Finishing The Backside Of Belts

[Paxton]

Hi-

I am currently making belt straps to go with the belt buckles. I am new to leather working but have come a long way in the last month and the belts are starting to look nice and I am beginning to get a good system going. The problem I am having is that my wife does not like the light natural color of the underside of the premium tooling leather I am using to make the straps. We both would like the underside to look a little more finished or at least a darker tan or brown. So far I have tried dying the underside with a light brown fiebings low voc (california) dye which produces a nice tan. The problem is then how to seal the back so the underside dye will not rub off when wearing the belt. I have tried a acrylic clear coat but the results are a uneven coloration of very dark patches and very light patches of the tan color. So i guess my main question is how to seal the underside of the belt if you dye it?? Some other methods I have tried are burnishing the back with no dye (seems to time consuming and dont really like the result). I currently use the eco-flo water based dyes on the front of the belts (I know... they are harder to work with but I am in California and have decided to just start my leather experience using them... I also like the color selection better than the low VOC dyes) and then use a couple of layers of a clear coat. I have thought about just dyeing the backside of the belt the same color using the eco-flo dyes but then again I would really need to seal the back which becomes more of a problem since the backside is rougher and harder to seal it seams. Sorry for the long post but hope someone can help with some advice on finishing the backside. Any thing would work as long as it gives it a darker tan, brown or dyed look. (I know I could get into stitching a finished bottom piece to the belt but we are trying to stay simple). Thanks!

Paxton---

[terrahyd]

HI; Paxton;;

This may well be the reason a lot of us glue in a thin liner then lace or sew;;you may use tooling leather or predyed, 2-3 oz is handy,I know it's a lot of trouble but ????? if you lace reduce belt with by 1/4 in, perhaps some one who still finish's the back sides will chime in ,,,I gave in years ago ...sorry ...

Doc..

[NoahL]

I leave the insides undyed (except for vinegarooned belts), so I'm not really much help. Honestly, I like having the undyed leather on the inside so you can see how it take a patina over years of use. I think most people who finish the insides used NeatLac when it was still available, or possibly Resolene.

~Noah

[Paxton]

Thanks Doc and Noah for replying. Any advise helps... and i can use all the advise I can get :-) I myself would probably leave them unfinished but the wife likes a more finished look. So i will keep trying different things. I have several experiments going right now so I will post if I find anything that seems to work. If i wanted to try maybe burnishing the underside is there a good way to do it that works best... like would you just wet the surface and use a larger burnishing tool that covers more surface or is there something other than water that would make a better burnished surface for the back? Might also just be to much time and trouble (and muscle:-) to try and burnish the back but if an efficient way was thought up maybe it would work and would give it a little more of a finished surface instead of dying. Any thoughts?

[Frank]

There are a couple of different ways you can finish the backside even if you dye the back.

1.) Use Gum Tranc. and a cloth rag. Put a liberal amount on the backside of the belt and rub vigorously until you get a smooth finish. This will cause a little of the dye to rub off but it will seal nicely. It does take some time and elbow grease to achieve this. Do this before you put any holes in the belt.

2.) Easiest and Quickest method: Take a 1" foam brush and add an even coat of Fiebings Leather Balm with Atom Wax. Allow about 15-20 min. for it to dry and then buff it well with a piece of denim until shiny. Then add a second coat on top of the first. Be sure to use longer fuller strokes on the second coat to avoid and bubbles in the liquid. Also do this before adding any holes.

I hope this helps out a bit. Just don't get either one of these on the front of the belt as they will alter the color of the finish.

Frank

[Dwight]

I quit fooling around a long time ago with my belts.

I dip dye em, . . . every last one, . . . from tongue to buckle.

Clear coat em with a 50/50 mix of resolene and tap water, . . . and I haven't had any complaints from any of my customers at all.

I brush the resolene on with a bristle hair brush, . . . making sure the back really gets a good dose, . . . when they dry, . . . they're done.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Paxton]

Thanks so much for the Reply Frank. I like how the second method sounds and that will be the one I try first. Really appreciate you sharing the tips!

I will post back how it goes.

Paxton

[Paxton]

I quit fooling around a long time ago with my belts.

I dip dye em, . . . every last one, . . . from tongue to buckle.

Clear coat em with a 50/50 mix of resolene and tap water, . . . and I haven't had any complaints from any of my customers at all.

I brush the resolene on with a bristle hair brush, . . . making sure the back really gets a good dose, . . . when they dry, . . . they're done.

May God bless,

Dwight

That sounds like a great method! If you dont mind me asking how exactly do you dip dye them? Do you use a tray that hold the dye for dipping and about how long do you leave them in the dye?

Paxton---

[Frank]

Not a problem Paxton. I hope it works well for you. I use the same method with most of my belts. It's quick and simple and seems to do the trick.

Frank

[Dwight]

Paxton, . . . I have about a 9 x 14 inch aluminum cake pan my wife donated to my leather shop. It is the one I do the browns in, . . . I have another one for blacks.

I pour about a half inch of dye in the bottom of the pan, . . . put on two rubber gloves, . . . they go in buckle end first, . . . and they just stay in long enough to absorb the dye.

I run em through with the flat of the inside against the bottom of the pan (put a wet paper towel under the pan to keep it from sliding, . . . or tape it down with masking tape) looks like a flat snake taking a bath in dye if you can visualize that.

It takes all of about 30 seconds per belt, . . . when I'm done, . . . put the funnel in the dye bottle, . . . pour the rest back in, . . . rinse out the pan, . . . done .

Most of the time, I'm doing one belt at a time, . . . but I got sick of trying to daub, or sponge, or dab and get it to suit me. This way it is uniform in color every time. The one thing you have to do though if you want lighter shades, . . . experiment with thinning the dye. I found one really beautiful reddish brown that way, . . . and it is my biggest seller.

May God bless,

Dwight