shark skin holster rig for a Model 36 Glock

[Randy Cornelius]

Thought I would post this project that I made for myself. It is black shark skin holster rig for a Model 36 Glock that I carry on duty in my other life.

[Chipperi]

Nice...I have been looking into getting into holstermaking myself, I had never really considered Shark skin. How does it hold up and feel compared to the traditional 8-9 oz tooling leather?

[K-Man]

Nice looking rig. Where did you get the shark?

[Mike Craw]

Randy,

Very nice looking rig! Is the shark backed by any other leather? I've never worked with anything but cowhide, so I have no idea how shark forms or molds. Are there any retention devices on the holster? My agency never required them, and I always figured that anybody who got close enough to put a hand on my gun was close enough to work with, but some of the agencies of guys I made holsters for required them.

If you would, I'd like to see some other views of your work, and also learn more about working with sharkskin.

Mike

[Randy Cornelius]

To answer some of the questions. I got the shark skin from Jerry VanAmberg while I was in Sheridan at the trade show this spring. I cannot remember the price per square foot but it was expensive, 20.00 or so as I remember. The shark is only about 5 oz so you almost have to back it with veg tan, at least I did for the belt and mag pouch for this project. It molds fairly well. I cheeted a little on this project I took one of those cheep plastic holsters you see, won't name a brand. I cut off the belt loop and molded the shark around the front. Glued veg tan black to the back and cut the holes for the belt loops. It seems to be holding up really well as I have been wearing it every day for the last 2 months. The shark is very durable leather and is #2 next to Elephant which is near bullet proof as a leather can be as far as wear. The shark hide is odd shaped and you can only get 3-4 belts out of a hide the rest can be used for other projects such as holsters etc. I encourage anyone to try some new leathers to work with as it is interesting. Stringray is really interesting to work with but that's another subject.

I will post some of my other holsters when I have the time.

Randy

[Roger]

very nice randy!

i haven't seen a shark skin rig before. very cool!!

please post some of your others.

[Spencer G]

Really cool, well done.

[ETW Grumpy]

Very cool idea. Someone else asked, and I'm curious as well, is there any type of retention system in this rig? Very good work.

[Randy Cornelius]

It's got an internal retention from the plastic holster that I covered with the shark

[indypbear]

Nice work Randy! I thought you were going to say that the sharkskin was from a pool of defense lawyers carefully tanned . I'm not much on Glocks except in extreme conditions but my last issue was a Glock that I qualified with, cleaned and returned to its "Tupperware" box then used my Sig or Beretta. Your Glock looks good in that holster and belt.

As for exotic leathers-wow....good idea. I found a good resource at Hidecrafter Leather in Fort Worth. Ask Ron to check with his supplier Dermatan Exotic Leathers. They have had some really beautiful sting ray skins lately-pricey but pretty. It's a good resource and they are making a comeback under new ownership.

Happy crafting and stay safe.

JKK