Prefered Holster for 1911

[Dwight]

You'd be surprised at how many people you will pass with your concealed carry holster who will never see it and get to comment on the bad stitches, bad leather, bad dye job, extra holes, . . . or whatever.

Ugly, . . . like beautiful, . . . is only in the eye of the beholder.  AND in the case of CCW, . . . what they cannot see, . . . they cannot critique.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Dorado]

Well...yeah. I know you're right on that. It's just not as good as what I can do is the problem. I made a stupid mistake and now that's eating at me.

[Dorado]

I had to set my project aside for a while as things got a bit busy. I came back to it yesterday. It looks like it's been chewed on. I must have dropped something on it or hit it with something heavy. I don't remember. It's got a big gash across the middle. I'll have to start over. As much as I like your design Dwight, I don't have the skills necessary to make it at the moment. I need more practice before I attempt it again.

Instead I think I'll go with JLS's OWB Pancake design. It's similar to what you did and should give me the experience I'll need to make your design. I can always use a good holster anyways.

[gregintenn]

This works well for concealing...

...and something like this if you're feeling fancy.

[Dorado]

Those look great Greg. I'm just not skilled enough to make my own pattern off of a picture just yet. This is really my second holster to make and my fifth leather project. I still need a pattern to follow. I'll invest in some in the future as my skills progress. For now the ones that JLS provided are more than enough for me. Honestly their great. Simple enough to follow and easy enough to modify to fit my needs. I already got the holster made and I took it for a test run yesterday. Worked great and was extremely comfortable. I really like how it came out. Right now I'm working on a mag holder that will hold two magazines. I've got it stitched and I'm wet forming. I'm waiting for it to dry at the moment. Once it's done I'll take post some pictures for y'all to see.

I'm a bit miffed though. I broke my awl. I wasn't paying attention and torqued it wrong. Before I realized it the blade snapped. I need to go find me a new one.

[Dorado]

Here's what I ended up with. When I have a pattern to follow I'm fairly quick and I don't think I do a half bad job. The color is simply neatsfoot oil and finished with SnoSeal. I wanted to avoid dyes as there's always the risk of bleeding. I used 8/9oz veg tan leather and brown Ritza (sp?) tiger thread. For sewing I first punched the holes with a diamond punch awl and followed that up with a stitching awl. I ended up breaking the needle on the sewing awl and had to switch to a saddle stitch and finished by hand. The leather I used had some of what you'd consider flaws but I though added a lot of character included the stripes on the holster and the spots on the mag holder. I rather like the rough finish on the edges and the character marks on them.

I still need to get better at stitching. I know I'd be better if I had a stitching horse to hold my project while I sew. It's kinda hard to hold the leather with one hand and stitch with the other. The sewing awl made it quite a bit easier but I'd still like a stitching horse. I don't suppose any of you have one that you could spare for a poor guy just starting out do you? I'd probably ditch the sewing awl and switch to saddle stitching full time if I had one. I like the looks of saddle stitch much more that what the sewing awl gives me.

So, what do y'all think? Did I do alright. It is comfortable to wear and holds my pistol nice and close to the body. Even with just a polo style shirt over it, it disappears. I hardly notice that it's there while driving.

[Dwight]

Looks good from here, . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

It looks like a nice clean usable holster and mag pouch set. Your stitch lines are nice and even around the holster and the lines around the gun pocket are smooth flowing and straight. Lack of these traits can make an otherwise nice pattern look not as good. So good job with that. The mag pouch is the same for 99% of it. There is a tiny spot where the line got crazy at the bottom. It is a very small section so it doesn't stand out.

I prefer finished edges myself. You are actually half way there. If you ever do want to try finishing edges I think you will have no problem getting really nice edges just continuing down the path you are already heading. Again good job. 

[Dorado]

Thanks guys.

I'm getting better with stitching. I'm going to invest in a stitching pony before I start my next project. I think that'd help with my stitching. Also, I could use a better groover. I slipped in a couple of places but I was able to compensate and hide most of that. I do have a couple of spots that I don't like.

I would have finished the edges and still might, except that I got something on my edger and it leaves some weird colors behind. I'll get me a new one when I get a stitching pony and I'll see if I can't fully finish out the edges.

As far as functionality goes. I wore these for the second half of the day yesterday and other than the weight I could hardly feel that they were there. Very comfortable and I was able to get in and out of my truck easily and without hanging on anything. I can still access my gun while seated if I need too. I think I'll be using this one for a while.

I need a better belt though which will be my next project. I'll start on that this next month. I'm thinking that I'll carry the look of the holster over to the belt. I'm thinking that two layers of 6/7oz leather at 1 1/4" wide should do I could probably go to 1 3/8" without problem. I don't really like wide belts. Would 1 1/4" be wide enough for a gun belt?

[Dwight]

Lots of us offer 1 1/2 or 1 1/4 inch gun belts, . . . and while I don't do many of the 1 1/4, . . . I also haven't had but one complaint.  But, . . . HE, . . . didn't measure it right so I got away with that one.

One thing to think of though, . . . make it as wide as you can to accomodate those slots you cut in the holster.  

Personally, . . . I hate, detest, and am aggravated to no end by a holster that wants to wiggle forward, backward, etc, . . . and pancakes are to me, notorious for that.  I'm probably in a small minority there, . . . but I also don't wear one mostly for that reason.  My one pancake that I like does not have slots, . . . but rather tunnels in the back for the belt to go through, . . . it does NOT tip fwd or back.

But if you can get through that, . . . go for the 1 1/4.  

Also get a caliper, . . . and for what I've found to be the most comfortable, . . . you want your two layers laminated to something in the .200 to .230 range.  Getting less than .200 they sometimes seem flimsy, . . . and up around .250 or more, . . . they get to be pretty stiff to use.

May God bless,

Dwight