DeWayne Hayes

Larry, beautiful work! Thanks for the tips. I tend to shy away from Neatsfoot, as my holsters are wet formed, and I don't want to soften them and lose that form. Al, thanks too - I looked at Leather-n-rich and it appears to be carnauba based, so I'm guessing my Atom Wax does about the same thing.

Hi folks. I've made several gun holsters, and always use Fiebings Pro Dye in either English Bridle or Black. I'm considering doing one in natural though ... but I'm not sure what that really means. If I was going to finish a holster and retain the natural, non-dyed color, would I do any finishing at all? Any thought? My usual finish is Leather Balm with Atom Wax, and on a holster that will see lots of weather, I will top-coat with diluted Mop&Glo for an acrylic layer. Think I could just do the same with a natural color holster? What about beeswax? I hear some dip leather holsters in melted beeswax, is this right? Thanks, DeWayne

Just circling back, folks. I tried the contact cement route and it seemed to work fine. Just a few dabs on the lip of the interior (domed, slotless) female end, and a little on the leather, wait 15-min, and she tightens up nicely now. Don't expect to ever need to take those female ends off the leather loop they're glued to, so should be good to go. Thanks for helping me brainstorm this.

That's a cool tool when there is clearance on both sides, but I could never get it in there between the flap and the holster without bending or scarring the leather. The flap is pressed down tight to the holster body. I'm thinking a thin rubber washer or, as I said, a spot of contact cement might be my strategy. I'll try the rubber washer tactic first and see how it does. Thanks, folks. DeWayne

Thanks, folks. My leather is thick enough that the screw isn't bottoming out, it just can't grab firmly enough on the leather to really dig in and stop spinning. It tightens ok, just not as tight as I'd like. This is only exacerbated by the fact that when I attach the second one, I can no longer get my finger in there to hold it as there's no room. I think I may try a drop of contact cement on the lip of that female domed head. I suspect that's going to stop the spinning. Worst case scenario, the leather loop it's attaching to can be replaced easily enough if I ever have to. This was the first western style revolver holster I've made - all my holster making to this point has been thumb-break style for automatics. Being able to connect a loop in the back with Chicago Screws is such a pleasure - saves a ton of stitching for the belt loop.

Folks, I have made a holster that has some Chicago Screws, and I can't figure a good way to tighten them when one side is domed/slotless. Finger pressure goes so far, but then the domed side just turns. Does anyone have a trick? Rubber washer, maybe? Contact cement in place of a washer on the domed side? Anything else? Thanks, DeWayne

That is gorgeous work all the way around!

Beautiful piece of work! That is one case where I'm not sure if you're wearing the holster, or the holster is wearing you, but either way - great looking piece!

Brilliant work - I've been thinking about an apron, myself. Well done!

Absolutely. I will split a canister over two or three projects until it's exhausted. Bear in mind, you use more dye this way, as a lot of it gets sprayed right past the edges of your project (as with any sprayed medium), so you'll see your dye jar going down faster than you might expect, as opposed to a dauber, where it all goes into the leather. But I freely move the Preval from one color to another. Give it a little blast to clear out the old color still in the tube, then carry on. Also bear in mind this one little trick - when you're screwing a Preval directly onto a Fiebings 4 oz jar of dye, you'll need to trim a tiny bit off the end of the Preval's plastic tube that extends down into the dye. They're made to go into a different reusable reservoir and are just a tiny bit too long for a Fiebings dye jar, but with a sharp knife or razor, if you trim it just a bit, you can screw the Preval unit right down onto the Fiebings jar and eliminate the need for a separate reservoir entirely. Very handy! BTW - I'm in an apartment too, and I just step outside in the parking lot and spray my piece quickly. You certainly don't want to spray that pro dye in the apartment!

No, it's one and done - once the canister is spent, it goes in the trash. They're around $10 a pop, so not cheap, but the trade-off is never having to clean an airgun or maintain a compressor, etc.

Yep, I can get full use out of a 4oz bottle with a Preval.

Just to add to your options, I gave up dying with a dauber almost immediately due to streaking and turned to first airbrushes, but later the much simpler Preval air canister. https://tandyleather.com/products/preval-power-unit?variant=31977386868867&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA75itBhA6EiwAkho9e4ayMpy0bMgtdKQ1BZLIJiDI4YnGrzmROkU0Ke8gBK-oJLUoiP6_pBoCSP0QAvD_BwE These will literally screw right into the top of a Fiebings small jar of Pro Dye and you've got an instant air gun with no clean up - use it until it's empty and throw away. It's my go-to method for dying now unless I'm doing Black, which I never have any streaking issues with when using a dauber. But that's the only color I do by hand. Anything brown or tan I use the Preval sprayer. Hope this helps! DeWayne

Thanks, guys!

Right on. Since all the holsters I do are cross-draw, so long as they have a 1.75" belt loop, I can slide them on there. I think I'll probably make one in black for the black holsters. One other benefit of this "modular" system that I've found is that I can easily pop the shoulder strap over to the other side of my neck. I imagine if I were wearing it all day, it might be really nice to swap sides to take the strain off the left side of my neck and even things out a bit.

Awesome - thank you!

I'm thinking I probably better use some brass washers on both sides of where the shoulder strap attaches to the horizontal strap - otherwise those small brass bolt heads are going to compress too deeply into the leather - not to mention, the washers will add rigidity to that intersection. Does anyone know a source for brass washers? Maybe 7/8" OD, 1/4" ID?

I should make one with a sheep's wool fly patch sewn onto the shoulder strap!

Decided I wanted to make an Alaskan style "guide holster" or chest rig, which allows you to fish up to your belly in water while keeping your self defense sidearm close at hand and dry. I could have bought one of these, but I wanted to have some flexibility - I wanted to simply use my standard cross-draw holster and be able to remove it when I want to wear on my belt. I also wanted something that would break apart for ease of packing/transport - in other words, not a complicated 3 dimensional "cage" but something that could easily lay flat or be rolled up. Finally, a last value add is I can use the horizontal strap as a belt when needed. So, theoretically, it's a chest rig AND/OR a cross draw belt holster rig. Good ol' Fiebings English Bridle Pro Dye, followed by Leather Balm + Atom Wax. Very simple (as is my style and limit of my abilities!). Hope you all enjoy. DeWayne

Ha ha! I work Veg-tan wet for my holsters, but the 8-10oz is as big as I've gone. Someday I'll get in the ring with the heavyweights!

That's tremendous! Wish I could work leather that thick.

I just love the look AND feel of waxed leather - like a nice pair of dress shoes. So, I consider this combo of wax and M&G to be a great "best of both worlds" ... I'm not exactly getting the feel of pure wax, but I'm getting almost the same shine, with the great value add of waterproofing provided by the acrylic. Good combo and easy, durable finish for novices like myself. I've just been going back and doing all my holsters and knife sheaths. Easy to add to an old project.

Does the M&G over the black shoe polish keep the shoe polish from rubbing off on clothing? I'm guessing it does.

Just for testing purposes, I reapplied a second coat to the test holster just now, and it dried nicely, depositing even more acrylic, I'm sure. Always scary when that watery mess goes on and turns the leather dark in spots, but within minutes it's dried and back to normal. And yes, I never was into the red dots, but my aging eyes are finding them to be quite helpful! Made this holster specifically to accommodate the optic. D

Made another holster for one of my long barrel Glocks and this time I tried a different finishing technique. Usually, I stain with Fiebings Pro Dye, then the next day apply Fiebings Leather Balm + Atom Wax. I love the waxy sheen but a wax finish is not particularly water repellent, and for an outdoor holster (woods gun), I felt like I needed to do more. I experimented on an older messed up holster finished with the Balm/Wax and mixed up a dish of Mop & Glow diluted 50/50 with water. I really wasn't sure how the watery M&G would react on top of a waxy finish. Would it just roll off? As you know, water and wax aren't supposed to mesh. To my absolute delight, it went on wet with a foam brush, then fairly quickly soaked in and deposited the acrylic layer perfectly, with no streaking or any negative side effects. no color change. Feels like a Mop & Glo finish now, but buffed right back to a pretty nice sheen. Not an intense waxy gloss, but somewhere in between. I was delighted. This stuff definitely beads water better than the wax alone. In other words, if I let water sit on the pure wax, it doesn't take long to penetrate the leather. With the M&G, the water beads and will eventually penetrate, but I have longer to wipe it off without penetration. That's about as good as I need. If I get caught in rain, I want to be able to wipe off the leather and then cover it up without staining. Now, here's another benefit I found. This particular double shoulder I got from Tandy leather. About half the shoulder was really nice and smelled of that delicious veg tan, baseball glove new shoe smell - the rest was more wrinkly and had a distinct farmyard smell after wet molded (smelled like cow sh*t to be honest). Not nice. The messed up holster I tested on was the worst, for some reason - really a nasty odor. So, I used the M&G on the inside of the holster too, applied with a brush. Dried nicely, and apparently sealed in the stink, because now the holster just smells slightly lemony! No more cattle yard smell. I think this is an interesting tool for both topcoats and interiors - I'm happy with it! If anything, I think the wax layer helps prevent the M&G from streaking, and that alone is worth it, in my opinion.