Okay ladies and germs, it's time to payup on what I've promised before - that's a step-by-step guide to how to make your own kydex holsters, sheathes, and carriers - including pix.

For today's tutorial, I've created an in-the-waist-band (IWB) holster for standard full-size Glocks (models 17/22/31). This model can be followed to make a holster for ANY pistol - scaled accordingly.

For today's holster, the following items were used:

(1) sheet of 0.09 inch thickness black Kydex sheet, 12 inches x 12 inches in size
(2) aluminum Chicago screw assemblies, standard head
(2) rubber size 0 faucet washers

Tools used include:

Variable speed Dremel multi-use rotary tool
Corded (cordless works too) hand drill (mine is a 3/8 keyless chuck style) with 3/16 inch bit
Chigaco Electric heat gun (heats to over a thousand degrees on high setting, and 400 degrees low setting)
Flathead screw driver
Round file
12 inch ruler
12 inch straight stir-stick, tapered from 1/8 inch to just under 1/2 inch thickness
Hand clamps
Medium and large size dikes (wire cutters)
Heavy leather work gloves
wet-dry sand paper from 200 to 1000 grit

Time from beginning to completion of project: 2 hours (because I had to stop and take pix)

First up: Collecting the tools needed:




I like to have ALL of my tools at the ready, and keep them close by. Saves time from having to stop and hunt something down, so gather all the tools you'll need at the beginning and have them ready. Notice that I've laid an old towel beneath everthing - it serves to cushion the bench surface from the heat of the heatgun, and it can be used as additional insulation while working the kydex.

Next I lay out my kydex flat on the bench, make sure you've wiped the surfaces clean, because we're going to heat the sheet up to over 400 degrees, and we don't want particulate crap getting melted into the kydex and scratching our gun all to hell.




Now that we've got everything ready, lets get started. First thing's first - GLOVE UP. No exceptions. You're not he-man, and we're going to be working with LOTS of heat, as I said before, we're going to get this kydex upto around 400 degrees. The tip of the heatgun is going to get upto a thousand degrees. Not the time to screw around with bare skin! Heavy leather gloves at minimum, and I've started using the "Ove Glove" when extended heating is required, or when having to work with hot kydex for extended periods of time. Leather gloves do transmit some heat, but generally you should be fine. Simple rule - if it feels to hot, let go of the piece, remove the wimply gloves, and get something heavier that still alows fine movements of your hands. The Ove Glove is perfect for this.

Now, you can heat your kydex with the heat gun - as I generally do, or you can use your oven (must watch the kydex like a hawk, because if it gets too hot it melts and the plastic is ruined.) or a toaster oven (not a microwave, not a toaster, a toaster oven) for smaller pieces. I like the heatgun because I can precisely control the heat the piece recieves. You want the kydex hot enough so that it is pliable, and generally feels like a piece of wet, heavy leather in the hand. It should not bubble, discolor, or get shiney. If it does, you've gotten it too hot. Think Goldy Locks here, we want it 'just right'. Move the heat gun with the tip about 2 or 3 inches away from the surface of the kydex at first, moving in quick, even circles, covering all of the sheet evenly. If the sheet starts getting shiney, back away to about 4 inches and keep moving in circles, checking the pliability by lifting a corner with your other gloved hand. You want it like wet leather, not melted cheese.

Once the plastic is hot, turn off the heat gun and set it aside (I unplug it and set it on the concrete floor of my garage, away from anything flamable). Place your mold in the center of the kydex sheet. For holster making- this is your gun. MAKE TRIPLE SURE IT IS UNLOADED. You do NOT want loaded magazines or chambered round ANYWHERE in your work area. Unload the gun before going to your work area, leaving the chamber round and loaded mag in another room. Lots of heat + ammo = bad. Not to mention we'll be working the gun in the mold, and chances are you will wind up pointing the muzzle at you at one point or another. TRIPLE CHECK and CHECK AGAIN to make sure the gun is unloaded!

So with our kydex nice and hot, place the UNLOADED gun in the center of the sheet, and wrap the pistol, lining up the edges of the sheet (try to keep everything as square as possible, less waste, and you can probably use what we're going to cut off for later projects, such as mag carriers). Once you get the sheet folded over the gun, apply pressure and hold it until the plastic cools (kydex cools quickly, so don't doddle, you've got less than thirty seconds after making the fold before the piece gets too cool to work with. If this happens, hit the kydex with the heatgun for a few seconds just until it becomes pliable again.)

When you're done, your first molding should look like this:



This post has been edited by hkriflenut: May 1st 2009 12:23 AM

Here's another view of the initial molding:




Now we're going to set aside the heatgun (unplug it, let it cool) in favor of the Dremel tool. First, before we start hacking our expensive plastic up, we're going to get a rough idea of where we want to cut. FOr this you'll need a #2 pencil. I use cheap mechanical pencils because the line thickness doesn't vary.

You want to sketch out the lines of the holster, measure twice, cut once. It's better to leave more material than it is to cut away too much at once. I learned this with my first project, and I had to do some tweaking to make the holster safe for carry because of it. So don't just eyeball it once. Trace the outline of the holster, trace the belt loop piece, and when you're satisfied where everything is, THEN you can cut. As you can see in the next photo, I've laid out the lines for the belt clip. On the opposite side (not pictured) is the shape of the holster where it presses against the body.



Once you've laid down your pencil lines, now you can start cutting. Use the heavy duty cutting wheels with your dremel, and the variable speed models are definately best for this. On mine, I use speed setting 8 for most cutting. Anything slower and you'll bind up the spindle, anything faster causes the plastic to melt and the cutting wheel to shatter too often.

Okay, so we're cutting. Go slow and easy at first, make multiple passes over your lines. shallow at first just to lay down where the outline of the cut will be, then make a few passes over these. This will keep from melting the plastic or shattering the cutting wheels too much, and gives you some room for error incase of a mishap. I shouldn't have to remind you to wear your gloves, the plastic is sharp, as is the cutting wheel spinning at thousands of RPM's, also don't forget eye protection. Molten plastic shot into your eye is not pleasant. I know this from first hand experience. Keep your eye and hand protection on at all times.

Once our initial cuts are complete, you can really start to see a holster taking form.




And here's the right side, where the belt loop will be...




and reinserting the gun into the kydex for measuring purposes, and to see exactly how things are coming along...

Now we have to bring the heat gun back in to play, as we're going to start shaping the belt loop. For this model, instead of a quick on-quick off clip style loop, I've opted to use a more secure style that requires the belt be threaded through the loop. This makes the holster more secure from snatch attempts, and from working out of your pants with a lot of bending/moving/lifting. I came up with this particular type of loop idea when building the holster to fit my Glock + the TLR-1 light. It works very well, and is very secure, so I opted for this type of loop for today's creation. The belt loop will be formed by first heating the strip of kydex that will become the loop (dont heat the holster body itself) using a circular motion with the heat gun's tip about 3 inches from the surface, just until the plastic is pliable.

We'll bend the whole piece over so that it points toward the bottom of the holster.




At this point, I opted to refine some of the holster body that will ride against the wearer.



Next I've trimmed the piece that'll become the belt loop, then rounded off the tip and sanded everything to remove sharp edges.

Now with the tip prepared and the loop's edges sanded and rounded, use the heat gun to reheat the entire piece that will become the belt loop, careful not to heat up the holster body. Once the kydex is pliable, fold the tip under itself, halving the size of the piece, and flatten it. Now take the tapered piece of wood, which just happens to be 1 and 1/4 inches wide (same width as my belt) and insert it in the hot loop, this is where we are shaping the belt loop.




You want to keep it flat, and open just a bit wider than your fattest belt you can expect to wear with the holster, so that the holster slides easily on and off of your belt without marring the belt's finish or cutting it if you wear a Wilderness type belt.

The completed loop should look like this:




and from the other side...

Notice that the piece tucked up under itself, which forms the loop, is laying flush with the holster body. This is what you want. This will add tension when slipping the holster over your pants, adding to the holster's stability, and to the ease of attaching and removing the holster from your pants/belt.

Now we're really coming along. You can see the holster in it's rough form. Now it's just a matter of a little detail work.

One of the things that bugs me the most about a lot of plastic holsters is when they rub my middle finger when gripping the holstered pistol, so on this model, we've got a little trimming to do with the dremel and the dikes - the rear edge of the belt loop hits the middle finger when gripping hte holstered gun, so we're going to trim that section back, and allow an unencombered grip.


You can see in the above picture, the left side of the belt loop. This is where we're going to be removing material. Measure carefully, and slowly work away material until you can comfortably grip the pistol without rubbing your middle finger, but also without taking away too much material, or exposing any part of the trigger.

Once that is complete, we need to do some drilling. Using the 3/16 bit, we're going to drill two holes in the lower rear edge of the holster body for the tension screws. Press the two pieces of kydex together, and put a wood block under the holster where you're going to be drilling, unless you don't mind holes in your bench surface...




ONce the holes are drilled, we'll be filling them with aluminum Chicago screws (lower left compartment) and rubber faucet washers (top middle compartment). The male end of the chicago screw will have a stainless washer placed between it and the holster body (center middle compartment)

Now is the time to make any last minute adjustments to the fit of the holster body. On this particular model, I've opted not to use any sort of heavy pinch retention, trigger guard detent, or ejection port detent. A gentle press of heated kydex along the trigger guard suffices on this one. You can, however, heat up that area and press at the leading edge of the trigger guard (leaving space away from the face of the trigger when fully forward!) if you want more retention. You can also heat the area at the ejection port and make a small detent there, which would require a rocking motion to remove the gun from the holster. I have foregone these this time. Instead, I just did a little touch up, molding where I thought it needed it for cosmetic purposes.

The only thing left now is sanding down the edges, I start with the sanding drum on the dremel to make quick work of burs, and to even out edges, corners, and curves. Once I'm satisfied there, it's time to move on to sand paper, starting with 200 grit, then working up to 1000 grit for smooth, rounded edges and corners.






The very last thing I've done is adding the date the holster was made, along with the model number and my logo to the back side, then sanding them smooth. Since this is an IWB, it is a Model 1, and I added today's date - 9-9-08.



It's all done. If you followed the steps, you should have something quite similar, but unique to your own pistol.

This post has been edited by hkriflenut: September 10th 2008 2:43 AM

This same general method was used now to create two IWB holsters, an OWB belt slide to fit the TLR-1 light mounted on my pistol, as well as mag carriers and light carriers.

In another edition, I will show you how to create magazine carriers and light carriers so you can DIY those items as well - and the best part, they can be made from scrap from the holsters depending on how judicious you are in your cutting and detail work!

Some of what I've created so far...

This is a cool idea. My lousy internet will not let me see the pics though. Where did you get the sheet of Kydex from?

CKK Industries in Georgia. www.knifekits.com is their website - they're mostly knife making place, but they also sell sheath making materials - kydex, leather, and all the hardware needed. They also sell presses, grinders...anything you need to make knives and holsters.

Thanks I will check out that site sounds cool.

Using the bulk of the last kydex sheet I had left after my last couple projects, I decided it was time to make the tuckable holster that I've been talking about for some time. Turned out a lot better than I thought it would! I think that so far, this is the holster that I'll use most at work, because I can tuck my shirt in (bit more professional looking) and not have to worry as much about the shirt riding up and revealing my gun, as it has a couple times using a plain IWB holster and untucked shirt(s).

Here's some pix of the latest creation. I might make another one of these using thicker kydex eventually, to see if there's an appreciable difference in weight, bulk, and concealability. There's a good 4.5" worth of tuck-space with this design, and the belt loop/tucker is molded close to the holster body. Coupled with belt tension, the shirt should stay in place just fine. I will keep ya'll apprised of how the trials are going.

Also, I decided to hit my light-bearing holster model with some Krylon Camo, since it's use is mostly in the field while fishing/hiking. The camo green & brown blends better with my normal fishing/hiking clothing - helping to conceal the gun in plain sight. More on that another time.

On with the pix!

Tucked:




Revealed:






Misc shots of the holster/gun combo...

Well, I've had now almost two months of field-testing on my tuckable holster design, daily carry for 12 to 18 hours a day (time I get up in the morning until I go to bed) and I can only say this - it rocks. I have not had one single incident of the shirt coming untucked and exposing the gun, nor the gun printing through the shirt. As part of my work, I'm routinely rolling around on the ground, on top of the gun, and it has not once shifted position or been any sort of issue. 've been in close contact with coworkers and customers, and no one has said a thing. It's great - I can walk around all day looking completely normal (or as normal as my ugly mug can look) and no worries of the gun being exposed.

The other big plus - my hip doesn't get sore at all, even after 18 hours of carrying the gun. I wear it at the 3:30 position, and have been using a Wilderness 5 stitch 1.25" belt. I carry a fully topped off Glock 17 every day, everywhere I go. Tucking, IWB is much easier to keep the gun concealed than OWB. Even after spending 10-12 hours in the drivers seat of my truck, no hip pain, no bruises, and you don't feel the weight of the loaded gun.

I can take the wife out someplace to eat where tucked in shirts are the socially accepted rule and be comfortable knowing that I don't have to downsize to a pocket gun, or resort to leaving the gun at home.

Practice draws are down to about 2 seconds - not the worlds quickest, but not bad from concealment. It's a simple matter of grabbing the shirt by the holster and ripping it up and away from the gun while grabbing and drawing the firearm. This is easily my favorite holster now for everything except for open carry. I have not used any of my OWB holsters, or the non-tuckable IWB in over a month.

Tuckable is definately the way to go.

Man, I am sure glad to find this post. I have been looking at Kydex trying to figure if I can make a holster for my Kahr for daily carry. They just don't make anything (that is in stock) that I like for IWB carry. With this post, I finally feel like I can give it a shot, and if I screw it up, I will only be out about $10-15. I have also been wanting to try to make a knife sheath or two...and this may help me to cut my teeth...as any minor flaws will be hidden. It just needs to be comfortable and secure.

Thanks!

Another update - going strong with three months of the tuckable kydex rig. Still no issues whatsoever. Only got made once - by my sister, when I bent down to pick something up, and hadn't really taken much time to tuck the shirt in right before leaving home (wasn't in a mood to give a damn, as my mom was in the hospital for the 2nd go round in as many weeks...) Sister noticed an odd bulge and says "what's that on your back?" -- she couldn't tell what it was, other than I had something there. Had I given a little slack in the shirt, she would never have seen it.

Double post...

This post has been edited by hkriflenut: May 1st 2009 12:42 AM

Okay, it's now the end of April, the tuckable rig has been in field trials for 7 months. In that time I have made a few alterations to it:

The initial molding was fine for most applications, and I didn't have any retention problems with the gun until the pac NW got hit by "Snowpocalypse '08" - a nasty ice/snow storm around Christmas time. While working I had the misfortune of taking a nasty spill right onto my butt. The impact was sufficient to jar the pistol loose from the holster, while it was tucked in and concealed. I then had the problem of getting up off the ground, with a loaded Glock floating around inside my shirt, with two witnesses watching, while trying to resecure the gun and not shoot myself. I accomplished the task, but as soon as I got home that night I did some remodelling of the holster - tighter molding, and adding retention detents in the trigger guard and the ejection port to keep the gun secure in the holster, even after taking a nasty spill (tested this...)

The other modifications included removing some excess material near the two chicago screws, and narrowed the belt loop a bit. I'm not pleased with the amount of material I removed, I think I would've left a bit more there.

I also wound up reheating and remolding the holster to fit a 4" XD 9mm, not a problem since it's roughly the same size as the Glock.

Two notes for future reference:

The 0.08" kydex material is fine for standard IWB, however with the design of this tuckable holster, the weight of the gun and holster is brought to bear at the bend in the belt attachment down by the muzzle. two small cracks have developped - one at each side of this area. I do believe that utilizing the thicker, stronger .125" thick material would negate this issue without adding too much thickness to the entire unit.

Another tuckable design is in the works, utilizing two separate belt loop attachments which I'm planning to be adjustible for height/cant. This is still in the paper design stage and has not had a prototype made yet. I am planning to create all holsters from here on out in the .125" thick kydex for it's strength, leaving the thinner material for magazine and light carriers or other carriers that don't have to bear the weight eqivalent to a loaded pistol.

I'm also trying to come up with a good way to add a thumb break or other active retention device to my holster designs.

I'm also trying to come up with better belt loops and belt attachments.

Keep looking here for updates, and enjoy some pix of my latest creation, a simple OWB holster for my 1911. This isn't really a concealment design - it's more of a range holster, as it doesn't hug the body. I needed a holster for this gun, and had a couple piece of kydex in the scrap bin left over sufficient to make this... I also made a magazine carrier to accompany it.