Pressing holsters

[Red Cent]

Does anyone here shop press your leather to mold/conform to shape.?

[Camano Ridge]

When I am doing modern holsters and want detailed molding I have a 12 ton press I use and have just started expermenting with vacuum molding. For western Cass, period etc. I do minimal molding and it is done by hand.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

I mold by hand only, haven't tried vacuum molding yet, but I know it works, as for pressing my leather. no I haven't had a need to do that, I have straightened leather by wetting and pulling and stretching to get what I needed in a pattern or just for getting more from my leather, hope this helped.

          tEN wOLVES 

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I do the same as TW. No special treatment needed.

[Cliff Fendley]

I'd like to learn more about vacuum molding for some modern holsters.

[Red Cent]

I have been reading about the pressing of holsters and it does seem to be used mainly on modern holsters for revolvers and semi-autos. I can see that you would not want that snug of a fit with a cowboy gun. The pressers use a Weaver press that has plates that have something like gum rubber attached. Or some simply use a Harbor Freight hydraulic press and go at it.
I would think using a $70.00 hydraulic press to get a formed piece of leather that you could handform the rest would be very efficient and practical.
With the speed rigs, it would be good to press the gun cylinder area iinto the leather. I make Kydex holsters and use a fabricated hand press to form mine. I can get some super detail.



Thinkin' from the hip. Bored silly waitin' for the mo chine.

[Slowhand Bob]

I think this resembles the book press style, I will see if I can find the link to something similar I was considering a couple of years back for laminating linings.  I really liked the Harbour Freight 20 ton press more than the smaller versions.  With it one could have larger press plates cut and use it for all sorts of molding, embossing and even pretty heavy duty clicking.  The hydraulics are a bit slow but I am thinking that if one upgraded to the air/hydraulic jack it might be faster??

http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Fox-D3221-Super-Press/dp/B00012X504/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

[Red Cent]

"I followed Denster's advise and built a vacuum setup like his.  I've been very happy with it.  I've made quite a few tooled holsters with no affect on the tooling - at least none that I've noticed.  The advantages I see to a vacuum press:

1.It can be disassembled and placed in a drawer when not in use
2.It sucks some of the moisture out of the leather to expedite the forming process - you can dampen the leather more initially to help make it easier to mold, then leave it in the vacuum for a little while longer to help suck some moisture out and then remove it from the press and do your detail molding on the bench ('cutting' in the lines, enhancing the edges, etc.)
3.You get vacuum from all directions - not just up/down (two sides of the weapon), which helps to pull the top of the holster against the top of the slide
4.There is no worry about putting excess pressure on a firearm and risking any damage to the gun from the pressure of a hydraulic press
5.I don't know how long you have to leave the holster in a hydraulic press, but with a vacuum you can pretty much devote about 30 seconds for each side to bone the holster to the firearm.  So, in about 2 minutes, you're ready to take it to the bench for final detail boning and adding the curve to the holster, etc.
If you go the route of a vacuum press, I would suggest you build yourself a little table top specifically for use with the vacuum press.  This will elevate your work surface above your bench so you can clamp down both ends of the bag.  This table top should be slightly shorter than the vacuum bag.  If a bag is 2' x 4', your table should be about 2' x 3'-4".  Your table top should have a "skirt" on it (look at your kitchen table - the top is supported by a skirt, or box frame that's inset from the edge of the table a couple/few inches.  This allows you to place the bag clamps on both ends of the bag, then you put your clamps over the bag clamps and secure it to the ends of the table.  If you try clamping directly to the vacuum bag, it won't stay put because the bag is too slippery and your clamps will slip off and the bag will wrinkle up under vacuum.  When you're done, you can hang the table top on the wall, or slide it against the wall, etc. to get it out of the way.  If you decide to go this route and want more information on the table top work surface idea, let me know and I'll try to post a picture to this thread."

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=27904

Bunch of stuff over there on vacuum forming.