1st Attempt at a Cowboy Single Action Holster & Rig

[noobleather]

G'day All

 I have finally made some progress with my first cowboy single action rig. I will share my mistakes and things I have learnt along the way.

Hopefully this may help others wishing to do a similar project.

I started off buying a Whill Ghormley "Hand of God" pattern and I also purchased Chris "Slickbald" Andres patterns for gun belts and holsters.

I unpacked the Whill G pattern first and started cutting up leather, only to realize its a single holster belt only pattern. Not to worry I just cut up another template in reverse.

I then proceeded to stamp the holster rather than carve it (I know I have a stamping habit) I made some errors in the line work and stamping so I decided to  make it black to hide the mistakes.

Then I realized it is not a lined design,so I cut out some thinner leather to glue to it.However by adding another layer of leather it would mean having to widen the template due to internal space lost due to the extra volume of leather. Don't really like the rough finish on the inside to be honest however I will treat it as a prototype.

Hand stitching has been a pain,especially on the welt up under the trigger guard where there is 4 layers of leather and due to the fact I am not very fast or good at stitching. Anyway here are the progress pics.

 

 

[garypl]

Looks really nice!  Did you put a toe plug in it?

Looking forward to seeing the finished rig.

Gary

[noobleather]

37 minutes ago, garypl said:

 Did you put a toe plug in it?

Gary

Not yet but I will glue and stitch one in.

[Rockoboy]

Nothing wrong with your stitching mate. The stamping looks fine from where I am sitting. A blind man in a wheelchair would walk a long way to see it!

[noobleather]

13 hours ago, Rockoboy said:

Nothing wrong with your stitching mate. The stamping looks fine from where I am sitting. A blind man in a wheelchair would walk a long way to see it!

Thanks Rockoboy

Stitching took me about 3hours lol and I haven't even started the toe plug yet.

More pics to come

[dikman]

For a first attempt that looks very good to me (my first attempt was plain, no decoration at all!).

You done good!

[noobleather]

49 minutes ago, dikman said:

For a first attempt that looks very good to me (my first attempt was plain, no decoration at all!).

You done good!

Thanks Dickman,some more pics this weekend

[Sturme]

that is a really nice cowboy rig. stitching and stamping looks great.

[noobleather]

6 hours ago, Sturme said:

that is a really nice cowboy rig. stitching and stamping looks great.

Thanks for the kind words

[JLSleather]

That looks purdy good.  When I first saw it, I wondered why a fella was sewing up the seam before sewing across the top the bucket or the loop - makes fer some tough sewin' when it's already closed (though it can be done). Looks like a good fit too.

[noobleather]

1 hour ago, JLSleather said:

That looks purdy good.  When I first saw it, I wondered why a fella was sewing up the seam before sewing across the top the bucket or the loop - makes fer some tough sewin' when it's already closed (though it can be done). Looks like a good fit too.

Thanks for you compliment.

The reason I did it that way is that I have no idea what I am doing. thought I'd start at the bottom as I could line up the holes a bit easier on the front and back of the edge of the holster.

 

[dikman]

48 minutes ago, noobleather said:

The reason I did it that way is that I have no idea what I am doing.

 

At least you're honest!

I think it's safe to say that many of us were the same when we started.

[TexasJack]

Nice job

[plinkercases]

looks classy.... ya trail, error and then prebuilding more and more in your head will help with the order of assembly and stitching operations... I am sure we have all and still will stitch ourselves into a corner at some time or another.

I would also always glue the main seem on a holster especially if it is going to see real action. with pre made holes you can still glue as long as you use awls or big needles to align the holes and I also use wax or tracing paper between layers and pull it out as things are aligned and ready to bond.

Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.... hope there is a cartridge belt coming with it!

[Josh Ashman]

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing the finished holster!

Best, Josh

[noobleather]

On 9/1/2019 at 8:26 PM, plinkercases said:

looks classy.... ya trail, error and then prebuilding more and more in your head will help with the order of assembly and stitching operations... I am sure we have all and still will stitch ourselves into a corner at some time or another.

I would also always glue the main seem on a holster especially if it is going to see real action. with pre made holes you can still glue as long as you use awls or big needles to align the holes and I also use wax or tracing paper between layers and pull it out as things are aligned and ready to bond.

Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.... hope there is a cartridge belt coming with it!

Thanks for the advise.

On 9/2/2019 at 10:01 PM, Josh Ashman said:

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing the finished holster!

Best, Josh

Thanks for the kind words. Work has been very busy lately so no time for leather work.

[RemingtonSteel]

Noobleather,

Other than getting the order of your stitching a little wrong, you are off to a great start. The basket weave is spot on, and I really like the black leather with the red thread, it makes a nice contrast. Like others have posted, I am looking forward to seeing the finished holster and belt.

You might find this thread helpful in making western holsters, it really helped me out. Jim has a link to a pdf file that walks you through the process step by step. He also has another tutorial on western gun belts.  If I find that one as well, I will update my post.  

 

[battlemunky]

Yep, I'm with everyone else, I think it looks super good, especially for a first article. Keep rolling with the punches, it's coming out just fine!

[noobleather]

On 9/21/2019 at 11:46 AM, RemingtonSteel said:

Noobleather,

Other than getting the order of your stitching a little wrong, you are off to a great start. The basket weave is spot on, and I really like the black leather with the red thread, it makes a nice contrast. Like others have posted, I am looking forward to seeing the finished holster and belt.

You might find this thread helpful in making western holsters, it really helped me out. Jim has a link to a pdf file that walks you through the process step by step. He also has another tutorial on western gun belts.  If I find that one as well, I will update my post.  

 

Thanks I have been Soo busy recently.

Thanks Battlemunky for your kind comments.

Have to do some more work this weekend.

[Lobo]

Very nice workmanship.

[Professor]

Fine looking holster, excellent craftsmanship.

I'm rebuilding a basket case early variation Single Six,and I'm considering getting a Bisley style grip frame. So far I've only got $20 in this revolver so I may decide to invest a bit or just finish it out as cheaply as possible.

Old methods I've used, mainly obsolete.

I use a stitching awl for holsters and most any thick pieces. I use the thick needle that came with it on thick areas but I use a somewhat more slender needle of a type used on upholstery sewing machines where ever possible because there's less drag that way.

To stitch very thick built up places I make the pre-punched holes deep enough using a Slender screw driver slimmed down a bit more with the head sharpened. When necessary I punch from either side so the holes meet. 

While I've seen it recommended to cut a groove along the path of the stitching I prefer to use a narrow paint scraper with blade ground dull and polished to impress a groove. I've also used a small diameter pizza cutter similarly dulled to roll in a groove. For turning curves I use a screwdriver blade to impress between each punched hole. That way I don't have to break the surface.

the lock stitch of the awl allows one to draw the thread down tight into the groove so it sits even with the surface. 

[noobleather]

On 10/21/2019 at 5:49 AM, Professor said:

Fine looking holster, excellent craftsmanship.

I'm rebuilding a basket case early variation Single Six,and I'm considering getting a Bisley style grip frame. So far I've only got $20 in this revolver so I may decide to invest a bit or just finish it out as cheaply as possible.

Old methods I've used, mainly obsolete.

I use a stitching awl for holsters and most any thick pieces. I use the thick needle that came with it on thick areas but I use a somewhat more slender needle of a type used on upholstery sewing machines where ever possible because there's less drag that way.

To stitch very thick built up places I make the pre-punched holes deep enough using a Slender screw driver slimmed down a bit more with the head sharpened. When necessary I punch from either side so the holes meet. 

While I've seen it recommended to cut a groove along the path of the stitching I prefer to use a narrow paint scraper with blade ground dull and polished to impress a groove. I've also used a small diameter pizza cutter similarly dulled to roll in a groove. For turning curves I use a screwdriver blade to impress between each punched hole. That way I don't have to break the surface.

the lock stitch of the awl allows one to draw the thread down tight into the groove so it sits even with the surface. 

Thanks for the advise and information on some of your tooling

[thawk8541]

that's a really nice holster, thanks for showing us!