My First Holsters

[mojoewrkn]

Hi All,

Here are some picture of my first holsters and a mag pouch. This is my first attempt at any sort of leather working but I enjoyed it immensely.

This is my first holster:

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Then a Mag Pouch:

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Then my latest, much better I think:

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Edited August 3, 2012 by mojoewrkn

[Abram]

I like them, they look a lot better than my first attempts. From one newbie to another, the gun in the bottom holster may ride to high for comfort, my first design had the gun riding high and while it was functional it was not comfortable.

[katsass]

From the old grump; Good looking work, however I think that you might need to tuck the stitch line in a bit closer to that shooter on both, and follow the contour of the trigger guard a bit better - on the second one. Other than that I see no problems. Keep it up, great job for beginning holster work. Mike

Edited August 3, 2012 by katsass

[TwinOaks]

For the overlay piece, work on eliminating the sharp points. Slightly round the corners, and you won't have to worry about them getting 'dog eared' or rough looking. From a concealment standpoint, that corner is more apt to hold a fold in your shirt than a curve would be. And like Katsass said, tighter stitch lines. Other than that....ya done good! You avoided a common mistake of making the sweat shield too large, so it shows you've been doing some reading....and paying attention.

[mojoewrkn]

Thanks for the feedback! I have a question for you experts. When I applied the Fiebing leather sheen, it turned green, it made my thread have a slight green tint to it. Why did it do that(I assume it pulled up some dye). How to I avoid that? Also, how stiff should the leather be? On the first holster I think I may have heated it too long, it is very hard.

[katsass]

Thanks for the feedback! I have a question for you experts. When I applied the Fiebing leather sheen, it turned green, it made my thread have a slight green tint to it. Why did it do that(I assume it pulled up some dye). How to I avoid that? Also, how stiff should the leather be? On the first holster I think I may have heated it too long, it is very hard.

From the grump; In the past, when applying dyes heavily, I've had the stuff take on a 'green', almost iridescent color, but buffing and then a coat of my 'poor-man's Resolene', (as some have named it) a 50/50 mix of Mop and Glow and water, cured it. You however, have come up with something a bit different, the finish turning green. I suspect that the dye was just not totally dry, and the Leather Sheen picked up some of it when applied. If you used a water based dye, the Leather Sheen, when applied by hand, brush, wool shearling, etc, will often pick up some of the dye, and with that manual application, will do some odd things. That can be remedied by using an airbrush, or in a pinch an old Windex pump sprayer. (Windex seems to work better as it seems to put out a finer spray pattern) Just stay off of the project a distance, and 'mist' on a coat. Two fine coats are usually plenty. As to dye drying, even solvent based dyes take longer to dry than it actually appears to be needed. The surface may feel dry in a short period of time, yet not be so down in the leather. I live in a desert area, (at 5:00am this morning it was 72 degrees and heading for around 102 today - and for the next ten days or so) and I allow my stuff to dry for at least 12 hours, and in cooler weather up to 24 hours prior to even handling the stuff. As to stiff or firmly molded leather, heat will do that. Now, I make my stuff from a double layer of 4/5oz veg-tanned leather, just to get that extra rigidity - and a lined holster. Too much heat will irreversibly damage the leather. In the worst of winter, with snow on the ground, the most I ever use is an old, little electric space heater set on 'low heat' and blowing into a vented cardboard box - from a couple of feet away. The idea is to warm the leather to assist in the evaporation of the moisture from the molding process, and to keep the warm air moving over the holster to send the damp air away - as quickly as possible. Any temp above 150 degrees is too much. In most of the year, if temps are above 80 or so, just sit you stuff up off the ground, blacktop driveway, cement walk, etc. and let old Ma Nature breath and smile on it. Try this, on a nice warm summer day, walk out and slap your grubby mitt down on the sidewalk, driveway, patio, or plain old dirt. Feel just how warm it is. If you have one of those neat laser type thermometers, run that puppy around on a bunch of different surfaces out in bright sunlight. You'll be surprised at just how warm it gets. Out here, on a warm day (not a good scortcher) the surface of gravel n my front yard will easily hit 150 degrees. Just sit your project up on a small cardboard box and let the natural heat and gentle breeze take care of the drying. If you use an oven to dry stuff, you are do yourself and the leather a disservice IMO. You aren't going to get nearly enough air flow to do things in a reasonable manner, and even at the lowest setting, the comon household oven is too damned hot. Warm air moving over your project is what is needed, and remember, you ain't baking muffins. JMHO mike

Edited August 4, 2012 by katsass

[SooperJake]

Is there brown dye on the holster then a top coat? Brown is a mixture of red and green. That could be the source of the green hue.

I've had undyed Tandy leather leather leave a brown smudge on my dampening sponge.

Here is a link to an instruction on color mixing, with a blip on brown

http://home.comcast....IO/COLORSYS.htm

Keep making them, you're doing great!

Jake

Edited August 4, 2012 by SooperJake