Just Bought A Nile Crocodile Backstrap

[leatherman2011]

I just bought a croc backstrap and need a little help making it into a belt. I have a 9 or 10 oz latigo cowhide strip 1 1/2 inch wide for the liner. I have Barge all purpose cement to bind togeather and nylon thread to stitch it. I also have chicago screws a punch and a belt buckle ready to put on it. its dyed black by the way. heres my questions. what should i use to cut the croc ? The croc has this stuff on the bottoms side shouve i kinda shave that down before i bind it to the leather? SHould i hand stitch this because i dont have a leather sewing machine? And how can i get a smooth good looking edge on my belt? and should it be sewn before or after i do the edge? should there be some kind of finish i should put on the croc skin when its done to make a shine a little? Sorry for so many questions I just want to start until i get everything sorted out. thank you Its going to be used for a gun belt so im wanting it to be sturdy

Edited February 27, 2011 by leatherman2011

[JRedding]

I just bought a croc backstrap and need a little help making it into a belt. I have a 9 or 10 oz latigo cowhide strip 1 1/2 inch wide for the liner. I have Barge all purpose cement to bind togeather and nylon thread to stitch it. I also have chicago screws a punch and a belt buckle ready to put on it. its dyed black by the way. heres my questions. what should i use to cut the croc ? The croc has this stuff on the bottoms side shouve i kinda shave that down before i bind it to the leather? SHould i hand stitch this because i dont have a leather sewing machine? And how can i get a smooth good looking edge on my belt? and should it be sewn before or after i do the edge? should there be some kind of finish i should put on the croc skin when its done to make a shine a little? Sorry for so many questions I just want to start until i get everything sorted out. thank you Its going to be used for a gun belt so im wanting it to be sturdy

I'll try to answer your questions with what I know about working exotics into belts, 9/10 oz. latigo plus probably 3oz. croc is going to be a really stiff, heavy belt. I'm assuming when you say gun belt you mean something normal not Dirty Harry huge so you may want to get the opinion of some of the guys who build a lot of gun belts on here my experience with gun belts is limited so I'd check that out with someone who knows more than I do before you begin.Any sharp knife will cut it o.k. I use a round knife for everything so that's my suggestion, I wouldn't try shears or scissors of any kind if you want a straight cut. If it's decent croc you shouldn't have to dress the back up before you use it. Most gator or croc belts are dress belts and the edges are skived, rolled and glued under pressure, no stitching at all. Working it into a two-ply belt and finishing the edge isn't something I'd recommend if you want a first rate job it doesn't burnish well, I've seen it done with tons of edge dye and dressing smoked into the edges but results are amatuar at best doing that, and it doesn't hold up well over time. I've made a lot of exotics into belts before and always made laced edge belts out of them for that reason so that may be something to consider doing instead of sewing and burnishing edges. Any finish dressing like Bag-Kote, Neat-Lac or something similair that you like will add a nice finished look when you're done Sure that didn't solve all your problems but maybe something in there will help..

[leatherman2011]

This is pretty much what i am trying to do with my croc skin i think. this will be my first belt so I dont know all the leather code words. so anyone that could help that would be awesome. and thanks for your reply Basically i need it explained how to get a belt made like this one in steps so i can start making mine I dont want to glue these together wn then just start cuting and guees because it probably wot turn out that great maybe decent but not worth the money i payed for it. any suggestion and tools that i may need let me know thank you very much

[leatherman2011]

I'll try to answer your questions with what I know about working exotics into belts, 9/10 oz. latigo plus probably 3oz. croc is going to be a really stiff, heavy belt. I'm assuming when you say gun belt you mean something normal not Dirty Harry huge so you may want to get the opinion of some of the guys who build a lot of gun belts on here my experience with gun belts is limited so I'd check that out with someone who knows more than I do before you begin.Any sharp knife will cut it o.k. I use a round knife for everything so that's my suggestion, I wouldn't try shears or scissors of any kind if you want a straight cut. If it's decent croc you shouldn't have to dress the back up before you use it. Most gator or croc belts are dress belts and the edges are skived, rolled and glued under pressure, no stitching at all. Working it into a two-ply belt and finishing the edge isn't something I'd recommend if you want a first rate job it doesn't burnish well, I've seen it done with tons of edge dye and dressing smoked into the edges but results are amatuar at best doing that, and it doesn't hold up well over time. I've made a lot of exotics into belts before and always made laced edge belts out of them for that reason so that may be something to consider doing instead of sewing and burnishing edges. Any finish dressing like Bag-Kote, Neat-Lac or something similair that you like will add a nice finished look when you're done Sure that didn't solve all your problems but maybe something in there will help..

thank you for the info how exactly would you roll the croc and glue under pressure do you know? I would just scive so its thin enough to roll over the latigo? mabe scive the latigo too so both edges are somewha thin?

[dirtclod]

Leatherman if i was you i would try things out on something cheaper than a Croc hide. The last i checked Croc hide was pretty expensive. Espically for the first time doing something.

[JRedding]

thank you for the info how exactly would you roll the croc and glue under pressure do you know? I would just scive so its thin enough to roll over the latigo? mabe scive the latigo too so both edges are somewha thin?

I don't fully understand the process myself having never done it, my understanding is that it requires a specialized machine to do it properly. I've looked at the finished product of it and it's not something I could do in a plain old saddle shop by hand so I never took any further interest in studying it. The photo you posted is a very fine job I think, it doesn't appear to be bench made to me but more of a very good production belt. It does appear to be built over a beveled inner liner that I really like the looks of. Without being able to see it in person I'd guess it is three ply, the gator, the beveled inner core and a lining on the back. But that's just a guess, maybe that's something to research if you want that look.