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Steve Lowe

Suede Lining For Holsters

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Okay guys... HELP!!!

I have made quite a few pancake holsters and and a couple of western rigs. But recently I have been getting into lining the holsters for my western holsters to be worn on a regular belt. I am using a can of plastic cement I got from ACE Hardware and it is messy. I have used a spray-on cement in other projects, and today I thought about using it on my holsters. A spray here, a spray there, wait a few minutes and then piece them together.

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In one word, . . . nahhhhhh !

Get youself a can of Weldwood contact cement, . . . I like the gel for suede, . . . the liquid will work too, . . . buy a pint of each, . . . find out which one you like.

Put a coat on each piece, . . . and we're talking raw leather here, . . . no parts cut out or anything like that, . . . just one piece of 7/8 veggie tan, . . . one piece of suede.

After you coat each piece with a thin and EVEN coat, . . . stand back and let it dry. There should be NO tacky spots at all, . . . anywhere, . . . nada, . . . zero. I use a low setting heat gun to kind of speed up this part of the process. Just remember, . . . you are boiling off a flammable solvent here, . . . and it can smell up the place in a heart beat.

Oh, . . . and don't wait too long, . . . couple hours max time before you put em together.

When you do, . . . lay the suede down on the veggie tan, . . . get out your favorite rolling pin, . . . and have at it, . . . right / left / up / down.

If you have time, . . . put some books on it, . . . go to bed, . . . get up tomorrow and treat it as though it is one piece of leather (it really is by now), . . . and make the holster from there.

You will have to sew the edges, . . . and burnishing doesn't work as well as it would with two pieces of veggie tan, . . . but it "kinda" works.

Have fun, . . . may God bless,

Dwight

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If you want to use spray glue 3M super 90 would be the only one I would use. Most will let go after a while, the 90 probably will last.

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I have a few suggestions regarding both glue and edge finishing. The glue I like to use for lining materials, but suede in particular, is Eco Weld contact cement.

It's a water based glue, so it's thin, very easy to apply and ready to put together in minutes. Because of how thin it is, it penetrates the fibers of the liner giving a very secure bond, without the need of pressing it too much.

With the edges I normally do one of two things with suede. I either cut the suede at an angle, and finish the veg tan edge on its own. The other way is to cut the suede straight with the veg tan as normal, but to finish the edge wih edge kote.

As long as there's no grease or waxes on the edge of the suede, it will stick to it. There will be a tiny ridge from the suede though, because it won't burnish. But I think it looks nice, and usually go with option no. 2.

I hope this helps!

Alex

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Ditto on the Eco weld.

Even though the suede will be cut oversized and later trimmed to match the veg tan, lining up the suede with the veg tan can be a headache because it's so light and plyable.

Once the two pieces touch... they bond and there's no adjusting. So, misalignment and wrinkles are a possibility.

After applying the cement to both pieces, I put wax paper - over the cement, line them up and peel back the wax paper while I stick them together.

I've also used popsicle sticks to keep them from touching while I line things up.

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