Needing Some Advice Picking Leather

[Vikti]

I have a friend who is wanting me to make him a belt out of steer hide but I'm having a hard time tracking some down, The main reason is that he doesn't want his belt to stretch after a couple of years. Is there a way that I can identify what is steer hide or bull hide?

I found a couple of threads here that told me where I can get some steer hide but I don't have the money right now to buy an entire belly that I don't know when I'll be able to sell off the rest. Would a thicker leather, 9-10 oz (or thicker)., be good as far as not stretching goes? One response that I saw was that someone got 2 pieces of 7 oz and glued them together, would that cause it's own problems if the leather is mismatched?

The biggest thing that my friend wants is something that doesn't stretch.

Any ideas will be much appreciated.

Damon

[rlpullman]

A steer is just a neutered bull. From what I can tell the back has the least amount of stretch

[Chief31794]

You definitely don't want to use a belly, that's the stretchiest leather on the hide. Buy a bend and cut the strap for the belt from that, recommend Hermann Oak, it won't stretch. If he's still concerned then buy a bend split to 6/7oz, cut it in half lengthwise, laminate the two halves together flesh to flesh, then cut the strap from that, that will not stretch, matter of fact you may even have trouble bending it.

Chief

Edited April 27, 2014 by Chief31794

[Glendon]

Gotta love the people that don't have their terms completely straight, As has already been said, a steer is is a clipped bull. Same thing as a horse gilding. As I understand it, steer and bull are hide marketing terms for when people don't want to say cow. Any good bend or back should work very well. You could also of course get a good belt strap blank from a number of places.

[Mudruck]

You definitely don't want to use a belly, that's the stretchiest leather on the hide. Buy a bend and cut the strap for the belt from that, recommend Hermann Oak, it won't stretch. If he's still concerned then buy a bend split to 6/7oz, cut it in half lengthwise, laminate the two halves together flesh to flesh, then cut the strap from that, that will not stretch, matter of fact you may even have trouble bending it.

Chief

Hehe, now that is going to be a STURDY belt. 12 - 14 oz? Wouldnt worry about that thing stretching very much if at all. It may not be a very comfortable belt to wear due to the 1/4"+ thick band of leather that will be around him though.

Just be sure to put the bend into the belt before gluing or you may have issues with the inner belt wrinkling a bit. I would actually suggest getting a good blank from SLC or one of the suppliers on the board and tell your friend that pretty much any leather belt that is going to be comforatble to wear is going to have SOME degree of stretch in it.

[BDAZ]

Gotta love the people that don't have their terms completely straight, As has already been said, a steer is is a clipped bull. Same thing as a horse gilding. As I understand it, steer and bull are hide marketing terms for when people don't want to say cow. Any good bend or back should work very well. You could also of course get a good belt strap blank from a number of places.

Yup same about spelling..that's gelding not gilding which is what they do with the colonial carved eagles around Boston.

Cya!

Bob

(former North Showa resident)

[Glendon]

Thanks for the catch Bob.

[Chief31794]

Hehe, now that is going to be a STURDY belt. 12 - 14 oz? Wouldnt worry about that thing stretching very much if at all. It may not be a very comfortable belt to wear due to the 1/4"+ thick band of leather that will be around him though.

Just be sure to put the bend into the belt before gluing or you may have issues with the inner belt wrinkling a bit. I would actually suggest getting a good blank from SLC or one of the suppliers on the board and tell your friend that pretty much any leather belt that is going to be comforatble to wear is going to have SOME degree of stretch in it.

I always work with formulas and here's my formula when a customer asks for something like this, first I never argue, I know that a normal belt strap cut from Hermann Oak Back or Bend is plenty and won't stretch, but since he's concerned, I apply my formula:

Double the leather

Triple the Price

and make em happy!

Just kidding of course, most people believe you when you tell them that the leather is sufficient for their purpose.

Chief

[oltoot]

Hides, as they get bought then sorted then tanned are separated by size as much as gender. Terminology can be tricky, being passed down from father or favorite uncle to son. I once lost a saddle order because I wouldn't make the whole thing out of 'green bullhide'. Another remedy that hasn't been mentioned would be to back 8-9 oz veg tan belt blank with 1-2 oz pigskin or calfskin. This would actually reduce the small likliehood of stretch to an even smaller one. And it wouldn't reduce the wearability. One thing we used to do when I was a kid making a lot of belts was cut the blanks that would become 1 3/4 belts 2" wide, get them sopping wet then stretch them by nailing one end to a rafter and tying an anvil to the other end. When it was dry, wet it again, flatten and straighten it and trim it to 1 3/4. Based on the timmings, this was more for show than actual effects but it made customers happy. Oh yeah, for another touch after this final trimming we would shape them to a u shaped curve in the middle and this would eliminate the wrinkle that most belts get in the middle of the back.

Edited April 29, 2014 by oltoot