First pancake style holster. Need help for next one!

[Akers]

Need help from experienced holster makers. If this has been covered before, sorry I couldn't find it, I might have looked over it.  How do you put the retention in the trigger area and ejection  port without getting that burnished look and the ''smashed'' look, I can't seem to get the crisp "neat" look. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I used herman oak leather. I stained it first, then wet formed it. I used the round end of my burnhing stick, I've tried the bone folders, and several different pear shaders and nothing seams to work for me. Everything I've tried also puts rubbed marks on the leather, how do I keep it from doing that. I've watched several guys on youtube used vacuum pumps and bags to wet form and that's how I did this one, but still get rub marks through the plastic. Thanks. 

[Rahere]

Patience on the port, there's no point in shredding the leather. Keep coming back to it, damping and forming it closer. You might need to thicken up the trigger guard with tape, before doing the same.. It's more the undercut on the barrel causing the issue here, though. You have a clear image of what you want, now just make it happen. Have faith!

[chiefjason]

It's a hand made holster.  There will be some tool marks.  

Mold before dying.  Leather takes to boning better.  Case the holster before molding.  Wet but not too wet.  Too wet does not hold the molding.  

If the marks bother you, you can usually lightly burnish them out at the end.  

[Dwight]

Well . . . I use my fingers . . . and I do all the forming, etc . . . before I dye.

Sometimes the tool marks will kinda "lift up" when I do the dying  . . .  if not . . . I just live with them . . . OR . . . make sure I add another coat of Resolene so the overall appearance is as bright and shiny one place as it is the others.

May God bless,

Dwight

[JLSleather]

Do the heaviest molding with the leather VERY wet.  As it dries on the surface, tooling will cause darker "burnishing' (if you do it wet, it will not later darken just because the leather is drying).

[Akers]

Thanks everyone for the tips, I'll give them a try.

[Scootch]

What weight leather are you using?Thinner leather will give you finer detail.

Scootch

[Frodo]

Usa a vacuum pack machine.

 

[Akers]

Scootch, I used 5-6 oz herman oak

Frodo, thanks.

[Rahere]

That's great for the back plate, too thick to mold. Try 3-4oz.

[chiefjason]

16 hours ago, Rahere said:

That's great for the back plate, too thick to mold. Try 3-4oz.

 

I'm molding level 8oz hides for my fronts and using 8-10 oz on the back.  I'm not telling you not to go thinner.  I'm telling you that you don't have to go thinner.  And honestly, I see a lot out there that I feel are too thin for the application.  And IMO, 3-4 oz is too thin for anything but micro compacts and mag holders.  Heck, I use 5-6 oz for mag holders.  

[Rahere]

@chiefjason Don't forget finding his way, though. The lighter weight's a viable compromise, with experience he'll find what works for him. I once knew a sergeant-major whose party piece was firing a machine-gun single-handed, like a pistol. You might need your 10oz for that!

[Scootch]

On 4/18/2021 at 7:05 PM, Akers said:

Scootch, I used 5-6 oz herman oak

Frodo, thanks.

You should be able to get good detail with 5/6.  I've never tried molding a holster without a vacume bag.  I use the set up that Adams leather works advocates.  A harbor freight vacuum pump and a vacuum bag from a wood working shop (don't remember the name.  I've also only made one 50/50 pancake holster.  I like to make the flat back pancakes.  I cannot tell for sure which yours is.  You're not going to hurt the leather if you get it too wet.  I usually submerge the holster in regular temp tap water for 20 seconds.  Pull it out and let it soak up what it's going to soak up them dry the rest off with a towel and throw it in a gallon ziplock over night or for a couple of hours before I form the pistol.  I also dye before I soak, soaking and wet forming seem to even out the dye job.

There's a bunch of errors on this one... but it's a lined holster of 3/4 oz, so thats two layers and the reinforcement adds a third layer.  Lined holsters are harder to detail.

Scootch

[Akers]

Thanks guys for all the help, really appreciate it.

[sbrownn]

On 4/17/2021 at 11:40 PM, Frodo said:

Usa a vacuum pack machine.

 

Exactly

A $100 vacccum pump and bag will solve most of the issues.

[Akers]

Thanks, sbrownn

[Hags]

I use 7/8 oz Hermann Oak for my holsters, check my bio and you can see my work. I dye first, sew second, and wet mold last. I do use a  vac set up as does Adam's leather work now. Before I did it all by hand and had very good results. If the leather is too wet, you will never get it to take. Work it in, under a hair dryer on low for 15 - 20 minutes, then bone some more. I get my holsters wet for 10 to 15 seconds, wrap my gun in plastic wrap and seat as deep as I can in the holster then start wet molding.  I use a reinforcing piece on the front so dont worry too much about the ejection port on front. You can lock the gun in if you go to deep on that anyway. I get most of my retention from the trigger guard  on the back side. I use a boner, and one I made from a hoe handle the is a bit thinner on the big end. I also use a smooth pear shade from my tooling set to get a burnished look where I want detail. After that, I use resolene and water 50/50 mix and the burnishing difference all but disappears. 

[Akers]

Thanks, Hags. It seems from all the advice I've gotten, I just got in to big a hurry molding  it, seems I need to mold it slower as it dries more. I think I molded this one too much when it was too wet. 

[sbrownn]

7 hours ago, Akers said:

Thanks, Hags. It seems from all the advice I've gotten, I just got in to big a hurry molding  it, seems I need to mold it slower as it dries more. I think I molded this one too much when it was too wet. 

One positive about vacuum bagging is that the vacuum process removes the excess water from the leather the same as it removes water from an air conditioning system; it lowers the pressure in the bag to below the vapor pressure of the water and "boils" it off.  This allows extra leeway in the moisture content of the leather and speeds up the "drying" process.  Without getting the leather pretty wet I have found it difficult to create the kind of detail desired.  I make my holsters from two layers of 3 oz bridle leather so I have an outer layer and an inner liner layer.  I soak both pieces and then wet mold them by vacuum bagging before gluing.  This allows the two pieces to form independently and they can slip and adjust to each other.  After they have been purged of excess moisture during the vacuum bagging process I apply contact cement to the inside of both layers and vacuum bag them again while the cement is still wet to compress the two layers together.

I realize this process seems time consuming but it does result in a really nice holster.  I don't bother to detail my holsters anymore that what the vacuum process achieves as I don't really see the the purpose other than decoration.

[Akers]

Thanks sbrownn. I'll give that a try.

[Akers]

On 4/22/2021 at 11:27 PM, Hags said:

I use 7/8 oz Hermann Oak for my holsters, check my bio and you can see my work. I dye first, sew second, and wet mold last. I do use a  vac set up as does Adam's leather work now. Before I did it all by hand and had very good results. If the leather is too wet, you will never get it to take. Work it in, under a hair dryer on low for 15 - 20 minutes, then bone some more. I get my holsters wet for 10 to 15 seconds, wrap my gun in plastic wrap and seat as deep as I can in the holster then start wet molding.  I use a reinforcing piece on the front so dont worry too much about the ejection port on front. You can lock the gun in if you go to deep on that anyway. I get most of my retention from the trigger guard  on the back side. I use a boner, and one I made from a hoe handle the is a bit thinner on the big end. I also use a smooth pear shade from my tooling set to get a burnished look where I want detail. After that, I use resolene and water 50/50 mix and the burnishing difference all but disappears. 

Hi, hags, I know this is probably going to make me look my age, (computer illiterate) but I can't figure out how to find your bio? I'd like to see some of your work. Thx

[Rahere]

Click on his name

[Akers]

On 4/25/2021 at 10:19 AM, Rahere said:

Click on his name

Thanks Rahere, I realize now I worded that question wrong. I already tried clicking on his name but can't find his photos. When on someone's  bio, where do you find there pics?

[Rahere]

I tried a general search (top right) which came up with his postings, but sub-selecting on images and albums came up empty.

[Akers]

Ok thanks Rahere