Posted: 4/24/2011 2:55:09 PM EDT
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Well, I decided as much as I like Raven Concealment, I didn't want to wait until possibly August (or later) to receive my holster.
So, I bought some kydex and took my Glock 19 w/ TLR-1s to my home made press and this is what I came up with: Press: 
Holster: 
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Raven Concealment makes a nice one. I believe CompTac, Bladetech and a few others do too. But its just so much better feeling to make your own. There are some things I'd change about this one, but hey, I spent 75 bucks for a TON of rivets, enough fasteners to do (5) holsters, enough kydex to make at least (4) holsters and a rivet hand punch. When all said and done it was about 15 bucks cheaper then raven and I can make more.
Check out knifekits.com |
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The press is pretty simple, the foam would be the only tricky part.
I used some nice 5/8" oak . Cut a 14" section by 4' wide. Split that in half. Cut off about 5 inches from both pieces. On one sheet I ripped it side to side about 5 inches from the top. Now I had a bottom, stationary top mount, and the top of the press that would be hinge closed. Using some cut to length 2x4's I screwed them to the bottom and the stationary top. the gate hinges were then screwed to both the stationary mount and the top of the press board itself. The foam I got from work. I work in the HVAC business and picked up some scrap insulation sheets. This was about 2 inches thick and was nice and stiff. I'm certainty new to the trade, but I can agree that the foam makes a difference. I am more than pleased with the detail mine gave, but I have nothing to compare to. A lot of folks have talked about using a camping sleeping pad from Wal-Mart. I don't seer why that wouldn't work, but you might loose out on the detail. Voila! Press! If you have any more questions ask away. It was a project that was fun and able to do with a beer in hand. And there's nothing like saying "I made it". |
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Looks good. If you are anything like me you will be walking around the house looking for shit that you can make a holster for. "Look honey, I made you an IWB holster for your kitchen utensils while you cook!" "What is that bump on your hip? It's my beer holster." 
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Quoted: Quoted: Looks good. If you are anything like me you will be walking around the house looking for shit that you can make a holster for. "Look honey, I made you an IWB holster for your kitchen utensils while you cook!" "What is that bump on your hip? It's my beer holster."  |
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got any pictures of the back of the holster? What are you using to hold it to your belt? The holster looks pretty good. What thickness of Kydex did you use and do you feel it is good or would you go thicker or thinner? I've been toying with the idea of making some holsters/sheaths/whatever and am curious about your observations.
Thanks, Breacher |
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got any pictures of the back of the holster? What are you using to hold it to your belt? The holster looks pretty good. What thickness of Kydex did you use and do you feel it is good or would you go thicker or thinner? I've been toying with the idea of making some holsters/sheaths/whatever and am curious about your observations. Thanks, Breacher I'm using beltloops made from Kydex. The ones pictured are a sloppy attempt, but I will be making some better ones later in the week. For the holster, I used .06 thick kydex. It's thin enough to flex nicely and retain the details that I wanted, but thick enough to keep a very solid/rigid form. I've seen a lot of holster on various DIY threads that while they function just fine (and that's all that really matters), they look like a solid round blob over the pistol. I like seeing some of the details, plus its those details that help retention. The .06 allows many retention points, as for mine I'm using the thumb screw on the Streamlight, the ejection port area of the slide and the slide stop. With the .06 you can also "zap" an area with a heat gun for finer molding with hand pressure, or to lift an area to make retention lighter/easier in that specific spot. So, to answer your question: I like .06. I don't see the need to go thicker. Now, back to the beltloops; I was playing with a Raven holster and I noticed they're using .08 thickness for the loops. I noticed my .06 held up well, but did have a fair amount of flex in them. Whereas the Raven loops held their form nicely. On my next Kydex order I will be getting a sheet of .08 to make a ton of loops out of. 
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Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I've been wanting to get into doing this for a while, I just might take the plunge and get into it now. Thanks again Breacher I'm working on a full write up with pics, I'll send you a link when i finish it. |
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I apologize if this is a stupid question but If you wanted the side thats against your body flat could you just have the foam on the one side? Would the kydex have that much give? I dont see why not, but from what I've done there needs to be a little give on both sides. One can take the majority of the molding, but the opposing side will still need to mold for retention purposes. If you want a flat surface, especially for IWB, get you some leather. Thats my next project is a crossbreed style. |
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May I ask what you used to heat the Kydex? Ive used an oven and heat gun and a toaster oven before. Thank you! I used the oven to set the mold of the 2 sides. I later used a heat gun to get some details in certain places and to "lift" certain other places that had too much tension. I'm probably going to swing by a goodwill this weekend and see about getting a few toaster ovens to keep in the garage.....Anything that can get the kydex to 275 works for me, I just like the ambient heat of an oven/toaster rather than using a heat gun over a long surface. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
May I ask what you used to heat the Kydex? Ive used an oven and heat gun and a toaster oven before. Thank you! I used the oven to set the mold of the 2 sides. I later used a heat gun to get some details in certain places and to "lift" certain other places that had too much tension. I'm probably going to swing by a goodwill this weekend and see about getting a few toaster ovens to keep in the garage.....Anything that can get the kydex to 275 works for me, I just like the ambient heat of an oven/toaster rather than using a heat gun over a long surface. Thanks. I like the toaster oven for the reason that its compact...and the wife doesnt have putting Kydex in the oven lol 
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I just made a Glock 23 holster for OWB IDPA and rifle events, not CCW. I use a Crossbreed for CCW.
Next time I'm going to use thicker .090 and .115ish for the belt loops. I'd like to try some thin spring steel to bend into belt loops, no idea how to form that yet. 
I used the Knife kits.com press. I stand on it. As you can see it forms all the details very well. Good stiff foam. I usually have to heat around the trigger guard and ejection port to loosen up my holsters. Sometimes I have to remove the ejection port form completly as it's a hard edge. |
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Quoted:
I just made a Glock 23 holster for OWB IDPA and rifle events, not CCW. I use a Crossbreed for CCW. Next time I'm going to use thicker .090 and .115ish for the belt loops. I'd like to try some thin spring steel to bend into belt loops, no idea how to form that yet. http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss290/zerodefect2533/DSC01652.jpg http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss290/zerodefect2533/DSC01650.jpg http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss290/zerodefect2533/DSC01648.jpg I used the Knife kits.com press. I stand on it. As you can see it forms all the details very well. Good stiff foam. I usually have to heat around the trigger guard and ejection port to loosen up my holsters. Sometimes I have to remove the ejection port form completly as it's a hard edge. looks good. |