Prototype No. 5

[faraim]

I began making holsters a few months ago with the expectation that I'd make one and it'd be perfect.  Hah!  Well, reality overwhelmed me and this, number five is the first that I'd consider wearing.  I used a JLS pattern and some Tandy 8-9 oz. leather that was incredibly pale, almost a Vanilla milkshake color.  Using Ray Corey's technique of Neatsfoot Oil and Bag Kote I ended up with a decent holster.  Leaving it in the sun for a couple of days darkened it a bit.  I'll probably hang it out a few more days to see what happens.  Thank you all for the help, tips, and good natured information on this forum.  It would've been a lot harder without it.  The journey continues.

Edited May 24, 2017 by faraim

[DJole]

Well, it only took you 5 until you got one you liked! imagine what it would have been like without the help of the friendly  holster experts here!

It looks pretty good, but how did the surface of the leather over the gun portion get banged up like that (scratched, dented and marked)? Some people might find that less than appealing visually, which might cost you a sale if you wanted to sell them. 
Perhaps some people with experience can help you around that. 

[faraim]

DJole, it is just the surface of the leather.  When I bought my first piece at Tandy, I picked one that had some irregularities.  I was a little more careful for the second piece.

[Earl Ash]

Great job! May I suggest you bring the back of the holster up and form a "sweat guard"? As a guy who carries all the time, I can tell you it will make the holster much more comfortable. Nice work! 

[faraim]

Thanks Earl Ash, for some reason a sweat guard works for other designs but on a Glock I keep getting my thumb caught.  Operator error probably!

 

[YinTx]

On 5/24/2017 at 8:15 AM, Earl Ash said:

Great job! May I suggest you bring the back of the holster up and form a "sweat guard"? As a guy who carries all the time, I can tell you it will make the holster much more comfortable. Nice work! 

I made one with the sweat guard... and let a fellow carry it around for a few weeks and give me his feedback... feedback was the sweat guard had to go, as it was always in the way.  After that, I had visions of it getting into the trigger guard and causing problems... so no more of those in future builds for me, unless I am putting in a thumb break..

YinTx

[JLSleather]

Some folks really prefer not to have the "sweat shield", and then there are also some foiks who just plain do not want a "reinforcement panel" on it.

I generally include both in the patterns, since some look for it. Easy enough to just not use it if a guy don't want it in there (personally, I like the sweat guard but don't care for the panel).

If you find you like the idea of a shield, but have some issues you're describing, you might try either

• "stiffening" the shield itself,
• widen the shield, so it spreads over more area-- note some think this is better, some say worse;
• make the back panel from two layers of 4 oz (instead of one 8 oz) - it's a bit more sewing, but firms up the shield which can be molded to angle back a bit.  Actually, molded may not be the right word.. I mean actually pull it back (5-10 degrees?) when gluing the layers, so it tends to return to that position.