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.

[wizard of tragacanth]

When I bought my first piece of leather, I had no idea what to look for. At that time, to me, leather was leather. I bought it in person at Tandy and did not even consider what the flesh side looked like. So I wound up with a side that is far from what I would like to have. I found that I could use 120 grit sand-paper on a sanding block and with not too much effort, remove much of the offending stuff. Sanding sometimes works better in one direction than another so, if you do this, try it in more than one direction.

I haven't tried gum tragacanth for smoothing the flesh side... I have used Satin Shene though. I put Satin Shene on a dauber and rub it all over. It lays the nap down nicely. I will have to do an experiment with gum tragacanth to see if there is any difference. I started using Satin Shene because I was finishing the inside of a holster where there was one side of flesh and the other of grain. I didn't want to put gum tragacanth on the grain side so I just used a dauber with Satin Shene to do both surfaces simultaneously.

Here is a pic of the back done with Satin Shene.

[lonestar tactical]

I dye both inside and out before I glue and stitch - I prefer the look compared to unfinished inside.

[particle]

It should be noted that when ordering from W&C (assuming you are buying their 8-10oz hides), the areas that are 8oz will likely have a more fuzzy flesh area than the 10oz areas. On my last order, I had them split it to 8oz, and it made a world of difference.

[katsass]

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.

Guy: FWIW from the old grumpy guy. I have found that to get an even edge of dye, I use a little Dremel (or any rotary tool) hard felt buffing pad ... around 3/4". I don't use the smaller ones because I have stubby fingers. I don't use them for anything but dyeing the edges of my projects, and they can be reused many times. (same color only) After an initial quick edge burnishing, I soak one down well with the color of dye wanted (wear gloves) Lay the unassembled piece (holster, shell carrier, sheath, etc) flat on a hard surface with the edge overhanging a little. Rub the pad across the edge until you have the depth of color wished. Finish burnishing, (the damp dye assists in this) assemble, and apply finish. For some reason, this very seldom allows any overage on the rest of the leather, and produces a smooth, even line. ... unless it's the morning after and you have a bad case of the shakes. In that case stay off it until well, or get a bit of the "hair of the dawg" to speed up your recovery. Mike

Edited September 21, 2011 by katsass

[Steven Kelley]

It should be noted that when ordering from W&C (assuming you are buying their 8-10oz hides), the areas that are 8oz will likely have a more fuzzy flesh area than the 10oz areas. On my last order, I had them split it to 8oz, and it made a world of difference.

Excellent point. The hide I posted a pic of above was split to 6/7oz.