Frying mold
 

I have used a hair dryer in the past to apply heat to holster to kill mold. Works well.

Since I have my own oven now, I revisited an old advice and tried it out as follows:

Oven preheated to 212f / 100 Celcius.
With the door open, placed holster on the rack.

Observed the holster and watched the mold slowly disappear. Then turned off the oven and let the holster cool down in it for a few minutes, then removed it.

Nice leather smell, not too bad.

I could have given it a bit more, but since this was the first attempt (and a rare holster) I was a bit more careful.

Think I will apply some more heat to the inside with a hair dryer.

Do you give it a stiff (or gentle) brushing afterwards? Apply any leather dressing? :)

Nope. Just as they were before.

Thanks Vlim :D ... roughly how long did you leave your holster in the oven before the mold disappeared then letting it cool off ??

Less than 10 mimutes. Door open and I kept observing the holser and disappearing mold.

I've had mold, but generally have lived where it is dryer and have usually only had it on a holster left where it was damper (out in garage because they were gunshow stuff)

Yes, most here are ok. It's just a couple that are affected.
See how it developes. I used to store everything in a climate controlled gun room. But since I got expelled from there, they have to live in a normal room.

What does she use the climate controlled gun room for now?

Her own guns.

Gerben, Oven preheated to 212f / 100 Celcius.
With the door open, placed holster on the rack.


Killing mold on vintage leather has been an interest of mine for some time. I have used as high as 350 F in a closed oven and let the heat reduce to nothing. My thought is..a lesser temperature melts the flowers but I have always wanted to kill what makes the flowers, the spores. 350 F does no damage. It is 100 degrees F away from burning. 350 F SUSTAINED WILL damage leather however. What you are after is enough heat penetrating into leather to do the job of completely making the holster incapable of regenerating mold that is left behind.

Saying this, we all must realize mold is everywhere in our environment. When the mold cured holster is cooled, it has the possibility of attracting mold floating by. It is really only by ideal storage conditions that we can keep it in check.

I use a solar powered heat box to treat clients holsters I get that have mold prior to repair. No risk at all at 225 F. Even sustained temperature. At that temp the holster is HOT to the touch coming out of the box.
So this method works..until moisture, heat and mold spores all gather together again.