen on here was done by a lady somewhere in the Nordic countries....and she did it with a manicure set.

Let us know what we can do to help, and feel free to ask specific questions as you encounter them.

[K-Man]

Talk to Tony at the Leather Factory store, as he knows a few holster makers in the Tampa area. There may be some holster makers in the area who would be willing to help you get started.

[TEKoken]

Thanks everyone!!