CFM chuck123wapati Posted March 24 CFM Report Posted March 24 2 hours ago, Tigweldor said: In ten years I will be 72 years old - Nah - I will leave the engraving part to others. Now, if I were about 30 years younger - I might give it a try. But like I said - I make my living elsewhere. This is just a side line - a lucrative hobby - for now. I have managed to keep debt free all of my life - no use changing that at this stage/at my age. Besides - I have been a Harley ridin´biker since I was 16, with the odd Norton fitted in between- done my club time and exited in good standing years ago. That was back in the days when riders still knew how to wrench their own scoot - shit, you wouldn´t have gotten past hangaround if you couldn´t perform that task. Nowadays the scene has changed completely. Miles on the road though is what I still love and need. 20 belts and buckles tagged along take up very little room and have paid for many a vacation and quite a few brews to boot. Actually, bars and club houses are a very good place to meet potential customers for my merchandise. Rock on man !! I'm 66 and know exactly where your head is at. I don't ride bikes anymore but no one has ever wrenched on my shit. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Doc Reaper Posted March 24 Report Posted March 24 Show me how it works with a leather belt, having vision of a belt tip Quote Doc Reaper
Members Tigweldor Posted March 24 Author Members Report Posted March 24 (edited) Your wish shall be my command - cause that is an easy chore. The first 2 pics are from the belt going through the buckle The 3rd pic is from the backside of the belt The 4th pic is the welded stainless D-ring for the carabiner with your keys - beats hanging the carabiner from a fabric belt loop any day The 5th pic are my traveling tools - I custom fit all of my belts to their new owner - since I travel a lot on my trusty old Shovel, I cant´t tug along a rivet press - so I mount the buckle to the belt with round headed stainless Allen screws, and I think in the States their called Chicago Screws (which are actually nuts) and a drop of Loctite. The last pic is my suede buckle "mag" - so the customer can choose the buckle he/she likes best - as I have them in different finishes - plain, polished or brushed. The buckle in the pic has seen 15 years of use - EVERY day and at work as well - as I do not walk/wear commercials for other peoples buckles Edited March 24 by Tigweldor Quote
Members Tigweldor Posted March 24 Author Members Report Posted March 24 (edited) By the way : I dye my belts with an airbrush - and only on the outside of the belt. That is very important. Experience has shown that if I dye the belt on the inside facing the pants as well (which would be simple : throw them in a tub and let drip dry over that) - the dye will rub of and stain the pants - that makes for unhappy customers. And here it doesn´t matter which dye you use (alcohol base/water base) and what you seal them with after - eventually they will all stain the pants - I am very particular about not having that happen - word of mouth travels bad news faster than you think - and up to now ALL my customers were happy - I sure do intend to keep it that way. I do not use very expensive airbrushes - a simple Badger is my main go to airbrush for small work - the Paasche can be fitted with a bigger jar - I like them both. They are both single action - you just can´t get large enough jars for most double action brushes - I do have a few of them as well - but again - I´m not a painter or a paint artist - I just want to dye my belts - plain and simple as that. I use the Paasche when I have numerous belts to be dyed the same colour - but I try to avoid that and change colour by adding drops of darker dye as I go along - so no 2 belts are exactly the same colour. Some say to wet the belt to get better dye penetration - I myself have not found much of a difference whether the leather is dry or wet. I have yet to try a simple vacuum chamber - I have the pump and will experiment this summer on my porch with that. So : dye some belts - put them in the vacuum chamber - take them out after a few minutes and apply another coat. I will report on that endeavour. Some good homemade airbrush holders with a heavy steel base are a must and save a lot of cussing - and cost nearly nothing to make. I have tried the sponge/rag technique - but that wastes a lot of dye - which is not cheap stuff to obtain, if you buy quality dye. I mostly use Fiebings Pro dye - but have tried others. Since Fiebings has to be imported from the US - it is not cheap stuff over here - and price will go up with this absurd tariff thing - what a PITA. All spoken here is just my own opinion through my own experience - your mileage may differ - so do like/as you think is best for you. My philosophy is pretty simple : You don´t like my product - well - go buy something somewhere else. My life does not depend on that, so I don´t really give a hoot. But - I am the only one making these buckles world wide. Period. I have no competition in my little niche. That is not arrogance - that´s just the way it is. Greetings Hans Edited March 25 by Tigweldor Quote
Members Dwight Posted March 25 Members Report Posted March 25 But you do have to remember that your German patent is not good in the US . . . so the first customer who wants in on the action . . . may just jump on it . . . Things of this nature . . . even when they are patented . . . are always subject to "copy" so to speak. Not pushing the sales opens the door for another enterprising individual. May God bless, Dwight Quote If you can breathe, . . . thank God. If you can read, . . . thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, . . . thank a veteran. www.dwightsgunleather.com
Members SUP Posted March 25 Members Report Posted March 25 (edited) An interesting practical pattern for a buckle. You should file an International patent Application. It allows you to get protection in multiple countries. Putting it up here, people might already be in the process of copying it. So I would suggest that you hurry up on the application. Things like this are rare and there are, unfortunately, plenty of crooks out there looking for such things. Try to determine how LOXX managed to prevent people copying their design - although something similar is available now on Temu, I believe. I've not seen it though. That is the risk. Edited March 25 by SUP Quote Learning is a life-long journey.
Members Dwight Posted March 25 Members Report Posted March 25 4 hours ago, SUP said: An interesting practical pattern for a buckle. You should file an International patent Application. It allows you to get protection in multiple countries. Putting it up here, people might already be in the process of copying it. So I would suggest that you hurry up on the application. Things like this are rare and there are, unfortunately, plenty of crooks out there looking for such things. Try to determine how LOXX managed to prevent people copying their design - although something similar is available now on Temu, I believe. I've not seen it though. That is the risk. Unless he's selling a couple hundred a day . . . he'll never pay for a full international patent . . . they're scary expensive May God bless, Dwight Quote If you can breathe, . . . thank God. If you can read, . . . thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, . . . thank a veteran. www.dwightsgunleather.com
Members badhatter1005 Posted March 25 Members Report Posted March 25 Thank you for following up with the photos of the buckle in action. Makes perfect sense now. Great job. Quote
Members SUP Posted March 25 Members Report Posted March 25 1 hour ago, Dwight said: Unless he's selling a couple hundred a day . . . he'll never pay for a full international patent . . . they're scary expensive I guess. I know they exist. Never had to get one so no clue about pricing. Quote Learning is a life-long journey.
Members Tigweldor Posted March 25 Author Members Report Posted March 25 (edited) Dwight is right on the spot. An international patent costs a small fortune. I would have to borrow coin - this would put me into debt and turn me into a slave of some bank or other financial institution. That would end my free way of life - the pressure of pay back would interact with my choice of how to spend the day - so that is a definite No-Go. There are over 80 million people here in Germany - around 430 million in Europe - shit, I got more potential customers than I can handle without needing to "conquer" the US as well. So if there is someone across the pond to want to copy my concept - go ahead and give it a try. I simply do not care - else I wouldn´t have uploaded this post to start with. I´m not that stupid - but even more important - I am not greedy. While money does make life more comfortable, the one thing it can not buy is happiness. To tell you the truth, I have been most creative in metal art when I was nigh on broke - still can´t figure that one out. Greetings Hans By the way : in Canada patent is pending - I do have a long time "bro" over there who will get into the action. Edited March 25 by Tigweldor Quote
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