First Holster Need Some Advice

[mlapaglia]

Most regular ovens I have seen dont go as low as 135 deg. I know mine has a lowest temp of 190. As long as I keep an eye on it and make sure the leather does not rise above 125-130F there isnt a problem. With the leather damp it takes a while for it to get above 130 deg. Its all what you have available to you and how you do it. It's not the temp of the oven but the temp of the leather that really matters. It takes a couple of hours for a turkey to reach 180 degs in a 325 oven. same concept with a holster in a 190 oven but its a lot faster. Most times I use my toaster oven set at 200 with the door cracked by a fork. It takes at least 25 minutes in that oven for a damp holster to reach 125 degs in the leather. I agree that left too long 150-190 will ruin the leather but keep an eye on it and you will be fine. If you have an oven that goes as low as 135 you are lucky. most of us don't

Denster your comment was helpful as I had not explained the hazard of leaving it too long in a warmer oven. Thanks for bringing it up.

Michael

[Denster]

Most regular ovens I have seen dont go as low as 135 deg. I know mine has a lowest temp of 190. As long as I keep an eye on it and make sure the leather does not rise above 125-130F there isnt a problem. With the leather damp it takes a while for it to get above 130 deg. Its all what you have available to you and how you do it. It's not the temp of the oven but the temp of the leather that really matters. It takes a couple of hours for a turkey to reach 180 degs in a 325 oven. same concept with a holster in a 190 oven but its a lot faster. Most times I use my toaster oven set at 200 with the door cracked by a fork. It takes at least 25 minutes in that oven for a damp holster to reach 125 degs in the leather. I agree that left too long 150-190 will ruin the leather but keep an eye on it and you will be fine. If you have an oven that goes as low as 135 you are lucky. most of us don't

Denster your comment was helpful as I had not explained the hazard of leaving it too long in a warmer oven. Thanks for bringing it up.

Michael

I use a cheap convection oven from wal-mart and use the warmer selection and a thermometer inside although it's not hard to build a warmer box with some blue board a 60watt light bulb, meat thermometer and rheostat.

It does not take long at all for damp leather to reach the oven temperature. It also doesn't take long at over 150 to ruin a holster. The anology with the turkey is not really valid.

[mlapaglia]

I use a cheap convection oven from wal-mart and use the warmer selection and a thermometer inside although it's not hard to build a warmer box with some blue board a 60watt light bulb, meat thermometer and rheostat.

It does not take long at all for damp leather to reach the oven temperature. It also doesn't take long at over 150 to ruin a holster. The anology with the turkey is not really valid.

My only point was to show that there are several ways to achieve getting the leather to 125-130 deg F. I doubt I would have used a turkey had it not been 2 days past thanksgiving. If I still lived in Tucson, as I did as a child, a piece of aluminum foil and a noon day sun would give me the heat I needed. It was a teaching example.

Thank you for your contributions to my attempt to assist someone with a question. It is what this forum is all about.

Michael

[glockanator]

Okay I went back and re did some of the steps. I have oneida those Ronco food saver jobs and used that and a handle to mold the holster. I didn't get a chance to do the oven thing. Mainly because my one year old is sick and woke up. I did t want to risk leaving it in the oven and forgetting it. Can someone explain what the oven thing does for the holster? Thanks for all the help!

[TwinOaks]

The heat sets the organic "glue" in the fibers. Moistening kind of "re-activates" them and lubricates the fibers. First you get them moist, then you get them hot - result is that you can shape it then 'set' the leather in that shape. Re-moistening the leather before heating it will re-lubricate the fibers and allow further molding......to a degree. If you've done any burnishing, you can 'undo' it with too much flexing. Please note that every wet/dry cycle will probably leave the leather a bit stiffer than the cycle before.

[mlapaglia]

Sorry to hear about your child. Were you able to get the gun any farther into the holster? is it any tighter?

Michael

[glockanator]

I reworked it didn't get a chance to bake it but it fits a lot better. On a side note my daughter is feeling a lot better.

[mlapaglia]

Glad its tighter. It looks like that rivet on the trigger guard side is stopping the gun from going in any farther.