Weathering Todd's Indy Holster

[Curmudgeon]

Hello! I recently purchased a Raider's holster from Todd's Costumes, which is fantastic.

I was wondering if anyone had attempted to weather it and had any tips? The leather is thick and really stiff so I was hoping to loosen it up quite a bit and take down some of the shine.

I've done some searching and found plenty of jacket weathering threads, but nothing about the holster specifically. Thanks for the help!

 

[BD Jones]

I don't have one of Todd's, but I do have one from Noel Howard and another from Lee Keppler. On the NH, weathered it by putting my replica revolver in the holster and soaking the holster in warm water until the leather became really soft. Then I weighed down the holster with ziplock bags full of sand while the gun was still in the holster and let it dry. This formed the holster around the gun and made the leather really soft. I also took a scrubbing pad (the green type) wet it in a 50/50 solution of water and acetone and lightly scuffed it, especially around the cylinder. This gave it the really use look I wanted. Using a 50/50 solution made sure that not too much of the color came off at once. On the LK, I literally tied to the back of my truck and drove up and down the mile long dirt road that was my driveway at the time. Did that repeatedly until I was satisfied. Came out looking great.