Thoughts on Western Holsters

[Davm]

I have just finished a buscadero type holster.  To date I've made two Mexican double loop holsters, two California types, and one Tom Three Person's style.  I thought I'd throw out some thoughts with the idea of some suggestions as to how I might have done a better job.

   On the Slim Jim or California type holsters, I made my own fish scale stamp and stamped the whole thing and then added a suede liner.  This got the thickness about right.  On the Double loops I did not use a liner but the skirt seems to stiffen up the holster.   

On my last effort, it started out as a Mexican double loop.  I glued together two heavy pieces of leather- rough side to rough side but this was actually too much of a good thing.  It was so thick that I didn't think I'd ever get the pouch through the loops.  I had not yet cut out the loops on the skirt so I ended up turning it into a buscadero style with a band which wrapped around the pouch and then through two up-down slots in the skirt- secured in back with 2 Chicago screws (I lapped the ends over each other.

On previous holsters the area around the trigger guard always seemed too tight and so this time I put in a welt.  This welt, I think, is a good idea, it adds more room for the trigger guard and more room at the muzzle.  One mistake I made was that I should have skived this welt so that I had full thickness in the front- next to the gun but at the back, along the seam, there was no thickness, or very little.  If you use two heavy pieces of leather and a welt you end up with an edge about 3/4" thick.  I sanded, burnished this until it looked okay but I think if the welt and the edges of the sides were all skived, to reduce the edge- that would be an improvement.

   In wet forming the holster to the gun, I wrapped up the gun in plastic, foil and plastic- so no water induced rust, but I worked the leather too much.  On a lot of modern holsters the leather conforms to the shape of the gun, the cylinder, etc. standing out but on a western holster this doesn't look like the originals,  the leather should not be worked around the gun but left rather smooth.

   Another issue was the bend between the pouch and skirt.  The leather wants to wrap around the gun however the wrap should be in the other direction to conform to the body.  I have thought about a wood shim, bent somewhat to the body's shape- put though the belt area when forming this part of the holster.

   This holster I left open on the bottom but on others I sewed a plug, which I think is better.

   Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

[Stetson912]

Sounds to me like you have the areas to improve down pretty well. There's a classic debate about suede, I for one do not recommend it as it's hard to clean and traps dust and stuff which could harm the firearm finish... But a holster is going to do that anyway right? I just prefer smooth leather. 

I think it's in the how to or the holster section, but there are a few very good tutorials on making western right. One is drop loop and one is slim Jim. But inone of the tutorials the curvature of the skirt is addressed in an interesting way with how the liner is glued to the holster. Maybe give it a look. And you are right about molding. Western rigs aren't really heavy on retention through molding. It should confirm to the gun but not be super detailed. If tetention is a problem add a hammer thong... Also in the tutorials I mentioned. 

Happy making!

[Davm]

Thanks, will check them out