Check out my home made holster

J

JT11

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I thought I'd share my first holster project. The last week has been pretty cold here, so I decided to hold up in my workshop and give leatherworking a try. I made a custom-molded OWB holster for my S&W Model 10 .38 revolver. The goal was to make it minimalist and IDPA legal. I was also hoping to make it left or right handed, hence the symmetrical mouth opening. Unfortunately, after wet-moulding the leather symmetrically around the gun I realized the cylinder protruded too much and the belt loops were not flexible enough to mount to either side of my body. So I re-wet the leather and moulded to be a right-side only holster.

Given that I have almost no leather-working experience, I'm quite satisfied with the results. The holster retains the gun well enough not to fall out when upside (for those crazy Batman IDPA stages), but it is smooth enough to draw from. My only improvements would be making it easier to position the gun in a backward cant, or to raise it up on the belt a little bit


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I made my own pancake holster for a CZ75 a couple of years ago. Like you I found it to be a pretty good beginner's leather work project and it turned out very well. I've been using it for IDPA for a couple of years now and it's working as well as when I first made it. I went on to make my own gun belt as well. By gluing two layers of leather together and stitching the edges all the way around I managed to get a nice stiff belt which has worked great for holding my holster and CZ. I used thick enough leather that the belt is about 3/16 thick. I found that the leather dye does a pretty good job of stiffening the leather as well.

It sure is amazing how moldable the leather becomes when wet. And if the water you used to soak it is really hot then when it dries the hot water will have left the leather quite stiff. It further stiffens up nicely when you dyed it I imagine.

Just don't ever use any sort of oil on the leather. Waxes such as Dubbin or neutral shoewax only. Neatsfoot or mink oil used on the leather will make it soft and pliable. The opposite of what a holster and proper gun belt should be.

So what's next? Make your own speedloader holders?
 
BCRider said:
I made my own pancake holster for a CZ75 a couple of years ago. Like you I found it to be a pretty good beginner's leather work project and it turned out very well. I've been using it for IDPA for a couple of years now and it's working as well as when I first made it. I went on to make my own gun belt as well. By gluing two layers of leather together and stitching the edges all the way around I managed to get a nice stiff belt which has worked great for holding my holster and CZ. I used thick enough leather that the belt is about 3/16 thick. I found that the leather dye does a pretty good job of stiffening the leather as well.

It sure is amazing how moldable the leather becomes when wet. And if the water you used to soak it is really hot then when it dries the hot water will have left the leather quite stiff. It further stiffens up nicely when you dyed it I imagine.

Just don't ever use any sort of oil on the leather. Waxes such as Dubbin or neutral shoewax only. Neatsfoot or mink oil used on the leather will make it soft and pliable. The opposite of what a holster and proper gun belt should be.

So what's next? Make your own speedloader holders?
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Yeah, after wet moulding twice and dying, the leather is as hard as plastic but not as brittle, similar to Kydex.

Thanks for the tip on the oils, I will avoid those. After dying I applied a protective matte finish, then I polished the whole thing with shoe-leather and buffed it up with a brush. Hopefully that is enough to protect the leather.

Next project might be another holster for my SR9, I was thinking about an IWB style. I already have a couple speedloader pouches. I also want to learn a bit more about tooling and making decorative patterns in the leather.
 
Looks good.

Can you buy that type of leather at a fabric store? Or did you go somewhere special?

Can you stitch that leather on a regular sewing machine? Normal thread? Normal needles?
 
You can be proud of that, the more so because it's your first. I've been wanting something for my Shadow, so thanks for posting this. I think I'll give this a try.
 
Dexter Morgan said:
Looks good.

Can you buy that type of leather at a fabric store? Or did you go somewhere special?

Can you stitch that leather on a regular sewing machine? Normal thread? Normal needles?
Click to expand...

The leather is 8 oz (3mm thick) Veg Tanned that I purchased from a leather shop. They have a big bin of cheap scrap pieces from their in-house projects.

Thick leather like that is not sewed like fabric, it's way too tough to pierce with a needle. You have to do it by hand and you need to makes holes for the stitching first. I used a dremel drill press, but you could also do it with a hammer, nail and an awl. The stitching is done with two blunt saddlery needles and thick waxed thread.
 
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