What Rubber Pad And Where To Buy For Shaping Holsters

[Stitch Dex Holsters]

I have seen you help so many people including me I wanted to help you on my first post.

Here is a link to the foam I use.

http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=41_524

I use two one inch pieces on top and a thinner yoga mat on the bottom. It molds the leather well; a vacuum former does a little better job but seems to be more trouble than it’s worth for me. I also use a thin silicone rubber sheet between the gun and foam. This keeps the gun from tearing the foam and when I do Kydex it keeps the heat from the kydex from burning the foam. It really extends the life of everything. http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/120/3560/=r8hh6v

I hope this helps

[Tree Reaper]

You can try a single sheet of 40 top and bottom Wiz to see how it works for you, I'm still using single sheets and they work for me.

Two sheets of the same wouldn't work as well as one thick one.

Did you buy a press with a gauge on it?

[Wizcrafts]

You can try a single sheet of 40 top and bottom Wiz to see how it works for you, I'm still using single sheets and they work for me.

Two sheets of the same wouldn't work as well as one thick one.

Did you buy a press with a gauge on it?

Hopefully, we'll know soon. My partner is having the metal plates made and welded to the frame strut and jack push rod.

The bottle jack is a simple Harbor Freight model without any gauge. It has a two piece round steel handle.

I am not so concerned about damaging our blue guns. But, I am worried about a customer's real pistol under such tough material.

I'm searching for 30 D rubber to place on the holster side, but have only found neoprene thus-far.

The whole shebang will be doubling as a clicker die press.

[Tree Reaper]

I am worried about a customer's real pistol under such tough material.

That's where the gauge is handy, I can tell exactly if I've got 1/2 ton or more on anything I press.

[Wizcrafts]

I have seen you help so many people including me I wanted to help you on my first post.

Here is a link to the foam I use.

http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=41_524

I use two one inch pieces on top and a thinner yoga mat on the bottom. It molds the leather well; a vacuum former does a little better job but seems to be more trouble than it’s worth for me. I also use a thin silicone rubber sheet between the gun and foam. This keeps the gun from tearing the foam and when I do Kydex it keeps the heat from the kydex from burning the foam. It really extends the life of everything. http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/120/3560/=r8hh6v

I hope this helps

I just placed an order for two pieces of foam, 12" x 24", from knifekits.com.Thanks for the recommendation. I now have two different types of rubber to use. We are still waiting for the metal work to come back, so the rubber can be tested.

[Stitch Dex Holsters]

Let us know what you think. I am curious how all of this turn out

[Wizcrafts]

The worse part of this is waiting on my partner's relative to do the metal work, for cheap. We still don't have the top and bottom plates made for the press. Being a shoestring operation slows you down a lot, compared to those who can afford to have things made professionally.

[Wizcrafts]

We finally got the top and bottom steel plates back and installed. Our first attempts to mold blue guns, both revolvers and semi-automatics, were feeble at best. It may be due to our design technique where the back stays flat and only the front gets molded to the guns. We typically use well-soaked 8-9 ounce veg-tan tooling leather for our holsters.

I will post some photos later this week (Thursday or Friday). Basically, after stacking one or two 12" x 12" x 1" pieces on top of the leather, the top-most surfaces mold well, but the trigger area is barely depressed inside the trigger guard and we cannot get the under-the-barrel/slide sides to go down anywhere near the actual sides of the guns. We have tried stacking two pieces of 1" thick 40 Durometer Buna-N and also tried 2 layers of the soft rubber from KnifeKits.com (virtually useless).

I may order a couple 12 x 12 x 1" sheets of harder Buna-N (50 Du) and maybe one more 40 Du and see if that improves the molding results.

We did one trial holster using some scrap 5-6 ounce veg and it molded much better than the 8-9 oz. But, that weight is useless for our designs.

So far, my partner has invested about $300 in the press and top/bottom steel plates and I have purchased $100 worth of rubber sheets, with probably another $50 to $100 to be ordered in the harder/more rubber.

[SteelcityK9Cop]

We finally got the top and bottom steel plates back and installed. Our first attempts to mold blue guns, both revolvers and semi-automatics, were feeble at best. It may be due to our design technique where the back stays flat and only the front gets molded to the guns. We typically use well-soaked 8-9 ounce veg-tan tooling leather for our holsters.

Wiz... Having carried everything from a Government 1911 to a Glock 27 every day for the past 19 years.... don't worry about the flat back. Most concealed carriers really like a flatter back side... it is MUCH more comfortable to carry. The last thing I want out of a carry holster is having a whole lot of pistol on the back side pressing into my hip

Edited April 16, 2014 by SteelcityK9Cop

[Wizcrafts]

Wiz... Having carried everything from a Government 1911 to a Glock 27 every day for the past 19 years.... don't worry about the flat back. Most concealed carriers really like a flatter back side... it is MUCH more comfortable to carry. The last thing I want out of a carry holster is having a whole lot of pistol on the back side pressing into my hip

I used to make my pancake holsters equally molded on the front and back. Now, they are mostly flat backed and molded on the front, if at all. We thought that a 20 ton press would speed up the molding process a lot more than it seems to be able to do. Nothing beats a strong set of thumbs and some bone folders!

[BDAZ]

I did some work in carbon fiber fabrication and the setup we used is a vacuum table with fine perforations and then we simply lay a sheet of plastic over the item and it exerts a lot of pressure removing all excess epoxy producing a stronger item. If you were looking for a flat backed holster, I believe you would have significantly higher pressure than a simple back like device mentioned earlier in the thread.

Cya!

Bob