Unlined Holsters - Need Some Advice

[Seth Shaw]

Hey Pards,

I'm working on a gun rig for my wifes new Ruger's and I need some advice. I want to keep the holsters unlined because I am putting a Ray-Skin inlay on the front of the holsters, similar to the rig attached. Now my question is, what technique do you use to get the flesh side of the leather smooth? Do you skiv it and then sand it down? Do you use Gum or Beeswax? Thanks for the help! I have high hopes for this project and I want to make sure I get every detail perfect.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy Seth

        I wouldn't put anything on the inside of the belt, or try to smooth it out, just leave it plane, so it can breath, the belt will last you a lot longer this way ( IMO ), if you feel you need to smooth the inside of the holster , use Gum Tragacanth and a rubbing stick I use a TINE OF DEER ANTLER for this , just put the GT on, and rub it smooth with your rubbing stick, let it dry , and then put a couple of light coats of Tan Kote on , and let dry between coats, and thats it, but you don't have to do this either, you can leave this natural also, and it will hold up better over time. all I WOULD USE FOR THIS KIND OF APPLICATION, IS LEX-OIL, a nice coat of this on the inside of the belt and holster, this will be better over time. I just relized you weren't talking about the belt, so I take it you are lining it. Seth I've gotten to the place, that if I want the color of the flesh side to match , I use the old time dye method , for either black or brown , or you can use Fiebings Stain, this works well too. ( IMHO ) but don't use the stain on the flesh side of a belt.


                                                                                    tEN wOLVES 

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Pard,

If you select your leather carefully, and get the smoothest possible on the flesh side, you shouldn't have to do much to it at all.  Of course, any holster, lined or not will cause some bluing wear on a blued gun.  There just isn't any help for it!  Even a lined holster, correctly wet-fit and blocked, has to contact the gun somewhere.  And where it makes contact, there will be bluing wear.  A topgrain cowhide lining will reduce this, but not eliminate it!  Just the nature of the beast.

For stainless steel guns, you don't need a lining, so save your money and time!

Hope this helps some!

[Seth Shaw]

Thanks pards! I guess what I will do is just lightly sand down the flesh side of the holsters to try and smooth them out for a better appearance. I am sure over time with use the grain will smooth out naturally, so I won't OVER do it. If that doesn't get it to the appearance I want I will use a TINY amount of GT and rub that into the flesh side to smooth it down.

Wear and tear on the pistols I am not too worried about, just the appearance and aesthetics of the holsters interior

[Cowhide Carver]

Hi,  I am new to CasCity, and wanted to say hello.  I was asked by a friend to try my hand at making a holster for him. 
The leathercrafts man who was helping me with this project, showed me something that works well to smooth the inside of an unlined holster.  He used a sheetrock surform to smooth the leather.  It worked so slick, I stopped at Home Depot on my way home that night and picked one up.  I have used it to smooth any unlined leather items that are rough on the inside.  Thought I would pass along this "slick" tool idea.  Hope this helps - 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

LOL, CC, you made me go online to see what the heck a surform was. I've always used a good grade of leather for unlined but now I'll go grab a lesser quality scrap and try that on it. I have one of those surforms somewhere in one of my bench drawers. Thanks for the suggestion.

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to your posts.

[Seth Shaw]

Hi,  I am new to CasCity, and wanted to say hello.  I was asked by a friend to try my hand at making a holster for him. 
The leathercrafts man who was helping me with this project, showed me something that works well to smooth the inside of an unlined holster.  He used a sheetrock surform to smooth the leather.  It worked so slick, I stopped at Home Depot on my way home that night and picked one up.  I have used it to smooth any unlined leather items that are rough on the inside.  Thought I would pass along this "slick" tool idea.  Hope this helps - 

That Surform is a perfect suggestion! I had a similar idea only with using a small hand held vibratory sander with fine grain paper. I bet with using the Surform and THEN the sander I could get a very smooth and even surface on the flesh side of the leather. If I can avoid using any substances that are sticky or could cause the pistol to bind up when drawing, then that would be perfect. Guess all I will need to do now is figure out how I want to line the belt ... probably a nice suede split in either black or cream (I think a nice cream would compliment the unlined appearance of the holsters better).

I'll have to go by Home Depot or Lowes this week and pick myself up a Surform and some replacement blades for it and give it a try on some scrap.

[outrider]

Howdy Seth:

The picture you posted is one of the rigs that I made for a customer in VA.  The leather is 8/9 oz. double shoulder with a "buffed" back.  The belt was lined in pigskin but the holsters are not lined. Our local Tandy/Leather Factory (Store #1) here in Chattanooga, TN.  has this in stock.  If you call ask for the Mgr.  Mr. Ron Riddle and tell him I referred you to him...he will know who you talking about.  1-800-251-7789 or 423-756-4484

[Seth Shaw]

Howdy Seth:

The picture you posted is one of the rigs that I made for a customer in VA.  The leather is 8/9 oz. double shoulder with a "buffed" back.  The belt was lined in pigskin but the holsters are not lined. Our local Tandy/Leather Factory (Store #1) here in Chattanooga, TN.  has this in stock.  If you call ask for the Mgr.  Mr. Ron Riddle and tell him I referred you to him...he will know who you talking about.  1-800-251-7789 or 423-756-4484

Thanks Outrider. Great rig by the way. The snake skin inlay looked so great I had to give it a try. A few of the black ray skins my wife looked at when I was last at Sav-More leather caught her eye so I promised her I would try and incorporate the skin into her holsters using the same inlay technique. I'll take pictures as the project progresses so I can post a step by step once it's completed.

I'll look into ordering some pigskin for lining this week. I'm going to give "buffing" the flesh side a try myself. I think that with the Surform and sander I should be able to get a very smooth and even surface if I go slowly and don't rush the process. We'll see how it turns out on some scrap first.

[outrider]

Seth:

When ordering pigskin make sure you get veg tanned....alot they sell is chrome tanned.  Just a hint

[Judge Lead]

Seth,
from what I have been told (and having seen some of the Ray skins (I am assuming you are talking Sting Ray)) they are difficult to stitch. It is like trying to stitch material with all these glass beads on it. We have recently had our Royal Easter Show here in Australia and , among other things in the craft displays (entries ?) is leather goods. A gent took out 1st place with a saddle that had a black ray skin for the seat, another was going to use one for the seat on his wifes bike. Don't know if that one has come to fruition yet though.

Back to the matter at hand, even though they look VERY good, they can be VERY difficult to work with.

Just thought I would let you know.

Enjoy and regards.

[Seth Shaw]

Seth,
from what I have been told (and having seen some of the Ray skins (I am assuming you are talking Sting Ray)) they are difficult to stitch. It is like trying to stitch material with all these glass beads on it. We have recently had our Royal Easter Show here in Australia and , among other things in the craft displays (entries ?) is leather goods. A gent took out 1st place with a saddle that had a black ray skin for the seat, another was going to use one for the seat on his wifes bike. Don't know if that one has come to fruition yet though.

Back to the matter at hand, even though they look VERY good, they can be VERY difficult to work with.

Just thought I would let you know.

Enjoy and regards.

Yeah even just trying to CUT through the Ray Skin was a chore. It's like trying to cut garment leather that has tiny pebbles glued all over it. I managed to cut the inlay piece to the dimensions I want, now the tough part will be stitching it together. I think I am going to break down and buy myself a Dremel Drill. I can't think of ANY other way to do it, as there is no way on God's Green Earth I am going to try and use a stitching awl to stab through a 9oz base holster, folded over, 12oz worth of blocking to widen the stitched edge, the Ray Skin and then 2-3oz of border leather around the ray skin inlay. That is WAY to much material to punch through by hand I am afraid, especially with the pebble texture of the Ray Skin.

I managed to smooth out the flesh side of the holsters interior nicely. I used 2 smooth surfaced river-rounded stones to buff down the flesh side grain. I used a VERY small amount of beeswax to get a smooth, even surface. I may follow that up with a small amount of GT and more repeated smoothing/buffing with the stones to get it nice and consistent, but overall I am satisfied with the results. I am sure repeated use and wear/tear on the holsters will get them worked in nicely anyways. Now I just need to wait for Tandy to ship my orders so I can get my new Swivel Knife and Ceramic blades (beader blade included), the black dyed pigskin lining, some Black EdgeKote, Black & Natural saddle thread (gotta see which the wife wants used on the gun rig), Silver Conchos for the Chape & Billet (I am using Will's Black Canyon Rig as a base template for the belt) and the buckle set. Then I can start the border tooling, carving and stamping, dye the belt and holster, do some lining, gluing and stitching! It's gonna be alot of work over the next week or so! I gotta have all this done before the Shootout at Mill Creek match in Norco!