Tooling Won't Stay

[jlsleatherworks]

I am new to all this and have been trying to teach myself to make holsters, I have made a couple so far that I have been overall pretty happy with. I have stamped a basketweave design in them that looks really nice. The problem I'm having is that when I wet-form it the leather swells and the pattern becomes very light. Maybe I should not try to stamp peices that I plan on wet forming?

[DaveT]

You got it. When you soak the leather to wet form it the fibers swell and the tooling disappears. You can wet form first, then stamp, but it can be difficult. Most of the time, if you are wet forming you won't tool. In saddle making the fork cover is wet formed and then you stamp it while on the saddle. Not sure how you'd do a holster, unless you didn't sew it, opened it up and stamped after forming. Alternatively, don't soak the leather as much and it won't swell as bad.

Dave T.

[Mike Craw]

Hey jls!

I have had fairly good success with both basket stamping and tooling holding up during the molding process if I am willing to give up a whole lot of forming and boning on the front. I tool or stamp the front panel of the holster, whether a separate piece for a pancake and let the leather dry, or the front half of a wrapped style like an Askins or a western style which I fold into the general shape and then let the leather dry. I then do whatever sewing I have to do and get ready to re-moisten to form. Notice I said re-moisten and not SOAK! On a pancake, I wet the rear piece real well and then the INSIDE ( or grain side )of the front piece a little. With the wrapped style, I dampen the non-tooled part fairly well and then less moisture on the tooled part.

It's kind of a feel you will develop after you've done a couple. You don't want the inside (flesh side) of the tooled portion so damp that the front side (grain side) darkens from the water. Let the whole thing case until it starts to all go back to it's original color and then insert the firearm and start forming. I form and bone the back and non-tooled parts fairly well. If I need to form the tooled portion a little, I try and form it in a little with the tool I made the impressions with (backgrounder, bargrounder, thumbprint, whatever). I like to put concealment holsters on my belt in the carry position before I insert the gun. That way the holster is formed to my body and to the firearm all in one shot. Once the holster has been on the belt for a little while, you can take it off and bone the back of it. You'll see that the belt slots are formed and slightly burnished.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[jlsleatherworks]

I think my problem is that I have my leather overly wet, I have been soaking it for 15-20 mins, after browsing this forum i have realized that is WAY too long. I am not doing super complex design just a basketweave but I think I'll try one with no design and concentrate more on the fitting/boning. Thanks for all the tips and pointers!!

[Deanimator]

I think my problem is that I have my leather overly wet, I have been soaking it for 15-20 mins, after browsing this forum i have realized that is WAY too long. I am not doing super complex design just a basketweave but I think I'll try one with no design and concentrate more on the fitting/boning. Thanks for all the tips and pointers!!

That's definitely WAY too long. I just run my holsters under warm tap water until they're damp, inside and out, and get excellent results. If something needs a little more forming, I just wet that area down with a damp sponge. If it really needs remolding, it just goes under the tap again til it's wet.

[skippy]

i wet formed a couple of holster with no trouble.

when ive finished tooling and dying,i resolened just the outside with carving then stitched it together,wetformed it around the gun then resolened the inside,not had any troubles ( yet ! )