Custom Kydex Holsters...DIY Hell

     Seeing how every sailor, soldier, airman and marine vet is making a killing in the tactical market; myself and a nameless associate (a published Roninite himself) have decided to go into the custom kydex market. We have come up with this idea by the same way everyone else does.....stealing someone elses idea. While perusing craigslist for random Glock parts I came across a man with a slew of kydex holsters for sale between $60-75 bucks. I sent him an email to find out what he had available and low and behold he didn't have a damn one left but he could make me a custom one for $75....Interesting. Shortly after i saw a article in Recoil magazine about Do-It-Yourself kydex holsters and sheaths; this was enough to set my alcohol raddled brain in motion. I went to the info guru...I.E. youtube and began watching a shit ton of videos. To be honest; making this stuff just didn't seem that hard and even with my serious lack of mechanical skills (honestly i am probably the least mechanically inclined person in the continental United States)  I could do this.

      I had the drive but needed someone else to bounce the idea off of and  it had to be someone who also wastes as much time as I following the tactical industry; Ladies and Gentlemen just like highlander their can be only one.....Jozzeppi. The man definitely follows the industry as close if not closer then I. He has even attended the Gun Porn known as the Shot Show for no reason other then he was already in Vegas for the Pornstar convention (long story). I called him up, ran the idea by him, and low and behold he saw the promise in it just like i did. For less the ten dollars in material and about an hours worth of time we could sell custom holsters for 50-75 bucks. Many phone calls and over eight hundred dollars worth of tools and materials  later we have this:

Kydex material, rivets, chicago screws, river press, homemade foam press, griddle, screw gun, clips, clamps, sanding blocks,etc, etc. Now having watched enough you tube videos this should go like clockwork Right? NOT EXACTLY!

first try....followed the you tube video for temps and pressure exactly and this is what i got:

Great definition on my Khar BUT...

.....clearly youtube doesn't know everything because they told me 350 degrees was the PERFECT temperature to mold kydex. No one said anything about it bonding itself to the foam inside my press or the serious shrinkage, and I mean serious polar plunge type shrinkage not its slightly chilly outside shrinkage. To top it all of the kydex has warped beyond usability and the foam remnants are baked into the  material. So learning is occurring and now i know that 350 degrees is WAY TO FUCKING HOT YOUTUBE! Dont worry though its only about four dollars worth of material that doesn't grow on trees. So fuck it lets give it another try..It couldnt of been my fault so maybe the color was wrong? I forsee a perfect Infantry green Glock holster in my near future.

shot out
-Jak