Nautical Belt With Cotton Webbing

[Neillo]

Hey everyone,

Been watching my food and doing more training lately so I've gone through all the holes in my old belt, I decided it's high time I made a new one!

Have been toying with the idea of making a nautical belt for some time now and have had the natural cotton webbing and 32mm solid brass west end buckle lying around the workshop for a while; All I needed was some heavy scrap boot leather, cotton webbing and a buckle which totaled around $6!

Project came together very quickly, even with the keeper and having to do some skiving; leather was a little on the thin side at around 5oz, I'd recommend 6-7oz for anyone wanting to try this project as it'll likely sit a little bit better.

The best thing about this belt is that you can make it from belt cutoffs and scrap bits of hides so it's great for using up some of the stuff you'd otherwise throw on the scrap pile or in the bin; next job on the bench will be some lined wallets and pouches I think!

Edited August 17, 2014 by Neillo

[benlilly1]

Looks great, Neillo!!

[builderofstuff]

I second that, looks great.

[Neillo]

Thanks guys!

I've already got some requests to make more of these; I might even make some in my "signature" Red seat belt webbing.

[Dan28]

Neat belt. I too am on the last hole of my first belt, that I made about 3 or 4 months ago. I have to decide if I just want to punch a few more holes and have an excess of extra length or just make a new one. I think I will just punch a few more holes for now, as I will probably continue to drop weight and eventually will make a much shorter belt.

If you are making more and in need of the webbing, you could try website called Strapworks. I know they have all kinds of webbing in different patterns and prints. I bought some metal hardware from them that they powder coat different colors for you and it was a good experience so I will buy from them again. They also do a lot of YouTube videos demoing their products I know they ship to Australia, but don't know if it would be cost effective for you.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Dan28

[Neillo]

Strapworks has some cool hardware like the clips and slides for suspenders, a few bits of hardware I couldn't normally source locally; but it would be expensive and slow to ship unfortunately.

Luckily one of the leather stores Nearby has all kinds of webbing and I'm never short of seatbelt and cotton style webbings! Got some ideas to make a fishing tackle belt using seatbelt webbing and plastic hardware soon, so that I can go rock fishing when the weather warms up again.

Good thing about this belt too, is that if it gets too big, you can unpick the end off the webbing, cut the webbing to size and sew it back up again. can't shorten a full leather belt like that without it looking strange!