Preparing Leather For A Belt

[IngleGunLeather]

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I've been active on the board. However, I do have a question that I hope I can get some guidance on. I recently downloaded "An Insider's Guide to Leathercrafting" from Weaver's. In here it states "The fibers of the bend are thicker and more prone to cracking, so it is beneficial to temper this piece of leather in warm water before bending." That triggered my memory to a belt I made last year that had some cracking on the top layer when I used some Hermann Oak single bend. Is there anyone that has a process they are willing to share? I typically don't do any carving, if anything I may stamp a belt on occasion. However, the belt that cracked on me was just dyed, oiled and finished.

[5shot]

Where did it crack? Weaver is just referring to wetting it before folding it over the buckle - the moisture makes everything pliable and allows the fibers and surface to stretch instead of tear (crack).

[DavidL]

In my experience you have to wet the whole leather piece, wetting single spot you can see a mark after the leather has dried.

[IngleGunLeather]

Where did it crack? Weaver is just referring to wetting it before folding it over the buckle - the moisture makes everything pliable and allows the fibers and surface to stretch instead of tear (crack).

It cracked around my right hip area. A good distance away from the buckle fold over. I oiled it as well after dye. Maybe I didn't use enough oil to get all the fibers softened?

[5shot]

Hard to say...maybe just a bad spot. I never oil my belts and have not had one crack.