Stiffening Leather

[Red Cent]

Thanks folks.

[RoosterShooter]

I'll state the obvious ...

You don't want to lay leather directly on the oven rack!

I always lay a piece of aluminum foil down so that the debris from the rack doesn't put 'grill marks' on my leather.

Edited May 25, 2014 by RoosterShooter

[malabar]

I also dry my holsters in a convection oven. I've made wooden racks our of boards and dowel, and put the holsters on the racks. My procedures is REAL similar to lobo's, but I don't put them in a hotbox after the oven. Maybe I should.

tk

[dakotawolf]

This is kind of a late response, but I use my food dehydrator for things small enough to fit. I can set the temp (90 to 160) and it gets mild air circulation. I set it at 130 degrees . It's been working great, and no, it doesn't turn leather to jerkey (if you don't leave it in there for days LoL).

[Colt W Knight]

I can tell you that skin wrinkles in leather crinkle up and shrink when you heat dry them. But you probably aren't using this lower quality leather for your holsters to begin with.

[vaalpens]

I am probably going to sound stupid and uninformed, but I am going to ask the dumb question anyway. Why do you need to stiffen leather by putting it in a heat box? After I have done all the gluing, stitching, forming, overnight drying, oiling, dying and whatever finish I put on, it seems that the holster is plenty stiff. Maybe I am just missing something or just don't have enough experience yet. I try and keep my leather holsters as natural as possible for longevity, but if heating the holster will help preserving the leather even longer, then maybe it is something I should also try.

[JLSleather]

I am probably going to sound stupid and uninformed, but I am going to ask the dumb question anyway. Why do you need to stiffen leather by putting it in a heat box? After I have done all the gluing, stitching, forming, overnight drying, oiling, dying and whatever finish I put on, it seems that the holster is plenty stiff. Maybe I am just missing something or just don't have enough experience yet. I try and keep my leather holsters as natural as possible for longevity, but if heating the holster will help preserving the leather even longer, then maybe it is something I should also try.

Me, too, Vaalpens. No cookin here 'cept the beef I'm having when I'm done for the day. Using HO leather, by the time it's thoroughly dry it's quite firm enough.

Now, I can see the exception being what Lobo is talkin' about a few back - when you have 50 rigs / week goin through... tough to wait on those to dry. If you do a handful / week, that can be done just like any other project.... carve it, set it over there while you work on something else. Color it, put it over there for a while ... etc.

I have a holster for a Glock sitting in front of me right now what's purdy firm, no bakin'. No need to shoot anybody - feller gits outta line I'll just whop 'im with this holster ....

[Red Cent]

It is going to depend upon where you get your leather and what tannery it came from. I usually buy local. Burnishes to a mirror finish. The only wet I used on this stuff is when I squirt the area to fold the holster and at the end when I clean it with Lexol and water. Dries hard. Very Hard. I ordered some leather and it was beautiful. But very, very soft and supple. My usual procedure did not work the same. They were not stiff enough for a SASS shooter. Especially the speed demons and my reverse sewn holsters. So I turned to the gang. And discovered a bunch bake their holsters.

I ordered from the same guy the other day. He promised stiffer and dry (somewhat) leather. Should be here today.

This ain't soft.

[vaalpens]

Me, too, Vaalpens. No cookin here 'cept the beef I'm having when I'm done for the day. Using HO leather, by the time it's thoroughly dry it's quite firm enough.

Now, I can see the exception being what Lobo is talkin' about a few back - when you have 50 rigs / week goin through... tough to wait on those to dry. If you do a handful / week, that can be done just like any other project.... carve it, set it over there while you work on something else. Color it, put it over there for a while ... etc.

I have a holster for a Glock sitting in front of me right now what's purdy firm, no bakin'. No need to shoot anybody - feller gits outta line I'll just whop 'im with this holster ....

So it is just a question of how controlled you want your process or the stiffness of the leather. I just thought maybe I was missing something and should be looking into putting my holsters into the oven. The last thing I want to do is start using the oven and then my wife will start demanding that I do the cooking since I now know how to use the oven.

[vaalpens]

It is going to depend upon where you get your leather and what tannery it came from. I usually buy local. Burnishes to a mirror finish. The only wet I used on this stuff is when I squirt the area to fold the holster and at the end when I clean it with Lexol and water. Dries hard. Very Hard. I ordered some leather and it was beautiful. But very, very soft and supple. My usual procedure did not work the same. They were not stiff enough for a SASS shooter. Especially the speed demons and my reverse sewn holsters. So I turned to the gang. And discovered a bunch bake their holsters.

I ordered from the same guy the other day. He promised stiffer and dry (somewhat) leather. Should be here today.

This ain't soft.

Red Cent, hopefully the new batch of leather will be better. Thanks for starting this discussion since it has helped me understand that differences in the outcome from different leather, doesn't always mean that I messed up, even if the leather is from the same source. I know I have so many things to learn, but that is why I joined this great forum.