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Inspired by Parks


e-flores

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I just got into handguns not too long ago and am on my way to receiving my CHL. I'm waiting on the background check which is about 48 hours from being completed, so I was told.

But with that in mind I was in need of a holster and other accessories. And as most of you know even those are hard to come by right now. There's about a 4-8 week back order on all the holsters my wife and I preferred. So I was looking around and thinking of building my own. I'm not a big fan of man made materials aka kydex and I love leather so I started doing some research and found a leather store along my route at work and picked up the minimal tools and supplies I needed to get the job done. Come to find out this stuff isn't that hard to work with and I am enjoying working with it way more than I think I should be. With the $80 I invested in tools and leather I should be able to get 3 holsters and a mag pouch or two. Which is pretty wicked considering most of the holsters I wanted were in the $80-$100 range anyway.

I will admit I got a little ahead of myself at first and thought I could just build a holster for my wife right off the bat.... YouTube lessons gave me a bit of a false self confidence in what I was doing. That being said a disaster was averted and I was able to turn the left handed holster I made for my right handed wife into something ingenious and useful.

This....

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It's a bedside holster and the strap on the back goes around the brace of the bed... There are a lot of things that I learned from this holster and its what I call my trial and error holster. I have since found a better way to mold the leather and gotten better with the fit of the holster around the gun itself. As well as I learned it was best to stain the leather after forming because it looses some of its color during the molding process if not.

But here's my next trial and error piece.

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It's obviously one of the mag pouches. But it's formed a lot better and hopefully I can get it looking nice and I will update on some of the steps and again hopefully I can get it looking a little more professional.

I also have my template drawn for my hybrid holster but it will be a few days befor I start working on that one.

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Edited by e-flores
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This guy teaches you pretty much everything you need to know from pattern making all the way down to cutting staining and forming. My first holster I used other methods of forming but his way is by far the best. I just used it on the mag pouch. Much easier and much better formed.

http://www.adamsleatherworks.com/hows-it-made/

And since I don't have $1000 to spend on a leather sewing machine I had to go the hand stitching route which isn't as bad as it seems. But this guy will help you with everything you need there.

http://m.youtube.com/user/Nordicbadger

He has a few other videos to show you other little tricks as well.

After a week or two of searching and a few trial and error things from other sources they are the best two people to listen to on the web when it comes to learning about holster making.

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It's a lot easier than you think. If you really wanted you could use your fingers and a little spit. But I just use this.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6nCzbmqC7QM

I know the music and narrative are just top notch!

But it's about $5 from Tandy leather store and it does the job just fine. I use a sponge to wet the edges and then just burnish the edges wit the edge part of the tool.

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Damn, 48 hour background check? They run mine in 10 minutes at vandalia armory. I walk in, tell them I want to buy a certain gun and I'm walking out with it in less than 20 minutes with it.

It's not a background check for a gun it's for the concealed carry license. Depending on how busy the county is with request for CCW's depends on how long it takes. From what I hear Montgomery county has a system that usually takes 48 hours.

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Nice work for your first pieces. Way better than any of my attempts at leather tooling.

My Dad was quite a leather craftsman, wish I'd have taken interest in it when he was alive. He'd made holsters and sheaths for several friends and family, some with cool scrimshaw inlays. I'm not that crafty, and tend to pursue more expensive hobbies :D

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Nice work for your first pieces. Way better than any of my attempts at leather tooling.

My Dad was quite a leather craftsman, wish I'd have taken interest in it when he was alive. He'd made holsters and sheaths for several friends and family, some with cool scrimshaw inlays. I'm not that crafty, and tend to pursue more expensive hobbies :D

Thanks! That's quite awesome. I have been daydreaming lately about maybe opening a leather shop. I want to get into tooling and design work as well I don't have the cash for the equipment I need though.

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Mag pouch is finished. I made the belt holes a little close to the edges but I still need to make another one for my wife so the next one will be better for sure. That and a belt loop punch would come in handy instead of hand cutting the belt slot... But other than that I'm pretty happy with it.

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My Dad always used an old treadle operated Singer machine to stitch his thinner skinned projects but would hand stitch the thick stuff using an awl and sinew. He always had a big roll of catgut around :D

He had tons of cutting equip, tooling punches, stamps, and dies, rolls of elk, deer, and cowhides. Wish I'd have snagged all that stuff up. Damn hindsight. Keep at it, learning should be simpler now with YouTube and web info. My Dad had to rely on experts and books back in the 60's-90's, took him many years to perfect

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That's awesome! I've been using nothing but needle and awl, I wish I had a machine to help but I would benifit from spending money elsewhere right now. Though my finger tips wouldn't agree with that statement... And I will admit the benifit of having the web has helped me a ton. I wouldn't have even attempted to work with leather if it weren't for how easy it is to find people to learn from and to teach you step by step how to do this. I applaud your dad for doing what he did.

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And so it starts.... The beginning of the hardest holster yet....

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After work I'm going to cut out the back and the excess from the from and start stitching. Hopefully what I've learned so far insufficient enough to make this holster as nice as I want it to be.

Also got done molding my wife's holster and it on to staining. That should be done by tomorrow.

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Ill start selling when I know I have a good product to sell, until then I will be honing in the process and hopefully I will be able to throw down so sponsor money and start selling before summer gets here. But that's what I'm dreaming of right now. I need to make it a solid plan and legitimately start working towards a goal.

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