Hello All,

I recently purchased a West German police holster for an Sig Sauer P6. The leather is black with a high gloss finish and seems very stiff. And it stinks, mold I imagine, but there is no sign of mold on the surfaces. I have cleaned it several times with Leather New and it has spent several sunny days out on the balcony but the smell will not go away.

Any suggestions on how to get the stink out?

Lee

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-gonzo, SoCenPA.

Looking for the same answer.

Kevin

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Unshared knowledge is wasted.

I once bought a leather shoulder holster that wreaked of cigarette smoke. I hung it inside my workshop, but it took several months for the odor to go away.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

I fixed a Gibson plastic guitar case turned cat box by shaking baking soda all over the inside and leaving it in the sun a few days. Vacuum out and yer good.

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Uvidíme se později, aligátore.

If it is a mold/mildew issue, you need to kill it. Last resort is wipe down with Clorox. My go to is use old bath towel scraps and blot a bunch with white vinegar, let dry and sniff. Probably repeat 3 or 4 time. It may smell like a pickle for a couple months. After mold is dead and smell gone, then condition the holster.

Ivan

I wouldn't think that putting bleach or vinegar into a leather holster that will later contain a steel gun would have a good ending.

When I had the guitar shop I sprinkled baking soda in musty vintage cases, threw in a couple dryer sheets, closed them and several days later vacuumed them out. I had great success.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Google it.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

A hospital grade disinfectant spray might be safer than bleach.

If you aren't in a big hurry ... bury the holster in Baking Soda .

Arm & Hammer sells large bags of Pure Baking Soda (13.5 lbs - $16) and some smaller Odor Removal types ... Fresh and Natural ( 12 ozs. - $6.75) , Carpet Odor Eliminator (30 ozs. - $2.48) .

I would buy an Arm & Hammer baking soda product , and put the holster in a small cardboard box with a layer of baking soda under the holster , in the holster , over the holster .... completely covering it ... the box doesn't have to be air-tight .
I would not be in any hurry ... and I would change the baking soda after it has absorbed some of the "stink" ... and change it often .

The baking soda should pull the smell out ... although you have to give it time to work .
Slow ... Yes ... but this method is SAFE !
Be Patient and let the soda work !
Gary

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NRA Member

I wiped it down today with white vinegar and out in the sun. I’ll look into the baking soda idea as well.

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-gonzo, SoCenPA.

I am sensitive to smells and have learned to give items the sniff test before buying. Smells are very hard to remove and even harder to remove permanently.

30 years ago I leased a Volvo for my wife and the leather seats smelled like fish! After a week, I drove the car back and told them I can not drive a car that smelled like fish! They told me the seat manufacturer used fish oil in curing or processing the leather and again, I told him I will not have a car that smells like the Fulton fish market!

Long story short, they replaced all the seats with a different type of material. We only had the car for 10 months as it got totaled while legally parked on the street while my wife was in a restaurant with the kids. An elderly lady lost control of her vehicle and smashed it up - totaled it. No more Volvos were in our garage!

I never have had a "good" sense of smell ... after reaching the age of 65 it sorta dulled a little and after two bouts of the covid ...
I can barely smell anything ...
But after reading these posts and watching what my wife goes through with her "blood-hound" sniffing abilities ... she can smell things 1/2 a mile away I never notice ...
I'm realizing ... not smelling things isn't all that bad ...
...most things in this old life stink anyway !
You got to count your blessings where you find them !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Are we married to the same woman?? I have the same problem as you! "Can't smell s^^^!".My wife can smell a fart in a hurricane! Drives me nuts........

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

If none of those work you can always put the holster in a zip lock bag with a handful of fresh coffee grounds and leave it for a week or so.

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Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

Go to Walmart and get a can of Ozium. Put the holster in plastic bag and 2 sprays into the bag.

If this works on "stinky Leather" let me know ...
it just sounds ... Way Too Easy !
And might put Arm & Hammer out of business ...
The original Ozium deodorizing spray - 8 ozs. can - is $6.50 at wally Mart ... not a bad price ...I didn't know about this product and it might work .
Any first hand Ozium accounts / experiences out there ?
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Back in the surplus Mauser heyday of the mid 1990's, I had a C&R....Century Arms kept running a special called "4-fers"...For $100 shipped, It consisted of 4 98 Turkish 8mm Mauser rifles, 4 bayonets with dented scabbards and four of the most rank, goat urine smelling 3 pocket leather ammo pouches. The stunk so bad, my wife banned them from inside the house. I spread them out in the outbuilding .

After about six months, they finally had lost most of the smell.

Hard of hearing and loss of smell seems to go hand in hand, “ what did you say”? “ What smell, I don’t smell anything”….

Not a good idea. Clorox is a fairly strong acid and vinegar is a moderately strong acid. Both could cause damage to your leather but will certainly attack the metal parts and especially your gun if you don’t get all the acid neutralized.

I had a case for a rather expensive camera that had molded before I got it. I put it in the sun but no improvement and eventually took a small bowl of white vinegar and set it in the case and closed it up for about a week. I then took the bowl out and placed it in the sun again. A couple of treatments like that removed all traces of the mold odor.

Post # 11
OP says he wiped it down with Vinegar.
OP update us on the Smell and effect it did on the leather and future gun damage please.

I have had success getting rid of that white mold on holsters using Hydrogen Peroxide... soak them.. seal in a zip lock for 24 hours and then air dry them in the garage... takes care of the mold... not sure what it does for smell... this holster was just covered in the white mold inside and out... turned out pretty well.

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I used Ozioum spray inside a pickup cab with cloth upholstery that reeked of cigarette smoke. Left windows rolled up a while; no more stink.

Perhaps bury it in kitty litter for awhile?

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Come and take it!!

new or used?......

Pooph ... works!
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pooph&hva...l_15xdv87vyg_e

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I agree with the baking soda suggestions. It works well for removing the musty odor from old books, so it should work on a leather holster.

How did you do it? I tried with some old magazines. Put them in a closed tub with about 2 pounds of baking soda. Then left them for about two weeks and no joy.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Nobody has mentioned it yet - coffee, but only in a dark leather. Or a mixture of coffee and baking soda.