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Pics of my Kydex creations

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leifglock

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Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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I've been experimenting with Kydex lately. I'm pretty satisfied with the way they have turned out so far. It took some testing and I still have some fine-tuning to do. I would say I probably spent 10-15 hours experimenting before I finally made some nice, working holsters. Lots of trial and error with technique and design. Let me know what you think. I'm open to constructive criticism.


Glock 23 IWB
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421.jpg

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Glock 23 to be mounted to a pack waist-band
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431.jpg


Sig P238 IWB
310.jpg

311.jpg

312.jpg


Sig P238 Pocket Holster
320.jpg

321.jpg
 
Damiansar-15

Damiansar-15

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Messages
199
Location
Mercer Island, WA
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You should use a routing bit to cut your patterns for a smoothe finish on the edges, or take a file, sand paper, steel wool and finish with a squirt of WD-40 to make the edges very smooth and scratch free.

I also recommend making a sight rail jig to have a better crease at the top of the sight rail, so that your holster looks less like a plastic taco.

Another item that might be something to consider is to put some sort of retention dent in the trigger guard so that your holster creates a nice "click" when you holster. This also allows you to loosen up the tension a bit so that you don't wear out your finish. The tension dent should be holding your pistol in place, not the rest of the mold, because this will cause excessive drag on presentation and wear out your finish causing potential rust issues.

For just using a few hours, this is great work, but often times, outsourcing is the way to go unless you need to make a custom holster for some reason, or enjoy molding low, thermo-temp plastic, e.g. kydex. I believe blade tech offers some sort of tek-lok item that would help with retention, because current attachment pieces you have now will break...

If you plan on starting a business doing this, I suggest developing molds to use for your molding and then doing the final fitting at the end with the pistol.
 
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leifglock

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Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
6
Location
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Damiansar-15 wrote:
You should use a routing bit to cut your patterns for a smoothe finish on the edges, or take a file, sand paper, steel wool and finish with a squirt of WD-40 to make the edges very smooth and scratch free.

I also recommend making a sight rail jig to have a better crease at the top of the sight rail, so that your holster looks less like a plastic taco.

Another item that might be something to consider is to put some sort of retention dent in the trigger guard so that your holster creates a nice "click" when you holster. This also allows you to loosen up the tension a bit so that you don't wear out your finish. The tension dent should be holding your pistol in place, not the rest of the mold, because this will cause excessive drag on presentation and wear out your finish causing potential rust issues.

For just using a few hours, this is great work, but often times, outsourcing is the way to go unless you need to make a custom holster for some reason, or enjoy molding low, thermo-temp plastic, e.g. kydex. I believe blade tech offers some sort of tek-lok item that would help with retention, because current attachment pieces you have now will break...

If you plan on starting a business doing this, I suggest developing molds to use for your molding and then doing the final fitting at the end with the pistol.
Click to expand...

Awesome advice! For me this is mainly a hobby. Maybe one day I will sell them.

I am definitely experimenting with the best way to shape and finish the hostler. I have a band-saw, snips, a disk and belt grinder, and some cylindrical grinding drums I put on the drill-press in my arsenal. I typically finish them off with a spinning brillo pad type thing that I mount on the drill-press. I still have a ways to go in perfecting my technique.

For the sights I use a piece of dowel I attach to the gun. I think it works fine. Perhaps a larger one might work/look better.

I agree that a retention dent in the trigger guard would be better. I have a Comp-Tac that has that feature and it works great. That crisp 'pop' when you holster/draw lets you know all is well! I have some plans to use that feature/technique.

Thanks for the feedback! All good stuff.

Leif
 
Damiansar-15

Damiansar-15

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Messages
199
Location
Mercer Island, WA
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Instead of the dowel, perhaps you could use an aluminum rail, e.g. square piping with one side missing? Do your molding and then protect the sides with leather. Put the gun in holster and vice grip it to the benchwith the site section on top. Apply a little heat with a heat gun to relax the kydex and then slide down the rail piece. This creates the sight picture and nice crisp crease on-top like bladetech, etc...
 
thebigsd

thebigsd

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Mar 23, 2010
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Quarryville, PA
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I think the holsters look pretty cool. Does the clip on the IWB holster provide good retention for you?
 
L

leifglock

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Mar 4, 2010
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Location
Seattle, Washington, USA
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thebigsd wrote:
I think the holsters look pretty cool. Does the clip on the IWB holster provide good retention for you?
Click to expand...

Because I custom made it to fit my belt perfectly it has phenomenal retention. In fact, Getting the holster off is the tricky part.
 
T

TheHossUSMC

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
130
Location
Eugene, Oregon, USA
imported post

I absolutely LOVE tiny holsters. The less there is to it the better IMO. Maybe try experimenting with retention devices by making it "click" into place with a detent inside the trigger guard area. Your the expert on making it work just my .02
 
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