Newbie with a project.

[amin ledbetter]

Hello leather smiths! I thought I'd drop in for some advice. I must first say I am a complete newbie at leather working. But I am cantankerous and like to try new things. I have purchased a pair of holster kits from Tandy's and want to build a no frills set of holsters. I was wondering if I needed to, or should, line the inside of the holsters? If so what is recommended to line them with? 

Also the belt kit, I purchased from Tandy, I want to make with the rough side out. I was going to purchase another belt kit and stitch the two together to make the belt thicker. Less the area where the buckle assemblies go of course. Is doing this a bad idea?

Not sure if I will try any tooling on the holsters and belt. If I do it will be minimal. I care more about them being usable and holding up well than looking fancy. I do not want to overstep my abilities right out of the gate so if doing any of the above might be pushing things for a novice please let me know. Any other suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks in advance pards.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy amin ledbetter

        Welcome to The Leather Shop Forum, IMHO, you would be better off to just follow the instructions, of this Tandy Kit, it will be a good way for you to get started, adding a lining may be too much, and make the holster too tight, it's some times best to start easy and learn what you need to, and then go to a little harder project from there, do it in steps so to speak, hands on is the best teacher, but you need to learn a few things before you open the gates, that's how most of us started, and we all got hooked, we have some great pards here that will be more than welling to help you, so ask question and join in when you can, also we have a Fac/How Too thread in our Archives, just access this on the left side of Cas City Forum Hall, in the Leather Shop.

          Regards

       tEN wOLVES 

[Dalton Masterson]

I agree with 10W. Build what ya got, then move onto the lining on your next one (or two).
Welome to the Leather Shop, and I hope ya stick around! Make sure you post pics of your project when you are done.
DM

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Welcome, amin. I also agree that your best plan is to keep things simple and not try to do too much initially. Your first project will be a lot of fun and you'll learn a lot. When you make another one, then start thinking about changes to what you did on the first one. Looking forward to seeing your posts.

[Slowhand Bob]

Great info and let me add, trace that holster out on some paperboard before you go any further.  Always save your patterns, every time, as they will always give you a starting point for something different when you start doing your own patterns.  After I make a holster from a pattern I immediately like to start making notes on the pattern, ideas for change on my next try etc.  Do me a personal message or email and I will see if I can send you a next step project.  It will not be much beyond what you already have BUT enough to give you another level of experience.

[GunClick Rick]

Good luck Amin...Loof forward to seeing it..Might even get off my lazy butt and try,i'll let you go first though I ain't got the guts..

[Slowhand Bob]

Rick, in my opinion getting a good pattern accounts for 75% of the basic, non artistic, part of holster making and this is especially true for the beginner.  Though you can not skip this part you can cheat on it a bit with all of the good to great pre-made patterns out there now.  Anyone wanting to start is now in the best position, time wise, I have ever seen.  With the patterns, videos and plethora ($10 word I learned from 3 Amigos) of great pards who will now come to a new leather workers aid.  I remember a time and a place where few leather workers were as willing as they are now. 

When you guys are truly ready to give this an honest effort you will find that getting started is not nearly the great wall that you think it is.  Start with the basics and always ask here before spending money on any tools that you are not absolutely sure to be necessary.  There will always be many opinions and frequently they may all be right, your job will be to best select what will work for you.  I look forward to seeing your first projects and will help when I can but you will quickly find that the talent pool here runs much deeper than my swimming abilities.     

[Jim in Tucson]

Let me add a contrary opinion here .

I started getting serious about holstersmithing because I modified my Ruger NewVaq to a point where custom holstering was my only option.  So there was no sense messing about with "patterns" from somebody else.

I simply folded a piece of square leather around the gun, used an open-ended wrench to do a string of dimples in the leather of matched widths around the gun, drilled on those dimples and then laced it down tight.  That gave me a "core" that could be mounted in a variety of ways.

It wasn't very difficult.  And by varying the tension in the lacing along that edge below the triggerguard, I could control the tension of the gun going in and out of the holster.  In one case I had it too loose, so I ran a second set of holes just inboard from the first, lined up with the first, and then cross-hatch laced between them which came out looking quite nice too.

Basically...don't be afraid to fail.    Don't assume you have to always get it right the first time.  Sometimes a "failure" can still be recovered plus you learn a lot.

[amin ledbetter]

Thanks for all this very sound advice. I will make patterns off my kit before starting. I have been studying the instructions for the holsters, and trying to make up my mind on what, if any, tooling I am going to do to the holster. I am going tonight to buy dye and an edge beveler. Looks like I will need that before final assembly. Should I wet form the holster to shape? There are instructions with the kit on how to do this. I don't want the holster to look like a modern molded to fit holster though. But I do want the gun to fit nice in the holster and not fit to tight. I can't wait no to get started. Looking at all the cool stuff everyone else has done on here is both inspiring and intimidating. I glad everyone on here is willing to lend advice and help others learn how to do this kind of stuff. Thanks again everyone.  

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy amin ledbetter, like I was saying earlier, this is your first leather project, and you say you have read the instruction, so this should a fun kit, and like Slow Hand Bob suggested make a copy of your pattern, which will most likely mean copying the cut leather , go ahead and stamp if you want, that can be a lot of fun when just beginning, and dyeing is fine too, wet molding your gun doesn't mean you have to mold it to every crack and crevice, you just want it to fit nice, you can roll out the top of the bucket a little bit to make reholstering easier if you want, but as long as it will pull out of the holster with ease it will be fine, make sure you let fully dry after wet molding, so that it will keep its shape. Follow the instructions and you'll do fine, make sure you post pictures of it when finished, we will all be waiting to see your first holster. Enjoy the process   Slowhand Bob is one of our better designers, and like he said he'll probably help get you started on your second holster, and there are a lot of others that are willing to give you a hand too.



           Regards

          tEN wOLVES  

[GunClick Rick]

Man i remember a time if you even knew a leather crafter you were lucky,i was lucky to know one of the best when i was growin up.He had a place down the street from my dads gas station and he was a well respected man in town.His name was Bill Enos and i spent alot of my youth in his shop mostly becuase my dad bought horses from him for me to ride.Started with a Shetland,went to a Welch and finally black quarter horse.I remember my dad having my great aunts saddle and haveing Bill redo it and put a red suede leather seat in it.I guess the farm life didn't agree with dad or mom ,never knew,but one day everything was gone and being sold and that was it.

I sure wished i would have realised who and what i had the pleasure of knowing,i would have paid alot more attention to be sure.

[TN Mongo]

You've gotten good advise.  The only thing I would add is to purchase Al Stohlman's book "How to Make Holsters" from Tandy for 12.99.  It's been around forever, but it's still one of the best resources for a beginning holster maker. 

Good luck with your project!