Hip Hugger Buffalo Holster

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

This is my newest holster creation. I am just a hobbyist making my own personal holsters. This one is only my 5th so far and I still have lots to learn. This holster is a snap on OWB buffalo holster.

With this holster I tried something a bit different than the previous holsters and that was to make it all formed on the front piece of leather. The back is contoured to my hip only and hugs my hip very well. It worked out as I hoped.

I have used kangaroo lining in two of my previous holsters and no lining in the other two. In this holster I decided to see how I liked a smooth side in leather lining. While I think it is ok, I like the kangaroo lining the best making the roo worth the extra work.

These first few are before sealing.

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

continued

This is after it was sealed but only the pic of the back seemed to show well

Before molding

These pics hopefully will show how it's molded in the front only and how I got it that way.

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Edited December 19, 2014 by Bolt Vanderhuge

[Riverdog]

Very nicely done. Love the buffalo. How does it compare to cowhide in forming sewing etc?

[snubbyfan]

Very nice, like the design.

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

This particular Buffalo (American Buffalo) with the thickness it was at and the tanning process was very very soft and spongy. It did not want to hold any tooling shapes or marks. In fact I even had to go over the natural lines that you see in the pics as they almost disappeared during the forming process.

The thickness of it that you can see in the pics is after skiving a bit. My blade went dull and I did not want to wait till I could run over to Tandy's for more. It started out at close to 9oz and I took it down to around 7oz. I took the straps down to 4oz or so and it became a bit less spongy.

I was able to add firmness to it by applying Fiebing's USMC black dye to it and then it held tooling lines better. I had to use edge cote on the edges to be able to burnish the buffalo portion of the edges.

I must say the buffalo presented some challenges for sure. But I can also say that I learned quite a bit from this holster to help me with future holsters and exotic hides.

[MonicaJacobson]

Very nice. I've never heard of anyone using buffalo in a holster before. And I've never seen what looks like undyed buffalo before. Was it veg tanned? Whatever the case, it looks very nice.