Two Tone Double Layer Gunbelt

[Bree]

I just finished a double layer gunbelt I am giving a friend in Georgia as a gift. He wanted a black belt to match a black holster that he has. Here are the details:

Leather - Weaver natural shoulder with blanks skived to 7oz. Billets skived to 3.5 oz each.

Finish - Weaver Tuff Kote Black and Clear

Edges - Burnished with wax and mechanical burnisher, Fiebings Edge Kote

Sealer - Weaver Tuff Coat Clear airbrushed

Stitching - 277/207 Poly on Toro 4000-LA25

Hardware - Stainless Steel Roller Buckle and Chicago Screws

I am pretty pleased with it and I hope he will be too. I like the little gunbelt railroad PIX LOL!

[MADMAX22]

Thats a very nice belt. I like the contrast you got with the white stitching. Very clean looking overall. Good job.

[grasshopper]

I just finished a double layer gunbelt I am giving a friend in Georgia as a gift. He wanted a black belt to match a black holster that he has. Here are the details:

Leather - Weaver natural shoulder with blanks skived to 7oz. Billets skived to 3.5 oz each.

Finish - Weaver Tuff Kote Black and Clear

Edges - Burnished with wax and mechanical burnisher, Fiebings Edge Kote

Sealer - Weaver Tuff Coat Clear airbrushed

Stitching - 277/207 Poly on Toro 4000-LA25

Hardware - Stainless Steel Roller Buckle and Chicago Screws

I am pretty pleased with it and I hope he will be too. I like the little gunbelt railroad PIX LOL!

Nice job, is that two layers of 7oz.? Did you skive the blank down yourself or weaver skived it for you? What was the original weight of the belt blank? How did you keep the inside belt from not getting black from the dye? How did you dye the edges so neatly without dyeing the inside belt?

[Bree]

Nice job, is that two layers of 7oz.? Did you skive the blank down yourself or weaver skived it for you? What was the original weight of the belt blank? How did you keep the inside belt from not getting black from the dye? How did you dye the edges so neatly without dyeing the inside belt?

Yes. I had Weaver cut the blanks and skive them. They did an excellent job. I skived the billets because I wanted them gradient skived. The original weight was 8-9oz.

The leather from Weaver was really outstanding with beautiful color, grain, and heft. It was just about flawless and perfectly skived. I was very happy with what they sent me. I also got a nice price after all was said and done. Weaver often has higher prices on things than other folks but in this case they had a great price. I got good lengths though I could have gotten some really long ones if I had purchased sides rather than shoulders. I have several sides that I can cut and skive myself so I guess it doesn't matter.

I dyed the two blanks separately before glueing them up. When the edge coating was applied there was some black that got on the natural side but that was intended. I used a 1/2 felt on a clip to apply the edge coating. I hung the belt (now bonded) from the ceiling and just ran it down the length of the belt on both sides and let it dry. Naturally I had to touch up some areas I didn't like which was a pain in the butt.

Using water-based edge coat makes touch ups possible but then you get trouble sealing it. I went over to Harbor Freight and both a little airbrush compressor. I airbrushed the top coat and it worked like a charm! I put several very light coats on everything, assembled the billet and then punched out 7 oval holes and she was done.

My friend is gonna like it because he has a holster that looks very similar. They will match up very nicely. I didn't do any carving or the like on this belt because I don't think this guy would have appreciated it and he didn't rate that kind of investment of work and effort.

I will be making more of these and I will probably carve some though I am not as good as these folks around here. I might carve one up for myself as I am MUCH more forgiving of my own mistakes than others!!

I was very happy with the stitching because I just fixed my machine today. I had to grind out the arm of my sewing machine and that made me very nervous. But I got a good line and very tight to the edge. That makes this belt very strong and durable.

The problem I was having was that my roller guide couldn't make it close enough to the needle to get a nice tight line near the edge. That is now solved.

[TomSwede]

A very fine and classy looking belt!!!

White stitching look sooo nice!

Neat and clean!!

Tom

[badger]

Nice job Bree,

Clean and sharp. Classy.

Karl

[Go2Tex]

I didn't do any carving or the like on this belt because I don't think this guy would have appreciated it and he didn't rate that kind of investment of work and effort.p

Yeah, he's friend....but not that good a friend, eh?

Got a question. When you say skive, do you mean split? And, if you had the leather, why not cut your own? Just curious.

As for that roller guide - I tried using it at first, then got frustrated on the curves and took it off. It's been in the drawer ever since. I have no trouble running down the edge as fast as I want to go just by using my fingers and hands as a guide.

[TroyS]

Sweet Belt Bree! It's amazing how few people know what kind of work goes into a project. Most people look at that as just a belt. I look at it as a work of art!

Great Job!

[Bree]

Sweet Belt Bree! It's amazing how few people know what kind of work goes into a project. Most people look at that as just a belt. I look at it as a work of art!

Great Job!

Thanks Troy!

Isn't that the truth. This simple belt wasn't simple at all... at least not for me it wasn't. I was surprised by just how much work it took. I suppose that is because its the first one like it that I did. Nevertheless, there are many hours in there.

When you look at one of Hidepounder's creations, you realize there is a huge investment of time and effort in that little belt. And just think about when it goes to stitching... if you screw up a stitch line, you toast all that work. Frightening.

The next one will go faster and be more exciting!

[SteveBrambley]

Sorry Bree, hadn't spotted it before! That's a really nice belt!

Steve

[Rhome]

Bree, Beautiful belt, I like the contrast with the black with white stitches. Now would you please tell me your secret on keeping the insde of the belt so nice and clean. I can't manage to keep mine as spotless as yours no matter how hard I try to keep my work area and stitcher clean and wearing latex gloves.

Best,

Rhome

[Bree]

Bree, Beautiful belt, I like the contrast with the black with white stitches. Now would you please tell me your secret on keeping the insde of the belt so nice and clean. I can't manage to keep mine as spotless as yours no matter how hard I try to keep my work area and stitcher clean and wearing latex gloves.

Best,

Rhome

Good question!! It isn't easy. The first thing I did was to clear away from my work area anything that could contaminate the natural blank. The black one didn't concern me as much. I added some loops to allow me to hang the blanks from the rafters on a dowel. That way they could dry and cure away from any dust or contamination. I sealed the face of the natural blank first thing so it would be hard for anything to get absorbed by the leather.

If you use solvent based dye, you can destroy the natural blank if you get any on it so keep the natural blank away from the black solvent dye!!

I used water-based black edge coat and the first thing I did was to have a cup of water handy as well as some tissue and a little firm sponge like a makeup sponge. As I applied the edge coat, if it didn't go on right I could quickly swipe the error and get it off the natural part. Water-based is good for that. The sealer over the natural leather helps a lot too.

The biggest problem came with trying to seal the edge coat. It is water-based and the sealer was water-based and the sealer caused the edge coat to run and contaminate the blank. I had to quickly swab off the runny part and then recoat the edge where it ran. That was very time consuming. It was bad and poor technique by me.

I finally realized that the best way to retain the edge coat without running was to get successive very light coats of sealer on there. The best way to do that was with an airbrush. I got a small compressor at Harbor Freight and loaded my airbrush with sealer and sprayed... voila!! Problem solved.

But I am still not happy with the line the felt produced. It has some irregularity. So I am trying something entirely new. In fact, I just received a package from Amazon with 3 rolls of FROG Tape. This stuff is kind of unique and may help solve the problem that you raise.

It is masking tape with an expanding absorbent on the edges. It prevents bleed through. So if I tape the body up to the edge and it works as advertised, I can run my dye applicator across the edge without worrying about maintaining the line on the natural blank. Once it is done, the line will be there perfectly straight with no bleed through because of the FROG Tape. The airbrush will take care of sealing it and hopefully I will have perfect straight edge lines on the natural blank.

I don't know if it works but I have the tape now and I will be trying it out soon!! Stay tuned!

Edited January 21, 2009 by Bree

[grasshopper]

I just finished a double layer gunbelt I am giving a friend in Georgia as a gift. He wanted a black belt to match a black holster that he has. Here are the details:

Leather - Weaver natural shoulder with blanks skived to 7oz. Billets skived to 3.5 oz each.

Finish - Weaver Tuff Kote Black and Clear

Edges - Burnished with wax and mechanical burnisher, Fiebings Edge Kote

Sealer - Weaver Tuff Coat Clear airbrushed

Stitching - 277/207 Poly on Toro 4000-LA25

Hardware - Stainless Steel Roller Buckle and Chicago Screws

I am pretty pleased with it and I hope he will be too. I like the little gunbelt railroad PIX LOL!

Did you have to sand your edges flush before burnishing? What does your mechanical burnisher look like? Where did you buy it or did you make it yourself (any pics)? Thanks!

Karl

[Bree]

Did you have to sand your edges flush before burnishing? What does your mechanical burnisher look like? Where did you buy it or did you make it yourself (any pics)? Thanks!

Karl

No the edges were flush from the start because I used a registration jig to keep the blanks aligned when I cemented them together. The burnisher smoothed out any irregularities. Here is the burnisher. I use the Fantastic Leather Burnisher.

I got it from Ivan Sampson on EBay. Here is a video showing how it works with the inventor.

Slicker than spit.

[Grunt]

Slicker than spit.

Bree,

Nice Job on the belt! I have done a few belts like that all stitched by hand so I know how big a pain it is to doo all the elements of a double layer belt.

From your posts I take it the Fnatastic Edge Burnisher is working well for you? I am thinking of purchasing one for doing belts and I want to get some feedback form folks who are using them.

Regards,

Nick

[grasshopper]

No the edges were flush from the start because I used a registration jig to keep the blanks aligned when I cemented them together. The burnisher smoothed out any irregularities. Here is the burnisher. I use the Fantastic Leather Burnisher.

I got it from Ivan Sampson on EBay. Here is a video showing how it works with the inventor.

Slicker than spit.

Bree thank you for all your help, the information you provides helps ALOT!

Karl

[rhall]

Bree Great work...As I am looking for a machine,How do you like the 4000?Everything I've done has been by hand and My Auther Rightass is getting worse!So I have to make a choice sometime in the near future.I have been checking out your work and can tell you know what your doing.Thanks in advance

[Bree]

Bree Great work...As I am looking for a machine,How do you like the 4000?Everything I've done has been by hand and My Auther Rightass is getting worse!So I have to make a choice sometime in the near future.I have been checking out your work and can tell you know what your doing.Thanks in advance

Thanks!

On the Toro... The Toro 4000 LA-25 is one big machine. I don't often use its full capability either in terms of thickness or depth. But I figured that if I ever needed that capacity, I'd kick myself for spending the extra dollars.

I had to do a little grinding to get it sewing close to the edge like you see on this one but that is only a problem with the LA-25 and it is pretty easily fixed. I posted those long straight shots to show the beautiful seam it created. I was very happy with the result.

So I am a fan of the Toro series whether it be the 9", 16" or 25" machines. They are excellent sewing machines supported by eager and good people. Give Steve, Dave or Jerry a call and terrorize them with my name. They might just give up some kind of discount or freebie!!

Relative to the burnisher... the only thing that sometimes annoys me is that it can deposit wax along the side of the edge that you are burnishing. If you have already finished the blank with dye, then you have to spend time getting the excess wax off. Ivan uses some duck cloth to clean up the excess wax. I haven't tried that because I don't have any but I'm going to get some and try it his way. I cleaned that blank with a piece of polyethylene plastic. It worked fine... just took a little more time than I planned.

About my friend... My friend took delivery of the belt and was thrilled. He is now wearing it everyday without a gun. He said that it reminded him of the belts he used to wear when he lived in Oklahoma. He asked me if I would make one for full price for his son!

Last time I gave him a gift for things he had done to help me, I got him some Appleton Gold Rum from Jamaica so he and his buddy could get drunk. The buddy got a bottle too. The thing about that gift is that they couldn't remember how they got the booze! Mike will always remember where his belt came from and how he got it.

About my work... I am not an artist like lots of folks around here. I do simple things and try to inject a dose of love into them. The quality that flows from it is almost always appreciated. The quality in my items has been dramatically increased due to exposure to the brilliant workmanship of the people on this system. The best thing you can do for your leatherworking is hang around here for awhile, watch, and listen.