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anyone know how???

The best DIY you can find:

http://www.jdlawhon.com/beltslide

I have done several holster and that site looks really good. Wish I had seen it before I did my holsters.

most of the items on the list i dont even know what they are what type of store would have what i need

For Kydex, all you need are common household tools and your oven.

For leather, one of the most valuable tools you can have is a vacuum pump. Vacuum-forming beats the heck out of hand boning!

lunchbox wrote:most of the items on the list i dont even know what they are what type of store would have what i need

Check out Tandy Leather Factory - they will have most, if not all of the tools you will need to make a holster. See if you have a store near you, and drop by to check them out. When I was making my rifle rest, I started carrying on a conversation with the owner - turns out he's a precision rifle fanatic. They have classes you can take as well.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tandy is the place to go!!

KBCraig wrote:For Kydex, all you need are common household tools and your oven.

For leather, one of the most valuable tools you can have is a vacuum pump. Vacuum-forming beats the heck out of hand boning!

how does one make kydex

lunchbox wrote: how does one make kydex

You don't make it, you buy it in sheets.

Xander wrote:

lunchbox wrote: how does one make kydex

You don't make it, you buy it in sheets.

how would i make a holster out of a sheet of kydex

lunchbox wrote:how would i make a holster out of a sheet of kydex

Heat it. Mold it. Cut away the excess.

If you google it, you will find more thorough instructions.

has anyone here ever done kydex in their home it sounds like it would be quite difficult

I have made things like bed holsters, purse holsters, mag pouches, etc. It is relatively easy to made things that work. It is tougher to make things for "public display" if you are finicky.

There are several tutorials available online - including one at TXDPSA. Just google. Lots of the tutorials are on knife making sites but the techniques are the same.

Texas Knife Supply up in NW Houston carries supplies, tools, etc. and there are other suppliers online. The only thing I have not been able to find is the tensioner nut used by Comp-Tac and others but rivets and Chicage screws work as well. You can also go over to Smartflix and rent some video's about it. ( They are not that good but they do give you ideas if you have never done stuff like that before.)

To do decent impressions, you need a press of some sort. You can also find instructions on building a press online. If you are relatively handy, those instructions work. If you are finicky about your gun's finish, get a blue gun to mod so you can build sight channels, etc. You really don't need a rivet press unless you are into "mass production" or have no idea of how to set one. A little practice and something like a plumb bob will work well.

pbwalker wrote:The best DIY you can find:

http://www.jdlawhon.com/beltslide

Wow, that looks fun. I'm halfway tempted to give that a try. Hmmmmmm...

JLaw

In the leather working business, you can learn alot by watching and experimenting. I have ran across old holsters at garage sales and gun shows and picked them up for hardly nothing. If they were close to a gun I needed a holster for, I would take the sewing thread out, pop the rivet out if it had one, and then put the pattern on paper. I would then place my pistol on top of the existing pattern and enlarge it to fit my gun. This idea works well with leather notebook patterns, cowboy wrist cuffs, and spur straps.