How to: Make a holster! (Not 56k friendly)

mhead wrote:I understand what you are doing with the antler , but why do you use a bone or antler ? Do they make a tool ? What does the antler do that wood or plastic cant do ? . . . .Just curious , nice work by the way i would love to have one for my 1911 .

I'd be happy to make you one The antler is a free tool. You can buy something called a bone folder fairly reasonably. I recently picked up this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PX893Q

You can buy one from a leather supplier for more but it is the same thing. The 'pros' either use a press with two straps of rubber to define the gun, or a vacuum sealer set up. I don't have the space to dedicate to this or the coin to drop so it's done by hand and an antler/bone folder

IslandTimes wrote:Alright, so I finally picked up some leather and tools to make a holster. Have any more tips that will save me a headache or two?

Test your designs with cardboard (even sew them/staple them together) before ever cutting leather. I've wasted a lot of leather that way. Keep a tight stitch line, for a autoloader measure the width of the slide, divided by two, and add the width of the leather and that is the distance your line comes out from the gun. A revolver is really an educated guess so you will just have to use some leather on that. Use a hard surface for cutting your belt loop slots, if you don't they will look like my early ones (garbage). Set up your steps and follow them closely, remember you need to burnish edges of things like belt loops or reinforcements before you sew them on. I can walk you through my new way of burnishing that looks MUCH much better if you are interested. Here is a link that I used:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s=79448c4fc701befe5fec30e83ef01c0f&showtopic=16609&st=0

That site is also really helpful for ideas and critics once you finish. Also keep your awl perpendicular, if your having issues chuck the bit into a drill press and do it that way to keep it uniform. When sewing I also recommend learning a lock stitch and using it every 4-5 threads so your work doesn't loosen up as you continue on. I could explain it too you if needed. Most of all have fun! I've learned so much over these 5 months and still have a long way to go - my next battle will be with learning to lace for edges and what not.