Holster Questions

[LederRudi]

Hello to all you fellow leather addicts!

During the last few months I've played around with western holsters and came up with a few questions:

- Using two layers of thinner leather flesh to flesh and making stitching grooves on front and back I was wondering if I shouldn't prefer a creaser over a groover as not to weaken the whole construction. Should I? Could I?

- I also experimented with a "Wild Bunch" holster for a 1911 made of 8-9 oz leather lined with 4-5 oz, also using Mike G. Katsass' double layer technique. It came out OK although rather stiff which makes up for "quick draw qualities" and zero retaining. By the way, I treated it with a solution of ferric nitrate and several coats of oil and got a nice, deep black. When I folded the leather I found that there had to be a lot of stretch on the outside of the fold (which I had wettened) and that any tooling, had I done some, would have been flattened out by now, right?

- I gather that some or most of you experienced pros glue in the lining after folding over the holster. So the tooling wouldn't suffer much but now other questions are arising: Do you countersink the stitching in the lining? If so, how do you get a stitching groove into the lining where the folds are?

Thanks to all who might take the time to enlighten me!

Rudi

[SooperJake]

As to your question about a stitching groover/ creaser : I stopped using a groover. I use a small stylus ( ball end) inserted in a compass in place of the lead. With the needle pivot flipped over and inserted to act as a fence on the other leg of the compass. I put a drop of super glue on each to keep them in place, as the screws used to tighten aren't very good, and I didn't want anything to slip. It works like a charm. It works so well I don't even wet the leather. It basically burnishes the groove in.

[Dwight]

For all my lined holsters, . . . sewing is a two part process: before forming, . . . and after forming.

The mouth, toe, thumb release, frontal decorations, stiffeners, etc. all get sewed before forming. The holster is at that point flat, edged, burnished, and stitch gouged. Stitches are gouged as much as possible on both sides.

The function for gouging is to allow the stitches to be level with or below the surface of the leather itself, . . . so they are not subject to as much abrasion as they would otherwise be.

The holster is then wetted, formed, and hung out to dry. Once dry, . . . it is cemented together, . . . new edges are sanded, edged and burnished, then again gouged on both sides, . . . final stitching is done.

That's my process, . . . YMMV.

May God bless,

Dwight

[LederRudi]

Thank you, SooperJake and Dwight, for sharing your knowledge and experience!

Rudi