Help with shark trim

[carljc72]

I recently made the holster below for a friend. He would like another in commander length and would like me to add shark to the mouth reinforcement as well as the straps. Do I glue the shark to the backing leather, then cut it to shape and size, and then edge it? Do I burnish in the normal steps as I would for leather? Or...does the shark need to wrap around the leather and the edges hide underneath (does not sound like a good idea for the straps...maybe for the mouth reinforcement)? Since this is just a hobby for me, I would like to keep the trial and error to a minimum. I would also like the edges to look good/clean.

HELP I am scared...lol

Thanks in advance,

Carl

[woolfe]

I'm sure there are many ways to do this. I cut out the shapes I need from leather then I cut out pieces of shark slightly bigger. I then glue them together and trim the shark to fit. Then I burnish it like regular leather.

[Randyc]

Carl,

I agree with Woolfe's method. I use a good contact cement (Barge) on all my holsters. When glueing your Shark Skin down to the leather, make sure you cover the entire piece of shark and mating service. If you miss a spot on the edge, the shark will curl up and it will be tough to get a clean burnished edge. Don't be scared "grasshopper", go for it!

Randy

[carljc72]

Thank you both. I appreciate the info and the vote of confidence. I was just not sure how the edge would come out with 2 different materials glued together. The shark is ordered and hopefully on the way. I will post a pic when I am done (that is if it looks ok...lol).

[carljc72]

Here is the finished holster...again, thanks for the advice.

[Tac]

Wow that turned out nice! Was it as hard to work with as you anticipated?

-Tac

[kevinhopkins]

Hi... very nice job on the holster... I'm betting it was easier than you thought!

Kevin

[carljc72]

It was not bad. It does require an extremely sharp edger (mine isn't sharp enough...lol). A little extra time burnishing was truly all that it needed.

Thanks for the compliments,

Carl

[rybord]

Looks great Carl!!!!!!!

A couple of questions

Did you scuff the leather under the shark skin?

Where do you get the shark skin?

Thanks, Ray

[MADMAX22]

Haha you still scared?

Looks great man nicely done.

[carljc72]

Looks great Carl!!!!!!!

A couple of questions

Did you scuff the leather under the shark skin?

Where do you get the shark skin?

Thanks, Ray

I did scuff it up and I bought the shark from Springfield Leather.

Carl

[10x]

Do you mold and bone the shark, or just the leather up to the edge of the shark?

[carljc72]

Do you mold and bone the shark, or just the leather up to the edge of the shark?

I only went to the edge when boning...I have not tried boning the shark yet. Can anyone tell us how well it shows detail? I molded it in a press and it formed pretty well.

[Jared]

I actually have a holster that is fully shaped to the gun. The outer is shark, IWB, and I didn't want it moving, and loved the look of shark. It will not show the imprint of the gun as well, but it does show it well enough to be able to tell exactly what model you have. Having this one, I intend to make another similar just update the feel of it a bit.