ffjdh

That should work. Thank you!

I am working on a truck belt and I am having difficulty finding the right hardware.I am trying to find a large heavy duty spring / halter snap. Ideally it would fit a 2” strap but I may be able to go down to 1 1/2 if necessary. It seems like the largest snaps I can find are 1”. Can anybody recommend a source for these?

Did you ever end up finding a place that would sell a snap hook that would work for a truck belt?

It did end up blending a bit, but the finish is still a bit blotchy. See bellow for pictures after drying and rubbing in a coat of neatsfoot. Any thoughts on how to blend this a bit better? Would applying a bit of dry with a sponge brush or dauber be a good idea or am I playing with fire?

It’s not old at all, that photo was at about an hour. I’m just a little worried since it seemed to keep getting darker in some areas. I hope your right about it evening out. Is it generally advisable to punch holes after dying to leave an even surface area for the dye to soak in?

I'm working on some leather suspenders, and I'm wondering if I messed up in my process. When making belts/suspenders do you generally punch your holes before dyeing the leather or after? I cut out and punched my suspender. Sanded down the sides and back starting with 150 and ending with 400 grit sand paper. I wiped down the leather with a little bit of denatured alcohol and let it dry. I then snaked all my pieces through some Fiebings Pro oil walnut dye thinned 50/50 with denatured alcohol. I pulled the leather through the dye slowly, leaving the leather in the dye for around 5 seconds. I let the dye absorb for about 1-2 minute and did a second pull through. Held the strips over my container of dye to let most of the excess dye drip off, but also wiped down the strips with a paper towel to pull off any excess dye. The leather looked great, a nice even walnut color. After laying the leather on its edge for about 10 minutes and then flipping it to the other edge I have noticed many parts of the leather are getting lighter (as expected as the dye drys) but other parts seem to be getting darker. Notably around the edges, the tip and around the holes. These areas have obviously become more saturated with dye and still feel wet. Do these areas generally dry lighter and blend once oiling with neatsfoot or am I going to end up with splotch uneven dye? I've figured out how to get a nice even black and a very dark brown , but I'd really like to get down a nice lighter brown color. I am feeling a bit frustrated and seriously considering buying drum died leather next time. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated

I've had some vinegaroon that I've kept in a glass jar for a year or so that has also turned a brownish color. The mix hasn't seemed to have lost any off its staining power though.

Great work! Would you be willing to share your finishing process a little bit? Id love for my finishes to come out looking like that!

Thanks for the breakdown JLS. With that being a 7/10 would that be an equivalent to a C grade or would that be a B grade?

What thickness do you use for the main strap?

Anybody have any experience with S H Frank in San Francisco, especially on their pricing? It looks like they have very mixed reviews online. Im not worried about having my feelings hurt or can deal with the odd sense of humor, I just don’t want to get ripped off.

I am looking at buying my first veg tanned double shoulders. I am feeling a little bit lost on what to buy. I will be making belts, radio straps and suspenders (for firefighting) so I am thinking 9/10oz would be a good weight. That's about all I have figured out. There are so many different companies/ brands/ebay listing I am not really sure where to start. In the past I bought a part of a side from Tandy. The quality seemed mediocre and I think the leather was bit thinner than the listed weight. Its tempting to go back to Tandy since they have a local store (SF Bay Area) and I get free elite pricing through their first responder program. But with my past experience and from what I have read on the forum I can probably get better leather for the same price elsewhere. Are there any specific sites I should look at to buy double shoulders? What is a fair price I should be looking at spending? Besides the obvious holes and blemishes, what should I be looking for to tell if a piece of leather is a quality piece of leather? This will mostly be used for myself and possibly a few items for some co-workers/family so I expect for a set of shoulders to last for a little while. Are there any considerations I need to take into account to storing leather? Do I just need to keep them rolled up and dry, or should I be applying a light coat of oil if it might sit for a while?

At what point do you wet form the leather, before or after applying the resoline?

The leather is just under 9oz. That should be adequate for strength, right? Not sure what FFE's are but these sound similar to what you are describing.

Their were no cracks before any treatment . Their also weren't any cracks after I finished it and folder it over and riveted it. I think he cause may have been the D ring. The strap was sitting in the curved portion of the D ring so I think extra pressure was put onto the sides. I have now flipped the D ring over so the rounded part is in the snaps of my turnouts and the strap rests on a flat bar. I am hoping that with the stress of any weight being put on these straps now being spread out over the flat side of the d ring, that the cracking will not get any worse. Can I glue or patch these cracks to help prevent them from getting worse?

At what point in the process is this done?

I recently made my first set of suspenders for firefighters bunker pants. I cut my strips of leather to shape and size then dip died the for about 2 min in fiebings pro oil die diluted 50/50 with DNA. After letting the straps dry for a few days I worked in some EVOO to rehydrate and soften the straps. I then let them dry for a few more days. I then applied 2 coats of resoline. After letting the straps dry another 24 hours I worked in some obenauf's heavy duty LP and riveted my suspenders together. After a few uses of the suspenders I am already seeing some cracking where my straps connect to D rings that connect the suspenders to my bunker pants.Where did I go wrong in this process? And is their anything I can do to prevent failure of these suspenders?

I am having difficulty getting my dye to penitrate my leather. If I the rub dye into the leather it only dyes the very outer edge of the leather. With a slight scratch it will show the raw leather. To get better penetration I tried dip dying. If I dip dye for 60 seconds it penitrates better, but nowhere near full penetration ( see attached for a picture of a small piece of leather that has been dip dyed for 60 seconds). I have been using fiebings pro dye diluted with denatured alcohol 50:50. I thought dip dying would fix this issue. It sounds like most people dip dye for a few seconds to achieve complete penetration. I am not sure I would get the dye to absorbs through the full thickness even if I dipped it for a few minutes. What am I doing wrong?

I've diluted it to 50/50, dye and denatured alcohol. Should I dilute it more?

I tried out dip dying on a couple of pieces of scrap today. While I was able to achieve a nice even brown, it didn't seem like I got very good penetration with the dye. I am using fiebings pro dye. After dipping the pieces for around 6 seconds I let them dry for about 30 min then I took a razor and cut a small slit in the top of the leather. It appears as though only a small amount of the outer most part of the leather is absorbing dye. Is their any way to get better dye penetration into my leather?

I am working on a set of suspenders and I am considering dip dying them to get a durable yet even looking dark brown. I have never dip dyed and am looking for some pointers to be successful. First, is diluting 50/50 enough for dip dying or should I dilute more? For flat narrow projects like belts, is the whole item submerged or do you pull the belt through the dye? If it is submerged how long does the leather stay in the dye? Do you wipe the items down after dying or let the remainder of the dye soak in? And latesly does anybody have any good videos on dip dying? I looked but didn't come up with much.

Do you usually thin the dye out 50/50 with denatured alcohol or do you spray at full strength? Also do you wet the leather beforehand with denatured alcohol or spray the leather dry?

I am in the process of making some firefighter suspenders and I am trying to figure out the best way to dye them. I would like to make the suspenders brown and have been told the best way to get a nice even dark brown is to airbrush the dye on to the leather. My worry is that by airbrushing the dye onto the leather only the outer most parts of the leather will have dye and with some minor abrasive use the user might wear through the brown dye on parts of the suspenders. Has anybody had issues with items that they have spray dyed wearing down past the dye?