Many years ago my only handgun was my EAA Witness Full Size. I was a young father, my wife stayed home with the kids and we had just purchased out first home. There was no money for an expensive custom holster and no one made a decent, or even indecent, holster for the Witness. I picked up some cheap leather and stitched together a workable holster. It's biggest problem was an inability to re-holster after a draw. The holster mouth collapsed. And that it didn't really stay put. And that it was not particularly comfortable. Though I didn't learn those last two until later.
After a couple of years we weren't quite so house poor, and I was able to pick up a dog-eared Para P16 and convert it to 10mm. Having a 1911 pattern gun opened up a bunch of options in holsters, and I ordered a Crossbreed Supertuck second. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I could draw and re-holster the gun. And it didn't "wander" as much in carry angle. Or at all. And...It was actually comfortable to have a gun on my hip. I was sold, and Crossbreed brand, and later supertuck style holsters were all I used for many years. The Para was eventually replaced by a Glock 20 and 29, and the Crossbreed gave way to an Alien Gear.
Then I decided to give appendix carry a shot. And I loved it, except for the fact that a supertuck style hybrid two clip hoster doesn't work very well. I shopped around a bit and ended up with a Vedder Holster for my Glock 20. I very much liked the holster for appendix carry. And it is pretty good for 4:00 carry as well.
The Witness though. I still longed to have that gun as my primary. It was no heavier than the Para I carried for many years, and was far thinner in the slide than the Glock 20. And it offered the options of Condition 1 or Condition 2 carry. But there were no holster options that would work for appendix carry that weren't well over $100 custom holsters.
So, I looked around my office and realized that I had some kydex left over from a knife sheath I made a few years back. One of the pieces was about 7" wide and about 11" long. Plenty of kydex to cook my own "vedder" style kydex holster.
I grabbed some foam I had...two blocks 3" thick, 9" wide and 10" long. And I grabbed a section of plywood about the same size from a scrap pile in the garage. I stacked them up on the kitchen floor, put the plywood on top and stood on it. Compressed really well.
Next I need to block up the pistol. Four specific things I was concerned about. First, a sight channel. I had seen other who didn't block for a channel for the front side and ended up with a holster that they couldn't draw from. So I cut a pencil to fit between the front and rear sights and taped it to the top of the gun. Second, the bump on the right side of the frame for the slide stop pin. On the Witness it sicks up 0.120". While I thought the gun could get out, I wanted a channel in the kydex for that pin to slide through from the rear of the holster forward. Third, I needed a place blocked out away from the gun between the slide stop pin and the muzzle, This space is for hardware that will hold the clip to the holster. Finally, I wanted a tension screw, so I needed some relief between the two sides the kydex. So I blocked out some 1/4" stock in front of the trigger guard. I blocked these out with wood scraps from the shop floor.
Here is a picture I took just before I put the blocking in for the slide stop pin:
(http://fellingfamily.net/images/holsterPrep.jpg)
From here it was heat the kydex to 250°, wrap it around the gun with the open flaps on the "bottom" and put it between the foam and stand on it for 5 minutes. First time I didn't like the result, so I just re-heated and went again.
Second time it came out pretty well. Next I trimmed it to rough shape with scissors, installed the tension screw using holster hardware from some of the cheaper amazon.com fails, tried the gun in and out till I got the tension right, then trimmed to final shape and sanded all the edges smooth.
Finally I drilled and installed a space crossbreed steel C clip.
(http://fellingfamily.net/images/holsterLeft.jpg)
(http://fellingfamily.net/images/holsterRight.jpg)
Very comfortable and stable. And the Witness gets to go dancing again.
Very nice! I'm about ready to make something like that and rig it for a shoulder holster for my Witness Hunter.