Double Layer Holster Ques

[Boriqua]

Hey Guys

I took a job for a desert eagle. Jeez this thing is huge. Anyway I wanted to do glue two pieces of leather back to back. I have cut my outside piece put have a question about cutting the inside. If I bend the leather after I have glued the two pieces together the inside part will want to be shorter .. No? do you glue the two pieces together while it is flat or do you measure the inside piece after you have a bend in in the top piece.

Thanks anyone

Alex

[camano ridge]

I do lined holsters (leather flesh side to flesh side) all the time. I cut my pattern out on one piece then take and glue that to asecond piece of leather cut off the excess of the second piece. now I treat it as one piec of leather, so instead of two pieces of 5-6 oz I now look at as one piece of 10-12 oz. If you have done agood job of laminating they will act as one piece when you assemble stitch and mold the holster. Now having said that you did not state the style of holster you are making.

[Boriqua]

I am doing a fold over holster like the one pictured. Im sure its not called fold over but I dont know what else to call it. Thank you so much for your response.

alex

[Mike Craw]

Hey Alex!

In the example you show, I'd be concerned about the inside (liner) puckering when you fold it. I would decide what size the inside layer needs to be in order to stitch the holster. I would cut out the inside and make the outer layer larger. I'd then apply glue to both layers, adhere the inside back portion first, keeping the layers apart until I curved the inside layer. I would then start adhering from back to front around the curved inside. Then you can trim the outer layer and sew.

That's just how I would do it anyway,

Mike

[Zooker]

I glued the "spine" of the fold first, then did the back while rolling it to shape. I next did the front while rolling it into shape. When done I trimmed the excess to match the inside which was cut to the desired size. When it was all glued the holster was pretty much in the shape I wanted and then sewed it together. I hope this helps more than confuse.

[Dwight]

John Bianchi left a little tip on making this type of holster out of two pieces.

Cut both pieces to size, his example used 7/8 oz leather if I remember correctly, . . . take the INSIDE PIECE and determine the 1 inch wide area that would be the front of the holster, . . . where the sight track would be.

Skive that area down about 1/3 to 1/2 its normal thickness, . . . skiving out of the flesh side.

Then, . . . glue or contact cement the two together, . . . flat, . . . and allow it to dry for 8 to 16 hours. You can then wet it and form it any old way you would like to do with it, . . . no puckers / no wrinkles / just a very good looking holster.

I really can't remember how many I have made this way, . . . every one worked like a champ. The vas majority of them were Western type cowboy rigs.

May God bless,

Dwight

[c2369zulu]

I have only made a few cowboy style holsters for a Ruger Vaquero that have been lined. As Zooker said, I glue the spine first and work my way outward on each side of the spine. I will sometime push either a wooden mallet head or a yellow nylon mallet head into the holster pocket to help curve the inside at the spine.You may have to cut your outside piece slightly larger if using a pattern to make up for the lining adding more thickness, or adjust how far from the edge your stitching line is placed to help make a little more room. Once the inside piece of leather has been curved to shape with the outside piece and the hoolster is completely glued, I trim the excess from edges of the "inner" piece of leather which now because of the curvature, sticks out further than the outer piece...................Rory

[Jimbob]

have BOTH pieces damp, not wet....then glue them together just laying flat...press well...then pick up and form the spine so you have no wrinkles!!!

Works any time!!!

[LederRudi]

John Bianchi left a little tip on making this type of holster out of two pieces.

Cut both pieces to size, his example used 7/8 oz leather if I remember correctly, . . . take the INSIDE PIECE and determine the 1 inch wide area that would be the front of the holster, . . . where the sight track would be.

Skive that area down about 1/3 to 1/2 its normal thickness, . . . skiving out of the flesh side.

Then, . . . glue or contact cement the two together, . . . flat, . . . and allow it to dry for 8 to 16 hours. You can then wet it and form it any old way you would like to do with it, . . . no puckers / no wrinkles / just a very good looking holster.

I really can't remember how many I have made this way, . . . every one worked like a champ. The vas majority of them were Western type cowboy rigs.

May God bless,

Dwight

I just tried the method John Bianchi suggests, using 8-9/5-6 oz. In his video Bianchi speaks of skyving only some 1000ths of an inch. So I just broke the surface of the flesh-side with a french skyver and scraped off some of the liner. It worked well enough for me, although the inside of the fold doesn't feel as smoth as the rest because there are a lot of virtually unvisible micro-puckers. Could be, I should have skyved more, but then, why not use leather of half the thickness for the entire piece?

So how much of a pucker do you tolerate?

I'd actually prefer to glue the liner in when the outer shell is folded over. But then it's impossible to make a stitching groove on the inside. Bianchi doesn't bother with the backside neither of the gunbelt nor of the holster because he machine stitches.

The ones who fold first and then glue: Do you make grooves on the inside?

[Dwight]

Because it is two pieces of leather, . . . I stitch the outside edge of my holsters all the way around. The parts that don't become the folded together edge get stitched last.

BUT, . . . I contact cement the pieces together, . . . I sand smooth the edge before stitching, . . . bevel both sides, . . . and stitch gouge both sides. It takes a bit of practice, . . . but it can be done, . . . and it protects the stitches a bit more.

I then do whatever folding has to be done, . . . cement the edges after folding (also usually put in a welt for western holsters), . . . sand them smooth, . . . edge bevel, . . . stitch gouge both sides, . . . and sew.

If I wander a bit on the backside out of the gouge (virtually never do) it is no big deal, . . . the rest of the stitches being protected is more important than whether I wandered 1/3 or 1/4 of the way out of the stitch groove. PLUS it is on the back side, . . . dyed, . . . finished, . . .and practically un-noticeable.

Quite honestly, . . . if a customer did notice something like that and complained, . . . I'd hand him back his money, . . . . with a smile, . . . retrieve the leather goods, . . . and wish them a great day. Hand made leather goods will always have some sort of irregularity, flaw, mis-step, . . . that is what makes it personal and unique.

May God bless,

Dwight

[leatherjunkie]

a few pics of my holster for inspiration

last pic.

when i line holsters i leave lining oversize. glue lining flesh side to flesh side of holster main body then trim lining. then sew top, bottom of holster lining. then fold over sew main seam and wet form done.

[leatherjunkie]

last pic.

when i line holsters i leave lining oversize. glue lining flesh side to flesh side of holster main body then trim lining. then sew top, bottom of holster lining. then fold over sew main seam and wet form done.

[LederRudi]

Because it is two pieces of leather, . . . I stitch the outside edge of my holsters all the way around. The parts that don't become the folded together edge get stitched last.

BUT, . . . I contact cement the pieces together, . . . I sand smooth the edge before stitching, . . . bevel both sides, . . . and stitch gouge both sides. It takes a bit of practice, . . . but it can be done, . . . and it protects the stitches a bit more.

I then do whatever folding has to be done, . . . cement the edges after folding (also usually put in a welt for western holsters), . . . sand them smooth, . . . edge bevel, . . . stitch gouge both sides, . . . and sew.

If I wander a bit on the backside out of the gouge (virtually never do) it is no big deal, . . . the rest of the stitches being protected is more important than whether I wandered 1/3 or 1/4 of the way out of the stitch groove. PLUS it is on the back side, . . . dyed, . . . finished, . . .and practically un-noticeable.

Quite honestly, . . . if a customer did notice something like that and complained, . . . I'd hand him back his money, . . . . with a smile, . . . retrieve the leather goods, . . . and wish them a great day. Hand made leather goods will always have some sort of irregularity, flaw, mis-step, . . . that is what makes it personal and unique.

May God bless,

Dwight

last pic.

when i line holsters i leave lining oversize. glue lining flesh side to flesh side of holster main body then trim lining. then sew top, bottom of holster lining. then fold over sew main seam and wet form done.

Thank you for responding, guys, and for describing your method,

Rudi