What To Do With The Flesh Side Of Belts?

[paprhangr]

I'm a beginner, I'm making belts for gifts, I don,t like the looks of unfinished flesh side showing. Should I stain and super shean?

Edited December 17, 2012 by paprhangr

[billymac814]

You can slick it down, there's many methods out there to accomplish this. I normally will use some gum trag and a bone folder and slick it down. I think you can use saddle soap and I've even done it with resolene when I'm feeling kinda lazy. I also start with good leather that doesn't have a very nappy flesh.

[paprhangr]

Hey Billy, it's me Dave from the kaw Bobber forum, its been a long time how's the leather business?

I started playing with leather some. Do you ever stain the back same as the front so no light

Color shows up?

[billymac814]

Hey Dave, how's it going? Business is good, I've been full timing it for about a year and have a shop with a retail space in front.

On single layer belts I do dye the front and back together, on my double later gun belts I only dye the front piece and leave the back natural, it is smooth on both sides, I like the look and it prevents any dye rubbing off onto pants.

I use Fiebings professional oil dye and get very little to no dye rubbing off but its still a nice looking touch.

I also keep in stock some premade belts from weavers that are already dyed with the edges finished, all I do is cut the belt to size, install the buckle and touch up the edge. I would have been very against this at one point but I'm able to have a lot on hand with little to no wait time for the customer and they have been selling great in the shop and I still offer the custom ones to the less impatient people who don't mind spending money on a high quality belt. If I didn't have a long backlog I'd make them myself but doing it this way helps that all around and I sell way more belts than I did before. The edges aren't as nice as I would do myself but they are acceptable and my local customers never seem to appreciate the time spent on the edges anyway, the guy who owned my shop prior just cut straps and didn't even bevel the edges let along burnish and polish them so even these are much better than what they were getting and I'm able to price them similarly.

Anyway good luck.

[paprhangr]

Glad to hear your leather work is supporting you. Are still making those beautiful bike seats?

Do you still have your bobber?

I stained the back of my belts with Eco flow water stain let dry and buffed with no rub off.

Guss they are ok,Thanks for the info

Merry Christmas

Edited December 18, 2012 by paprhangr

[Sporq]

You can dye the back with the fiebings alcohol dyes too, just be sure to buff the hell out of it with a white t-shirt type cloth until no more color comes off, then seal it. I haven't had any problems with dye transfer after heavy buffing, but I hear that it can occur when sweat and moisture are involved.

[paprhangr]

Thanks Sporq, can the dye transfer through the sealer?

[billymac814]

I still occasionally make seats here and there but I honestly have a hard time making any money on them, I charge quite a bit for them but by the time I break it down to the per hour rate its not that good compared to what I could make doing holsters. I sold my bobber about two years ago, I didn't really want to but I wanted a sport touring bike that I could enjoy riding a bit more, I did the iron butt ride on the bobber and realized I liked long distance riding and that wasn't the bike for that. I would have liked to keep both but I needed the money to buy my Concours.

The color can rub off over time even with the sealant. I don't have much experience with the Eco-flow stuff as I never used it, I've tried 5 different versions of Angelus black dyes, Fiebings Spirit and Fiebings Pro Oil dye which is still a spirit. The pro oil dye is far superior and much easier to use, it is more expensive but I save a lot of time using it and get very little to no rub off, I would highly recommend anyone not using it to try a bottle and compare it to what they are using, even the color looks better in my opinion and it doesn't seem to be as harsh to the leather as the regular spirit dyes.

Also with belts I've found that you may not notice the dye bleeding right away but but as they get worn they are rubbing up against the pants for hours and hours at a time and occasionally may get wet or damp which doesn't help, browns aren't near as noticeable as black is too. The Eco stuff may be different as I haven't tried them. It has never been an issue for me though and I haven't ever had any complaints so I wouldn't worry too much unless your making a dark dress belt that'll get worn with really light pants.

[paprhangr]

Would Chicago screws work better than segma snaps on the buckle ends?

[billymac814]

Chicago screws are certainly stronger and easier to install, they are my personal choice on most of my belts. The only time I use snaps is if a customer specifically requests snaps and that's pretty rare. The only people who prefer snaps are people who often change their buckle.

I just recently got the Chicago screw tool from Weavers, it makes screwing them and unscrewing them a little easier and is pretty cheap.

[paprhangr]

Thanks agian Billy,

I'll give the screws a try, I have had some of the segma snaps coming unsnapped, the line 20 are bulky for the fold on buckle end

I don,t want to use rivets,Seems like most would prefer the option of changing out buckles

Edited January 12, 2013 by paprhangr

[billymac814]

The screws work good, the only issue I sometimes run in to is on thinner belts the screws are too long and need ground down. There are shorter Chicago screws but they have an open back and I don't like the look.

I don't think most people change their buckle, at least not here. I do on occasion use rivets, only if I know for sure they won't be swapping buckles and usually only if I'm in a hurry and its a thinner belt. Chances are most of my customers would bring it back to me to change regardless, I've had people bring in belts they got somewhere else for me to put a different buckle on and I unsnap it in front of them and they get a dumb look on their face, they had no idea it unsnapped.

My double layer belts always get the Chicago screws and I use a little locktite on all of them too.

The guy who owned my shop prior to me sold belts he bought from a local guy, he didn't finish the edges at all and used line 24 snaps and used center bar buckles which hit the snaps. They look like crap and people still rave about them, I don't get it but needless to say when they see mine most people see the quality difference, I have one of his that someone gave me back so I'm able to show the difference.