scalloped Belt blanks

[Handstitched]

Has anyone done scalloped edge belt blanks, as in  a curvy  edge ?  If so, what is the easiest way  to cut them? 

Or is it just a matter of make a template, trace, cut etc. ?   And, unless I was seeing things, I thought Tandy did scalloped edge belt blanks 'way back 'once upon a time' ,  I thought I saw them in an old Tandy catalogue.  They would make a nice alternative to straight cut blanks and they look good with western concho's.

HS

[Alexis1234]

I've made a few wavy straps- I make a template, trace and cut with a round knife

[Handstitched]

5 hours ago, Alexis1234 said:

I've made a few wavy straps- I make a template, trace and cut with a round knife

Thanks for that    I have looked around, but no-one in my neck of the woods does scalloped blanks. Might go back through some old Tandy catalogues just out of interest. 

HS 

[chuck123wapati]

i've seen them but never made any, 

[Dwight]

If I did that . . . I would do like Alexis mentioned . . . make a pattern.

Make the full size blank . . . trace the pattern on it . . . and if they are shallow . . . make the indentations with a drum sander.

If they are deep . . . cut em out roughly on a band saw . . . then run them thru the drum sander . . . should make a nice belt.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Doc Reaper]

Again seeing is inspirational - got a pic so we can all understand,  us crayon eaters need a visual 

[fredk]

19 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Has anyone done scalloped edge belt blanks, as in  a curvy  edge ?  If so, what is the easiest way  to cut them? 

Or is it just a matter of make a template, trace, cut etc. ?   And, unless I was seeing things, I thought Tandy did scalloped edge belt blanks 'way back 'once upon a time' ,  I thought I saw them in an old Tandy catalogue.  They would make a nice alternative to straight cut blanks and they look good with western concho's.

How much of a scallop do you want? 

Olfa does a 'wavy edge' blade for its 20mm size circular blade knives. I've seen the same sort of blade for 45mm. These would give a very fine wavy or scalloped edge

I have a 20mm blade. I'll try it on a piece of scrap and see what the result is

edited to add; there appears to be several types of wavy edge/scallop blades from fine to bigger

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by fredk

[Alexis1234]

I'd like to add- the straps I've made have been for sleigh bells. So what I did was make the pattern for half of it. The last strap I did was over 100" long and 4" at the widest. I took a piece of paper 4 in wide and folded it in half . Then I figured out the bell placement ( or concho  in your case) and every spot there was one, was a swell. Another type of strap  I've done had smaller points and that was done using a modified end punch.

[Handstitched]

21 hours ago, Doc Reaper said:

got a pic so we can all understand

 

11 hours ago, fredk said:

How much of a scallop do you want? 

G'Day y'all, I really did try to find an actual scalloped belt blank, ( without tooling etc. ) but nup, no luck.So I found a belt pic sample and a  few martingales that I made . 

@fredk It   varies, it depends on the belt, and perhaps the conchos to be used ,  and how much of a curve  you prefer to suit them .  You could have them as wide and deep or as shallow and close as you wish...if that makes sense  

The belt is not mine , but the martingales are . Hopefully it will give you a bit of an  idea of what I am talking about    I'll do the ' make template, trace & cut' method'  . And when I do make a few, I will post the actual pics of the blanks on here in case someone else asks about them . 

HS

Edited July 20, 2023 by Handstitched

[Dwight]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

 

G'Day y'all, I really did try to find an actual scalloped belt blank, ( without tooling etc. ) but nup, no luck.So I found a belt pic sample and a  few martingales that I made . 

@fredk It   varies, it depends on the belt, and perhaps the conchos to be used ,  and how much of a curve  you prefer to suit them .  You could have them as wide and deep or as shallow and close as you wish...if that makes sense  

The belt is not mine , but the martingales are . Hopefully it will give you a bit of an  idea of what I am talking about    I'll do the ' make template, trace & cut' method'  . And when I do make a few, I will post the actual pics of the blanks on here in case someone else asks about them . 

HS

 

Hey, Handstitched . . . those are both really good looking pieces of work.  Belt is a tad flashy for this ol preacher . . . but I'd make one for a friend.

Anyway . . . if I were doing either one . . . I'd go back to my original suggestion . . . a drum sander for the martingales . . . and a band saw for the belt.  

OR . . . that little 30 inch belt sander that Amazon sells https://www.amazon.com/EX-ELECTRONIX-EXPRESS-Mini-Sander/dp/B004D96ZCG/ref=asc_df_B004D96ZCG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309735728871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8573954697880619670&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014870&hvtargid=pla-521860277467&psc=1    

It'll do the trick for you in short order.  I've got two of the little belt sanders . . . one is used in the leather shop . . . other out in the wood / metal shop.  Noisy little rascal . . . but they do the job.

May God bless,

Dwight

[SpruceMoose]

Small sized half round punch maybe? I suppose it depends on how small of a scallop. But I know you can get the half round punch real small though they are cheap tools from China, might work nice

[Handstitched]

12 hours ago, Dwight said:

I've got two of the little belt sanders

I do have a belt sander, its an old ' GMC' , but works fine. When I finally get back into the workshop, I'll do photo shoot of how I will be doing them, might be helpful for anyone else wanting to do scalloped belts .  I should still have the original template for those martingales. Might use that .

11 hours ago, SpruceMoose said:

Small sized half round punch maybe?

I do have some large wad punches that I bought back in May:

https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/107878-wad-punches/

I may be able to utilise one of  them to get the  shape  for a smaller, closer ' curve' . 

Thanks for your input people 

HS

[Wepster]

For those who maybe interested in the 1x30 belt sander on Amazon mentioned by Dwight, I believe it is the same unit sold by Harbor Freight and probably Princess Auto. Here is a vid on setting up the sander to be smoother.   

 

I have added the better bearing, and turned the wheels, two on my lathe and the drive wheel in place. Much smoother. I have also placed a magnet in a small plastic bag behind the drive wheel, catches metal filings, hold the bag over the trash, reach in, pull out the magnet, the filings on the outside drop off.

[SpruceMoose]

12 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I do have a belt sander, its an old ' GMC' , but works fine. When I finally get back into the workshop, I'll do photo shoot of how I will be doing them, might be helpful for anyone else wanting to do scalloped belts .  I should still have the original template for those martingales. Might use that .

I do have some large wad punches that I bought back in May:

https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/107878-wad-punches/

I may be able to utilise one of  them to get the  shape  for a smaller, closer ' curve' . 

Thanks for your input people 

HS

There's also some hand crank leather pinking machines on ebay currently as well, as if we all can't use a little more tool temptation

[chuck123wapati]

On 7/20/2023 at 8:44 PM, Handstitched said:

I do have a belt sander, its an old ' GMC' , but works fine. When I finally get back into the workshop, I'll do photo shoot of how I will be doing them, might be helpful for anyone else wanting to do scalloped belts .  I should still have the original template for those martingales. Might use that .

I do have some large wad punches that I bought back in May:

https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/107878-wad-punches/

I may be able to utilise one of  them to get the  shape  for a smaller, closer ' curve' . 

Thanks for your input people 

HS

i had to laugh yesterday i went to The local tractor supply to get some feed. First thing i saw was  scalloped belt hanging on the rack.

[Handstitched]

15 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

First thing i saw was  scalloped belt hanging on the rack.

I'll be going back into the workshop...to work , this week, I've been on a bit of a hiatus.  Time to get 'back on the horse'.First thing I'll be working on is a  few templates for scalloped belts.

HS

[Wepster]

a piece of corrugated metal or the fiberglass awning/shed/patio roof might give you a nice template.

[fredk]

7 hours ago, Wepster said:

a piece of corrugated metal . . . 

If you mounted a cross-section slice on a wood block you could make a clicker die

Only joking, the metal wouldn't be strong enuf

[bruce johnson]

35 minutes ago, fredk said:

 

 

36 minutes ago, fredk said:

If you mounted a cross-section slice on a wood block you could make a clicker die

Only joking, the metal wouldn't be strong enuf

kind of an idea though Fred. Actually I used to have a few clicker dies for scalloped belts and breast collars. Headstall dies were a one hit deal but the others were open ended. They did a section at time by just overlapping the ends. Pretty versatile - you could  make the straps whatever length you needed but starting in the middle, doing as many scallops as you needed and then the billet lengths could vary by size length needed. 

[Klara]

23 hours ago, Wepster said:

a piece of corrugated metal or the fiberglass awning/shed/patio roof might give you a nice template.

Nope. Just walked past some roof sheeting yesterday and its scallops are much too big for a belt that needs to go through loops to hold up trousers.

For a purely fashion item it might work...

[Handstitched]

4 hours ago, Klara said:

For a purely fashion item it might work...

I started the template for these belts today , and while the template was easy, using the curves of  a ' martingale' , the actual making of the blank was fiddly  .  Found some suitable conchos for the first one, don't want to use ex$y concho's just yet until I get it right.  .  Updates soon    

The idea of using a piece of corrugated iron,isn't a bad one.  I do have some in my paddock.  

HS

[Klara]

Does it still hold its shape if you cut off a piece that is small enough to work with? While it wouldn't be strong enough for a clicker die, maybe it would make enough of an impression to do away with the scratch awl for drawing the pattern?

[Handstitched]

Today I made  a few scalloped belts with concho's ,  don't look to bad either, and....I found a brilliant way of making the curvy bits , after messing around with a template...it was a ' duh , why didn't I think of that before'   moment. I had to get the labour time  down.   I'll put together a few pics tomorrow   

20 minutes ago, Klara said:

Does it still hold its shape if you cut off a piece that is small enough to work with?

While you can feel the difference, it does hold its shape, but since pieces have been cut out, it won't be as strong as a  normal straight belt , if that makes sense. 

HS

[Handstitched]

I've nailed it   After fiddling about with a template using a martingale as a guide , I realised I could utilise  cutting dies ..with a large hammer. It was a ' DUH ' moment.  So much easier and quicker too. I can use any cutting die I want, make the ' curves' any shape I want,  as far apart or as close as I want, and I can round  off the edges on the sander, simple.

The first belts I made I kept simple until I was confident about making the blanks, didn't want to use ex$y concho's just yet.Not bad for a first attempt . 

HS

[fredk]

Excellent