1911 Commander Snap on Pancake Holster with Shark trim

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

I just finished this holster and thought I would share. I have been working to get this boning thing down and I think I finally got it. Still working thru some dye learning curves but that seems to change from one color to the next.

The holster is a snap on pancake with 25* cant for Commander size 1911s. Yes it is a clone of the MS Axiom and TT Gunleather DDOO. The shark trim was chocolate brown before being sealed but now looks black. It works for me though so not a big deal. I used 8/9 leather for this. The seal coat is Tandy's Pro clear gloss. Hand stitched.

 

 

[BlakesBlades]

Nice Job.

[cowboyedout]

45 minutes ago, BlakesBlades said:

Nice Job.

Nice job

[mustangman2]

Very nice 

[snubbyfan]

Very nice.

[JLSleather]

 that looks purdy good!

 

[OLDNSLOW]

I wanna know what weight the front half of leather is?  And are you vacuum molding or all by hand?

Thanks

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

Thank you all.

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

2 hours ago, OLDNSLOW said:

I wanna know what weight the front half of leather is?  And are you vacuum molding or all by hand?

Thanks

Both the front and the back are 8/9 Herman Oak. The accent is 2/3 HO with roughly 2/3 shark on top of it. Straps were thinned 8/9 and then the same 2/3 shark. Not sure how thin I got the straps down to but I did not take much off. Probably only about the same as 2/3.

All molding is by hand. Starting from dry I just use a spray bottle to evenly spry the front, back and then the inside. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and insert the gun. From there it was easy to use my thumbs to get the rough detail and then my detail crease tool for the fine detail lines. Took about 40 minutes from dry to the start of letting it dry out. Both sides are actually detailed. I am gonna try to take some better pics of it tomorrow and add them here.

[usmc0341]

Very nice! I'd like to see pictures of the back 

[JLSleather]

I just dip mine in water.  Kaint afford that fancy spray bottle stuff

Still, that spray seemed to work ...

 

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by JLSleather

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

 

I just dip mine in water.  Kaint afford that fancy spray bottle stuff

Still, that spray seemed to work ...

 

 

Haha  

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

Still trying to figure this site out  I was using my phone and once I typed the Haha I could not move the cursor back to change what I was typing so I closed the browser yet it still posted it. HMMMMMMMMMMM.

I was wanting to respond though. The laughing was intended. But I wanted to insert a smiley instead .  I also wanted to say add that I used to get the leather saturated with water by either dipping or moving under the running faucet. But I never had the patience to wait for the leather to get to the proper state of casing before working it. This just caused a lot of extra work in both mistakes and lack of satisfaction with the level of detail. This spray technique has worked well for the last few holsters and is allowing me to get the practice I have needed in correctly working leather to the shape and level of detail that I have been looking for.

 

I have a few new pics but I have to run off to work for an quick meeting. I will post them up shortly

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

Here they are. It was starting to rain almost immediately when I set up outside so I had to use my phone again and get whatever I could get. You can see a few rain sprinkles in a couple of the pics. I wanted to get a couple pics that show that the lower backside screw does not go thru to the front of the holster and the upper front snap also does not go thru to the back of the holster. I used T-nuts that I got from Holsterkits.com. I made channels for them on the inside between the two layers of leather to keep them from turning so that all hardware can be removed if needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Bolt Vanderhuge

[YinTx]

Those edges tho!  Nice work all around, I really like it... 

YinTx

[lansacoder]

Beautiful holster!   My only thought is that it might be possible to embed the t-nuts in the back of the belt loop so the only screws would be inside the snaps and the loop would still be removable as you had wanted.  

Thanks,

Bob 

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

1 hour ago, lansacoder said:

Beautiful holster!   My only thought is that it might be possible to embed the t-nuts in the back of the belt loop so the only screws would be inside the snaps and the loop would still be removable as you had wanted.  

Thanks,

Bob 

While the t-nut locations are secure they are no where near as strong as the thru-hole location in the middle. So for longevity sake of the holster, having thru hole mounting is for the best. But that does not need to be used for each location. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it . Honestly, I did think about hiding everything but the snaps themselves like what you are suggesting. But the thru-hole has strengths that the t-nut cannot match and chose to use it to it's full potential for defining the belt tunnel and holding things together with the most strength possible. Also the lower belt strap screw is not shared with either snap and the upper snap is located at roughly the middle of the belt so the lower strap screw still would have to go thru either the front of the holster or the strap itself like it does currently.

For any one wondering, here are descriptions with pics to show the snap and mounting locations. The upper snap is up near the top of the holster and the belt runs directly behind it (see the red locations in pics). The lower snap goes thru the holster and the belt strap to define the bottom of the belt tunnel (see the blue locations in pics). The lower belt strap mounting screw is below that point on the holster (see the yellow locations in pics).

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Bolt Vanderhuge

[lansacoder]

That makes a lot of sense.  Now that you explained that, I can see where hiding the screws would either create a weak loop or a loose belt loop, depending on the placement of snaps.  Nice work and well thought out.  I've been wanting to make one of these for myself.  Thanks for the advice. 

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

You can use furniture type tee nuts as well. With their spike tabs they do not need material removed to get them to not turn, But this comes at a price. They are wider then what I used and in tight areas they may not fit between stitch lines. They both have the possibility of being over tightened and loosing their ability to stay in one place. This is another place where thru-hole has an advantage. A thru-hole setup can be cranked down without fear. You then have to decide open or closed back. The closed back does not offer a flathead or allen wrench method of holding it in position while you tighten or loosen the front side.

[Popo425]

Great job all around! 

[Sporty1]

Looks Great! Very nice details.

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

Thank you both.