My 1911 Holster.

[Dan28]

Wanting a certain style holster for my 1911 is what drove me to finally try leather working. I've thought about trying it for years, but the holster idea was what finally drove me to go buy some tools and leather and give it a try. Made two belts and a knife sheath then went to work on the holster. Hadn't found this site before I made it, or I may have done better. Looking at some of the stuff people have done on here let's me know I'm very much a beginner. I already see many ways of improving. The first employing more patience.

Anyway here is my holster.

[Josh Ashman]

That's a fine start Dan, good job! The only thing I'd do different on the design would be to move the "loop" up to where the trigger guard ties in. As for the fit and finish, you did well for a newbie. Even stitching with the awl stabs not quite so steep and a more finished edge are things you could work on, but they are things all of us continually work on

Enjoy the new addiction, er, um hobby...

Josh

[Dan28]

That's a fine start Dan, good job! The only thing I'd do different on the design would be to move the "loop" up to where the trigger guard ties in. As for the fit and finish, you did well for a newbie. Even stitching with the awl stabs not quite so steep and a more finished edge are things you could work on, but they are things all of us continually work on

Enjoy the new addiction, er, um hobby...

Josh

Thanks. I kind of picked the "loop" position arbitrarily. If I had seen some of the ones here before hand, I may have moved it up. The stitching is where my impatience kicked in. I started out with a diamond awl doing the flat work where the bottom of the barrel is. I switched to a cheap set of pricking tools I have to do most of the rest. I think afterwords after seeing it that they are probably too many stitches per inch for this project and the mix of the two does detract. I have some pricking tools on order from Goods Japan that are around six stitches per inch, but think I got a week or so wait till they arrive.

I also was going to try my hand at tooling a border on it and changed my mind after a bit. I had marked a grove around the edge as a guide. The stamps I had made, about 6 or 7 were along the fold and I was able to remove them by wetting the leather. I couldn't get the guide grove out though.

I've since finished a magazine holder that I wet formed to go with it, that has some of the same issues you pointed out. Or I should say close to finished, as I think I need to burnish the edges some more on it. I thought they were pretty good yesterday, but today they seem to have gotten a little rougher.

[Dan28]

Here is the magazine pouch.

[DoubleAdobe]

Holy mackerel, if that is your first attempt at serious leatherwork, or even if it was your tenth, that is some great work. I particularly like your magazine pouch.

And as you are learning, patience is rewarded.

Great job.

[Dan28]

Holy mackerel, if that is your first attempt at serious leatherwork, or even if it was your tenth, that is some great work. I particularly like your magazine pouch.

And as you are learning, patience is rewarded.

Great job.

Thanks. I was a Seabee in the Navy years ago, so I do have a background in building stuff. Posting these to know if I'm on the right track.

On the magazine pouch, I cobbled together a quick form using some scrap cedar at my dad's wood shop, kind of spur of the moment as its a two and a half hour drive and I was leaving that day. I just kind of wanted to get something since I was there and had his shop available to me. If I had planned it out, I probably would have made the form a double As it is I had to form each pouch separately and then connect them to a single backing piece. You can see that they are two separate pieces of leather in the middle between the stitching. I took the "pointy" end of my burnishing tool and kind of grooved them together to try and make it less noticeable. I almost ran a strip of pig skin down the middle, too, but decided against it.

The left pouch stitching is rough. I used a stitching wheel (not sure of name) to mark my stitch points, then the tip of a diamond awl and my arbor press to punch them. It started off ok, but then I guess I lost consistency. and got off track. I guess I should have just hand punched them with the awl handle. Its just with my arbor press method it is like going though butter.

I've now started a messenger bag. I am taking it super slow though (for me anyway). I kind of assembled my paper templates with tape to see how it looked and decided to trim down the dimensions. Finally got it to the point I wanted and made my initial cuts in my good leather last night. I do think I may have an issue or rather just an obstacle. I made the corners square and the design has a single piece of leather as the gusset that goes down each side and along the bottom. . I found that having it square will make it harder to attach the gusset but I think I have solved this by cutting small triangles out of the edge of the bends so that I can stitch the sides and bottom to the front and back. Anyway I'm at a stand still on that project till some tools I ordered arrive.

[DoubleAdobe]

I learned through a lot of trial and error and looking at stuff I admired. What I noticed, especially with western and horse gear, rounder is better, square corners look kind of awkward and eventually try to curl up, at least on saddles and tack. So, I design with the rounder is better mantra in the back of my head, and it also works for holsters and such. Again, I think you have a lot of talent, keep at it.