Restored Post 17: After the Detailing, Now the Drying

17 heat temper

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It's a misconception that ambient air drying is good enough for the hand detailed holster you've just created. If you rely on ambient air, in some climes it will take a LONG time to dry overnight, for example. Second best is if you live in a hot clime: dry in the sun, but this can darken the cowhide and even redden it. Best: hot air drying which takes just an hour at a low temp (info inside the PDF) and HARDENS the holster so that the holster will fit as well when it's old as when it was new. And eliminated so-called "break-in" if the practitioner hasn't also overheated the holster.

Here's another:

17 temper

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The leather hardens because surrounding the natural fibres is 'collagen' that the wetting of the leather softened. For the collagen to take a 'set' in the new shaping, it requires heat. Very much like tempering a flat or wire spring (Lawman Leather take note) the new shape doesn't take a permanent 'set' without the correct heat processing -- and why I call this 'tempering' the leather as it is with metals.

"Best in Class" is not a new Sparks or an early Nelson, but an old Seventrees in horsehide:

Read all about the evolution of today's gunleather during the 20th century in the second edition of my book, published 2022 and available at www.holstory.com .