Leather Holster Making Class

During the first week of June Mike and I took a leather holster making class together as one of the NRA Summer Courses. I was a little nervous that I might be in over my head, but the teacher, Bob Calkins, was awesome and I had an absolute blast. It was really cool to take a class with Mike and spend time together while learning a new skill. I was SO sad on Friday when the class ended, I wanted it keep going and going!!

We started by learning about different types of holsters and which guns go well with each type. Then we discussed what makes good leather versus not good leather for holster making. Bob taught us how to trace a pattern onto leather and then cut the pattern out without messing up your nice leather. Then began the assembly stages. Almost all of the work is done by hand. The only electronic tools we used was a Dremel for sanding and drilling.

My favorite part was stamping the leather. Bob had several different basket stamps we could choose from to imprint on the leather as well as two different alphabet stamp sets.

The biggest thing I learned this week was to take my time. If I concentrated on the task at hand and went really slowly, my work turned out a million times better than if I just went through it quickly. I can't say enough good things about my experience taking this class. I loved learning something new, working with my hands, spending time with Mike, and the teacher and his wife were just amazing! The first day of class, Bob told us we should each be able to get two holsters made that week. I thought that was going to be an impossible task, but I ended up making three! Not only did I make more than I expected, but more importantly, I'm really proud of the work I did. I think all of the holsters Mike and I made that week were of a much higher quality than we thought we would be able to produce in a one week class.

 Made by Mike

 Made by me for my dad!

 The back of the above holster.

 Made by me.

 Made by Mike for his bestie.

 Made by Mike.

Made by me.

Again, I just want to say what a relaxing fun class this was. If you get the opportunity to take a class like this one I would definitely recommend it. Feel free to ask if you have any questions! Thanks for stopping by!