Holster Maintenance.

[Bazoo]

Its been quite a while since I did maintenance on my holster since I wear it all the time. So this evening I decided to take it off and clean it up. Figured I’d share for anyone that hasn’t had this idea or maybe didn’t know what to do for a leather carry holster.

I first started by dusting it off inside and out, using a toothbrush for some of the stamping and smaller areas and a rag for everything else.









You can see it was pretty dusty and grungy. But it wiped pretty clean.


I apply a liberal coat of JPW or Johnson’s paste wax.



The top half of the holster has been waxed and the bottom is unwaxed, for comparison.



Here we are waxed and buffed with a shoe brush.


This is my own regiment that I’ve developed after years of carrying a gun. In this case I’ve carried this gun and holster over two years, and given it this treatment dozens of times. In summer I sometimes will give it this once a week to keep the sweat from soaking into my holster.

Don’t forget to wax your ammo carrier too! This is a DeSantis 3x3. Waxing the inside helps prevent, but doesn’t eliminate verdigris.



I also remove my grips and coat the inside of the grip panels and the frame to help stave off rust from sweat.


The holster is a Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake, and the gun is a Ruger Blackhawk 44 special, to which I’ve added a stainless grip frame.

Thanks all for reading and I hope this helps everyone to keep their rig in good working order.

 

[JTQ]

Good work.

 

[westernrover]

I would use a little water and Feibing's saddle soap to clean up before waxing it. The toothbrush and corner of a rag will work with the soap. I don't want to soak the leather, but if it has wax on it from before it's not going to absorb a lot. Cleaning it with saddle soap avoids encasing any soiling in the wax. The SC Johnson paste wax is paraffin wax. I prefer beeswax and/or microcrystalline wax (Renaissance).

That's a nice holster, and your result speaks for itself -- very good.

The steel grip frame is an upgrade from what I presume was aluminum. I have a single-six with the aluminum grip. My late-model Vaquero is all steel. Does it use all factory springs? I tried a 15# spring on mine but it misfired. I put the 17# back. I had to buy a triple-pack to get the 16# spring. It's noticeably lighter than the factory spring and about 99% on ignition (would be 100% with Federal).

 

[Bazoo]

Thanks for the comments all.

@westernrover
The Ruger Blackhawk 44 special is their mid sized (flattop) frame and came with a steel XR3 grip frame. I don’t care for the size and since I wanted two tone anyways, I fitted a stainless XR3-RED grip frame.

I didn’t think of using saddle soap. Partly because mine isn’t dirt but mostly dust from the wood shop. That’s a good idea though. Thanks.

I’ve never tried Renaissance wax but I hear tell it’s good stuff.

I forgot to mention, I am using a stock 23 lbs Blackhawk hammer spring. There was a lighter spring in the gun, 17 lbs I think is what they come out with, and an internal lock. I changed to the standard hammer spring and strut system when I changed grip frames.

I also changed the hammer to a standard blued Blackhawk hammer. If I’m not mistaken the newer hammers have slightly larger bases than the older ones, and it was proud at the ears on the new grip frame. So I used a spare hammer I had so I could match the grip frame ears to hammer base. It was a drop in change for the hammer.

 

[.38 Special]

You are far more conscientious than I am! If I pull the gun out and it is covered in Klingons then I will blow out the holster with the air compressor, and that is the extent of my holster maintenance.

 

[Speedo66]

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Don’t forget to wax your ammo carrier too! This is a DeSantis 3x3. Waxing the inside helps prevent, but doesn’t eliminate verdigris.
View attachment 1130810


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How about using nickel plated ammo?

That should eliminate your verdigris problem.

 

[doubleh]

Looks good and Johnson's is a great wax. Too bad they have discontinued it although Amazon is still showing it for a decent price.

 

[Bazoo]

How about using nickel plated ammo?

That should eliminate your verdigris problem.

Well, that does help. I have 20 pieces of nickel 44 special brass. Remington stamped. I do load it and carry it. But, I didn’t have any for the intended load I was carrying. 44 special don’t grow on trees ya know.

 

[Bazoo]

Looks good and Johnson's is a great wax. Too bad they have discontinued it although Amazon is still showing it for a decent price.

I ain’t heard that. Oh crap. I use it at work for coating the top of my cast iron tools.

Not to mention I use it for tumble lube.

 

[doubleh]

I read about this last year and found something about it on their website. I just went to the company's website and can find nothing about it but the wax is not show in their list of products now. I did run this down on the Martin Guitar website doing some more searching. Thit was in an email a member received after questioning the company.

"I’m sorry to share SC Johnson Paste Wax® is no longer being made. While I understand it was a product you used, unfortunately, we had to make the tough decision to stop making it. That said, your continued interest has been shared with the team.