Well, I don't know how long they can last either.
Years ago, say in the 1950's & 60's, a lot of cop leather came with
no or very little oil and a high polish black die finish. Eventually they just wore out from banging on car doors, getting rained on & dried out over a stove, and the like.
But they didn't necessarily crack apart, and were
never oiled because then, the spit-shine wouldn't take.
Sports holsters of the same era were usually brown oil finished, and they are still with us, and in pretty good shape. But they were more like loose gun pockets then todays hand-fitted custom holsters.
Old GI holsters & leather from WWI & WWII are often found dry & with the flaps cracked now.
But they were pretty dry & stiff to start with when they were new 75 to 100 years ago.
Regardless, that was then, and this is now.
The high quality hand-boned & fitted holsters we see now are usually molded to the gun when wet from vegetable tanned leather. That type of new leather has no natural oil left in it after the tanning process, is almost white in color, and will absorb water like a sponge.
They are wet molded to the gun when made, allowed to dry slowly, and then oiled sufficiently to lubricate the fibers and cause the natural brown color we see. Then they have a final finish of Leather-Sheen type acrylic applied to seal them from dirt & water.
Most custom makers caution never to apply any additional oil through the lifetime of the holster.
rcmodel
