Smartphone Holster

Posted in Projects on March 1st, 2014 by The Cyberwolfe

Hey, he’s not dead!

Smartphone holster-front

My first smartphone was a T-Mobile Wing about 6 years ago. It was the only one I’ve purchased where the holster that came with the phone outlasted the phone. I still have it, and it’s in great condition.

All the other phones I’ve had since then have gone through at least two holsters each. part of this can be attributed to me being a cheapskate when it comes to buying them, but there’s also something to be said for them using cheap materials.

Smartphone holster-open

This one is made out of top-quality veg-tan cowhide and lined with a rather nice pigskin that the wife picked up a while back. For the closure, I simply harvested the magnets from a couple of my previous holsters and glued them into cutouts I made in the leather.

To make the cutouts, I set my V-groover to about half the thickness of the leather and used it to draw out a rectangle where I wanted each magnet to go, then went back over the whole area a number of times to remove the material down to depth. After some careful cleanup with a razor knife, I had rectangular depressions in the leather. Apply several coats of black dye, let it set, and then I simply glued the magnets in place. Once the glue set, I glued that pigskin over the top.

Smartphone holster - side

For added magnetism, I glued some additional metal strips onto the magnets, which also gave me more surface area for the glue to ensure the magnets don’t wander off like they have in other cases I’ve used.

Smartphone holster - back

For the belt attachment, a simple loop strap is sewn in place. In this pic you can see the creases – I grooved the other side before I glued the pigskin in place to assist the bends at those points. If I ever build another, I may groove several additional lines through there to make it more flexible.

There are a couple of kits available for smartphone holsters, but they go a different route and use one piece for the back & flap, then another for the front pocket. Not a bad design, just more complicated and finicky than it needs to be. I just took one rectangle of leather and folded it in thirds like a letter going into an envelope, then sewed the “walls” in at the ends.

After sewing the whole thing up, the flap didn’t quite want to stay closed by magnetism alone, so I folded it closed and buried it under my marble slab with a few other heavy objects on top overnight. That persuaded the leather that ‘closed’ is a good place to be, and it’s been fine since.