Gerben,

Shouldn't be a problem. A couple of pieces of leather from an old boot. Some glue and 3 or 4 rivets. It'll be good as new.:thumbup:

Ron

What about just leave it alone and properly store it and avoid holster 'reblueing'!

It's like marrying a beautiful wife, stripping her of make-up and keeping her in the closet. :)

But without joking: Of course it is unwise to touch a holster that shows no signs of deterioration, simply keeping it clean and out of harms way is the best approach.

That said, there are thousands of holsters that are not first-rate, but can be touched up to a more than decent condition with the help of some minor detailing work.

Others are just too far gone, and any preservation work done on those is just delaying the inevitable anyway, but they make good test beds for the better ones. I have examples here of holsters that were ruined by previous owners, turned into some sort of fat, slimy, mushy lump of leather as a result. One 1936 holster had to be soaked for many weeks, just to get the most of whatever preservative the former owner used out of it. The oil is still seeping out, almost 5 years later....

On the other hand I've seen preservation methods used on WW1 navy holsters that were pulled from a WW1 shipwreck and it is quite stunning to see how the leather surived this ordeal.

Any also like a fine Woman, each is unique and have there oww way of pampering. Age isn't everything!!

My old German Grandpa passed me down His old horse hair brush that brings life back to my 1900 US Test holster. To think what History both idems have made it through. I Thank Old Ralph for passing it to me.

Come to think of it. I never attempted a 'full body off restoration' of a P08 holster before.

A good rebuild would require disassembly of the whole thing, stripping all leather back to the bare skin, repainting and restitching it. Must remember to look for a decent (read bad) candidate.

If Waffenfabrik-USA can do it with pistols, Lederwarenfabrik Holland should be able to do it with holsters, lol.