Anyone making their own leather holsters?

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maint1517

maint1517

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I'm about to try and make my first leather holster. I just bought the materials and tools I needed today. The first one I'm going to make is for my 1858 black powder.44.
My dad used to do leather work,and I helped him with it a lot in my teens. But I would appreciate advice if any of you have done it before. Tips,tricks,etc...
 
i have wanted to i dont have my pistol permit yet but my dad has rugers id like to make some for. we now a leathersmith in cap cod that does real nice work. my next trip out there id like to stay for a day or to had have him show me some pointers. his wife is native american and does nice work to. i have watched his work looks doable just some basic tools. they layout seams the hard part. id like to have him make me a rifle sling and have her do some of her beading work on it to. good luck with your project.
 
I made a flap holster for a black powder pistol in High School. Still have it, and I am proud of it, despite all its tiny imperfections. I am the greatest critic of my work. I see faults that no one else does.Nothing I made ever looked as good as the holster that aarondgraham has pictured, nether the less, I am proud of what I did.

There is a learning curve, so take your time. I found sewing took the most time, I use a hand awl similiar to this one:

419ZmgelhEL.jpg

I have drilled the holes that I was going to thread, that took time. I have also just pushed the awl needle through the leather. Let me recommend buying extra needles as you will break one, or two. I never got my stitching even, there are tools which dimple the leather, space the threads out evenly. Even threads are an obsessive compulsive behavior, it makes little to no difference in holding ability.
 
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aarondhgraham said:
This book is as old as the hills,,,
But it does have some very fine construction techniques.

Al Stohlman: How to make holsters.

The one page on how to hand sew a toe plug is worth the price alone.

I've made several hundred holsters professionally,,,
View attachment 800266
Almost everything I know came from this book.

Have fun,,,

Aarond

.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll get a copy of that ordered next week.
 
Slamfire said:
I made a flap holster for a black powder pistol in High School. Still have it, and I am proud of it, despite all its tiny imperfections. I am the greatest critic of my work. I see faults that no one else does.Nothing I made ever looked as good as the holster that aarondgraham has pictured, nether the less, I am proud of what I did.

There is a learning curve, so take your time. I found sewing took the most time, I use a hand awl similiar to this one:

View attachment 800267

I have drilled the holes that I was going to thread, that took time. I have also just pushed the awl needle through the leather. Let me recommend buying extra needles as you will break one, or two. I never got my stitching even, there are tools which dimple the leather, space the threads out evenly. Even threads are an obsessive compulsive behavior, it makes little to no difference in holding ability.
Click to expand...
How does sewing with a hand awl like that work? I mean, I get the concept of pushing through for each stitch. But how do you do the stitch on the back, to keep the thread from pulling back through the hole?
 
I do and the best advise I can give you is to purchase a copy of Al Sthoman's holster making and pattern book from Tandy's. It's not expensive. Al knew what he was doing when it came to leather work of any kind and also drew many great patterns.

I used to do custom leather work as a second occupation and learned a lot of things from reading Al's books.
 
maint1517 said:
How does sewing with a hand awl like that work? I mean, I get the concept of pushing through for each stitch. But how do you do the stitch on the back, to keep the thread from pulling back through the hole?
Click to expand...

It is the manual version of what a sewing machine does. It is the manual version of sewing before there was a sewing machine. You push the needle through, just as in this video. You will stick yourself, you will break a needle, and it takes about a half an hour to sew four inches, maybe six. It is slow.

How to use a Sewing Awl- quick lesson



Hand sewing was how you did it, back in the day. Some old timers had a leather palm protector and pushed a needle through. I paid to view an exhibition of Titanic artifacts, and being the person I am, I focus on insignificant details. I could see under the glass, recovered clothing and the stitching. It was very evident from the uneven stitching, that the piece of clothing I was viewing, the seams were hand stitched with the running stitch. I am certain it was with a standard needle and thread, not the heavy duty stuff we use on leather, but still, it was interesting to see. Clothing back then must have been very labor intensive and expensive. No pictures were allowed, which is a shame. There were interesting forge grain patterns on most of the metal chains, stations, that were recovered, showing the method of construction. Wish I could have made pictures of that and the clothing.
 
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Looks great!

One thing I have learned is the value of making a trial fitting pattern from card stock paper. It allows you to make your mistakes on paper instead of making them on expensive leather. This is especially true for wraparound style holsters.
 
Elkins45 said:
Looks great!

One thing I have learned is the value of making a trial fitting pattern from card stock paper. It allows you to make your mistakes on paper instead of making them on expensive leather. This is especially true for wraparound style holsters.
Click to expand...
And that's exactly what I did. Like you said, to prevent making a mistake on leather. But also to have the patern if I want to make another one like it.
 
That was the very first holster I ever made .... It was a learning process from the beginning ... I wished I had not of basket weaved the section that is wet formed to the gun ... but it works well and retains the LCP better than I expected ...

The next one ... I'll use what I learned ....

I am guilty of making a few of these ...
IMG_20150929_091824046.jpg
 
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[QUOTE="JimKirk, post: That was the very first holster I ever made .... I wished I had not of basket weaved the section that is wet formed to the gun ... but it works well and retains the LCP

IMO, it looks just fine!
 
I don't know anything about leatherworking or holster making. But I do know that this is a good website:

https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/index.html

And that there are several articles on it about making holsters.

How to make a simple belt holster: https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/Holsters/holsters.html

Leatherworking tools for making holsters and belts: https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/LTools/ltools.html

And notes on making holsters: https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/NoH/noh.html

That's all I got. The author, Ed Buffaloe, sells holsters of his own making. They look good to me.
 
Leather bending is a fun hobby. It's fairly forgiving and not overly expensive to get into. I have been using the same rudimentary hand tools for over a decade. I believe my late father in law purchased about $100 worth of tools and a strip of leather for me for Christmas to get me started.

I enjoy the simplicity of the kits, but I branch out and design my own. Today, I'm on the hunt for some supplies to make a high ride cross draw for a 5.5" blackhawk. Cowboy rings are attractive, but I prefer to keep my gun higher and out the snag zone from low hanging branches. If I bring it too high, strong side draw becomes awkward. So a cross draw with a 15 degree cant held at my 10-11 o'clock should be good.

Itll be a very simple design as I don't plan on showing it off. If I make it correctly, it will hide under my vest/jacket. I'm think flat medium brown, maybe some reinforcement on the mouth of the holster for easier holstering, MAYBE cartridge loops since the gun is a .357, so keeping some .38 on board might be nice.

The fun part of leather work is that it can be as complicated or simple as you want to make it:)
 
troy fairweather said:
:thumbup:came out very nice. did u do any felt lining it helps on wear on the blue and makes it smoother drawing it out
Click to expand...
No it doesn't do either one compared to nice quality flesh side leather. Been doing leather work for most of my 51 years and done plenty of testing myself. To quote well known John Bianci himself "if you want to protect the finish, leave it in the box"
 
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