Few beginner questions about making a hoslter

[RadekSkylark]

Yeah, but what are we talking about - an hour or two?

Thanks

[bikermutt07]

Well, I don't know. I haven't done it yet.

Although, as a hobbyist I don't count the time. It's all about relaxing fun for me.

[Dwight]

I only make basically one type of belt, . . . a double layer, . . . cemented and sewn together, . . . the basic CCW belt.

There are two versions, . . . a "regular" belt, . . . and a Ranger belt.  The  ranger has a separate tongue sewn onto the belt surface, . . . as well as a buckle tongue.

Starting from absolute scratch, . . . nothing prepped ahead of time, . . . a regular belt can be blanked out, . . . and ready for the finishing process in about 2 hours, . . . with absolutely NO hurry involved.  That means I can make a bathroom break, . . . go get coffee, . . . maybe munch a cookie, . . . and still get it done under 120 minutes.

Add 1 FULL hour for a ranger belt.  

Again, . . . this is the "making" process.

Dyeing either one takes 15 minutes at the outside.

Adding Resolene takes another 15 minutes.

Final dressing of the edges will also take another 15 minutes.

There is also lots of drying time involved, . . . 

Hope this helps.

May God bless,

Dwight

[bikermutt07]

 

I only make basically one type of belt, . . . a double layer, . . . cemented and sewn together, . . . the basic CCW belt.

There are two versions, . . . a "regular" belt, . . . and a Ranger belt.  The  ranger has a separate tongue sewn onto the belt surface, . . . as well as a buckle tongue.

Starting from absolute scratch, . . . nothing prepped ahead of time, . . . a regular belt can be blanked out, . . . and ready for the finishing process in about 2 hours, . . . with absolutely NO hurry involved.  That means I can make a bathroom break, . . . go get coffee, . . . maybe munch a cookie, . . . and still get it done under 120 minutes.

Add 1 FULL hour for a ranger belt.  

Again, . . . this is the "making" process.

Dyeing either one takes 15 minutes at the outside.

Adding Resolene takes another 15 minutes.

Final dressing of the edges will also take another 15 minutes.

There is also lots of drying time involved, . . . 

Hope this helps.

May God bless,

Dwight

Mr. Dwight, is this time frame on a hand sewn hand burnished belt? If so, that is some really fast work.

[RadekSkylark]

Yes, I'm curious about that as well. 

Ok, it seems that I should be able to make a simple belt in two hours, as it takes much less work than described above. For a simple ~9oz belt I imagine that I would need to:

1) Cut a strap of leather;

2) Mark holes and belt end and cut/punch them;

3) Bevel edges;

4) Skive buckle end of the belt;

5) Dye;

6) Burnish edges;

7) Make the keeper (if I don't go with a metal one);

8) Apply resoline;

8) Rivet the buckle;

All of this of course without counting the time for drying, as I can do many other things at that moment.

Does it sound doable or am I just dreaming?

Thanks

[Dwight]

When I do a belt, . . . the first thing is to cut 2 blanks, . . . inside blank and outside blank.

Lay down the templates for punching the appropriate holes on the buckle end, . . . punch them

Rough cut the length (usually 1/2 to 1 inch over, . . . JIC  )

Apply contact cement, . . . allow it to dry.  Make the blank keeper while this is drying.  Finish drying with heat gun if necessary.

Put the 2 pieces together, . . . make finish cuts to lengh, . . . punch holes in the tongue end, . . . sand edges with electric sander, . . . bevel edges, . . . limber up the Tippmann Boss sewing machine, . . . make sure there is enough bobbin thread, . . . use gouge for sewing line on both sides of belt.

Sew belt.

Dye belt and keeper.

Apply Resolene to belt and keeper.

Assemble belt.

Go get coffee and a snacky reward for a good job, . . . or find critical mistake and put it in the trash.

There obviously are a few extra steps for a Ranger belt, . . . but this is the general pattern.

The one BIG change is the place where it is sewn.  Sometimes a customer will want a belt with white thread.  If I cannot talk them out of it (it gets dirty and ugly if it is worn for anything but a dress belt), . . . then after the dye, . . . but before the Resolene, . . . we sew the rascal.

I'v never hand sewn a belt, . . . but a guy I knew did them, . . . he and his wife would do it together, . . . watching TV, . . . averaged 4 hours, . . . he just laughed and said it doesn't cost him anything to entertain his brain while he exercised his hands.  Not for me................

May God bless,

Dwight

[YinTx]

Heh.  No way I can finish a belt in one day.  For me it is more like this:

Cut blanks.

Clean leather.

Dye leather.  set aside, go to sleep, go to work.

Come home, put neatsfoot oil on leather.  do other work, leave overnight while sleeping.

Go to work.  Come home, put leather conditioner/sealer on leather.  do other work, leave overnight while sleeping.

Go to work.  Come home, punch buckle hole in leather.  Skive ends.  Dye buckle hole.  do other work, leave overnight while sleeping.

Go to work.  Come home, mark stitch lines in keeper.  Edge, sand and burnish keeper.  Stitch keeper.  Go to bed.

Go to work.  Come home, mark stitch lines in belt.  Contact cement keeper into belt, contact cement back layer to belt.  Leave overnight while sleeping.

Its Saturday.  Edge belt, sand, dye edges, burnish.  Now, start stitching, 12-14 inches per hour hand stitching.  Which, for a 44 inch belt is 88 inches of stitching, so 6-8 hours of uninterrupted work, which means usually Tuesday or so to be finished.

I like the end result, but they do take a long time, and hard to sell one to make it worth my while.  Maybe with practice and retirement I could make one in a couple of days!

 

 

YinTx

[CaptQuirk]

 

EDIT:  You will also find that dip dyeing will be THE MOST consistent, . . . it also gives a deeper and richer color than daubing or spraying.  Spraying results in a very thin film of dye, . . . the first scratch that comes along will usually go through it.  It works on some really exotic dye jobs, and does so very well, . . . but for daily stuff, . . . dip it, hang it, . . .  you've got it.

May God bless,

Dwight

I'm curious about dipping. How do you go about this, and how much waste is there? Also, is there an issue with excess dye bleeding out afterwards?

[bikermutt07]

 

Heh.  No way I can finish a belt in one day.  For me it is more like this:

Cut blanks.

Clean leather.

Dye leather.  set aside, go to sleep, go to work.

Come home, put neatsfoot oil on leather.  do other work, leave overnight while sleeping.

Go to work.  Come home, put leather conditioner/sealer on leather.  do other work, leave overnight while sleeping.

Go to work.  Come home, punch buckle hole in leather.  Skive ends.  Dye buckle hole.  do other work, leave overnight while sleeping.

Go to work.  Come home, mark stitch lines in keeper.  Edge, sand and burnish keeper.  Stitch keeper.  Go to bed.

Go to work.  Come home, mark stitch lines in belt.  Contact cement keeper into belt, contact cement back layer to belt.  Leave overnight while sleeping.

Its Saturday.  Edge belt, sand, dye edges, burnish.  Now, start stitching, 12-14 inches per hour hand stitching.  Which, for a 44 inch belt is 88 inches of stitching, so 6-8 hours of uninterrupted work, which means usually Tuesday or so to be finished.

I like the end result, but they do take a long time, and hard to sell one to make it worth my while.  Maybe with practice and retirement I could make one in a couple of days!

 

 

YinTx

That's a beautiful belt. I can't seem to get that much zig zag in my stitching no matter how much I try.

Captquirk, dip dyeing isn't really any harder than it sounds. Just dip it in for a few seconds and pat it dry. Then lay it flat or hang it up. With straps or belts I've read it's better to lay them flat because the dye will migrate a little.

[YinTx]

Thank you for that.  I have seen folks learn how to get that look after stitching for a few weeks/months, me, it took nearly a year to figure out what made that look happen!

In the interest of saving anyone else time, the essence is using the right type of pricking iron (European Slanted) and appropriately sized thread - if it's too big, the slant seems to go away.  Of course, which needle in first/second, etc has an impact.  I won't carry on, lots of folks have done videos, and tutorials, so I won't bore you with the finer details.  Just sayin, took me long enough to figure it out, so don't feel bad.

YinTx