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Thanks, that was what I was thinking

I make some heavy duty belts for the guys at the fire house. Due to the thickness of the leather I use I need to skiv down the leather a bit to fit it into the buckles. I have been asked to make a belt rough out (flesh side out). If I skiv off the grain side will I loose strength in my belt? Ive only skived off the flesh side before, but now that the flesh side is out I’m wondering if this will compromise the belt by cutting off the grain side.

I am working on a dropout scabbard for an axe, something like this:http://dalesiogrp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/DropOutSwivelAxeScabbard6lb.jpg I am making a template with a manila folder. Is there a general guide or a way to calculate how much extra wiggle room I should include on my template to account for extra leather need to account for the bends bending made in the leather? The leather I’m using is around 12oz

I agree, but I’ve seen a picture somewhere showing it can be used with multiple widths. The more narrow the belt, the less taper on the sides you will have. It still looked good with a 1 1/2 belt. Down at a 3/4 strap it just had the corners chopped off.

There is also the multi use/multi size strap end https://www.buckleguy.com/152-2-multi-use-strap-end-punch/

Good suggestion. I might give that a shot if things don’t go well.

Thanks for the suggestions. I’m interested in the alpha 6 paint. Do you have any more info on the paint? How does it compare to Angelus?

I love the look of the vinegarooned leather but I’m having trouble finishing it afterwards. I’d like to paint and resolene most of the items I vinegaroon. The issue I’m having is once I re-oil the leather after vinegarooning the leather it’s hard to get paint or resolene to get a good bond and they wear or peel off easily. Anyone have any good suggestions to deal with this?

Sounds like maybe I should change my order of operations to paint before oiling. Will resolene stick to oiled leather? Obviously I can’t oil after the resolene

I made this radio strap. Stamped it, vinegarooned, oiled it, painted the letters with a few coats of Angelus paint then put on two coats of resolene. After working a shift with the strap being warn between gear and admittedly getting some decent rubbing on the lettering, the paint is starting to peel off. My last radio strap that I made had a fair amount of heavy use and I never had the paint peel. I think I waited a little over a day between oiling and painting the letters. I am guessing this wasn’t long enough and the paint didnt penetrate the leather. How long do you usually wait between oiling and painting or finishing? Any suggestions on salvaging this or is a scrap and do over with it already begin finished with resolene?

For what ever reason finding that style spring buckle is hard. The ones that are readily available are not very good for leather. I purchased some black spring buckles from strapworks.com a while ago and got the style you are looking for. On my next order they sent me the different style ones. I emailed them and they said they didn’t really differentiate between the two stiles and just sent out what ever they had. If you find somewhere that has these in black please let me know.

Thanks for the information oleskiver! I tinker around making firefighter stuff. With the black dye I had a lot of rub off. Also when it gets beat up you can see the natural leather color. The vinegaroon has no rub off and penetrates deeply so I’ve stuck with that. My latest endeavor has been to try stamping and tooling a helmet shield, which is just letters and numbers.

I’m working on some basic stamping and tooling. The pieces are going to be black in the end. The best luck I’ve had making things black is to dip dye them in a vinegaroon mix. If I dip dye pieces after they have been stamped or tooled will I loose any of my imprint? I find it easier to to stamp and tool before its black, but would it be better for me to dip dye the pieces first?

I like the seeder stamp. I think the raised center would match the letter stamps pretty well

I’ve got a 1/2 alphabet stamp set I am working with and need to make a period. I am looking for a small hollow tube to try, but am curious what everybody else is using or if anybody has found any good tubing to use.

That’s it, thanks!

Thanks, I’ve tried that style, they work well with webbing but leather does not pull through smoothly. I’m hoping to find some like the picture I posted with more of a scoop/ramp by the teeth. Anybody seen these offered before?

I am looking for a place that sells 5/8 spring buckles like pictured below. The typical spring buckles seem to be mote geared towards use with webbing and bind up on leather when pulled, but the ones with a slanted channel by the teeth seem to work well. The only place I can find these guys is at Batzus. The only problem is they have a $50 minimum and that would be way more buckles than I need. Anybody have any idea who might carry these in a smaller quantity?

So many helpful responses. Thanks! Maybe I misunderstood what the Rep was saying. I don’t do a lot of tooling/carving, but I do stamp the leather. The biggest thing for me was being able to be flexible on colors since I will probably have the leather for a little while.

I decided to start trying some decent leather so I called Wickett and Craig today try one of their sides. I ended up purchasing a side of their skirting. I liked the idea of skirting because I could redye is darker is need be. I do leather 100% as a hobby and make firefighter stuff- belts, suspenders and straps. I don’t make enough to justify purchasing multiple sides of different color. When I was placing the order and told them what I was planning on doing with the leather they said the skirting is a bit stiff and recommended the English bridal. The problem is the bridal is Pre finished and I’d be stuck with what ever color I purchase it in. How stiff is skirting? Can I soften it up by oiling it or should I limit my self to one color and go with the bridal?

I am looking at getting a side of Wickett and Craig drum dyed skirting. I mostly do brown and black dyes. If I get a side of drum died skirting in brown, would I be able to dye or vinegaroon the leather darker if need be?

Is there a specific thickness of thread usually used to reinforce belts/straps? I usually use a single piece of 9-11oz leather.

I’d like to use the thickest thread possible, which sounds like it would be 138. This would mostly be used to stitch around the edges of belts and suspenders to help prevent stretching. How many feet of 138 do you think will fit in the bobbin?

https://www.amazon.com/FISTERS-Machine-Cobbler-Repair-Cotton/dp/B06XCPFFYV

Has anybody used one of these? I don’t mind having to do a little work to get it up and running, but I’d like it do be able to decent stitching. I would mostly use this to do belts and suspenders so this would this would be used to stitch around the edges. This is strictly a hobby for me so I’m not looking to spend a ton of money, but hand stitching belts/suspenders takes way to long.