Obtaining Remora-like rubbery material

[Area Man]

It still shows up on their site - a 3" x 50" strip.
https://www.remoraholsterstore.com/p...on-slip-strip/

Thanks. No regrets here, since that strip is only 3" wide, and I'd prefer not to have two seams. But thank you.

I don't understand why they say "Not recommended to be used with items that will be in direct contact with skin". Just a standard CYA disclaimer, I guess.

[LtDave]

Thanks. No regrets here, since that strip is only 3" wide, and I'd prefer not to have two seams. But thank you.

I don't understand why they say "Not recommended to be used with items that will be in direct contact with skin". Just a standard CYA disclaimer, I guess.

Maybe it causes welts?

[Area Man]

I finally obtained what I need to carry out this little project, got it done, and have used the resulting holster. I'm happy with the results. I now have a Remora-type IWB holster that is much more comfortable than the standard Remora IWB holster.

I've been primarily using it with just the regular elastic waistband of my underwear and shorts holding it in place, though it also works well with an elastic belt like this one. I like that belt because it's not rigid, and I can adjust it so it's not very tight.

Tools and Materials:

• IWB holster with a flat side designed to go against the skin. I used a N82 Tactical Ambassador to go with my Glock 26. The Ambassador is an excellent, super-comfortable holster, and as I mentioned before, the suede is so nice, I miss having it as an option. I will probably be buying another one to use as-is.
• Slip-Not fabric. (Thank you, Mack, for the suggestion!) There may be other places that sell it, but the only one I found was Seattle Fabrics. I paid $6.95 plus shipping and handling for a 9" x 60" roll, and the total ended up being $14.41. The SeattleFabrics.com site isn't great in that you don't get a total when you order; you just submit the order, get an email receipt showing just the cost of the fabric, then later on get charged the full amount. It took 3 business days before I got the next email, which was a USPS shipping notification.
• 3M 9474LE 300LSE double-sided adhesive sheets. (Thank you to orionz06 for suggesting this. It worked great.) I bought 3 12" x 12" sheets from Amazon for $25.95. You can buy 1 sheet for a lot less, but I figured I'd go for the lower cost-per-unit, plus the spares will come in handy in case you make a mistake, or need the sheets for something else.
• A sharp knife/hobby knife/razor blade. I own lots of quality knives, but I used an X-Acto knife with a #2 blade, and I'm glad I did. It worked wonderfully, and I did not have to visit the local ER afterward (always a plus). Scissors may also work, but I imagine it would be harder and I doubt the result would be as clean.
• Newspaper, gift wrap, or some other disposable, flat, and relatively clean material. This will be used when applying the adhesive sheet to the fabric, and you definitely do not want the adhesive sticking to a counter top or table.
• Plywood, or a strip of wood or other material wide and forgiving enough to use as a backing material when cutting the excess fabric/adhesive away from the holster. I used a piece of wood about 4" wide, and moved it around as needed. You could use something really hard, but you'll almost certainly damage the tip of your cutting blade.

General Procedure:

I know this isn't rocket science, but I figured I'd explain how I did it. There are some small details that are nice to know in advance.

A warning of sorts: The first thing I did was to lay the holster on the fabric and cut out a section of fabric to match the exact holster shape. I then realized that this was a mistake, since I would have had to then perfectly align the pre-cut fabric with the holster (with the adhesive in between), and one false move in doing so would have ruined everything. So, I scrapped that plan. The new, rethought approach was super easy and took only a few minutes:

1. Wash your hands, but do not wear gloves. The adhesive will stick strongly to your skin, but it will stick VERY strongly to rubber, latex, or plastic glove material. I'm talking "Is this stuff from a space ship?" strongly.
2. On a flat counter top, lay down the newspaper or whatever else you're going to use to keep the adhesive from sticking to the bench/table/counter underneath.
3. Unroll some of the Slip-Not fabric, with the fabric side up and the rubber side facing the newspaper. Make it as flat as possible, and make sure there is no dirt or debris on the fabric. Also make sure that the fabric will not unroll or otherwise move at an inopportune time. Lay the holster on the fabric to make sure there is room for it, and to get an idea of where you'll be placing it and how you'll have to orient it to make it fit. You really don't want to skip that part of the step: The fabric roll I received was not cut well, and some parts of it would have been too narrow for the holster to fit in any orientation.
4. Time to apply the adhesive to the fabric. You need to apply the side of the adhesive sheet with the unprinted liner to the fabric. The side with the printed liner will later be adhered to the holster, but should not be applied to the fabric. (The reason for this is that the printed side has a slightly thicker adhesive matrix, which will help accommodate the suede's rougher texture.) You can peel just a corner of the liner, and go a little at a time, but I think that's asking for trouble. I was more concerned about aligning the adhesive sheet with the fabric. Because of that, I simply (and very carefully) removed the entire liner of the unprinted side, and then laid it on top of the fabric. Of course, you have to make sure that the adhesive sheet does not get bunched up or folded in any way as you do this. If you use my method of removing the liner all at once, it may help to bend the adhesive sheet slightly in the middle, in a very slight "U" shape, as you begin applying it to the fabric. In any case, once a substantial portion of the sheet touches the fabric, you're committed!
5. Remove the printed liner from the remaining side of the adhesive sheet, and lower the holster down onto it, of course being careful to line it up properly. (Quick, before someone comes home and makes you explain what you're doing.) The adhesive sheet is transparent, so you will be able to see the fabric underneath after you've removed the printed liner. The adhesive is pressure sensitive, so once everything is in place, push down all over, especially around the edges. If you didn't accidentally stick your fingers to the adhesive at least 7,412 times, congratulations on being a world-class surgeon.
6. Now the fun yet slightly dangerous part: Cut the fabric and adhesive away from the holster. I carefully followed the outline of the holster, and only goofed once (a trivial slice of the leather, fixed with Gorilla Super Glue). Keep the blade vertical, or at a very slight outward angle, to keep the edge of the fabric and adhesive lined up nicely with the holster. Of course, you need to be mindful of the cutting surface you're working on. I used my wife's nightstand. Just kidding; I would have loved to have a sheet of plywood, but I made do with a 4" wide strip of wood, and just moved the holster around as needed.

My new phone takes utterly terrible pictures, but here are some photos:

Just look at this photo. Incredible, isn't it? Is it even possible not to be in awe of this? Sourdough ovals for $2.99! Anyway, this was right before step 6:



During step 6:



The underside of the finished product. Could be better; could be worse:



Thank you all!

[Area Man]

Update: I don't recommend anyone carry out this procedure as outlined above. There is only one issue, but it's a big one: The 3M 9474LE 300LSE double-sided adhesive sheets do not adhere to the Slip-Not fabric very well at all, in the long term. It took several weeks, for some reason, but the Slip-Not fabric began coming apart from the adhesive. The problem was minor, at first--just a couple small areas where the fabric separated from the adhesive. And for a short while, I was able to alleviate the issue by applying significant force (i.e. my entire body weight, which is not insignificant) all around the circumference of the holster. But the issue only worsened over time.

At this point, the Slip-Not fabric refuses to adhere around most of the circumference of the holster. I'm not sure how to correct this problem.

I truly apologize for misleading anyone, and recognize the unusual nature of admitting a failure. I wanted to edit my "how-to" post above, to add a warning, but I cannot.