[lugerholsterrepair]

Ron, I entirely agree with the reasons you give as far as the shoe tree aspect but it seems quite a bit of fabrication for such a simple solution.

As far as the idea of wet forming I have to wonder...This form is not enough of a match to a holster body to form it back to what it needs to be..I wet form holsters all the time when I make them and a form of this nature would leave one strange holster body! To accurately re-form an existing body it would be unwise to wet it enough to form it. It could shrink excessively if not dried properly and the stitching could bunch up.

I don't think the thing could be used effectively for stretching either. The only portion it could possibly stretch would be where the butt handle is. The rod type barell on it would have little or no effect.

On the flip side I have made several of these for fitting purposes when making baby Luger holsters. I take the measurements sent to me by the owner and carve the wood pistol to the proper size so that when I am making the holster I have a representative pistol to fit into the holster as I am producing it. Helps me a great deal to have a sample pistol and prevents clients from having to ship their pistol all over the country.

I cannot emagine this being the use for this wooden pistol as the Germans must have provided a Luger for this purpose to saddlers making holsters. Some people have theorized that the aluminum models were for this purpose but I have never found anything to substantiate it. Interesting to speculate though! Jerry Burney