PMCI - May 2016

home with a couple of the COMPACT variety for the small
projects I had in mind to test the product, along with an EXTRA
which is heading off to a colleague for something we have in
the pipeline.
To get the hang of the way that GEARSKIN worked I started
off with a small project; I’ve had a Gerber Paracord Fixed Knife
with a low volume sheath for some time now, and it’s one
of my favourite little tools. When I first got it I changed the
“survival orange” paracord to tan and sprayed up the sheath,
and although it was less “in your face” it still didn’t match up
as well as I’d have liked with my camouflaged kit. The knife
with the tan paracord is fine, but the sheath was going to
get the GEARSKIN treatment, and after a bit of fiddling about
to get things right the finished product was a million times
better!
With that small project complete I set about doing something
else a little more ambitious. I own a number of Kydex holsters
custom made for me by a friend, and one of my absolute
favourites is the model created to hold a SIG 226 with taclite
attached which often travels overseas with me on training
trips. Once again I’ve often thought of spraying the Coyote
Kydex up, but as that colour kind of worked for numerous sets
of gear I never have. Given what it holds the holster is a mass
of shapes, angles and contours, so getting a fabric laminated
to it would previously have meant using insanely strong glue
that would have held forever; again, not the end result I
required.
With the “V-Camo” GEARSKIN though transforming the
holster was, quite literally, a snip!
My first step was to thoroughly clean my well-used and
abused holster to remove any crud that had got caught up in it
over the years; I simply wiped it down thoroughly with some
alcohol-wipes and left it for half an hour to ensure that any
residue of this had evaporated. I then removed the screws that
hold the belt-loops in place, along with the central tensioning
screw, placing these aside safely.
Next up was to cut my piece of GEARSKIN roughly to size
and lay it gently over the holster to ensure that I had sufficient
overlap; if I was going to all this trouble I certainly didn’t want
rough edges! Once I was happy that everything was good to
go I simply started pressing the GEARSKIN gently around the
shapes and contours of the holster.
Once I’d got the basic fit correct I put the screws loosely
back in place, just using the tip of my scissors to pierce the
fabric enough to let them pass through. Continuing to press
the fabric down, moulding it as I went left me with a smooth,
even surface; my final task was to carefully trim any errant
fabric with a craft-knife and fully tighten the screws.
I have to say that the finished project is better than I could
ever have hoped for given that this was really the first time
I’d ever tried applying GEARSKIN, and the holster now matches
seamlessly with the rest of my kit; it really is as simple as
this to change bits of your gear! The thing I truly love about
GEARSKIN though is that I can easily remove the fabric from
the holster and go back to Coyote, or indeed use another of
the GEARSKIN patterns to fit it together with another set of
gear entirely, and then change it back to “V-Camo” when I
need to.
A COMPACT 30cm x 30cm sheet of GEARSKINs “V-Camo”
costs just €16.25(about £12.50 at the current exchange rate)
which is nothing compared to the forty or fifty quid I would
spend on a new holster, and I was able to cover the knife
sheath from that one sheet too. If you use GEARSKIN not
only will you be camouflaging your gear, but in my opinion
there is simply no better way to protect it at the same time;
there’s no pattern repetition, no seams, no odours, and the
application can be done safely in the comfort of your own
home. GEARSKIN grips to various types of surface, wood,
plastic, metal, coatings, rubber; you name it, because they
and now we have tested it.
I’m really pleased that I spoke politely to a fellow
professional online, and it just goes to show that you never
know where any conversation may take you. If you haven’t
yet tried GEARSKIN and you want to re-colour a bit of kit then I
would urge you to release your own inner gear-freak and give
it a go!
For more information on GEARSKIN along with a great
gallery of user-projects and “how to” videos do please visit
www.gearskin.eu and check out their Facebook page
for regular announcements and competitions.
TECH AND TOOLS: Gearskin
pmcimagazine.com