Oblong Punch

[J Hayes]

This might be a stupid question but nobody ever accused me of being a genius. What do you all use to make the belt slots in your holsters? I did one with a round hole on each end and cut between, PIA and didn't look as nice as I thought it should. I've been eyeing an Osbourne 1 1/2" bag punch, will that allow a belt of 1 1/2" to pass through or do I need to get the 1 3/4" punch. I see Zack White has both Midas and Osbourne, any preference? I am using 9/10 oz at this time for OWB Avenger style holsters and am cutting both layers at the same time.

Thanks

Jeremy

Edited April 26, 2012 by J Hayes

[Steven Kelley]

I use a 1-1/2" punch from Weaver's. When I wet the holster to mold, the first thing I do is run the edges around my wood burning tool just to shape the edges a little. At this time, I insert the pointed end of the tool into the belt slots and give them a light burnishing. The leather will stretch a bit doing this, and that makes enough room for a belt to fit easily.

[Shooter McGavin]

I had weaver make me a 1.60" x 0.375" punch that has put belt slots in many a holster. SOOOOOOOO much easier than the way I was doing it.

[JoelR]

I've found bag punches to be too narrow and custom made punches too expensive. Two holes and a 1-1/4" chisel do it for me.

[J Hayes]

I've found bag punches to be too narrow and custom made punches too expensive. Two holes and a 1-1/4" chisel do it for me.

1/4" hole?

Jeremy

[J Hayes]

I use a 1-1/2" punch from Weaver's. When I wet the holster to mold, the first thing I do is run the edges around my wood burning tool just to shape the edges a little. At this time, I insert the pointed end of the tool into the belt slots and give them a light burnishing. The leather will stretch a bit doing this, and that makes enough room for a belt to fit easily.

So you burnish the slot with a hot iron? Are you Kelley gun leather?

Jeremy

[JoelR]

3/8" My gun belts are 1/4" thick so the added size of the opening puts less stress on both the belt and the holster.

[Dwight]

I sharpened the outside edge of a piece of 1 1/4 inch EMT, . . . hammered it flat over a piece of steel, . . . have a really good oval punch that makes really nice holes, . . . 5/16 wide, . . . 1 9/16 long.

Cost: about 20 minutes in my metal shop.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Steven Kelley]

So you burnish the slot with a hot iron? Are you Kelley gun leather?

Jeremy

Jeremy,

Yes, I am Kelley Gun Leather.

No, I do not burnish with a hot iron. I have a burnishing tool that fits in a drill press, made by a member here with the handle of "Spinner". It has various sized notches on the top for different thicknesses of leather, and the point has flats of increasingly larger diameters to fit inside slots. When I have the holster assembled and ready to mold, the belt slots are cut with a standard 1-1/2" oblong punch from Weaver's. I don't know the width offhand, but it's very narrow. A gun belt would not fit through the slot as is. When I wet the leather to mold, I do a quick edge burnish using the burnishing tool. This is not really to "burnish" the edges, but rather to form them into a nicely rounded shape. For an OWB holster with belt slots, at this time I also stretch the belt slots using the burnishing tool. I just insert the spinning tool into the slot and move the leather around with a little pressure against all the sides. The leather easily stretches a bit to accomodate a gun belt. This is the quickest and easest way I've found. It takes about 10 seconds to do both slots.

As you will notice, there are 100 different ways to do this. We all have different methods to make a holster. No one way is right, and no one way is wrong. This is just the one I use.

[J Hayes]

Thanks to all for the replies. I will try the EMT or anything else I can scroung up in metal shop. I made my strap end cutter from a pices of 1" stainless tubing and that works well, no reason I can't get something to work for belt slots, plus it gets me time in the garage with one of my other interests, to many of those at times. The 1 1/4" starting point for dia helps much.

Thanks again

Jeremy