help w/ holster

[Soybomb]

Hey guys I'd appreciate any criticism or advice you have on how to improve on my latest holster.

One of the things I'm having a lot of trouble with is the boneing. You can see how little detail I was actually able to capture. I'm casing the leather in the hottest water I can get from my tap with a few drops of dish soap for about 20 seconds and then letting it dry a little before I go at it. I think part of of it is maybe my tools. I don't feel like I can apply much pressure with any of them before they start to mar the surface of the leather.

Any tips on using an edge creaser around the corners and where it intersects with a stitch line? My edge creases seem to walk and don't want to follow curves and usually wind up pretty ugly looking.

Finally for those of you who use angelus sealer, are you using matte? I bought the satin thinking it would be quite subtle but I feel like what I get is practically high gloss. I've also noticed that it seems to have a tendency to peel or wear off pretty easily. Does this mean I need to buff the piece after dying it more, am I using too much sealer? is it just how sealer is?

And yes my kydex needs a bit of work :D

Edited August 22, 2007 by Soybomb

[abn]

S.B.,

All in all, nice work. For the thickness of leather you're using, it seems like you're getting pretty good definition in your molding. Like you, I'm mystified as to how some folks are able to get more detail out of their wet molding... Maybe one of our resident experts will weight in on this.

Regarding the use of a satin acrylic finish, let's tackle the glossy issue first. Be sure to buff your black surface before adding the finish so that it's quite dull. (If your dyed surface is satin prior to adding the Satin Shene, it may turn glossy on you.) Also, be sure to buff after adding the finish to knock down some of the shine. One more idea -- if your leather is a bit shiny, use denatured alcohol to gently strip those oils and restore the natural surface. I'd play around with scrap pieces to figure out how to solve this problem.

Adding very light coats of Satin Shene, and letting them dry completely (10 minutes) between coats should help your peeling issue. However, Satin Shene is not the most durable finish out there and can wear with friction, so I've stopped using it on the inside of my wallets. If necessary, you might consider switching to a wax-based finish, like Fiebing's Leather Balm w/ Atom Wax.

Congrats on your holster!

Regards, -Alex

[ETW Grumpy]

Soy, what weight leather are you using? I wonder if you are using too heavy a leather to get good definition. As far as your casing technique, I do mine a little different. If I'm going to form something, I soak it in water as hot as I can stand until the bubbles stop coming up. I immediately start molding it on the object using my fingers (make sure you trim your nails). Once I've gotten the shape I want, it's usually dry enough to set down and let it dry completely. Once it's dry, I oil it lightly and then put on whatever dyes and finishes I want. Hope this helps.

[Soybomb]

Thanks all, I'm using 7/8 oz.

[ETW Grumpy]

You might back that out to 5/6 and see what you get.

[gunfighter48]

The commercial holster makers us 20 - 40 ton presses to do the initial boning then do the fine boning by hand. They use 1-2" gum rubber mats under and over the holster then use the press to get the rough shape. They use aluminum or blue gun molds in the holster while in the press. Pressing time runs from 30 sec to several minutes depending on the holster and leather. I don't have a press so just bone mine by hand. Listed below is a great web site, look for the Holster & Belt section. Some of the top holster makers in the country post in the holster section. Read through all the pages as there is several life times of information in the posts.

http://www.pistolsmith.com/index.php

Edited September 17, 2007 by gunfighter48

[Jordan]

Not an expert by any stretch but on the holster for my bersa I had an idea I wanted to try. I used my wife's food saver, put the pistol in a bag sucked out all the air then put my cased leather and the pistol in another bag sucked out all the air and boned the holster while it was in the bag. I got pretty good definition on 6/7 wt. The only problem now is that I wasn't to careful spacing my stitching, too close to the pistol outline so the holster is to tight. I am going to work on that problem tomorrow after the finish has dried. Oh yea, the bags do leave a very small diamond pattern on the leather.