not enough neatsfoot oil?

[zaptoid]

I am trying to achieve a soft plyable holster but still rigid enough to keep the shape of my gun. I tried neatsfoot oil after dying and after two coats my holster is still pretty rigid. I read here on the forum to not over do it but two coats didnt seem to make a diference. My question then would be would is it because of the dye im using which is a water base dye or do I just need to give it more time to soften up? I put the coats on heavy a couple of days ago.

Any help would be great.

[jbird]

This is sounding a bit like the leather you used is not of the best quality is it Tandy stuff or what a piece of W&C is pretty soft even after molding, I have to bake mine to get them hard, I think this is a case of some less than top quality leather or it could be a piece hardened be the sun in that case you need more oil

Josh

[MADMAX22]

Leather will vary in how dry it is and many other reasons for stiffness as Josh pointed out.

What I do is use about two coats of neatsfoot oil. Once that has fully dried and soaked in Ill come back and do a good coat of a conditioner like lexol. Too much oil and you can ruin it but the lexol or similer should soften it up a bit.

[pete]

If you heavily dyed the piece(dunked it) or put a lot of applications, then it is the dye. It will stiffen the leather a lot. More neats is not the answer.

If you use enough to really soften it then you have used way too much and it will be mush before long.

FOr this one I would suggest just a coat or two of Bicks.

pete

[jbird]

Lexol

For sure but he said it was water base dye and that should not dry it out like alcohol base would I mean I think this just needs some lexol

Josh

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

I don't want to sound like a pain in the butt, but if you want the holster to be soft and pliable then use it a little while. It takes a lot of effort to make holsters stay rigid. Accomplishing a softer holster isn't too difficult at all. 'Just out of curiosity, why do you want the holster to be soft?

[zaptoid]

This is sounding a bit like the leather you used is not of the best quality is it Tandy stuff or what a piece of W&C is pretty soft even after molding, I have to bake mine to get them hard, I think this is a case of some less than top quality leather or it could be a piece hardened be the sun in that case you need more oil

Josh

I am using tandy for starting out.

I don't want to sound like a pain in the butt, but if you want the holster to be soft and pliable then use it a little while. It takes a lot of effort to make holsters stay rigid. Accomplishing a softer holster isn't too difficult at all. 'Just out of curiosity, why do you want the holster to be soft?

Im not looking for soft. I am however looking for a little more flexibility.

[Bronson]

Did you heat it at all to dry it? I was getting very rigid holsters because I was using a hair dryer or heat gun to dry my holsters because I was impatient. If you heat it too much too quickly it'll get very rigid and brittle.

Bronson

[zaptoid]

Did you heat it at all to dry it? I was getting very rigid holsters because I was using a hair dryer or heat gun to dry my holsters because I was impatient. If you heat it too much too quickly it'll get very rigid and brittle.

Bronson

I let it dry out natual like.

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

Im not looking for soft. I am however looking for a little more flexibility.

Flexibility comes as a result of breaking your holster in. If you want to, you could probably apply some Bick 4 or Lexol to the "wings" of the holster (where the belt slots are located), but I wouldn't advise it for anywhere that has molding. I don't personally advocate the use of neatsfoot oil in general when it comes to building holsters that are boned into shape. In time, it will only make them too soft (for my taste).

It seems like most of the companies or people that recomend using neatsfoot oil either got their start making saddles or apprenticed under somebody that did. The same needs don't apply to boned holsters that apply to belts, boots, saddles, knife sheaths, slings, or cowboy rigs. Believe me, if we were talking about any of those subjects I would deffinitely default to a saddle maker's advice; they are very talented and knowledgeable artisans (much more so than I am - I couldn't do what they do). They just usually have a different outlook and different needs in mind when it comes to what a holster should be.