monsterpartyhat
Sr Member
So, I had the (apparently) unusual experience of the leg strap on my Han Solo holster peeling off of the holster body while sitting down (with an all-metal blaster in said holster) today. I'm guessing that the combination of a heavy metal blaster, and possibly fastening the leg strap too tightly without realizing how much more stress would be put on it when I sat down resulted in stress shearing the rivets.
I want to start off saying that Todd's Costumes has been absolutely fantastic - they immediately offered to reimburse me for the cost of having a local cobbler repair it, or take it back if it couldn't be done locally. A++ customer service, and I'm definitely still planning to shovel more cash their way for future projects! (those buckles for a custom holster rig, oh my!). The holster is a thing of beauty (seen with the rest of my rig here), and received a huge amount of attention.
I didn't start this thread to complain about the mishap, but to document how I fixed it, in case anyone else needs to do the same for a holster of any make. I hope you find it riveting (ba-doom...TSS!).
OK, now that we've got that obligatory pun out of the way...look upon the lamentations of the rivets, and despair!
Yep. My thighs did that.
So, after taking the holster around on my late lunch break to two local cobblers to get their opinions - both of them wanted a couple of days to figure out how, if they could - I brought it back, since I still needed to wear it for Halloween, thinking I'd leave it with one of them tomorrow. But when I got home, I remembered that I still have a bunch of rivets and tooling from the days when I used to make custom messenger bags and bike luggage and such things. I used to rivet closure hooks on to some of the bags I made, and maybe some of that would work out.
I still have quite a lot of tubular rivets, which can be set easily and fairly securely with a "splash" tool, which splits them into six prongs. They're juuuust long enough to fit through the heavy leather. But the first problem is, how to get them set deep inside the very narrow holster?
Locking pliers and brute force, of course.
Getting locking pliers to hold a rivet evenly is tricky, but doable. I only sent them flying off into corners of the room at high velocity a half dozen times.
This is a re-enactment of the general idea of using the pliers to position the rivet in the hole from the inside. The reality involved a headlamp for illumination, awkward grunting, and occasional cursing.
Getting the first one, in the hole in the middle where the holster is widest was actually not that difficult.
I inserted a length of wood into the holster to act as an anvil (a steel bar would probably be even better, but I went with what I had on hand). Insert the business end of the splash tool into the open end of the rivet, and BAM. A good solid whack with a rubber mallet and it's set.
Unbelievably, I managed to get a rivet in the second hole too. That was considerably more difficult, as it's the much narrower section of the teardrop-shaped holster. Nevertheless, with even more awkward twisting and muttered imprecations to my inability to leave well enough alone, I got it in place. I decided it might be a good idea to put a washer under this one to hopefully lessen the risk of it pulling through the leg strap. Longer rivets would be better for setting this way, but I've always had a problem with patience....
And there we have it. Ready for the next outing. If this repair fails, now I know it's do-able, even without ideal tools (locking forceps might be the best instrument for getting the rivets placed), and can re-do with beefier rivets if I have to. Although I'm still tempted to make a strap that threads through slits in the holster and closes with a buckle instead of snaps. Yes, it wouldn't be accurate, but I'm not a big stickler for that - I'd actually prefer better functionality with a more comfortable strap, as long as it still looks appropriate. And I've always disliked the way adjustable snap straps end up pivoting (see this photo for what I mean).
Anyway, there it is. Back in business with a damn fine holster. And my thanks again to Todd's Costumes for their excellent customer service.
I want to start off saying that Todd's Costumes has been absolutely fantastic - they immediately offered to reimburse me for the cost of having a local cobbler repair it, or take it back if it couldn't be done locally. A++ customer service, and I'm definitely still planning to shovel more cash their way for future projects! (those buckles for a custom holster rig, oh my!). The holster is a thing of beauty (seen with the rest of my rig here), and received a huge amount of attention.
I didn't start this thread to complain about the mishap, but to document how I fixed it, in case anyone else needs to do the same for a holster of any make. I hope you find it riveting (ba-doom...TSS!).
OK, now that we've got that obligatory pun out of the way...look upon the lamentations of the rivets, and despair!
Yep. My thighs did that.
So, after taking the holster around on my late lunch break to two local cobblers to get their opinions - both of them wanted a couple of days to figure out how, if they could - I brought it back, since I still needed to wear it for Halloween, thinking I'd leave it with one of them tomorrow. But when I got home, I remembered that I still have a bunch of rivets and tooling from the days when I used to make custom messenger bags and bike luggage and such things. I used to rivet closure hooks on to some of the bags I made, and maybe some of that would work out.
I still have quite a lot of tubular rivets, which can be set easily and fairly securely with a "splash" tool, which splits them into six prongs. They're juuuust long enough to fit through the heavy leather. But the first problem is, how to get them set deep inside the very narrow holster?
Locking pliers and brute force, of course.
Getting locking pliers to hold a rivet evenly is tricky, but doable. I only sent them flying off into corners of the room at high velocity a half dozen times.
This is a re-enactment of the general idea of using the pliers to position the rivet in the hole from the inside. The reality involved a headlamp for illumination, awkward grunting, and occasional cursing.
Getting the first one, in the hole in the middle where the holster is widest was actually not that difficult.
I inserted a length of wood into the holster to act as an anvil (a steel bar would probably be even better, but I went with what I had on hand). Insert the business end of the splash tool into the open end of the rivet, and BAM. A good solid whack with a rubber mallet and it's set.
Unbelievably, I managed to get a rivet in the second hole too. That was considerably more difficult, as it's the much narrower section of the teardrop-shaped holster. Nevertheless, with even more awkward twisting and muttered imprecations to my inability to leave well enough alone, I got it in place. I decided it might be a good idea to put a washer under this one to hopefully lessen the risk of it pulling through the leg strap. Longer rivets would be better for setting this way, but I've always had a problem with patience....
And there we have it. Ready for the next outing. If this repair fails, now I know it's do-able, even without ideal tools (locking forceps might be the best instrument for getting the rivets placed), and can re-do with beefier rivets if I have to. Although I'm still tempted to make a strap that threads through slits in the holster and closes with a buckle instead of snaps. Yes, it wouldn't be accurate, but I'm not a big stickler for that - I'd actually prefer better functionality with a more comfortable strap, as long as it still looks appropriate. And I've always disliked the way adjustable snap straps end up pivoting (see this photo for what I mean).
Anyway, there it is. Back in business with a damn fine holster. And my thanks again to Todd's Costumes for their excellent customer service.
