Fully lined holster with Mexican Loops?

[CaptQuirk]

I have been wanting to do a Mexican Loop for some time. I have read up on it, Al Stohlman gives a quick method in his Holster book, and others here have shared their tips. So, I have the basics, but I am wondering how much harder it is with say, a 2-4 oz lining? The main leather I have on hand is 6oz veg.

[Dwight]

Do a double 6, . . . inside and out.  Makes a great holster, . . . been there, . . . done that, . . . 

Makes a great belt too.  

My Western parade rig is made exactly that way, . . . 6/7 oz veggie tan.  

Doing a Mexican loop is a bit more challenging that the ones I do, . . . as it involves more stitching, . . . but it's still cool.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Josh Ashman]

Dwight's advice to double up your 6 oz is spot on in my opinion. I'd make up your pattern, use it to cut the front. Tool it if you're going to as it will "grow" a little with the tooling. Use the front to make a pattern for the liner and cut it. Glue them back to back and stitch everything but the main seam. I like to use a welt on the main seam, if you want one use the holster body for your welt edge pattern, cut it then use a compass to make it as wide as you want, glue it in and stitch up the main seam, or skip the welt and just glue and stitch. Depending on how tight your loop slots are and how much drop you have for the belt you may want, or need, to dunk it in water to fold it over for the belt loop and get it pushed through the slots. 

A few other thoughts; 1) I'd put the slots in after the pieces were glued. 2) I'd use a 3/16 "or so" hole punch at the ends of the slots and a head knife to cut between them. 3) I like to put a 1/2" latigo or chap leather "keeper" through the bottom of the skirt and main holster body to keep the holster from wanting to pull up through the loops. You can put a "bump" out of the main seam to hold the holster from pulling up, but the keeper lace provides some more insurance. I tie the ends with a bleed knot. A Chicago screw would also work.

Good luck with it!

Josh 

[JLSleather]

38 minutes ago, Josh Ashman said:

I like to put a 1/2" latigo or chap leather "keeper" through the bottom of the skirt and main holster body to keep the holster from wanting to pull up through the loops. You can put a "bump" out of the main seam to hold the holster from pulling up, but the keeper lace provides some more insurance. I tie the ends with a bleed knot. A Chicago screw would also work.

That's great advice Josh!  Clear and to the point.  And useful.   Got a quik pic of the finished result?  He'd surely benefit from it, and I don't mind seeing one more pic of your work

 

[Red Bear Haraldsson]

http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/72217-tooled-45-lc-rig/

I'm about to start cutting my leather for this one and the bleed knot keeper is going on mine, too!

 

[Josh Ashman]

Thanks JLS, you, Dwight and some of the others give so much good advice on here I figured that since I had a little experience with what CaptQuirk had asked about that I should chime in and try to be helpful as well. 

Good luck to you too Red Bear, I'm sure yours will be great!

I was just scrolling through some old pics to see if I had something and the ones Red Bear linked are about the best I have on hand. Apparently I don't take a lot of pictures of the back side of my holsters .

Anyway, these are the slots that the lace will go through;

and although I don't have a finished picture of the back, you can see the laces in this one. I leave them long enough to hang down 5 or 6 inches. The bleed knot looks just like the one on the front, except I don't put a concho under it on the back.

This one isn't lined CaptQuirk, but you get the general idea.

All the best folks!

Josh

 

[JLSleather]

Spot on, Josh -  THANKS   

Love the color in that rig, too!

 

[bikermutt07]

Great looking stuff.

Now I get to figure out what a bleeder knot is......

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Josh that looks really nice, what are you using for a beader?

[Mattsbagger]

1 hour ago, bikermutt07 said:

Great looking stuff.

Now I get to figure out what a bleeder knot is......

You cut a slit in a strap and pull it through itself. 

[CaptQuirk]

I'm sorry if I confused you, I know the process, but haven't tried it yet.By the way, thanks for the tip about the bleeder knot and keeper!  But what I was asking, is how difficult is the lining going to be, when I go to pull the loops forward to tuck the holster through? And, I should stitch the liner to the outer around the slits?

[Josh Ashman]

1 hour ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Josh that looks really nice, what are you using for a beader?

Thank you ma'am! I just use a set of wing dividers and cut each line with a swivel knife then use one of the nylon bevelers that goes in a swivel knife body. I want to get one of the JWP beaders from Weaver but haven't let myself pony up the money yet. I scribe the far outside line from the edge of the leather then scribe each line on in from the previous one. 

[Josh Ashman]

54 minutes ago, CaptQuirk said:

I'm sorry if I confused you, I know the process, but haven't tried it yet.By the way, thanks for the tip about the bleeder knot and keeper!  But what I was asking, is how difficult is the lining going to be, when I go to pull the loops forward to tuck the holster through? And, I should stitch the liner to the outer around the slits?

Once the liner is glued and stitched to the front you treat it the same as a single layer of leather. It shouldn't be any more difficult to get tucked into the loops than a single layer of comparable overall thickness. Again, depending on how loose you make the slots and how "deep" the drop for the belt loop is you may have to dunk it in water to get it to bend enough to form it back through the loops.

I used to make a fairly long belt loop but then decided I liked them to be tighter fitting to the cartridge belt so thy wouldn't "ride up". Once I started making them fit tight I had to start dunking them. I have to basically fold the holster part in half to get it through the loop. I cringe a little when I do it, but I do it all the same. The only "bad" thing I've had happen is the dunking causes the antique finish I use to bleed a little on the stitching and muddy it up. 

If it were me then, yes, I'd sew around the loop slots. If you just glue them they could come loose. Like everything else though there is no hard and fast rule. I've also stopped the liner before the loop and just had that be a single layer. I don't think I'd do that with 6 oz but I wouldn't think twice about doing with 8 oz. Mostly just depends on what you want it to look like. 

Good luck!