Article on Exotic Skins by Mark Garrity. Several Custom Holster Makers
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Article on exotic skins by Mark Garrity. Several custom holster makers, myself included, offer holsters and belts in exotic skins and hides as part of their product line. I have been working with exotics since I got into making holsters a little over a decade ago, but recently really learned about working with them thanks to the helpful hand of a local custom cowboy boot-maker. The same general questions come up from customers interested in exotics, so I will address them here. These are usually along the lines of: “Are exotics just for flash and show?” “Will they add much bulk to the holster?” and “Why do they cost so much?” In general, most of the exotics hides available will add some measurable degree of durability to a holster. In particular, shark-skin, elephant, and stingray are extremely durable. A good customer of mine works undercover narcotics, and reports diving for cover behind a vehicle in a gravel parking lot and slipping on his gun side. He thought his holster would be ruined but reports upon inspection well after the incident that the sharkskin was completely un-scuffed. (My personal shark-skin belt and stingray wallet are over 8 years old and carried daily. (If you looked at either of them and I asked you to guess you’d probably say they looked like they had seen 2-3 months of regular use). So yes, some exotics will add a great degree of durability to a hard-use holster. IWB straps covered in shark-skin will far outlast those in standard cowhide. Now with some exotics this is not the case. Snake-skin, and some lizard skin, are extremely thin and, though it looks great, are prone to wear and tear. I recommend these only for an occasional use holster for an added flare. As I noted above when I mentioned IWB straps covered in shark; all exotics are bonded to standard leather as a foundation. So when you order an exotic holster, you are getting a cowhide or horsehide holster covered in the exotic. This is because most of the exotic leathers commercially available are geared towards the shoe and fashion industry; so they are skived relatively thin, so they must be glued to a foundation leather to work as a holster. So how much bulk does this add? Well, that depends on the maker. If he uses the exotic as received, and bonds it to his standard holster leather, then yes there will be a considerable amount of increased bulk. I personally pride myself on my detail molding, so to achieve this when making an exotic rig, I skive the exotic hide down slightly thinner, and use a thinner base leather than my standard holster leather; so the final product is the exact same thickness as my standard cowhide holster. Since most exotics are more durable in terms of tensile strength and scuff resistance, the overall durability of the holster is not decreasing by using slightly thinner base leather. As to price, there are a few factors involved in the cost of exotic hides. One is the degree of difficulty in obtaining them. Some, like genuine shell cordovan, are only made by one tannery and undergo a 6-month tanning process for one hide. Many are strictly regulated as to when they can be farmed, hunted, and shipped. Consequently, if I do not have a specifically requested hide on-hand, I often cannot quote a customer a price until I make a few phone calls. Like lobster in a fine restaurant, the price fluctuates according to market value. Another price-effecting factor is the degree of difficulty in working with some exotics. Stingray is the most notorious in this regard. The skin is covered with tiny pearl-like beads which are actually part of the animal’s exoskeleton, each bead a calcium deposit growing up through the skin; so this is the same basic composition as a tooth or fingernail. This is what makes stingray wear like iron, but plays hell on machinery and equipment and drives up the price. The hide itself is not all that expensive compared to the other exotics, but it is the fact that it is much more labor intensive that is factored into the cost. As an interesting side note, I occasionally get asked why do the stingray in the aquarium that the public can pet not feel like the commercial hides?? I pondered this too after snorkel diving in St. Thomas and seeing that they looked and felt rather smooth. I had always assumed it must be some chemical reaction to the tanning process, which is why shark-skin is so wrinkled compared to the actual living creature’s smooth skin. I asked one of my suppliers this question and his educational answer was that just like there are different breeds of dogs, some with long hair and some with short; there are different breeds of stingray in the same species. Those harvested for their hides are found only off the cost of Thailand. (This fact drove the price up and availability after the recent tsunami). He did show me a hide from a more common variety ray, and it was thinner and smoother; without the beads; like very fine grit sandpaper. Another cost factor is the price per the size of the hide. Most exotics are wholesale priced by the square foot (except for alligator, which is priced by the centimeter width at the widest section of the hide). But if we only need two square feet to make a holster, we cannot call up an exotic supplier and tell him we only need two square feet. They will not cut pieces off a hide. We have to purchase the entire hide. So now I have 25 square feet of black elephant on-hand to use two square feet for a holster. Sure as hell, the next customer that orders something in elephant will want it in light tan! (Unlike natural veg- tan holster leather, which we dye, all the exotics come pre-dyed). So you can see how this can drive up cost. And some of the exotics have a lot of waste associated with them. Ostrich is desired for its pock-mark quills, but this only accounts for about 60% of the hide. But the square foot price is for the whole hide, 40% of which is waste. It looks like lightly wrinkled leather with no quill marks, so we can’t use it to make a holster and call it ostrich because that’s not what the customer expects when they order ostrich. If you are interested in an exotic holster and weighing cost vs. durability, shark is one of the least expensive exotics and also one of the most durable. Elephant is equally as durable but will cost at least three times as much as shark. So I generally tell customers that with shark-skin you get the most bang for your buck so to speak. I personally think an exotic holster is the ultimate accessory for your custom pistol. My basic advise before ordering one is to try that holster style in regular leather first, so you know that particular holster design will work for you; before sinking big bucks into an exotic and then being disappointed in finding the design isn’t quite right for you. And if you can’t afford a full- coverage exotic rig, there is always the option of just a mouth-band or an accent piece in exotic trim on a standard cowhide holster. Often this looks just as good or better than full-coverage exotic, at a fraction of the cost. .