A Finite Resource

Throughout history many of the great holster makers were strong men. Veterans. Law enforcement officers. Fighters. Craftsmen capable of tremendous physical work.

Yet when it came time to create detail in a holster, most chose the machine.

The holster is placed between layers of foam and subjected to tons of pressure. Minutes later, the detail is there.

It’s faster and it creates scale.

Ninety percent of the industry works this way.

What does that tell you?

To me, it says this work was never meant to be easy.

When I hand draw a holster, I use pressure from my thumb and a stainless steel bone folder to create detail into the leather one movement at a time.

By hand.

Recently, I caught myself doing one of my movements and had an immediate thought:

One day I won’t be able to do that anymore. It couldn't be physically possible.

Twenty years from now, to generate the pressure necessary to create the detail I create today, could I do it.

I slipped into my Nikes this morning and headed out for a run. Clarity. Time to think on the trail.

....Got me thinking.

The machine never gets older. 

“It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear.” (sunglasses emoji)

                             I do.

That’s what makes this work special. Every holster contains something finite.

Time.

Life.

Every craftsman in time chooses their tools. Today, here and now, I choose to keep my hands in the work longer. What you receive from Horse & Oak is not just combat leather. It is the product of effort that cannot be scaled, automated, or repeated forever. A small piece of a craftsman’s finite life pressed into horsehide. And that, to me, is worth preserving.

Andrew Theodore Thomas