Archive for February, 2007

Tucker uses only premium cowhide for all his holsters, belts and magazine pouches. It’s vegetable tanned, durable and beautiful. Some potential customers ask why he doesn’t work with horsehide.

Number one, Tucker prefers cowhide and works best with cowhide. Two, there’s less high quality horsehide available than cowhide; and three, horsehide is not suitable for the decorative stamping that so many of Tuckers customers ask for. 

A well-know English maker, Andy Arratoonian, who has a fine reputation and a dedicated customer base has written some excellent articles on holstermaking and working with leather. Perhaps his article on the pro’s and con’s of horsehide and cowhide will be interesting to you. Here’s the link.

For those of you who wonder why I’d send you to another maker’s website, we have plenty of business and don’t mind sharing resources.

Visit us at Tucker Gunleather if we can be of service. 

I always appreciate the feedback I get from customers – everything from “really pleased with my new leather” to “Awesome, Dude!” to “I don’t know whether to wear it or frame it!”

I note with great appreciation when customers notice and comment on the details that make Tucker’s work so functionally excellent and feature-rich. I received an email this morning with a link to a great new review on the M1911 forum with outstanding pictures to illustrate the comments.

“Rio Vista Slim” points out details in his review worth appreciating for form and function. It begins:

“My Tucker HF1!

I would not presume to challenge Ping Ping or his outstanding review and photos of the Tucker HF1 rig that he received as a Christmas present. His review can be found here.

Consider this an addendum, if you will, to Ping’s excellent Christmas thread. I’m adding a few thoughts about the Tucker HF1 holster that I ordered from Tucker Gunleather in the second week of November of last year.”

To see his outstanding pictures and read his well-written post go here.

What are your favorite details in your Tucker rig?

Rob

Just a note to let you know that we have been flooded with orders since December and it hasn’t tapered off much since.

My turnaround estimates are always made in good faith, but I miss the mark sometimes. We’re adjusting to a whole new reality over here.

We’ve had high demand for several years and our lead times last summer were 3-4 weeks for IWB’s and 8-9 weeks for HF1 belt rigs. Now the IWB’s are running 6-7 weeks and the HF1 rigs 12 weeks or so. Other makers are also experiencing longer lead times.

Tucker has hired a good man who comes in 3-4 days a week and who’s helped to speed up production. We could use another good holstermaker. (That’s not a job solicitation – Tucker would have the say on that.)

Tucker’s looking at additional equipment to speed up production including an additional sewing machine. We’re willing to spend money to improve our production rate. The one thing you always get is Tucker’s best work, so he wont’ rush anything to sacrifice quality.

What I really want you to understand is that our estimate of when a holster will be made is based upon a running history of how long orders have taken in the recent past. There’s a chronological list and when your order reaches the top, it’s made in 2-3 days (which includes some drying and maybe stamping in between steps.

I’m committed to communicate well with customers and I don’t mind getting emails or calls to check on status. Emails are best and I respond daily. Let me know what else I can do to communicate more effectively.   

Today I got an email from a nice guy who’d bought a Tucker HF1 second-hand for half-price. The seller said it fit either a Beretta PX4 or a Glock 19/23.

Just because you can put the gun in the holster doesn’t mean it fits.

I’m not saying don’t buy second hand, just buy the holster for the gun for which it’s made. My new friend is disappointed after thinking he had gotten a good deal. Usually, a used holster from Tucker Gunleather is a very good deal because they’re very hard to wear out.

This time the seller was a little too loose with the facts.

“How thin is it?” “How thin is the leather?”  “How thin is the kydex?” “How thin is your Answer compared to the ……..?” 

It makes perfect sense that you would consider how thin an IWB holster is, but it’s only a part of the mix of features and attributes of an IWB holster. 

First, If you had a very thin IWB with a little more than 1/8″ total thickness (1/16” on each side of your gun) that’s got to be about the thinnest you could get. Is it important?  Would it make your gun more concealable? It’s got to be more concealable, right? It’s not necessarily so.

There are many other factors that make a holster/gun combination concealable and the overall thickness is just one.  The ride height, the angle, the profile, the aspect ratio, the spread of the belt clips, the whole mix of factors makes a holster concealable or not.

Tucker’s Texas Heritage is just about 1/8″ thick on each side of your gun. The Answer is a little thicker than 1/8″ on the leather side and about 1/16″ on the Kydex side. 

At the maximum these two holsters are 1/8″ thicker overall than the theoretical thinnest example I cited above and yet are thinner than many others you’ve tried.  It’s time to look at your ruler and see what 1/8″ looks like. It’s insignificant. Our proven design is what is significant.

I invite you not to be so concerned with what’s the thinnest because we repeatedly and frequently get emails and phone calls proving to us how much more concealable the Texas Heritage and Tucker Answer IWB’s are than what our customer was using before. Our customers love these holsters and our customers are just like you – picky, choosey, and committed to having the best. Some even started the process with a phone call asking “how thin?”

So, the next time you start thinking how thin a holster is, remember it’s just one of the elements that goes into overall holster design and you can absolutely count on superb concealability and comfort with the Texas Heritage or the Tucker Answer IWB’s.

So, you’ve bought a new IWB holster and you’re excited. It’s new. It has that “new holster smell.” It even feels great in your hands and, most importantly, on your hip. Your gun fits just fine and the holster is actually comfortable. You even brag about it to your friends.

Now, it’s 7 months later. Are you still lovin’ your leather? Still have the pride of ownership? Are you still telling your buddies how much you like it, or have you become disappointed now that you’ve discovered all it’s plusses and minuses? 

If you have the Tucker Answer IWB, you may express it the same way this customer did in my email today:

“I hate like the dickens to eat my words, but for months, I’ve been saying that the Answer is “half as fast as kydex and twice as fast as leather.”

Well, nearly 7 mos on… not-so, the Answer.  The leather finally figured out the shape of the gun I carry mostly; any one of a few Les Baer 5″er’s, and has literally become as fast to draw as my full kydex Blade-Tech.  I would never have believed this!  Presentation from this thing now is effortless.

While the vegi-tanned leather backing plate has worn in, the chrome-tanned suede backing has not.  It is still as soft, comfortable and grippy as the day I unboxed it.  The nap is still tall and fluffy.  I have it on now and it, honestly, feels softer than the waistband of my well-washed jeans.

While the Hermann Oak leather has “learned” to love my Baers, it has not sacrificed its necessary rigidity.  It is still firm amd stable. 

I don’t know if I’ve yet tipped my hand, but I LOVE this holster!
Veteran of many.  Devotee of ONE.

Get one, or you’re missing out on the most agreeable IWB carry solution there is.”

Don, 02/03/2007.

Note: The “chrome-tanned suede backing is the layer of leather on the side of the holster toward your body. You can read about it here.