Do You Dye The Back Of Belts?

[Alamo]

Because Aussie Conditioner is a leather conditioner and not a finish, I would absolutely use Resolene on your belt.

Resolene is an clear acrylic that creates an invisible barrier on the outside of your leather that seals in the good and keeps out the bad.

Edited April 4, 2013 by Alamo

[billymac814]

Single layer belts get the back side dyed, double layered doesn't. I dye the top layer before cementing them together. I think it looks nice with the natural backside.

[paprhangr]

how do you put double layer belts together? I have no sewing machine

[Dwight]

how do you put double layer belts together? I have no sewing machine

Fred does that (a friend of mine), . . . his process follows mine (see above) except for the sewing machine part.

He gets out his thread, . . . needles, . . . gloves, . . . scissors, . . . wax, . . . coffee, . . . doughnuts, . . . and most important, . . . his wife.

Together, they hand sew cowboy action belts. It is about a 4 hour process so he said (I don't have the heart to watch such torture, . . . so I've never seen it).

My machine and I are about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, . . . depending on the, . . . uhh, . . . "girth".

Seriously, . . . I suppose if you only cemented them with Weldwood, correctly, . . . they would "probably" stay together for a long time, . . . but in my opinion, . . . it is worthwhile to sew them. I personally would not sell one not sewn, unless the client knew in no uncertain terms up front that he/she was participating in a test lab situation.

May God bless,

Dwight

[billymac814]

I'd be pretty confident in saying a double layer belt that was just glued together would likely never come apart if it was glued with a good contact cement and hammered together. Cement is all that holds on a lot of shoe soles these days and they don't come off. I still personally wouldn't make one without stitching it either though, more for cosmetic reasons over fear of it separating. I hand stitched a belt once....its doable but hard to make any money doing that.

You could also find out if there's any shops nearby that could stitch it for you. It shouldn't cost very much.

[DLC]

Hi Dwight, I have a couple of questions about this process after reading your quotes.

What do you cut your dye with?

and

When I rub the excess dye off after letting it sit overnight I am always rubbing through areas and exposing the leather. Is it common to have to dye more than once or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

[Matt S]

I used to know a guy who made a good living custom making premium belts. Many were lined. He cut, glued, pricked (with an iron of course) and got on with it. It was not the quickest job in the shop and he certainly charged for it but he was no neophyte at stitching and could work damned fast all the while holding a conversation. Sewing machines were a bit of a dirty word to him; if a customer mentioned one the price would go up.