Do You Normally Dye The Inside?

[Guy W]

I'm just about done with my first holster project. I wasn't going to dye the inside, and just leave it the natural leather, but ofcourse I get some dye bleed over the edges a little on the inside so now I guess I am going to have to otherwise it will look terrible. do people normally dye the insides of their holsters?

also, is there anything I could/should put on the inside of the leather to get some of the roughness to smooth out? I'm a little concerned I will get a lot of wear on my pistol because the backside of the leather I have is pretty rough.

Thanks

[Eaglestroker]

If you watch Particles videos, he uses gum tragacanth to buff it flat. I dye the inside of my holsters but feel and undyed interior with no bleeding really shows you know what your doing and looks very nice. My dye jobs aren't so consistent. To me its aesthetics more than anything.

[DuaneS]

I'm just about done with my first holster project. I wasn't going to dye the inside, and just leave it the natural leather, but ofcourse I get some dye bleed over the edges a little on the inside so now I guess I am going to have to otherwise it will look terrible. do people normally dye the insides of their holsters?

also, is there anything I could/should put on the inside of the leather to get some of the roughness to smooth out? I'm a little concerned I will get a lot of wear on my pistol because the backside of the leather I have is pretty rough.

Thanks

Or line it with either smooth veg tan, or suede... at least that's what I've been told be people who make holsters and such for a living.

[MADMAX22]

If you line it line it with vegtan leather. If you line it with chrome tan leather it can have negative effects on the older style guns. The chromium salts arent so great for them ecspecially the blued guns. Ofcourse people shouldnt store there guns in the holster anyways but many of them do. There are techniques to smooth out the inside. Gum tag works, I personally just use the snoseal or similar that I use on the outside. It smooths out the inside as well.

A common approach for some is to use two thinner pieces of leather, flesh to flesh and make it that way. Say two pieces of 5oz which doubles up to a good 10oz thickness and you get smooth on both sides. Katsass makes his this way.

Edited September 20, 2011 by MADMAX22

[Steven Kelley]

The quality of the leather makes a difference. Most of the Tandy leather I've seen, including their Live Oak, has a very rough and grainy flesh side. I just got a side from Wickett & Craig, that has the smoothest flesh side I've ever seen. It doesn't require anything to make it "smooth", so to speak.

As far as dying, I normally dip dye after assembly, when possible. It's fast and gets and even coat inside and out. If you are doing two tones or want a different color stitching, obviously you need to dye first. In that case, I dip the individual parts. After drying the parts for a day or so, I get them wet (water), wrap them in paper towels, and press them in my shop press with gum rubber pads. This gets the residual dye out of the leather, and keeps it from coming out when you are molding the gun. Very important if doing a multi colored holster. Ask me how I know............. I do that until no residual dye comes off onto the paper towels. Usually no more than twice.

Honestly, if you are buying a full side, I would highly recommend ordering one from Wickett & Craig. It was about the same price as a side from Tandy, and there is no comparison in quality.

[Shooter McGavin]

^^Im not at all happy with the backside of the leather I received a couple weeks ago from my first order with W&C. Would you mind posting a pic of what yours looks like? I ordered mine "holstered" and wonder what real effect that had on it.^^

Guy W: I typically dye the insides of my holsters before I glue them together. Get better coverage that way. Mahogany, Black, and Black Cherry holsters get Black interiors, Most of the browns get the same color both in and out.

All holsters get Black edges, except saddle tan, which gets hit with a Dark Brown dye.

I Gum Trag the interior after wet molding and before sealing.

[Guy W]

thanks for the replies. i probably should have dyed the inside before i glued it together but i thought i was just going to leave the inside natrual color with some gum trag and seal, but i didn't anticipate how hard it was going to be to dye the edges and not get any bleeding into the inside. i tried to throw a coat of dye inside the holster, which was hard since it's already stitched up, but i guess that's part of the learning process.

next time i'll take the advice you guys have given.

[steelhawk]

I dye the inside before gluing it together. I try to leave the back natural, but sometimes get some dye on it somehow, so then it gets dyed as well.

Shooter, I sent you a PM the other day. Did you get it?

[woodandsteel]

I prefer the finished look of a dyed interior on a holster, so I dye both sides of my leather before gluing and stitching. I use Gum Trag to smooth the inside.

[Steven Kelley]

^^Im not at all happy with the backside of the leather I received a couple weeks ago from my first order with W&C. Would you mind posting a pic of what yours looks like? I ordered mine "holstered" and wonder what real effect that had on it.^^

Shooter,

Here is a pic of the latest WC side I received. It is "Standard" grade, or grade 1. I asked about the quality of the back side, and told the lady taking my order that I was using the leather for holsters. She recommended having it Plated, which I did. There was no extra charge. She said it would make the leather a bit firmer and the flesh side smoother. I am very happy with it.

The leather on the bottom is the WC (and yes, that is the flesh side), and the small piece laying on top is from Tandy, for comparison.