Basket weave + Wet forming= mushy pattern

[CaptQuirk]

I have done 2 holsters with a basket weave. Both times, I wet the leather after stamping, so as to mold it to the gun. Both times, the stamping ends up more warty than weavey when it was done. Not trying to form the leather to every nook and cranny, just take the shape of the gun so it fits right. Is this wrong, or is it just my technique?

[Dwight]

The only advice I can offer is doing what I do, . . . I do not touch, period, do not touch the outside of a holster if I spent the time to stamp anything on it.

The weapon is inserted into the holster, . . . and any pressure applied is only to the places around the stamping that are still just plain leather.

BUT, . . . I also have never tried vacuum molding for this problem.  You would have to be very careful to have no wrinkles in the bag you use, . . . but at least the molding pressure would be spread equally all over the holster.  

I would also allow the holster to completely dry, . . . then using a wash cloth, . . . wet only the inside of the holster, . . . stick it in the vacuum sealer, . . . and try that.

Again, . . . I don't get too much involved in stamping, . . . but that is what I would do if I had to do one like yours.

I usually try to keep my tooling on holsters to a minimum such as the one I pictured below.

May God bless,

Dwight

[CaptQuirk]

I'm not too big on tooling either, but then, I'm new and have no clue what I'm doing. I usually just do some border tooling, and leave it at that. Then I tried to expand my horizons, and do a basket weave. I don't have a vacuum machine or press, and just use a bag of rice to form the leather to the gun. I'll try just wetting the inside next time. Thanks for your advice.

[keithpip]

Dwight,

Do you mind if I ask how you achieved that color? I've been trying to get that color but all my holsters come out too dark. I'm using various Fiebing's brown (light brown, British tan, tan) with no luck.

 

Thanks,

Keith

 

[Boriqua]

I do a lot of basketweave lately and I dont know that I have the right answer I have an answer and maybe it can help. I just happen to have a holster that was just wetformed yesterday so its a good one to show since it doesnt have antique or sheen so you can see it clearly. It is now completely dry.

You can see it still has a fair amount of detail right down to the little hash marks on the weave. Here is what I do.

After I have stamped my item I let it dry completely. Usually a day. Then I glue and sew. After Its glued and sewn I take a large roasting pan and fill it with water. I dip the holster it flat face side up and then once face side down. It is really just dunk and pull out dunk and pull out. Its not even a full 2 count. I then put it in a large freezer ziplock bag and I seal it with a little air in it so that when I fold the bag back on itself it creates a little tent.

I let the holster sit in the bag for 30 minutes.

I take it out and with a wet sponge I wet fairly heavily the wings and the entire back. I do the wings because I get nicer slots when I punch if the leather is wet and I bend the ears back when I am done with the holster but I DO NOT wet the basketweave again. Just the wings and the entire back. I go out to my stump punch my belt slots come in and wet the back again waiting a minute or two for the water to penetrate if it is already dyed. If I am doing contrasting stitching then its dyed when I wet form and the water takes more time to get down in there. I still have not wet the front again. All the water that the front has received was from the dunk and then the humidity from sitting in the bag.

I then gently open the holster and make sure I open in the trigger guard and any tight areas. As I open I concentrate more on the back than the front.

I then put my gun in. I gently depress the area of the trigger guard with my thumbs. You can make out a slight indentation in the pic. Now any boning and smoothing and generally making sure that the gun has plenty of contact area for friction is done to the back only.

What is happening is since I wet the back much more than the front the front still has enough moisture to make a good tight fitting holster but the back does much more of the stretching, being wetter, to accommodate the mold.

 

Here is a close up of a finished piece still with some nice detail I think

 

and here is the back of a similarly constructed piece

 

Tool me a WHOLE lot of experimenting to get to my stupid little technique but it seems to work ok. Hope it helps and if you come up with a better faster prettier way .. be sure to share!!

alex

[Dwight]

On 8/26/2016 at 3:06 PM, keithpip said:

Dwight,

Do you mind if I ask how you achieved that color? I've been trying to get that color but all my holsters come out too dark. I'm using various Fiebing's brown (light brown, British tan, tan) with no luck.

 

Thanks,

Keith

 

Keith, . . . both of those pieces were done with Feibings British tan, . . . cut 50/50 with thinner.  I dip dyed them (as I do with all my leather work).

May God bless,

Dwight