Outfitting 'Public Enemies'

Tigard’s Ted Blocker Holsters makes the holster that packs Johnny Depp’s heat

By Christina Cooke

The Times, Jul 2, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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These days, Ted Blocker is one of the larger holster companies in the United States, grossing between $380,000 and $425,000 a year, Don said.

In addition to prop house work, the company produces holsters and magazine pouches for law enforcement officers, hunters, competitive shooters and concealed carriers.

It counts the Los Angeles Police Department, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the U.S. Department of Energy and members of the National Park Service among its clients.

On a recent afternoon, Don and Shelley’s four employees worked at various projects in the facility’s 4,500-square-foot workroom.

To make each holster or pouch, the men cut, stitch, glue and dye the leather, attach metal hardware and then sand, bevel, buff and finish its edges.

Unlike other companies, which mass-produce more generic-shaped holsters, Ted Blocker has aluminum molds of over 500 gun types, and it tailors each holster to the type of gun it will carry.

“It’s kept us in business,” Shelley said. “It’s what we like to do.”

It has also stayed true to leather.

“Leather, if it’s taken care of, will last you forever,” Don said. “Nylon they say is a bit lighter, but it wears out.”

Don said he plans to go see “Public Enemies” soon after it comes out in the theater.

“I haven’t seen a movie with Johnny Depp yet that wasn’t good,” he said.

'Public Enemies' plot

In the action-thriller “Public Enemies,” filmmaker Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard in the true story of legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Depp). J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) names Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation, which later becomes the FBI, and he puts his top agent, Melvin Purvis (Bale), on the case. Wild chases and shootouts ensue as Purvis’ men chase Dillinger and his gang.

Source: www.publicenemies.net

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