Update to Genuine Leather Belt Post

[kgg]

I did build a basic no frills leather belt for the brother and just never uploaded the photo's. For this project I used a Techsew 2750 Pro which had no problems sewing two layers of 6.5 oz chrome tan, groaned on three layers but wouldn't do four layers of 6.5 oz of chrome tan.

The belt construction:
1) two 1.5" wide strips of 6.5 oz chrome tan.
 
2) the strips were contact cemented together with Lepage Heavy Duty Contact Cement. This step required two coats of glue as the first coat soaked into the leather. I was going to buy Barges but when I read the instructions it said it may require two coats on porous material.

        Is Barges that much better then Lepage Heavy Duty Contact Cement???

3) the belt blank was then sewn with V138 Bonded Polyester along the edges

4) I then 3D printed two hole templates,one for the buckle end and one for the tongue end. I went to get a template and was shocked a the price of templates from free paper ones to $50 acrylic.
The problem that I seen with the ones I looked at was they all just laid on top of the leather. This means they can wonder left to right. I guess you could tape them in place on the leather.
So me being me I 3D printed two templates that the leather sits in so there is no wonder left to right as I bang the punch through.
 
The buckle end would not have been a problem. The front was another matter when I tried to punch the five 5mm x 8mm oblong holes for the tongue end on a test piece. I got really nice oblong holes equally spaced that looked terrible. Like a duck waddled down the strip of leather. One was cantered left, one to the right and the others weren't much better.

5) Well since chrome tan can't be as far as I know be burnished like veg tan and I am lousy at edge coating I had to come up with something to sort of smooth out the belt edges. So I figured that burnishing lay's the fibers flat and burns the edge. My idea which seems to sort of work would be to try good old fashion "Udder Smooth" on the edges and run my soldering iron with a flat brass insert attachment over the edge. I cranked the soldering iron up to 840 F.

See if the brother destroys this 12 - 13 oz real leather belt.

Any and all comments are appreciated.

kgg

Edited November 20, 2024 by Northmount
Fixed typos

[dikman]

Looks like a pretty solid belt, should last a while. 

[kgg]

  On 11/19/2024 at 10:01 PM, dikman said:

Looks like a pretty solid belt, should last a while.

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If anyone is going to give a belt a run for it's money, it's my brother.

What do you use when gluing leather together??

kgg

[DieselTech]

Nice work. Looks good. 

I use Weldwood contact adhesive. & usually anything I glue leather wise, takes 2 coats on each piece. 

[toxo]

  On 11/19/2024 at 9:45 PM, kgg said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Looks like a good solid job Keith. Is your brother that slim or does it need more holes/another keeper?

The only belts I've ever made have been bog standard one piece jobbies. I was pondering on your build and I wondered if anyone had ever turned the edges on both pieces before glueing and sewing? Would it look cool or naff?

[kgg]

  On 11/20/2024 at 1:13 AM, toxo said:

Looks like a good solid job Keith. Is your brother that slim or does it need more holes/another keeper?

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Thank you. It has got to be the photo as the belt is a 44 inches belt as measured from the center (#3 of 5 tongue oblong holes) to the belt side of the buckle. The keeper is 3/4" wide. He likes to slide the end of the belt into the first loop on his jeans so that is why I extended the tongue.

  On 11/20/2024 at 1:13 AM, toxo said:

I was pondering on your build and I wondered if anyone had ever turned the edges on both pieces before glueing and sewing?

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I have never done it but I guess it could be done with a good skiver or maybe using some leather binding and a binder attachment to add a nice finished edge.

kgg

[dikman]

I've been using a contact adhesive made by Sika, nothing special other than it is thinner than the Selley's stuff that I've used in the past. I've taken to thinning it with Xylene as it slowly thickens up, seems to work ok. I've made a few belts, mostly gunbelts, using two pieces of veg-tan glued rough side to rough side with no problems. I suspect most solvent contact adhesives will work fine, regardless of the brand, I've even used the cheap stuff from discount stores.