Custom Leather Holsters Construction and Materials
Leather Weight (Thickness)
How heavy the leather that is used depends upon the holster type as well as the firearm. For example most OWB pancake style holster will be made out of 8/9 oz. premium leather or a combination of 4/5 oz. leather if a lined holster is requested. For most IWBs, generally a 7/8 oz. leather will be used (or for lined combination of approx. 3/4 oz. leather for lined holsters)
Cut/Dye Process
We construct our holsters a little different than most builders. We cut, clean and dye each piece separately. Carefully selecting the best piece of leather for each piece. The pieces are then horse hair buffed inside and out prior to assembly.
Molding
After assembly, the holster is carefully molded to a replica of your firearm. We pay special attention to the retention points (trigger guard, ejection port etc.) of your gun to provide the needed retention while still maintaining ease of draw. All holsters will also have a molded in sight channel.
Final Details
After the molding has completely dried, we spend extra time on the edge work. All edges go through several stages of sanding, re-dying and burnishing to give the smooth, clean edge work that is a staple of quality leatherwork. The holster is then buffed again prior to being sealed.
Overall Design
Regardless of the style of holster you choose (IWB, OWB, Pancake, Askins etc.) there are a few characteristics inherent to most of our custom leather holsters. Every holster will have a built in sight channel to prevent sight drag when drawing, a reinforced body shield and a reinforcement panel on the front to prevent the mouth of the holster collapsing and aid in reholstering.