Snakebyte Report post Posted March 11, 2011 Been thinkin about trying to do a belt and matching holster with alligator back straps, and was looking for some advice on the belt part. Its gonna be hand stitched, normally I use a 4 prong diamond punch from tandy, but the holes are gonna be kinda big. Thinkin I might have to break down and use the awl. Would you cut a stitch groove? Haven't done a belt yet, will probably just do a little practice on a blank to try to stitch straight, and see how hard it is to laminate the two pieces. Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buffalobill plus Ed D Report post Posted March 12, 2011 I am working on a dog collar that has the croc skin on top...never used croc before..lol..I end up thining out the skin a lot using a belt grinder. Because i used 2 small straps, i had to spilce them and make a long enough piece to cover the whole collar...make sure you follow the scale pattern when you splice them so it won't show...i tried my best on mine but it's not perfect. As far as stitching goes, i think i am gonna use my Boss. If hand stitched i would probably use the 4 prong following a stitch groove..the stitching, in my oppinion, makes or brakes the final look Good luck !!! Here are some pics of what i've done so far I used the 2 sides of the skin This is the back of it before sanding I cut the straps a bit wider then the width i needed This is how it looks after thining them out using the belt sander...notice the edges are thiner the the rest of the strap This are both straps spliced together (in the center of the picture) and glued to the main body of the collar... a 10oz veg.tan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snakebyte Report post Posted March 12, 2011 That looks great, I'm thinkin I'm gonna tool the 5-6 inches on each side of buckle, otherwise the hornback might get uncomfortable, so I am thinking the stitching is gonna be a pita. Lol I wonder how well the groover will work on the backstrap... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DCKNIVES Report post Posted March 12, 2011 That's why I typically don't like doing overlays and prefer inlays so much more.Trying to thin the edges and sew them and actually getting a good stitch by hand is hard to do on some hides.I would reccommend against using Hornback for that reason and the fact is the knobs on the hornback are usually too large to fit beltloops and holster very well. If you inlay your belt and dog collar you can acheive the same results, without splicing and having the hide fight you, and hornback dosen't groove very well either.I would use a smaller gator or Caimen if you want the back or use a belly cut.Dave Gator inlaid gun belt Another gunbelt with ten gator inlays Caimen inlaid dog collar Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snakebyte Report post Posted March 12, 2011 That makes sense, I didn't think about the horns being too big... I guess I'll have to look and see if I can find a piece I can afford, don't have the funds to just buy a whole gator hide yet. I'll check out the caimen too. Can you dye the caimen hydes that tandy has (they look like they are dyed already, but its a real light orange tan) would I have a problem dying it black or dark brown? Maybe I'll try a backstrap inlay duty belt, and find another way to attach pouches/ mag holder, etc (maybe chicago screw on belt loops so the can still move a little for comfort. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
