First Holster:
Smith and Wesson M&P 9
This was my first attempt at making a holster, and it shows. I learned quite a bit from this project. I got the idea on a whim —one of those… “I wonder if I could do that?” sort of things. So I watched a few videos on how to design holsters and went at it.
This is what’s called a “Pancake Holster”. Basically, two pieces of material —in this case, leather— are pancaked together and bound in such a way that the firearm is held between them. Typically, they are made in such a way that the “back” —the part that goes against your body— is flat. This makes it easier and more comfortable to wear. That means that, since the “front” —outer— piece can’t be the same size as the back because it has to account for the depth of the firearm while still meeting the same edges as the back. This is the hard part… Or usually would be, but This seems to be the only thing that I did pretty well.
Overall, there’s only two things that I didn’t do right that would have an effect on functionality…
The belt loops are entirely too small.
This size belt loop would be “ok” if you wanted to wear a thinner belt and if the holster wasn’t for a full-sized handgun. The M&P 9 weighs in at over 2 pounds loaded. The holes on this holster would be ok for a belt that’s about 1 1/4 inch. Not the kind of belt you’d want to support that much gun.
The backside is backwards!
The backside —or inside— of a holster is the part that is most likely to come in contact with your skin. This means that you want it to be two things:
Sealed —Because humans sweat, and sweat is not good for most things.
Smooth — Who wants scratchy things rubbing against their skin?
Leather has two sides. The “grain side” (also called the “hair side”) is the part that was the outside of the animal. The “suede side” (also called the “split” or “flesh” side) is the part that was inside the animal.
The grain side is usually smooth, takes dye well, is easy to seal, and is generally what people think of when they picture “leather”.
The suede side —and yes, suede like bags and shoes, it’s a type of leather— can be softer, takes a lot more dye and work, resist marking, and doesn’t seal well. There are trade-offs to both sides, but for holsters, if you could do grain on every surface, that would be best.
All of that said… I mess up. The suede side is against your skin if you decide to wear this holster.
That said…
Overall, I wasn’t upset with this attempt. While I wouldn’t wear it, it was a good attempt and, I learned quite a bit about the process.
