Need help making a holster

[Gregory B. Moody]

"The treatment that I use on my holsters is Renaissance wax."..Wes

Ooops...

My best guess right now ... with just a little checking on the internet....and years of dealing with trying to keep leather from drying out is that you are using that for the look which it gives you as compared to understanding the lubrication needs of your holsters....

What you are needing is to replace the oils which the animal's body would have been giving to the skin on a constant basis when they were still together. Basically you are needing something close to (or actual) Lanolin. The Lexol products Johanna mentioned are great... carnauba cream would be great.... Intensive Care Hand lotion would be great....

In other words the chances are you are needing a liquid at this point to penetrate and try to stop the drying which has been going on. From what I have read about your wax it will not provide what you are needing.

Holsters are nice in one respect ... you can access both sides of the leather...and you need to do that.

Since you already have that weight leather why don't you consider putting two layers together for this project... not what I would normally suggest for a first project but you will learn more about molding leather doing that... just mold the first one... then contact cement the next layer to it molding as you wrap it... and many people don't know it but contact cement is regularly used on wet leather... in the shoe repair industry... and two layers will be stiffer than the same thickness in just one layer.... the plywood effect....

You could treat it like a lined holster and place them facing opposite directions... would give you a smooth inside with never any production of leather ' dust'....

Greg

[Billsotx]

Going ahead with the light leather will give you some good experience and possibly a proto-type you can improve on. Go for it. It's just leather.

I think you'll settle on 7-9 oz depending on the style. I'd like to see your pattern hence know the style. You said you weren't going to use a pull through snap so in my mind you're not making the holster in the photo. You mentioned thumb break which are geneally used on horizontal and upside down rigs. The thumb breaks I've seen in muzzle down shoulder holsters do not allow a firing grip to be obtained at initial presentation. If the holster requires regriping and juggling the pistol during presentation it would be my choice.

I think wax is a finish not a product to restore. I vote for Lexol but I've not ust Dr. Jackson's products, however, I've heard they are top notch. Either will probably work.

[wes]

Another product that I use along with the wax is Connolly Hide Food. I had originally started using this stuff on the seats of my old autos: MGA, Austin Healey, etc. I most probably should have mentioned the Hide Food and not even brought up the name of the Renaissance wax. The Hide Food has lanolin, natural oils, but minimal petroleum based oils. I only put this stuff on whenever I think of it, which is not often enough. I believe that a year has passed since I last treated my holsters.

I have several old holsters that were as stiff as an old board whenever I acquired them. The Hide Food put the oils and moisture back into them after a while and they are now pliable. Seems that the holsters that were in need of the most attention were those made of pigskin.

I am extremely impressed that you people know your stuff and make suggestions with kindness and tact. Sorry that I did not mention the Hide Food initially.

[Billsotx]

I don't know anything about restoring leather, but experience tells me if I had an old piece I wanted to keep around, I would put Lexol Conditioner & Preservative on it. I've never tried Lexol NF. I should have said that before. LEXOL - is a brand name, sorry about that. (NF - that's probably a neatsfoot product, but I don't know that for a fact.)

[Johanna]

Lexol is probably the top brand in the US for equestrian and car upholstery leather care, and they cater to the market. Funny, people don't seem to want to care for those everyday leathers, like their shoes, but then again, most people can't tell the difference between the real thing and the synthetic substitutes available these days. It just hit me that I haven't even oiled my photo album in probably six years. And I made it. aarrgghhh!

From the Lexol webpage:

HOW TO CLEAN WITH LEXOL starts off:

"Keep this thought in mind: leather is skin."

Johanna

[wes]

Johanna, the link that you posted is probably the most powerfully convincing argument for Lexol that I have ever seen. On that site I went to this page, More Lexol Information, and their arguments are well presented.

The following excerpt was the argument that caused me to use Connolly Hide Food initially. (I am easily convinced by hype and name dropping, aren't I?)

........Connolly Leather has a reputation for excellence. Jaguar, Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls Royce consider Connolly leather to be the only acceptable leather for their cars. The seats in the British Parliament are covered in Connolly, as well as the seats of the famed Concorde..............is properly pH balanced to offset the natural alkalinity of leather, and keep it healthy.........

Edited September 3, 2006 by wes

[Gregory B. Moody]

Lexol is pretty much accepted as the oil which will change the color of upholstery leather the least...

However, let me remind everyone that the finish on upholstery leather is pretty much impermeable... so the effects are very shallow... if you have a car with leather upholstery and want it to really last you must take the seats apart and apply oil from the backside... I would say once every five years depending on the climate you live in and whether you roll up the windows and leave it out in the sunshine...

The only oil I have seen at the Mercedes Dealership is Lexol...

and for the record.... for those plastic parts of your car Lexol makes Vinylex....and is highly recommended by the old diesel mercedes guys...

[wes]

I went to Tandy's today and purchased some stuff:

an overstitch wheel w/3 wheels

a diamond shafted awl

5/64 th edge beveller

contact cement

creaser/groover, adjustable

gum tragacanth

set of tool setter anvils and punches

a package of 24 snaps for my thumb snap. (I have obtained an old holster that has a thumb snap. It has a piece of tempered steel as reinforcement for the pull tab. I am going to scavenge this piece of steel from this holster, which will save me quite a bit of searching for another.)

This list of items is no where near my complete list of items that are required for my holster project. I will purchase more items as they are needed. Plus I need some information from you folks as to the type of needle that I need to get to do this project. (input wanted!)

I have finalized my design for my holster. Thought out the minute details. Created a template of my pistol with allowance for the width of the leather. And am ready to go.

Tomorrow I cut out the wood templates of cedar and begin the process of filing the template to the exact sizes and contours of the mould. I will radius the edges of the cutout template, as has been suggested by an expert in a previous reply in this thread. I will sand the surface of this template very smooth, as has also been advised to me in this thread. Then I am going to seal this wood template with polyurethane, so that it does not tear and bruise the surface of my leather.

Since this thread has become very long, whenever I begin to post pictures of my holster building process, I do believe that I shall begin a new thread for the occasion.

[Billsotx]

Wes,

I use harness needles. I'd keep a supply of both the 0 and 000 sizes. I use waxed 5 strand thread. I remove a strand or two if it's too bulky for what I'm sewing. Being able to remove strands and retwisting strands saves me having a bunch of money in a bunch of thread. I use one color - white. I like white on natural leather. If the project gets dyed, the thread gets dyed.

... good luck

Edited September 13, 2006 by Billsotx

[wes]

I have not forgotten about my holster, nor have I lost my enthiuasm for this project. I had to stop all of my projects to build and put up an electric fence, which took up several weekends.

Then we had the school shooting here at Bailey, CO in the Platte Canyon High School, which cost the life of a 16 years old girl by a sexual pervert. Our little community, population of about 2000, has been shaken quite a bit by this. I had to sit down for a while, drink a few cups of coffee and mull over the state of the universe and our place in it.

But next weekend, I will be working on my holster again.

Edited October 8, 2006 by wes

[Romey]

I thought i would offer up a couple of EXSTRELY well made videos for knife sheaths and holsters that a friend of mine, Chuck Burrows was asked to do. I by now way am making anything of his sales i just thought that some people would like to check them out, he is a master leatherworker especially and old west and frontier stuff. I know he has a Sheath and one holster video. He is the one who taught me how to make a proper fitting sheath. There are several projects in a single DVD from beginner simple to advanced.

Here is his link Wild Rose Trading company

[papy]

Hi Wes

In the factory world we use a 20 ton hydraulic press which is lined in the inside with layers of special hard rubber about 5" thick. The holster is dipped in water with some dishwasher similar liquid to allow more even penetration and then allowed to dry until the moisture is basically inside but starting to dry on the outside. The pressure is raised to 20 tons and then released. The hoslter with the aluminium replica ( which is used as the dummy) is removed and then re-wet with a sponge on the outside. We use stainless steel moulders ( they are in the shape of a bullet really) to hand mould the now impressed impressions into the leather. Basically just to enhance the moulded look.

In a situation outside the speed production a factory would need I would follow the same steps but use the gun itself and of course just press it and mould by hand. If the holster is unlined one can get a pretty deep impression by hand moulding but if its lined ( suede or smooth lining) you are going to have to put some energy into it. Just wipe the gun off when finished and reoil. If you get the leather with just the right amount of moisture as stated above there is no reason to worry about the moisture on the gun and can easily be removed with adry cloth.

I could go on forever with this but Im sure you get the drift. A good book with some info at the back on doing this by "hand" instead of using hydraulic presses and aluminium moulds is "Bue Steel and Gunleather" by John Bianchi written when he was still in the driving seat @ Bianchi Gunleather.

Dont know if this helps.

Lindsay

Hi Lindsay, I am starting in the leather holster business, I am in México . What kind of rubber do you use in your hydraulic press ? How long must be pressed ?

Thank you for your comments

Cesar K