Tooling a Belt for a Fat Guy

[Brokenolmarine]

Got the holes drilled for the Chicago Screws... and we are looking good.  Need to get out and burnish the sides.  Then I can move forward with applying the finishes.  I'm leaning toward a natural finish for the belt.

[Brokenolmarine]

After some last trimming where needed and some sanding, I beveled the edges as appropriate, then applied coats of Watco Oil in the Natural color.  I'll leave the parts and pieces to dry overnight and find out what they look like in the morning.  Once they are dry, I can burnish those edges and get busy.

I'll form the two belt loops and can begin the assembly process, sewing on the billets after determining the best location.  We'll either have a belt or a nice sample practice piece.  I'm REALLY hoping for a belt, tired of my pants slipping down. 

[DieselTech]

58 minutes ago, Brokenolmarine said:

After some last trimming where needed and some sanding, I beveled the edges as appropriate, then applied coats of Watco Oil in the Natural color.  I'll leave the parts and pieces to dry overnight and find out what they look like in the morning.  Once they are dry, I can burnish those edges and get busy.

I'll form the two belt loops and can begin the assembly process, sewing on the billets after determining the best location.  We'll either have a belt or a nice sample practice piece.  I'm REALLY hoping for a belt, tired of my pants slipping down. 

Looking good! Are you going to sew down both sides of the belt as well? 

Or does that particular pattern, not support such?

Thanks.

[Hildebrand]

On 11/14/2024 at 6:40 PM, Brokenolmarine said:

The books are heavy paper, with the drawings for the patterns progressing from very basic lines, to more detail, to a finished tooled picture.  There are no mylar patterns, I have a roll of the tracing stuff I use to copy the pattern.  Sometimes I copy the pattern on my copier then use my backlit tracing screen

.

 

When you copy it use a clear overhead transparency then you don’t have to trace it again, just straight onto the leather

Edited November 16, 2024 by Hildebrand
Clarify quote vs added info

[Brokenolmarine]

3 hours ago, DieselTech said:

Looking good! Are you going to sew down both sides of the belt as well? 

Or does that particular pattern, not support such?

Thanks.

If I was going to put a backing on the belt I would, but in this case I'm not going to do that so I didn't allow spacing for it.  If I had planned to sew down the side I would have allowed extra border for it.

[Brokenolmarine]

3 hours ago, Hildebrand said:

When you copy it use a clear overhead transparency then you don’t have to trace it again, just straight onto the leather

THIS is a great idea, but my copier is OLD and needs to be disassembled and cleaned internally.  It leaves spotches and smears on the copies and scans, something somewhere internally.  So, I just ignore them when I trace.  I guess I could buy another package of transparency film.  I had a box at one point when I was teaching in the academy, but once I quit Miss Tina started using them all the time for our overhead projector to paint things on the walls.  NO more left and she gave the overhead to the daughter. LOL.

[Brokenolmarine]

Out this morning to check the look of the belt parts now that the oil had dried.  I am very happy with the color.

So, first step was to mark and cut out the oval holes in the billet that would accept the buckle.  I used the correct size bit to drill a hole in each end of the ovals and cut along the sides with a scapel to connect the two holes.  Once that was done I was ready to burnish.  I used a thin burnishing wheel in the drill press.  A wise lesson learned was that FRICTION not pressure is the key here.  Pressure will deform the pieces and friction generates the heat you need.  Allow the time and the light pressure will cause the friction to generate the heat, without deforming the pieces.  I took my time, and knocked out all the pieces.

Then it was time to form the belt loops.  I drilled a pair of pilot holes in both ends of each loop, then sized them with the sewing awl.  I waxed the thread, taped the mock ups from scrap leather for the wet forming and got busy.  After careful sewing with a curved needle, I was ready to wet form them around the mockups and burnish them square.

[Brokenolmarine]

We'll be ready to start assembly soon, sewing on the billets.  But, how about a mini-tour of the leather work station?  Start here, at the tooling bench.  I started with just the tool block at the back of the table, to keep the punches organized, then added the shelving to keep the tools out of drawers and more at hand.  Oh, yeah.  There are still things in the drawers, but most things are at hand.  (Yes, I know I need to refill the paper towels, I just ran out.) 

If we back up a bit, you'll be able to see my cutting / work table.  That is beside the tooling bench, and I try and keep it as clear as I can.  It's nice to have it there, as I can roll back and forth between stations.  Very handy on projects like holsters and sheaths when you need to trim or add pieces.

If I am not on this side of the four bench set up.  I'm usually on the knife side.  

 

[dikman]

If you wear suspenders why not make a pair of tooled leather suspenders? A little more complex than making a belt, maybe, but should look pretty cool.

[AlZilla]

I don't know how you neat, organized guys get anything done at all. I mean, is the job really done, if you haven't devoted at least 20% of your time to finding the tools you needed?

I think not ...