After designing our pattern in the last video, it’s time now to get this holster built. First thing, make sure to have about 2 square feet of vegetable tanned full grain leather. You can purchase your leather with or without dye pre-applied. I prefer mine undyed since I will be finishing the holster by dipping it in hot wax which will change the color to a rich brown. This will be shown in the final video.

When tracing out the holster pattern onto the leather I like to use a fine tipped red speedball pen. Don’t worry if there is any red mark left after cutting, it will be sanded or beveled off later. When marking out the reinforcement panel I also take a pricking awl to mark the stitch line leading out to the belt slot. To cut out the leather I have a pair of scissors that will cut through almost anything, and they were never intended for use on leather. Basically the lower edge blade has a mini serration on it that grips the leather while cutting. I’ve found that these are by far the best scissors for leather – most other brands that are intended for leather have no serration and slip constantly. You can get these scissors through my tools and materials links. If you still find it difficult to cut the leather (it is thick and usually a bit dry), you can wet it down a bit using a damp sponge. Let that settle for a few minutes and you will find it quite a bit easier to cut. For tighter inside curves I either do my best with the scissors or I use different sizes of hole punches. And for straight edges I like to use a ruler with the rotary cutter.

One thing to note before cutting out the body and reinforcement panel, you will want to place the pattern for the reinforcement back onto the body and align the top edge. I use a pricking awl and mark around the edge about 1/8 inch in. When you get to the belt slot area, go inward and follow the stitch line around the slot. This marking technique shows you where to sand and place the glue. You won’t want to glue in the belt slot area or in the strip of leather next to it since your belt will be passing through that spot. 

After marking up all of the areas on both the body and the reinforcement panel I will proceed in beveling the edges. Now you don’t need to bevel all of the edges, only the ones that you won’t be able to get to after you glue the reinforcement panel. First you will want to lightly dampen the edges to be beveled. Using a number 2 beveler I bevel the edge on the bottom portion of the body on both the front smooth grain side and the flesh side….