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Has anybody made their own holsters? I'm a "do-it-yourselfer" with a limited history of crafting goods out of leather, but I am interested in attempting this. I bought the Al Strohman book How to Make Holsters. It is a good read, but mostly for cowboy style holsters.

Does anyone have any tips they can offer pertaining to homemade leather holsters?

I made a scabbard for my black powder rifle. Stamped and carved, dyed here and there, and fringed, beaded, and stiched like an old mountain man might carry.

Unfortunately it suffered water damage in 1993 and I tossed it out, but I haven't done any primitive hunting since before then anyway.

I wish I had a photo of it.

I have wanted to do a holster for a handgun, but stopped leatherworking way back then too.

I just made this one for my S&W 442.

I started making them about a year or so ago and have turned it into a hobby. I like making them and have made some for all my guns. You may just get hooked!

Tandy Leather used to have a good book on making leater holstrs of all types. It may still be available. I do not remember the name, but the author looked like Jack Webb in "Dragnet".

I made me a pocket holster and I have made several knife sheaths. Al of which were stitched bt hand. I can be very time consuming till you get the hang of it.
Check out this forum It is full of great info.
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/index.php
It is geared mostly toward making knives but has a great section on sheaths and such. You can use the tips to make your holsters too.

Try and get a video/dvd by Dusty Johnson, titled, Holsters and Knife Sheaths. He shows some basic steps on putting a holster together. If I remember right, he makes a cowboy holster in the video. The concepts are basically the same though for a modern holster. There are also some patterns included - cowboy and semi-auto. You'll have to modify them just a bit, as they have the trigger area exposed. The video/dvd is available through his website and also at Gibson Pro Rodeo.com. Good luck to you.

Pocket holsters and concealed carry holsters are mostly wet molded to conform and fit a particular gun. I've never made a western/cowboy holster, but have one that my father bought for an old .22 revolver. Mine and many that I've seen are not wet molded, but I don't think they need to be. read up on and search for wet molding leather, that is an important part of holster making.

I've made a few for myself. Click here for pics.

I always get a ton of questions when I make one, so I wrote up a little DIY tutorial.

Very nice, Bulldawg!

looks great Bulldawg. I think I may try my hand at making one next time around. Still deciding whether to use leather or Kydex.

Bulldawg-

Thank you so much for the tips. I'd searched and searched and continued to come up empty on DIY holstermaking.

Your work is very impressive. I'll be starting on my holster this weekend. I want to build something like the Galco Summer Carry, but with a bodyshield on it. My idea is also very similar to the High Noon Down Under.

Bulldawg did a great job on his tutorial. I'm also thinking about making my first holster and I found these other sources.

http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/Holsters/holsters.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3402&hl=en

lws380 wrote:I just made this one for my S&W 442.

I started making them about a year or so ago and have turned it into a hobby. I like making them and have made some for all my guns. You may just get hooked!

That's a nice holster there lws380. I've got to get me one of those Smiths also.

BadSpellar wrote: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 3402&hl=en

Awesome video! I hadn't seen that before.

hi-power wrote:

lws380 wrote:I just made this one for my S&W 442.

I started making them about a year or so ago and have turned it into a hobby. I like making them and have made some for all my guns. You may just get hooked!

That's a nice holster there lws380. I've got to get me one of those Smiths also.

Thanks. I wear this style often. Easy to clip on and off and makes concealment for the 442 fairly easy.