Sisters man crafts custom gun leather

Ed Stebbins is a contemporary master of an old craft.

The Sisters leatherworker specializes in making custom handgun holsters and knife sheaths for cowboy action shooters, collectors, hunters and law enforcement personnel.

“It’s all custom, all one-at-a-time,” he said.

Stebbins got into leatherworking as a hobby and pursued it part-time for a dozen years.

“I’m a big single-action fan,” he said of his first forays into building holsters. “I couldn’t find anything to carry the gun out with the kids (hunting or fishing) that didn’t look like I was heading to a gunfight at the OK Corral.”

So he started building his own holsters and branched out to supply friends who admired his work.

Last year, he buckled down and started producing his work as a business. He works out of his home in Sisters and displays his work at Lost Creek Armory in Bend where he also helps out behind the gun counter.

There’s nothing fancy about Stebbins’ work. He doesn’t go in much for tooling, a skill which takes years to develop to a high level of prioficiency. Yet his work carries the elegance and beauty of a well-made piece of output built out of quality materials and designed for pure function.

He uses Hermann Oak Leather exclusively and builds holsters, sheaths and belts from the densest part of the hide.

Stebbins does extensive field testing of different holster styles and fits each piece to the needs of the individual customer.

A good custom holster or sheath must not only fit the gun or knife it is designed for, it must also fit the user. Different body types and styles of carry require different holster styles and its hard to find the right thing off the rack.

“I do a lot of holsters for women,” Stebbins said. It seems that manufacturers have not caught up with the differing requirements of the growing number of women in law enforcement and the shooting sports.

For some guns — old family heirlooms or many pistols with accessory rails, for instance — it’s almost impossible to find an off-the-rack holster that fits properly.

Then, too, custom work tends to hold up better than the average manufacturer’s holster. A custom-made holster designed for a specific gun and shooter can take a lot of action.

That’s why Stebbins’ clients, gained almost exclusively by word of mouth, seek out a craftsman. He’s done holsters and belt gear for police officers from Bend and Warm Springs and does a lot of work for cowboy action shooters, who really put a holster through its paces.

One local firearms enthusiast and former Special Forces soldier has purchased several holsters and sheaths from Stebbins because the work meets his exacting standards.

“Ed’s local, so you have face-to-face contact, you have that personal touch,” the customer said. “You get exactly what you want and need.”

He noted that, “price (is) more than competitive with any major brand” and “quality is immeasurably better.”

Stebbins grew up on a dairy farm in Upstate New York and came West in the service. He drove for Federal Express in Seattle for years before the rain finally wore him down and he started looking for drier, sunnier climes.

“I thought about moving to New Mexico and somebody up there said, ‘Hey, have you been to Central Oregon?’” Stebbins recalled.

He checked out the area, liked it, and has been living in Sisters for the dozen years since.

For more information, contact Stebbins at Lost Creek Armory, 389-4867 or in the evening at 549-1903.