It truly is. I have made a few, my CCW rig included. It all all handwork, and hard on the hands. My Wife's holster 8 hours labor in one sitting. My hands felt arthritic after, and strong as hell a day after. The Wife's rig is a culmination of my prior work and what I had learned. I study her rig to refine my next holster.
Lined holsters are smooth inside and out and hold just fine. One of my rigs is a lined holster for my G19 and I've not had any issues with it moving in the 10 months I've been wearing it. If you wet form it and sew it right, the retention will keep the gun in place.
Harness needles are blunt. But you can still sink one in a thumb pretty good. The stitching awls are what you have to look out for. You can skewer yourself with one of those.
Yes, you are correct. The rough side of the leather facing outward has several benefits. First is that the rough stuff doesn't get into you gun. Remember, the inside of the holsters are tooled and wetformed to every contour of the gun, and the holster fits the gun like a glove. When the holster is worn, the holster curves around the body, creating tension on the gun by pinching the gun as the holster curves with the body, and the gun can't just fly out.
When I make my G26 I will extend the leather up behind and forward of the slide, but only where it will not interfere with the draw.
Good leather can be slicked up on the inside nearly as smooth as the outside. I pre burnish mine while it's wet before I wet mold it. Then before I do the final finish I smooth the inside up again with Gum Tragacanth. It lays the grain right down. After that dries I apply an acrylic finish over it. That gets it smooth to start with. And use will smooth it up too.
Awesome!! Thanks for the reply!! Time to start laying out some hide...:image035:
I will have to look into this technique. Thanks for sharing.
