New Leather

Help Support Ruger Forum:

alaskamace

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
Messages
91
Location
Alaska
Not long ago I sold my .454 Alaskan, and replaced it with a NM Blackhawk .45 Colt. New gun, new leather is obviously needed, right? Rather than drop a couple hundred bucks for a new rig, I got the bright idea to make my own. I did quite a bit of reading online, checked out some homemade work on a few forums, and decided to jump in to this project. I ordered a shoulder of 9/10 ounce tooling leather, a few tools and started out. This is my first belt and holster with a knife sheath to match. I learned alot making these. I started with the belt, had some trouble keeping the stitch lines on the backside straight to begin with, but got better as I went. By the way, it takes forever to hand stitch a two-layer belt together! I am vey happy with the end result, not professional, but practical and will be put to hard use. Plus, I've got enough leather for ten more holsters!
100_2046.jpg

100_2054.jpg

100_2059.jpg
 

J.Solo

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 8, 2002
Messages
153
Location
NY
please show a picture of the back side of the holster & sheath.

Thanks - J.Solo
 

alaskamace

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
Messages
91
Location
Alaska
I hand stitched all three using the saddle stitch. I think I spent about nine hours on the belt alone, six stitches per inch is way too many! :shock:

Here is a picture of the back of the holster and sheath, my stitches wondered a little on the sheath. The holster was the last of the three to be completed, looks much better than the first two.

100_2060.jpg
 

JWhitmore44

Blackhawk
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
987
Location
NW Kansas
Nice work, specially for a first project. My first project didn't even come close to that. I was looking at the stitching on the belt and thinking that would take some time to do by hand :) I need to make me a heavy belt but not sure I have the patience for that much stitching :)
 

Rodfac

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Messages
691
Location
Kentucky
Great work Alaskamace....I"ve built some myself over the past 40 years and that's the best first effort I've ever seen. You can take a lot of pride in that rig.

I like an integral holster and belt loop my self, tho it takes a bit more leather to do it. Looks like you lined the belt but not the holster? If so what weight and make of leather did you use in the lining? Also..looks like a cross draw rig....

I've lined only one holster and doubt that I'd ever do another...a royal PITA. There's probably an easier way to do it than the one I used, but I'm not willing to risk a perfectly good holster trying to re-invent the wheel. Too, I found that it was not as easy to wet mold the leather to the gun after it was lined. Some consider a lining a "grit magnet" and actually wear the gun's finish faster than a rig that's not lined. Can't say as all but one of ours are unlined. Great work...time to start another.

Rodfac
 

revhigh

Hawkeye
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
5,590
Location
PA
Nice work, but no retention strap for that Blackhawk ?? :D You don't want that nice gun falling out !

REV
 

luvmyruger

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
669
Location
Upstate NY
This must be the clasifieds.......

Well, since its a homemade hoslter, I will give you $20 for the entire setup.

:wink:
 

alaskamace

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
Messages
91
Location
Alaska
The belt is actually just two layers of the same weight leather stitched together. I wasn't happy with just one layer of 9/10 ounce leather, didn't feel like buying more leather, so I just used what I had. That makes for a very hefty belt!

It is a crossdraw rig. Might have to try a strongside one next.
 

ClintV

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
151
Location
North Florida
Mace,
if you are going to get into your own leather making, an easy fix for those wandering lines is to buy a groover......they are only a couple of bucks. Set the depth of your border edge, run it around your piece, mark your stitches in the groove, and stitch away. They will all be an even distance from the edge, and a plus is the stitch will lay down inside the groove offering a little protection to the thread.

Here are a couple I've done, if you look close you can see the groove, and the stitch inside of it.
Clintsstuff007.jpg

Clintsstuff001.jpg


You've done an excellant job on your first effort.......for that matter, it's an excellant example of a 10th or 20th effort!! :wink:
 

alaskamace

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2009
Messages
91
Location
Alaska
Do you run the groover along the backside as well? If so, how do you get your stitch holes to end up in the groove when you punch them through the leather?
 

Old Judge Creek

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 1, 2001
Messages
320
Location
1881 Ranch, Nv & Northern Ca
alaskamace":1b28zhr6 said:
Do you run the groover along the backside as well? If so, how do you get your stitch holes to end up in the groove when you punch them through the leather?

I run my groover along both sides. It takes practice.

Here's my first holster (~22 years ago)

SSBisley021.jpg



and another, made about a year later:

Colt22andRig001.jpg
 

ClintV

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
151
Location
North Florida
alaskamace":1bm0x1hf said:
Do you run the groover along the backside as well? If so, how do you get your stitch holes to end up in the groove when you punch them through the leather?

Barge cement can be your best friend. :wink:
Glue the welt to hold it in place while you even up your edges and make sure it lines up correctly. Then pull it back apart.
I groove all of the edges, mark and punch my front holes, glue the welt with barge, then mark through the front holes into the back and punch the back (gotta make sure your punch is perfectly perpendicular to the leather). Then stitch it. The barge helps to hold everything in place, but you can easily seperate the seam if you need to.
Once you are done, you shouldn't need to do much more than the slightest bit of trimming, and burnish the edges.
 

Latest posts

Top