wet forming

[hwhleather]

What if you don't wet form holsters, does it hurt anything?

[bikermutt07]

No, think along the lines of a traditional holster with a retention strap. Looped over and stitched. I don't think they were wet formed. Most of the wet forming comes in with concealment holster using the body as a main or only for of retention.

[hwhleather]

16 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

No, think along the lines of a traditional holster with a retention strap. Looped over and stitched. I don't think they were wet formed. Most of the wet forming comes in with concealment holster using the body as a main or only for of retention.

I was asking because some of my pancake holsters I make don't have snaps and are not wet formed but they still hold the gun in place with about as much retention as some of my wet formed ones and I was just wondering if they would hold up better over time and last longer if they were wet formed, I imagine it doesn't really matter a whole lot either way as long as it has proper retention but I don't know. 

[Dwight]

Just from an engineering standpoint, . . . I'm going to say the wet formed will hold up longer. 

The reason??  There is more surface area closer to and touching the gun, . . . thereby reducing the friction coefficient of any one point in the holster, . . . and spreading the friction necessary for a certain amount of retention over a larger surface.

By not forming the holster, . . . only certain areas will be doing the retaining, . . . and should wear down much quicker, . . . doing away with any retention that they provided.

Actually, . . . some of the sloppiest holsters I've ever seen were pancakes, . . . that long long ago probably had a good retention factor, . . . but through use and maybe abuse, . . . they are now more of a carrying bag than they are a holster.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited February 26, 2017 by Dwight

[Bolt Vanderhuge]

2 hours ago, hwhleather said:

I was asking because some of my pancake holsters I make don't have snaps and are not wet formed but they still hold the gun in place with about as much retention as some of my wet formed ones and I was just wondering if they would hold up better over time and last longer if they were wet formed, I imagine it doesn't really matter a whole lot either way as long as it has proper retention but I don't know. 

To what level of wet forming have you been doing? Are you just inserting the gun and getting a basic shape of the gun or are you actually molding and shaping the leather to a well defined exact fit copy of the gun inside? The former will have very little rigidity while the latter will become very rigid and will retain it's shape and hold the gun better for longer. Also are you molding in any retention points like in the ejection port or the front portion of the trigger guard area? These two will provide retention the longest. The gun will snap into holsters that are very detail molded and have the extra retention in these two areas. 

Edited February 26, 2017 by Bolt Vanderhuge

[hwhleather]

2 hours ago, Bolt Vanderhuge said:

To what level of wet forming have you been doing? Are you just inserting the gun and getting a basic shape of the gun or are you actually molding and shaping the leather to a well defined exact fit copy of the gun inside? The former will have very little rigidity while the latter will become very rigid and will retain it's shape and hold the gun better for longer. Also are you molding in any retention points like in the ejection port or the front portion of the trigger guard area? These two will provide retention the longest. The gun will snap into holsters that are very detail molded and have the extra retention in these two areas. 

Yes all my formed holsters are rigid with a lot of detail visible on the inside.