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.