Tallbald
Member
I enjoy cutting up with my forum friends here occasionally, and I've learned so very much in the several years I've participated in productive discussions on all sorts of topics here on THR. Much of what I know about black powder shooting has been through the kindness of folks here too. I just wanted to come clean here to my friends as part of my personal mission to accept who I am.
I started crafting holsters about three years ago. I bought leather from a local importer, made my own patterns and made many mistakes and ugly holsters that ended up cut into pieces at the band saw with the parts stuffed deep into the waste can in my little shop because I didn't want them seen.
Fast forward to today, when I have flat out acknowledged to my self that I love and cannot get enough of those traditional, protective and practical belt worn full flap holsters that I grew up with. Daddy had them for his Walther PPK, his Astra 600 (it came as a set from Kmart for $32 and was an NRA Excellent gun with matching holster and an extra magazine), his Smith 6 inch model 10's, his Belgian HiPower, and his garden variety Remington Rand 1943 contract 1911A1 he bought at a show for $90. I suppose it was his Air Policeman career during the Korean War that made him a full flap man...a trait which I must have inherited.
Full flap holsters, whether military issue or civilian manufacture with their plain, practical, utilitarian appearance just seemed right to me as a kid. It's a belief that has carried over into my adulthood, and one that I most enjoy making and using. Military holsters that I've seen have rarely if ever been lined with soft, caressing leather, and that's what I want to change in the holsters I make. Call me a radical, an iconoclast or an out of step bald guy. But as my skills improve and techniques evolve, I plan to make custom full flap holsters for each of my handguns, as well as those of my wife's and children's too. I have changed to using only the best vegetable tanned Hermann Oak and Wicket and Craig leathers, and to sew them on my new Cowboy CB3500 leather sewing machine. For my finish, I will use a home created mixture taught to me by another craftsperson that simmers neatsfoot oil and pure virgin beeswax together and is rubbed lovingly into the leather.
I'll be posting pictures of the holsters I make and the guns they were made for as I go along. Wish me luck folks, and as always, thanks for all the support down through the years. Don
I started crafting holsters about three years ago. I bought leather from a local importer, made my own patterns and made many mistakes and ugly holsters that ended up cut into pieces at the band saw with the parts stuffed deep into the waste can in my little shop because I didn't want them seen.
Fast forward to today, when I have flat out acknowledged to my self that I love and cannot get enough of those traditional, protective and practical belt worn full flap holsters that I grew up with. Daddy had them for his Walther PPK, his Astra 600 (it came as a set from Kmart for $32 and was an NRA Excellent gun with matching holster and an extra magazine), his Smith 6 inch model 10's, his Belgian HiPower, and his garden variety Remington Rand 1943 contract 1911A1 he bought at a show for $90. I suppose it was his Air Policeman career during the Korean War that made him a full flap man...a trait which I must have inherited.
Full flap holsters, whether military issue or civilian manufacture with their plain, practical, utilitarian appearance just seemed right to me as a kid. It's a belief that has carried over into my adulthood, and one that I most enjoy making and using. Military holsters that I've seen have rarely if ever been lined with soft, caressing leather, and that's what I want to change in the holsters I make. Call me a radical, an iconoclast or an out of step bald guy. But as my skills improve and techniques evolve, I plan to make custom full flap holsters for each of my handguns, as well as those of my wife's and children's too. I have changed to using only the best vegetable tanned Hermann Oak and Wicket and Craig leathers, and to sew them on my new Cowboy CB3500 leather sewing machine. For my finish, I will use a home created mixture taught to me by another craftsperson that simmers neatsfoot oil and pure virgin beeswax together and is rubbed lovingly into the leather.
I'll be posting pictures of the holsters I make and the guns they were made for as I go along. Wish me luck folks, and as always, thanks for all the support down through the years. Don