English bridle tooled belt

[DoubleKCustomLeathercraft]

I had a costumer that wanted a new belt with his nickname and some tooling on it. I primarily make holsters and I'll cut a few straps for belts out of a side before I go to town on holster making. Well I ran out if belt straps quicker than I did the rest of the side, and didn't need or want to down 330 bucks on a side right now since I'm stocked up with what I need. I went onto weaver's site and found that they're selling Hermann Oak English bridle belt straps, which are veg tanned. It took me awhile to find the information here on how to properly case bridle leather. It's not the same as HO strap or holster tanned sides at all. I soaked the strap, left it in the fridge overnight like I would with regular veg tan. All that did was make it super stiff almost frozen feeling almost frozen. I did since more digging on the site here, and asked for input. Figured out that because of the waxes and oils in English bridle, cold is not what you want. Heat. Some say heat the tools, others say use a great gun on the strap. It's been warm, so i left it overnight again soaked. Pulled it out the next morning and it felt like I expected it to the first time. Left it hanging for about an hour to dry to the right moisture feel and went to town. It's harder to tool than any leather I've worked with, but I'm the end I think it all worked out great. I don't think I'll tool English bridle again though. It's a nice belt, great feel but not different enough to justify the extra hours to tool