Final pics of the AB Holster...

[K on the run]

Ladies and Gentlemen, finally the finished Adventurebilt holster.
These fine pictures was shot by IndyK from that other place
There's two types: The Brand New Holster and The Beaten up Adventure Holster.

Here's the Brand new:



All the pics:
s172.photobucket.com/albums/w37/wesdcv/Adventurebilt%20Leather/

Enjoy

[JEEP]

Amazing work Kim - your grandfarther would be wery proud of you.

This is exactly what I envisioned from the start - thank you my friend for taking it up where I had to let go.


Regards.

Jakob

[Marc]

MOST impressive!!! I'm confident that people will be extremely happy, once the first holsters arrive later this week.

HIGH regards,

Marc

[Deleted]

Unbelievably Amazing

Cheers,
G-MANN

[Ragingblues]

I agree.... great photo too!


Ken

[GCR]

Awesome, truly awesome!!!

I can hardly wait to get me one of these!!!!

Kim, what sort of distressing did you do to the "Beaten Up Adventure" holster? I'd like to do the same to my AB Holster when I finally get around to purchasing one, as that is just the type of look I'm going for!

-GCR

[Marc]

I hope you don't mind that I answer this one Kim.

Kim used his S&W replica after soaking the holster in water to get that shape to it and then used various distressing techniques to make it look naturally aged with time. It takes several hours to do so, but if desired, I'm sure that if you add a little extra, Kim would be happy to do so on request.

Please let me add a little trivia to this, to get a better understanding of why this gunholster is a bit more, than other offerings. First of all, there's that weak Dollar again, that I've been complaining about several times in the past already. Next are the materials: alone the little solid brass post is almost 4 bucks!!! Not to mention the leather that Kim had to specially order in exactly THAT color and THAT thickness, after going through DOZENS of samples. You would probably not believe it, but even the vintage style thread is on the expensive side, since you have to buy an entire roll of it at once. Next thing is the stamp for the logo, which put me back with 120 Euro. Shipping of an un-insured package is another 26 Euro per package or - for European customers - 19% sales taxes (there's more taxes later yet). Now add countless (unpaid) hours of research and development, the laser cut pattern and 4 hours per holster to make (WITHOUT distressing it). Kim and I have discussed this at length, as it was clear quite fast, that this wouldn't be the most affordable holster out there if done correctly. But we thought that with the expectance that people would have, when buying an AB product, anything short of perfect wouldn't do. So we continued. Looking at the one holster I haven't sold yet, I believe that we chose wisely

Regards,

Marc

[indianadirk]

So If I understand correctly
the price for me would be 146 euros + 19 per cent tax?

[Marc]

Not quite sure how you come up with that price Dirk The price is 99 Euro shipped incl. taxes.

Regards,

Marc

[indianadirk]

LOL Ok ! Sorry haha I just misread, and thought it said it was 120 euros plus 26 shipping and tax,
I need to get some sleep before I post again Hahah! Sorry

[GCR]

marc said:

I hope you don't mind that I answer this one Kim.

Kim used his S&W replica after soaking the holster in water to get that shape to it and then used various distressing techniques to make it look naturally aged with time. It takes several hours to do so, but if desired, I'm sure that if you add a little extra, Kim would be happy to do so on request.

I'm just a bit curious as to what the "various distressing techniques" were (hence my question) as I was hoping to try and distress it myself, after all distressing this stuff is half the fun! (Well, for me anyway)

Mainly just wondering if it was sandpaper, steel wool, etc. If there were any sort of conditioners used, and all that fun stuff.

-GCR

[pitfallharry]

Beautiful job. That is a work of art.

I love the distressed pics too. I'm sure that holster is worth every penny. IF I had a real S&W to put in it I'd buy that one for sure.

[K on the run]

Hi guys, It's me again. I'm sorry about being absent for so long, I just have a ton of projects in the air and very little time to do them in.
Thank you all for the reception, now I'm just excited to hear your reviews when you receive the holsters.

CGR, the distressing is not that complicated it just takes time and you need a somewhat artistic sense.
First I fill the holster with hot tab water (about 50° Celsius/122° Fahrenheit) when all the leather is wet I start to massage the holster to get some softness in to the leather. Don't over do it unless you want the surface to be wrinkled.

Put the gun in and press the leather down around the gun, you decide how clear the imprint shall be at this state. Close the holster and place the it near a heat source, NOT A FIREPLACE OR INSIDE AN OVEN. A radiator will do fine as long as it's not to hot as that will cause the holster to shrink, dry out and harden (in other words DESTROY IT)

Leave it there for 1-2 hours, check regularly, when it has dried enough to safely handle it with out ruining the imprint it's time to remove the gun and close it again. Leave the holster near the radiator until completely dry.

Now it's time to do the tear and wear bit.
You'll need:
black shoe polish
earth/dirt brown shoe polish. Avoid reddish brown.
a fine sandpaper foam block approximately grain 400, water sandpaper grain 400 can also be used.
1 can of Pecards.

apply brown and black polish in a random way, this is the part where you have to find the inner artist
Try to get a dirty used look. Wipe with a cloth between layers. A blow dryer at this stage can help make the color penetrate the surface..
When you have achieved a dirty look get the sandpaper out. Sand the parts of the gun imprint that you want to look scuffed. Mind you the Raiders holster was not as clearly scuffed around the gun as the one shown here. The edges of the holster should be sanded randomly as this is one of the places that normally takes a beating when going abroad

You can apply more polish after sanding, that way you can tone down some of the sanded areas if needed.
Repeat the polish sanding until you are satisfied and finish with a layer of Pecards. You can use a blow dryer (at a safe distance) to make the Pecards penetrate the leather. This is not good leather care advice but very good distressing advice wipe the holster with a dry cloth and finish with a gentle sanding of the areas that needs to be made clear again after the Pecards treatment.

Finally give it a work over with your hands to make it soft again.

That's about it, hope you can use it and post some pics when you're done.

I've distressed a piece of leather to show just what happens color wise.
You can see it here, mind you the photo is oversize so the texture is bigger that on the actual holster.
i172.photobucket.com/albums/w37/wesdcv/Adventurebilt%20Leather/color_comp.png

Cheers Gentlemen.
Kim

[Ragingblues]

K,

Thanks much for the awesome information on how you've achieved such a great looking, well weathered leather holster. The comparison photo is all the proof you need that it really works well.

Thanks for sharing,

Ken

[GCR]

Yes, Kim...thank you very much for the details on the distressing work!!!

I've done some experimenting on my Western Stage Props holster which is very similar to the method you've described, except for the water treatment. I've mainly been trying to tone down the "redness" in the color of the leather WSP uses (it's REALLY reddish) while also giving the holster a very worn / distressed look. Having a holster in the correct color to begin with would surely help, though, so I can hardly wait to pick up one of the AB Leather Co. holsters!

-GCR

[K on the run]

I'm just glad to help. GCR sorry about the misspell "CGR" Who would want to be: "Center for Governmental Research" when his real name is "Great Central Railway"

Cheers,
Kim

[Deleted]

Well I just received my Holster and man o man is it a beauty. EXCELLENT job Kim.

Cheers,
G-MANN

[GCR]

krun said:

I'm just glad to help. GCR sorry about the misspell "CGR" Who would want to be: "Center for Governmental Research" when his real name is "Great Central Railway"

Cheers,
Kim

;D Don't worry about the misspell, Kim...if it'd make it easier, you can dispense with the screen-name and just call me "Griff". We're all pretty familiar with each other over here, so I don't mind.

Thanks again for the distressing tips!

Well I just received my Holster and man o man is it a beauty. EXCELLENT job Kim.

Cheers,
G-MANN

Nice! What kind of holster had you been using before, John? Was it a Todd's deluxe or basic, or something else entirely? I'd be curious to see how your old holster compares with the AB Leather Co. version, if you ever feel like doing a little comparsion.

-GCR

[Deleted]

Griff,

I was using a Todd's Deluxe, which is a great holster too. The AB is a softer leather and a better color. It also fits my blank fire Colt Python perfectly.

I will try to do some comparison pics in the next day or two.

Cheers,
John

[K on the run]

You must be the first to receive one John, I'm really glad you like it. I know you have been waiting for it for a long time.
Looking forward to see the comparison pics.

Griff, a pleasure meeting you.

Cheers,
Kim

[Kaplan]

I just got my AB holster as well. It's really terrific. I'm very happy with it. I'll post pics soon.

[lordxhelmetx]

I found this on eBay it's pretty cheap in price, I want to you what you guys think:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160195149159&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

I've already spoken with the dealer, he assures me that the wording imprinted on the belt is not on the final product. It has that dark TOD or LC look. the Lighter ones could almost pass for raiders.

Here's the TOD/LC one


THe Raiders one.


The seller is CostumeBase, It looks good, but many things on ebay do at first huh? Let me know. By the way, The AB holster looks fantastic, especially aged and weathered.

Best regards my friends

[Mr. Fusion]

lordxhelmetx said:

I found this on eBay it's pretty cheap in price, I want to you what you guys think:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160195149159&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

I've already spoken with the dealer, he assures me that the wording imprinted on the belt is not on the final product. It has that dark TOD or LC look. the Lighter ones could almost pass for raiders.

Here's the TOD/LC one


THe Raiders one.


The seller is CostumeBase, It looks good, but many things on ebay do at first huh? Let me know. By the way, The AB holster looks fantastic, especially aged and weathered.

Best regards my friends

It's alright, if you aren't worried about accuracy. I have that set in a lighter color (which was stupid because only the holster looks good light brown), and the one I have does have the "Costumebay" logo on the belt. That's one of the reasons I got a Todd's belt and holster. That and the belt was too light.

-Josh