How can I smoothen leather holster?

[JumperXCB]

Hello, I have a leather holster for G26. The inside is very tight to draw.

My question is, what liquid or spray can I use, to smoothen the inside of the leather, without damaging the external of the gun?

[SkyHawk]

Use water and a wood dowel to burnish it. It will not be easy with the holster sewn together however. But it is doable. You may need a couple sizes of wood dowels to get into the tight spots.

Place the holster on a firm surface, with the side you will be rubbing against that surface. Use your finger to apply a thin layer of water to the surface to be smoothed - just get it wet do it soak it. Then insert the wood dowel and rub vigorously back and forth (or in this case up/down is probably easier) with some pressure - the pressure combined with heat from friction will burnish the surface smooth.

It would be much easier if the holster were opened up, burnished, and then restitched.


You could also get some Tokonole and do the same thing, replacing the water with this

https://www.amazon.com/Seiwa-Tokonole-Leather-Burnishing-Leathercraft/dp/B017X8GL9A/

It will probably last a bit longer and also be easier to get a smooth surface in the confined space you have to work with. Just rub a light coat of that in the holster, let it set a few minutes, and then start rubbing with the dowel(s).

[SkyHawk]

Also before you do anything, how old is this holster - how long have you been wearing it with the gun? If it is new then I would not burnish it yet. It will loosen over time - just keep it on and wear it all day around the house.

The other thing you can do if it is new is place the UNLOADED gun into a dress sock or a thick plastic bag, then shove the gun into the holster and leave it for a few days to a week - it will be much easier to draw then, and it will not shrink back up, the fix is permanent

[P5Ret]

You probably need to let the leather stretch out. Many leather holsters are wet molded to the gun, creating a tight fit. Put the gun in a ziplock bag and put it in the holster, and let it sit. This will allow the leather fibers to loosen up.

There really aren't any short cuts to breaking in a leather holster, much like a good pair of shoes it takes time.

[otteray]

To make the gun fit better and smooth; Use Sno-Seal or similar beeswax product by wrapping a dowel or wooden spoon handle with a rag, then rub it in well wrap the pistol in a plastic bag or saran wrap, insert into holster and let it sit to dry out. after that insert and draw from the holster a couple hundred times. Make sure it still maintains retention.
If that doesn't work, look for a different leather holster maker.

[SharedShots]

I've been making my own leather holsters for a long time and design and spoon the leather very tight. I make both the unlined (just the leather) and lined (various materials including suede). ELk suede is by far the best liner in my experience. It lasts forever and is also a barrier against moisture.

Using a holster will wear the finish of the handgun, it's called friction. There is no way around it. The synthetic holsters are a bit less wearing but leather is not, just the way it is. You can always tell the person who has a new looking gun and a leather holster, the gun lives in the holster and they don't shoot much.

It takes a while for the leather to get worked as you use it. Commercial leather holsters are most often fitted via presses and thus are also very tight. Being tight is done on purpose, to retain the handgun. A loose holster can be a problem if you fall or move around and just rely on a retention buckle or strap. It's worse if the design uses tension and handgun position for retention.

Since you didn't say which type of holster (passive retention or buckle/strap etc) I'd say you should use the holster a bit more. Leather is going to wear the guns finish if used often, so goes.

A very tight fitting holster means the owner hasn't been practicing enough to break it in.

Does your holster have a tension device? I sometimes add them to my holsters but lots of commercially made leather holsters have them. Its usually a screw that you can turn to adjust the retention feature. Depending on design, they allow easy insertion of the gun but can be a bugger to unholster. Try adjusting that is it's present.

In the end, a tight fitting leather holster is better than a loose one if you use it for carry. Depending on the type (pants waistband held, belt held, friction held) you might need to adjust that part of the system a bit. A holster is just part of it, how that holster is retained is also important.

You can see some people at a range trying to draw and they nearly pull their pants up to their arm pits trying to unholster. Loose belt or no belt with a belt held holster (tucked inside the waistband).

If, after using it a bunch it's still too tight, then visit a leather shop (like Tandy) and they sell a spray (several types and often some sort of silicone) and very sparingly spray the gun, never the leather, and only where it appears to be too tight and work the gun and holster. Go really easy on the spray, too much and you'll ruin the holster. You want as little as possible to easy holstering and unholstering. Don't use any kind of wax. Wax can and will become a mess when it gets hot/warm and release from the leather. Wax can also harden the leather and then you've just ruined it. It might seem good to do but if it's just a rarely used holster - maybe - if you might depend on it - don't.

Whatever you do, don't burnish the leather. First, in order to do that you'll likely stretch the leather where it does need it and thus compromise it's structure and second, it's unlikely it will solve the problem without creating several more.

Also, do not use steam or water to soften the leather, both aren't advised (from experience) because as the leather dries it can stiffen and shrink and do strange things.

The best way as I said earlier, is to use it more. That means you might wear the finish on your gun a bit but then using that gun means getting better at it.

ADDED:

Depending on the type of holster, it could be the design is not a straight/out type and requires that you angle the gun as it's holstered and rotated slightly as it's unholstered. It could be you are fighting the angle of the holster so check that.

A high quality holster isn't formed using water/steam or such and then pressed. Other methods are used and if a steam or liquid is used it is rarely water and instead a fast-evaporating product. Highly mass produced leather holster makers that do use steam or water are going the cheap route and selling brand over quality.

The problem with wrapping the gun and inserting it into the holster to stretch it is that leather, once stretched remains that way and if stretched too much becomes trash. High quality leather holsters become worked to fit, low quality (regardless of brand name) stretch and become sloppy.

Wrapping a gun in something stretches the leather over all and that isn't what you need. You need tight in some places and less so in other areas. That is why, if you use a spray (or other good leather conditioner specifically to lower the friction) you use it only where it's needed.

This all might sound like too much over a holster but think about out, the holster is holding your gun, is that the thing to go cheap on? Have your holster fail and you lose your gun and all the fancy sights, triggers and coats won't make a bit of difference.



.

[JumperXCB]

Hello guys, yes this is a brand new holster

Pics are at the post

[SkyHawk]

Hello guys, yes this is a brand new holster

Pics are at the post

Then do not burnish it. Just put the unloaded gun in a thin dress sock or a thick ziploc bag, shove the gun in the holster and then wait 3 to 5 days before removing. You can also wear the rig around the house with the gun/sock stuffed in it, which will speed up the process

[Kurgan]

I agree with using plastic wrap and...patience.

I wouldn't use any conditioning product as I've never needed it.

[ACfixer]

Don't worry about the finish on the Glock. Jeeze I have been carrying my 19 for ages and you can barely tell it's used from more than a foot away. I've carried it in leather, kydex, and polymer holsters. Seriously I just pulled it out of my holster and looked at it, what wear it does have just makes it look honest.

My advice, carry it in a kydex holster by day, put it in a plastic bag and let it sit in the holster at night until it starts to loosen up a but then just carry it. It just takes time and there's really no cheating it, and the better the holster the longer it's going to take.

[Mute]

Don't do anything to the leather yet. Put your gun into a zip lock bag and insert the whole thing into your holster. It will be very tight but get it all the way in and let it sit in there for a week. You'll find after this time that the gun should have a perfectly smooth draw but still have proper retention of the gun even under strenuous activity.

[L84CABO]

New leather holsters usually need to be broken in. How much depends on the holster but a hundred to several hundred presentations is not unheard of. Remember that once you loosen a holster there is NO going back. So you want to be very careful with this.

Do the presentations first. And letting the gun sit in the holster overnight can't hurt.

If after doing several hundred presentations it's still too tight, then you could wrap the gun in plastic wrap (the kind you have in the kitchen) and let it sit in the holster overnight. The bag that the holster came in might actually be too thick. Kitchen plastic wrap is very thin. Start with a single wrap and see how it is. If after several nights it's still too tight, then go for a second wrap. Remember there is no going back if the holster becomes too loose so you want to do this very gradually.

You also want to be VERY careful with using any type of products on the leather. You want to avoid anything that actually softens the leather. You can easily ruin a holster this way.

There are two products that you can use which will help reduce the friction of the leather but won't hurt the leather...or the gun. One is Mitch Rosen's Leather Lightning which can be found at their website. The other is KG 9 Kote...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIVDr3gaSg

https://shop.kgcoatings.com/kg/product/kg-9-micro-ptfe-leatherkote/

[JumperXCB]

I did the sock expanding technique. in fact, I used jeans instead and it definitely expanded it a bit where everything is smooth now.

thank you all for the tips

[Horsewright]

I’ve made a couple of holsters over the years. Occasionally I might get one a little tight in a certain area or so. I have found that the judicious use of a pair of needlenose pliars to expand the too tight area advantageous. Put it inside and open up where ya need to. I keep two different sizes in my leather tool box just in case.

[SDDAVE56]

I used wax paper to wrap a pistol for one of my holsters. UNLOADED! Wrap it, shove it in, put it in the safe, leave it alone for a week.