I made a holster for a friend of mine. Leather, thread, needle, dye, shiny water resistant coat, and hand boning tool are all from Tandy Leather company. Cost, not including cost of tools is $51.00: Bullseye Minimal Holster Kit Revolver, Item #44454-01. This is for a friend who cannot afford to buy a proper CCW holster. Her CCW is a .22 WMR single action revolver. It is a $100 gun she bought from Academy. Eco-Flo Gel Antique Dye 8 oz, $9, #2607-04. Eco-Flo Super Shene 4 oz., Item #2610-01, $7.
Another holster I made for another friend of mine. He owns a Glock 26 but complains that it is uncomfortable to carry and was considering trading it for a mouse gun. Mouse guns are fine, but he could only afford ONE gun. Friends don't let friends trade their Glock in for a mouse gun. His IWB holster looked very uncomfortable. So, I made a super comfortable IWB holster for him that is even better than the commercially available ones manufactured by a popular holster maker. This popular holster maker used a hard plastic to retain the gun. I used the thickest leather I could find and hand tooled it and compressed it with some moisture so that it dried into a hard shell that snaps the gun in place to retain it. The popular holster maker also uses raw unfinished leather on the side facing your body. This allows the holster to absorb sweat and stink. I hand rubbed dye and many layers of water resistant coating on both the outside (shiny leather side) and inside (felt side) of the holster. The popular holster maker just cuts the leather, making sharp leather edges that could cause sensitive skin discomfort. I hand sanded the leather edges smooth and applied dye and water resistant coating to all leather edges. Kydex holsters also cause pants to wear out after a year or so. Leather will not wear out your pants but it is very difficult and time consuming to use leather instead of Kydex so nobody uses it anymore. IMHO, any savings you got from a Kydex holster over a leather one will be vaporized by your having to replace your pants prematurely. Hard plastic may also wear out some gun finishes faster than leather (Glock's Tennifer finish should hold up equally well with either, though). I also used hand stitching instead of rivets to hold it together even though it is much more time consuming because a small percentage of rivets tend to pop out. I used water resistant thread. This should be a very comfortable IWB holster that'll allow him to carry a Glock. It is so comfortable, that he is now trading his Glock 26 for a Glock 23, which is bigger than a Glock 26.
I bought all the materials from Tandy Leather. Cost is $64, not including cost of tools. The belt clips alone are $8, Item #1240-24.
You won't save any money by making your own holster, but you'll get a better holster and you can customize it. I hand tooled my frineds' names on to their holsters. I just photoshopped out their names because I don't think they'll appreciate having the fact that they have a CHL plastered all over the internet. It is very easy to learn how to make leather holsters. Watch the various Youtube Videos including the ones from Tandy Leather. Tandy Leather also sells holster kits with pre-cut parts and instructctions if you are a beginner. I do not work for Tandy Leather nor do I benefit in any way from them. I am not endorsing them. If I were, I'd tell you their leather holster kits are $35. However, this is NOT the real cost of the holster because you have to buy other stuff such as dyes, shiny finishes, and tools. That's why I listed the cost of the holsters as $51 to $64. This reflects the real cost of the holster if you are just making a few holsters for yourself and some friends.
