A short update today - we are now to the part of the process where most of the time is spent waiting for one thing or another to dry. Once the dye is dry (usually over night, but I can do them within an hour if needed) - it's time for wet forming the holster. I fill a sink with hot tap water and submerge the entire holster for 60-90 seconds. After it's set for a minute or so, I work the mold piece (either one of my own or a blue gun) into the holster and get it positioned in relation to the stitching so it all looks nice. Then it's off to the vacuum press.
I found this thing on the internet - just like everything else... It's actually made for laminating skateboard decks, but it works very well for molding holsters. It's very thick plastic and has a little manual pump that I use to suck out the air. The orange mesh is designed to make air channels around the piece so that the air can be completely removed.
In this picture, I've just started with the boning process, using a couple of little tools I picked up at the leather store. A word of caution - be careful searching for the term "boning tools" on the Internet. I'm just sayin...
Here's another shot adding some detail near the muzzle:
Once I've got it molded how I like, I add a bit of pre-bend to the holster body. This makes break in a bit faster. The leather eventually will take on the appropriate shape, this just speeds things up a tad. I've found that I tend to do a bit more detailed boning that I used to - some may like more or less detail. It's a bit of a personal preference. I try to make sure that the trigger guard and ejection port get detailed pretty good - they are key to good retention.
It's now set aside on some rolled up towels to dry. In an hour or so, I'll pull it out of the press so that it can finish drying and I can mold another:
Tomorrow, if it's dry, we'll finish the edge and start applying various finish products. Almost done!
Lane