I believe it's a "thumb break"
Thanks a bunch. My vacuum press is home built. I use a shop vac for suction. I built a wood box with an inlet for the shop vac, and holes in the top to pull the vacuum. I heat up my kydex and put it in a frame that mounts over the vacuum box. Once you attach the frame with kydex onto the box and turn on the vacuum, it sucks it down in a split second. I work the kydex a little while vacuum is being pulled, and wah-lah! You have to remember that it will form to the pistol completely, the full width, so the kydex forms that it produces really work well for hybrid holsters, since one side is kydex and the only side that is actually formed to the firearm. You can use standard presses, with a high density foam on both sides of the form to keep your kydex only forming to 1/2 width of the firearm, adjusting the form's depth on the firearm by using different size HD foams.
Here's a couple pics of the simple home-made vacuum press. Expensive models are available, but this is cheap to make and works extremely well.
Haha, it is weird looking at it in the picture. What's going on there is that it is a thumb break, but they asked me specifically to put the snap for the thumb break on the inside (left side) of the holster. They told me that it field weird for them to unsnap the thumb break with their right thumb on the outside of the holster, and that having it on the inside felt more natural. I suppose when you think about it, it makes sense. It is the natural position for your thumb when addressing the firearm in the holster, although snapping it closed does make it slightly more cumbersome for those of us with a little bit of love handles!
I assume that you form your leather holsters in the same press? That's what I'm looking for.
I'll be making more off an on. I do work quite a bit, so it's something I enjoy doing in the evenings or some weekends. I do not intend to turn it into a 'side business', it's just something I enjoy doing. The caveat is that I have a very small number of blue gun molds, so if I make a holster for a firearm I do not already own or have a mold for, I'll need the firearm itself to wet-mold the the leather or kydex (I protect the firearms during this process and it does not receive any moisture during the process). I could fully understand why making them for the public could be troublesome. Obviously they would be hesitant to loan their firearm to a complete stranger. I wouldn't feel right asking for it! However, the thought has crossed my mind that I could work out a deal where if they want to purchase a blue-gun replica and provide me with that, I could keep the mold and take that cost, and a little more off of the holster. Ex. Holster is $65 - Cost of Ring's Blue Gun - $45 (or around) - Holster cost would be $20 before any discounts. Just a thought.
Thank you for the kind words. I'd be happy to talk to you about making a holster for your 1911. With that being said, please read my previous post, just above, about using firearms for the molding process. If your asking what the 1911 holster sells for, like the one I had pictured above, Avenger style with 2 two-tone dye (which I think turned out really nice) and ivory painted initials, I charged $100 for it. Seemed fair to me, but the person offered me $140 upon receipt. He was a friend of my brother and we had agreed on $100 so that's what I took. I would say that it is worth it because I hand saddle-stitched everything with thick wax thread, and there's a lot of leather in that holster! Avenger holsters aren't the easiest to make in my opinion!
Never made any single or double mag pouches out of leather, but I did make a flashlight holder for myself a while back, which is basically the same thing! I would not say it's something I normally make, but it sounds like fun.
Feel free to send me a message some time with your contact info and I'll reach out to you and we can discuss what you're looking for. Thanks a bunch.
Really cool. I like the red/black dye you put on it.
What's the second holster?
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What's the second holster?
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Unless someone would request otherwise, I make my holsters from 8-9oz leather, which is pretty thick but pretty standard for a good holster. I use a standard press to get the basic shape from the leather (hot wet-molding), and then hand mold it with various tools (wooden dowels, bone creaser, bone folder, and the butt end of a sharpie pen which works really well). That gives the holsters a little bit of stiffness and better retention, and adds the detail in the leather which I personally like the look of. Then it's just a matter of drying it with a heat box to stiffen the leather and get it ready for finishing.
Thanks a bunch. The picture sort of makes it have a red hue, but it fades from black to a medium brown / mahogany in the middle. I've made some other holsters like this with a lighter color in the center. The inspiration comes from the 'sunburst' paint on one of my Fender Stratocasters.
The other is pancake style holster for a co-worker's Taurus Model 65 revolver.
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- Sub Category: Handguns
- Caliber: 9x19
