Dress Belts

[venator]

Hi folks,

I'm totally new to leather working and so I'm going to appologize for the newbie questions, I did do some searching and have watched vids but I still have some questions.

I'm looking to make dress belts in various colours, the type that would be worn with a suit or slacks as opposed to casual. We won't be doing any tooling on them, they'll be quite simple.

I picked up some of the Pro Waterstain from Tandy, is this a good choice?

So questions:

Prefered dyes? I've got some pro waterstain from Tandy, is that reasonable to use? How long between coats? How many coats?

Finishing, I see that a resolene/water 50/50 mix seems preferred for a decent shine but I also hear that people are buffing the belts prior to the resolene and between coats. What do you use to buff for those stages?

I should probably also mention that I've got the belt blanks from Tandy.

Any assistance on creating nice dress belts would be very appreciated.

Stu

[cgleathercraft]

Everyone has their own favorite stain/dye. Pick the one that works best for the results you desire. I primarily use Fiebings but do have some pro water stain laying around.

Buffing - t-shirt material (old shirts that don't fit work great) or wool scrap is very popular. only ever used t-shirt material. Went through the closet and ended up with enough material that couldn't be donated due to stains/torn up that I should be set for a year or two.

I've only ever bought blanks from Tandy and Weaver. Prefer Weaver blanks, they seemed more supple. Plus they had their edges beveled already. I tooled em up and finished 'em. Tandy's seemed dry and I wouldn't consider them dress quality when they were completed. They do hold up well though. I wore my first belt for 2 years....would have been more but I outgrew it.