Bored on a Tuesday afternoon

Today was one of those days where it seemed to drag on. Maybe it was because my daughter decided she didn't want to sleep last night and also wanted to get up early this morning, and maybe it was because it took forever for her to take a nap. The plus to all of this is that when she did fall asleep she was out cold, and I had some time to myself to mess with the holster that I have been working on.

Since the unforgettable failed attempt, I have been thinking about other methods of completing the kydex molding. I looked on YouTube at how other people have done it and I was surprised at the different techniques. There are several different types of presses people have made and I even saw one guy use a zip-lock bag and vacuum. After looking through these, I decided to try again, using the same piece from the first attempt, but this time use my new toaster oven to get the kydex evenly heated. I decided to use some padding (throw pillow with a lot of stuffing) and my trusty oven mitts. I set my toaster oven to 350* and a timer for 3 minutes. It was cool to see the already formed kydex slowly loose its shape and turn flat again in a matter of seconds. One the timer went off I removed the very soft kydex and placed it on my gun and started applying pressure. After a few seconds, I lifted the pillow off and it had a nice shape, but the sides were not snug to the slide and trigger guard. Next I used my oven mitts and held those pieces against the gun and when it cooled, it had a great shape and pretty good retention. The only problem is that with the new placement on the gun, the original mounting holes were not usable anymore. I completely lost one in the side where the trigger guard is. With the mounting holes screwed up, it looks like I am going to have to cut a bigger piece and try again, but this time I know what I am doing. Since this week looks a little busy, I might have to save this project for next week. Maybe in the days to come I can put together some sort of press so I can give the throw pillows a rest.