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Since the OP has always been such a great guy on here...
I don't do tutorials, often, and I don't currently have any pics of my daily holsters,
but I have this pic of one I made a friend in about an hour on Father's Day.
I purposefully left the leather way oversized so he could cut it down after
wearing. (his first IWB) He has since "combat cut" it to expose the grip.


There are many nice commercial holsters out available, but I'm not waiting
or paying a small fortune for something I can make exactly how I want it.

OP you have a great start, hoping this will assist you in your future projects.
As I stated before the guys at Tandy are great.

I study over 100 tutorials before I began building mine over a year ago.
Everything from vacuum forming to forming with gloved hands. So I
will try and save you some searching:


1. Great start on cow leather- quarter/half shoulder, avg 8-9oz vegetable tanned.
I like both Cow and Horse.
an alternative that works as a better sweat barrier is horse hide:
http://springfieldleather.com/product/2 ... -%26-Wide/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
a. Thinner and stiffer, more water resistant..
b. some line their kydex with it,
c. I have used it against my skin with cow as the front.
d. you can lace/sew it together or simply use rubber cement and the screws will hold it together.
e. Use it all by itself. Whatever you come up with.

2. Kydex- the thinner .060 molds better (make sure you don't make pointy creases)
Some say it too fragile, I haven't found that to be true. Your press is perfect, might
want to press over foam for more definition.

These folks are local and awesome customer service.
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.ph ... 61cba470b5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Check out the selection and prices.

3. Nice tutorial, think it was mentioned:
http://oldfaithfulholsters.com/?cat=68" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4. One neat thing to do instead of holes for your clips,
cut belt loops, use washers on both sides. Then you can
wear it outside the waist on your belt, or inside and you
can adjust the depth to your liking.

5.. most commercial holsters come with multiple clip holes
so you can "adjust the cant" leaving too much leather low on your hip.
Much better to figure the cant into your kydex, just til the kydex when you press.
Soon you will find how far you like it.

6. May colors of dye are available and 'super sheen' is the water proof top coat.
just ask for suggestions at Tandy's.


Great job, keep going!

So I got me some leather today.....
It took 3 tries to get the kydex right. i had to remove the mag release...grips...grip screws on one side....and cut a grove in my top board that fit over the slide lock and safety. The top board was pushing the top rear of my gun to far, making that area of the kydex to deep.

I used my Crossbreed and guild....and for the hardware I needed.

BTW....I have the overly priced kydex press from knife kits, and the foam that is made for it. I did remove the top piece of foam but left the bottom for the molding that i needed. I still plan to do some minor spot molding but it very functional as is.

The only Kydex I had that was thin enough is the gray. The black i have is .120.....waaaay too thick for this.

Oh yeah....this is for a Kimber ultra.

2up1down wrote:Since the OP has always been such a great guy on here...
I don't do tutorials, often, and I don't currently have any pics of my daily holsters,
but I have this pic of one I made a friend in about an hour on Father's Day.
I purposefully left the leather way oversized so he could cut it down after
wearing. (his first IWB) He has since "combat cut" it to expose the grip.


There are many nice commercial holsters out available, but I'm not waiting
or paying a small fortune for something I can make exactly how I want it.

OP you have a great start, hoping this will assist you in your future projects.
As I stated before the guys at Tandy are great.

I study over 100 tutorials before I began building mine over a year ago.
Everything from vacuum forming to forming with gloved hands. So I
will try and save you some searching:


1. Great start on cow leather- quarter/half shoulder, avg 8-9oz vegetable tanned.
I like both Cow and Horse.
an alternative that works as a better sweat barrier is horse hide:
http://springfieldleather.com/product/2 ... -%26-Wide/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
a. Thinner and stiffer, more water resistant..
b. some line their kydex with it,
c. I have used it against my skin with cow as the front.
d. you can lace/sew it together or simply use rubber cement and the screws will hold it together.
e. Use it all by itself. Whatever you come up with.

2. Kydex- the thinner .060 molds better (make sure you don't make pointy creases)
Some say it too fragile, I haven't found that to be true. Your press is perfect, might
want to press over foam for more definition.

These folks are local and awesome customer service.
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.ph ... 61cba470b5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Check out the selection and prices.

3. Nice tutorial, think it was mentioned:
http://oldfaithfulholsters.com/?cat=68" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4. One neat thing to do instead of holes for your clips,
cut belt loops, use washers on both sides. Then you can
wear it outside the waist on your belt, or inside and you
can adjust the depth to your liking.

5.. most commercial holsters come with multiple clip holes
so you can "adjust the cant" leaving too much leather low on your hip.
Much better to figure the cant into your kydex, just til the kydex when you press.
Soon you will find how far you like it.

6. May colors of dye are available and 'super sheen' is the water proof top coat.
just ask for suggestions at Tandy's.


Great job, keep going!

that is beautiful!!

thanks for the tips, im making some for two of my friends next weekend, i already have the foam and am hoping for a little more definition with these.

im goona have to get a leather stamp, that looks cool!!

Target1911 wrote:So I got me some leather today.....
It took 3 tries to get the kydex right. i had to remove the mag release...grips...grip screws on one side....and cut a grove in my top board that fit over the slide lock and safety. The top board was pushing the top rear of my gun to far, making that area of the kydex to deep.

I used my Crossbreed and guild....and for the hardware I needed.

BTW....I have the overly priced kydex press from knife kits, and the foam that is made for it. I did remove the top piece of foam but left the bottom for the molding that i needed. I still plan to do some minor spot molding but it very functional as is.

The only Kydex I had that was thin enough is the gray. The black i have is .120.....waaaay too thick for this.

Oh yeah....this is for a Kimber ultra.

yeah, kimbers are thick!

that one looks awesome, well done!

i recently bought two crossbreeds but im totally diggin those homemade holsters good jobs they look great

Thanks. The second one (on the left) I made was better than the first....although the leather cut was a little rough. I also made the clips.

What is eveyone's opinion of whether or not you need to line the kydex in order to protect the finish on your gun?

Mahzik wrote:What is eveyone's opinion of whether or not you need to line the kydex in order to protect the finish on your gun?

I have an all stainless Kahr, and you can't see a bit of wear from the Kydex. I have a duo-tone Taurus, and the Kydex has definitely removed some of the black finish from the slide. Personally, I'm not overly concerned with holster wear, as all of my guns are working guns, I don't own any safe queens, and I almost never sell a gun once I've bought it. YMMV.

I agree that a concealed carry guns is a working gun and not a safe queen. However, if lining the Kydex would actually prevent some wear on the gun, even if cosmetic, why not? I guess my questions are whether anyone has tried lining their Kydex holster? Does lining the Kydex works to protect against holster wear? Does the lining create retention problems or any other issues? What lining material would you use? How would you attach it?

I know that at least one holster maker (Tucker) made a leather-lined Kydex holster. However, they apparently no longer make it. It was offered more for the "silent draw" feature than for gun finish protection. I'm not sure what adhesive you would need to bond leather to Kydex.

Warhammer wrote:I know that at least one holster maker (Tucker) made a leather-lined Kydex holster. However, they apparently no longer make it. It was offered more for the "silent draw" feature than for gun finish protection. I'm not sure what adhesive you would need to bond leather to Kydex.

They still offer leather lining for their First Strike holster. I have one. Scroll to the bottom of the linked page to see where you can add leather lining for $15.

Frontline offers several different versions of lined Kydex. They use either suede or a "waterproof, wearproof velvet" as the inner lining. They claim it is serves the dual purpose of providing a smooth quiet draw as well as protecting the finish of the pistol.

FWIW, Comp-Tac does not line any of their holsters and their holsters are highly recommended by many people.

My carry guns are tools.....I don't care about holster wear.

i didn't line mine because i'm from the KISS camp. fewer things used means fewer things to mess up, imho. i'd hate to have my liner come loose and bind up my weapon at the absolute worst time and with my luck...


it would.

Thanks guys for the writeups. Think I will give this a shot later this summer. IF it turns out well maybe I make a few up for gifts to my fellow CHL'ers for Christmas.