When you wet form

[Ledbeter36]

New guy with new questions. I have made about half a dozen pancake style holsters so far and seem to be doing well. I had no one to teach me other than reading and word of mouth. So I have been plotting out my back piece the. I cut a rough over sized piece for the front. I lay the gun on the back piece and then mold the wet piece over the gun. Then cook it on low checking it often, take it out just a little before completely dry then finish drying over a light bulb. Then lay it against the back piece mark it and cut off the excess. Then glue, burnish, dye, stitch and finish. I've read on here and other places that a lot of people cut the back and front same size glue and stitch it then wet form by sticking the gun in. Am I doing it wrong the way I've been doing it. I seem to have good retention as long as I pay attention to boneing good and stitch close. Will I get more the other way. It certainly seems I will waste less leather. Are there advantages to this way over what I have been doing? Thanks in advance guys.

[supercub]

There's nothing wrong with the way you are doing it.  In fact, it is the way I make "flat back" pancake holsters.  The only difference is that I don't "cook" them. The advantage to this method is that your stitch lines will usually be very close (which is not always the case when you sew together two flat pieces).  There are lots of ways to calculate where your stitch lines need to be before molding, but they can vary somewhat based on leather type and thickness. You may go thru several attempts in layout before you get the stitch lines perfect.  If you are making a lot of the same holster, then making a pattern with proper stitch layout will certainly be faster, but I like the flat back style.  The results are predictable, and the holsters are more comfortable for the wearer.

Edited April 4, 2016 by supercub
correct spelling and clarify

[Dwight]

Supercub hit all the points I would have mentioned.

I do have a couple patterns, but for the most part, your way is the way I do it as well for most pancake holsters.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Ledbeter36]

Ok yes I am making a flat back style also. I too prefer the flat back. But I am trying to expand my experience so if I sew the pieces first then form I will have a form somewhat in the back piece. So a lot of people do all their stitching first? Wow I would mess that up. Can you stitch just the outside edge and still form it that way and then stick around the form when done? And when they say they measure the slide width and divide by half are they talking about the top of the slide or across the side of the slide. I also wonder if you still couldn't get a flat back the pre stitch way by keeping the pressure on the back flat and keeping it as dry as possible. I would like to see the back of some holsters formed after stitching if anyone feels like sharing.

[supercub]

Awhile back someone posted a short illustrated tutorial on laying out stitch lines for a holster.  I wish I could remember who and give them credit, because it was excellent.  I'll try to describe how he did it.  It takes all the guesswork out of stitch layout and has worked perfectly for me every time I used it.  Here goes:

Lay the gun down a a piece of paper (I use cardstock or light cardboard).

Carefully trace the outline of the gun while keeping the pencil vertical.  I usually only concentrate on the trigger side of the gun from the top of the trigger guard down to the end of the barrel.

Carefully cut out the paper until you have a piece of cardstock that you can fit perfectly against the trigger side of the gun.  Save this template piece, it will create your lower stitchline.

Lay the gun on the inside of the back piece of leather.  Take the top piece of leather and lay it on top of the gun. Using spring clamps or binder clips, pinch all four of the top and bottom corners of the leather together over the gun.  Usually the top of the barrel will be a relatively straight stitch line and that seam can be sewn without using a template.

Make a light pencil mark on the top piece near the trigger guard where the two pieces of leather are pinched together.  Do the same at the bottom of the barrel.

These two points are where your lower stitch line begins and ends.

Lay your pre cut template between the two pencil marks you just made.  Trace the template with a pencil - that is your stitch line.

At this point I run the stitch groover and glue the top and bottom pieces together while flat. Sew the holster together.

After sewing, dunk the holster in warm water (briefly) and stick the gun in the holster.  Now you can mold and bone with whatever tools you like.  When it dries, it will fit perfectly and the stitch lines will be exactly where they need to be.

This holster is one I did that way:

 

[stu925]

I have always stitched prior to wet forming but I've used 2 different methods.  Just recently I went to cutting both pieces the same size and wet forming after stitching.  This makes stitching much easier for me, prior to that I was cutting the front a bit larger than the back and gluing and stitching first one side then the other and wet forming afterward.  Stitching the first size always goes smooth but once you glue up the other side that stitching becomes much more difficult to keep straight from front to back, often the chisel goes through at an angle and I wouldn't even notice due to the holster not sitting flat on the surface.  This method would produce a pancake holster with a flat back but would give me stitching issues, the new method produces a molded back with much neater stitching.  Personally I prefer the neater stitching.

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc492/stu925/Crossdraw%20Yaqui%20Slide%201911/Back%20with%20gun_zpska2wl7iy.jpg[/img]

This crossdraw slide was created using the new method.  This is the back side and you can clearly see how it's molded.

 

http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc492/stu925/KelTec%20P11/Ruger%202_zps6wxaaek4.jpg[/img]

This pancake holster was created using the old method, on the back here you can see how the stitching runs very close to the edge in a couple of spots.

 

Stu

[Red Cent]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/IVATION-Vacuum-Sealer-Pro-Black/48554621

 

[Red Cent]

One can use the above item and produce as many "fronts" as long as they don't run out of vacuum bags. I do mine in the evening and take them out in the morning. Place them in the sun or in front of a fan and they will be ready to construct that afternoon. They will be very stiff. I then cut everything away that does not look like a holster, cut the back piece to match, glue, and sew. Might die in there somewhere.

 

 

[supercub]

I used to wet form the fronts in a  kitchen vacuum bagger too.  The cost of bags got a little excessive and they were not as durable as I liked when boning detail thru them.  I have since switched to a stand alone vacuum pump and heavy weight vinyl woodworking bags.  They will pull a lot more vacuum and will last for a long time.  Well worth it if you do a lot of holsters. 

When  I used the kitchen vaccuum bags I would take the vacuum molded and  sealed  bag ( including the gun) and put it in the freezer for an hour or so until the leather was completely frozen.  I'd then open the bag and remove the gun and put the leather back in the freezer overnight to "freeze dry".  In a frost free freezer the moisture would mostly evaporate (sublimate) and the holster would be ready to assemble the next day.  The detail molding would be retained without any heat damage to the leather.  The leather would be firm, but not hard as a board.

I don't use the kichen bags or freezer anymore since I got the vacuum pump, but it did work ( especially if you accidently over saturated the leather before molding)