Western inspired belt for a farrier with homemade buckle

[Mulesaw]

The farrier that shoes the horses in the stable where our oldest son works is into western riding. He is a really nice guy and our son asked if I could make him something for Christmas, just as an appreciation.

I agreed and decided that making a western inspired belt would be a nice gift, and something that could actually use. I find that a 1.5" wide belt fits most pants such as jeans etc, so that was the size I ende up making.

My idea was to buy a non decorated buckle that I could engrave with something farrier like, but since I couldn't find a buckle like that I ended up making it myself from scratch.
The sewing on the belt itself was done on my old Singer class 7.  

 

The finished buckle mounted on the belt.

The decoration of the belt itself. The leather isn't black, but rather a dark brown.

The belt buckled up.

 

Below are som pictures of how I made the individual pieces of the buckle.

Silver soldering the part that attaches to the end of the belt.

The belt attachment part and the buckle and prong now silver soldered to the buckle itself

 

Front of the buckle with a light sanding and cleaning.

Straight from the pantograph engraving machine (I used a picture as model, I can't do free hand engraving so it looks good) 

Buckle polished and slightly curved

[Beehive]

That's awesome! I like that! 

I've made buckles myself. But in carbon steel. Once you build one. You find out it's rather easy to do. 

 

I dare you to make a concho from a Mexican coin and solder it to the front of your next buckle. 

[chuck123wapati]

beautiful work my friend!! 

[Herbie]

very nice!

[DieselTech]

Beautiful work! & Great Craftsmanship 

[Mulesaw]

@Beehive Thanks for the nice comment, I would like to accept the dare, but I have absolutely no idea where I'd get hold of a Mexican coin :-)

I am a bit curious, do you mean like just solder it to the front of the buckle, or should it be used to connect the buckle to the belt? (I'd love it if you have a picture of something like it)

Brgds Jonas

@chuck123wapati Thanks Chuck, I always find it is a good indication of a decent job if I kind of want to keep it myself :-)

Your friend

Jonas

[Mulesaw]

@Herbie Thanks for the kind words.

Brgds Jonas

@DieselTech Thanks, the silver soldering could have been a bit nicer, but I doubt that anyone will ever notice unless they look at the back of the buckle :-)

Brgds Jonas

[Beehive]

Yes. Dome any coin you want in a doming block. But instead of soldering a Chicago screw to the back of the coin. Solder the coin itself to the buckle. It also looks good on a bare brass Zippo lighter. Nickel, bronze, and copper coins will take solder. 

Would you like to see a dollar coin and a Texas quarter that's been domed? Your thread, so I'm not posting pictures unless I get your go ahead.

[Mulesaw]

7 minutes ago, Beehive said:

Yes. Dome any coin you want in a doming block. But instead of soldering a Chicago screw to the back of the coin. Solder the coin itself to the buckle. It also looks good on a bare brass Zippo lighter. Nickel, bronze, and copper coins will take solder. 

Would you like to see a dollar coin and a Texas quarter that's been domed? Your thread, so I'm not posting pictures unless I get your go ahead.

GO AHEAD :-)

I'd love to see a domed coin.

[Beehive]

Doming blocks come with ball end punches. I just happened to have a ball bearing a hair bigger. 

Buffalo nickels are also popular.  Indian head facing out. On Mexican coins, the Mexican eagle faces out. I'm only using the Texas quarters pictured.  The dollar coin was practice for other, different dollar coins. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:10 PM by Beehive

[jrdunn]

Nice work Jonas!

[Mulesaw]

@Beehive I can see that those would look great on a buckle.
I don't know where I'd get a doming block in Denmark.. It is strange, but some tools are just not quite as readily available over here compared to in the USA.
But I guess I could turn a piece of hardwood to make the block, and then find a steel ball og something else to help me with the shaping. 

I just looked in my desk drawer here on the ship, and there are some Canadian coins, one with a caribou and one with a beaver. They could work I think. 
The Danish 50 øre (half a crown) is a copper alloy, around the size of a US nickel might work, but it is not very pretty. 
The Danish 1, 2 and 5 crowns look nice, they are silver coloured but the all have a hole in the middle, so I am afraid that would look strange. 
The 10 and 20 crowns are doubled in thickness and are brass coloured, they'd look good too if they weren't so thick.

I think I see a coin doming experiment somewhere in the future :-)

Brgds Jonas

 

 

@jrdunn Thanks a lot :-)

Brgds Jonas

Edited Wednesday at 08:53 PM by Mulesaw

[fredk]

If you slap some oil/enamel paint over the buckle area  of the design, let it dry then polish it off it will leave the paint in the low parts of the engraved design making it stand out more, or as the  American would say 'it would pop'

[TomE]

Good looking belt with mighty fancy stitching!  The buckle is a beautiful accent to complete the belt.  My dad made jewelry as a hobby.  I use his planishing hammer and bench anvil in my leather shop.  Your buckle brings back memories of him.  Thank you.

[Mulesaw]

9 hours ago, fredk said:

If you slap some oil/enamel paint over the buckle area  of the design, let it dry then polish it off it will leave the paint in the low parts of the engraved design making it stand out more, or as the  American would say 'it would pop'

The engraving is not very deep, so I am not sure it would have stuck very well, but I see what you mean :-)
I think that as soon as the buckle tarnishes a bit, it will stand out a bit more too. A very shiny surface for some reason seem to lessen the effect of the engraving (or it could just be lack of photographic skills :-)

Brgds Jonas

7 hours ago, TomE said:

Good looking belt with mighty fancy stitching!  The buckle is a beautiful accent to complete the belt.  My dad made jewelry as a hobby.  I use his planishing hammer and bench anvil in my leather shop.  Your buckle brings back memories of him.  Thank you.

Thanks Tom

Glad that I could spark a trip down memory lane. And thanks for the nice comments about the belt.

 

[Skinjob]

Nice job!

I love some loop and diamond stitch.

Did you use a template or did you free hand it?

[Mulesaw]

1 hour ago, Skinjob said:

Nice job!

I love some loop and diamond stitch.

Did you use a template or did you free hand it?

Thanks,

I used a small lunch plate as pattern, just marked around the circumference with a silver marker. I placed a square so both curves would start the same place. I had to try a few different plates first to find one that would give a nice looking curve. :-)

Brgds Jonas