Few beginner questions about making a hoslter

[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

[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?

Actually it is pretty easy, . . . I've got 3 of them there 9 x 14 x 2 inch deep cake pans.  One black, one brown, one that showed up and ain't been used yet.

Pour about 2/3 of a quart of dye down in the pan, . . . start one end of the belt through the dye, . . . takes all of about 3 minutes to get the whole thing through it.

I've got a piece of cardboard I lay on the work bench, . . . lay the belt on the bottom edge, . . . sitting on edge, . . . leave for about 10 minutes.  That's usually the time to pour the dye back in the bottle and clean up the pan.   Turn the belt over onto the top edge, . . . shut off the lights and go in the house.

NEVER, EVER, ever hang up a freshly dyed belt, . . . unless you want a belt that is real light colored on one end, . . . dark on the other, . . . and normal in the middle.

And don't ask how I wound up with a whole hand full of belts like that, . . . (sometimes lessons can be costly to learn).

I would imagine I sponge out maybe an ounce of wasted dye and toss it as I clean the pan, . . . but it is a "cost of doing business", . . . and I just march on.

May God bless,

Dwight

[RadekSkylark]

 

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 belt looks awesome! 

[CaptQuirk]

Thanks guys, those tips are something to try someday. I am just concerned that there may be some bleed issues.

[YinTx]

Thank you Skylark.

Also, Capt., the black belt was done with Vinegaroon.  No bleeding issues to be concerned with.

I did a red belt, it has not bled at all.

Or you could do the lining leather without dye, again no worries with bleeding.  But I suspect it would discolor over time.

YinTx

[Steve75]

On ‎8‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 4:18 PM, Dwight said:

Don't, . . . and I'll say it again, . . . DO NOT attempt to make your own colors of dye.  You will waste or discard more than you would have saved.

A 4 oz bottle (the little bottle) makes 8 oz of dye when cut with thinner, . . . plenty enough for several projects.

Having a multitude of colors will cause you to make mistakes.  Pick 2 or 3 besides black, . . . stay with them.

I have British Tan and Saddle Tan as my choices.  Once you learn how to use these, . . . you may move on, . . . but ALWAYS use the dye as is, . . . don't play around trying to make custom dye colors, . . . the reward is no where beginning to be worth the effort.

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

If I am after tan I apply a coat of Neats Foot Oil and allow it tan in the sun.  This creates a nice tan color.  I dip dye to create brown and black.  I dip dye in coffee to create a rich brown color.  For black I dip dye in vinegaroon.  I keep it simple.  If I run out of Neats Foot Oil I substitute Extra Virgin Olive Oil.   I don't have to worry about running out of a dye.  This is important as the nearest Tandy is over 30 miles away, and as Murphy's Law would dictate is closed when I need something leather related.

[Dwight]

36 minutes ago, Steve75 said:

If I am after tan I apply a coat of Neats Foot Oil and allow it tan in the sun.  This creates a nice tan color.  I dip dye to create brown and black.  I dip dye in coffee to create a rich brown color.  For black I dip dye in vinegaroon.  I keep it simple.  If I run out of Neats Foot Oil I substitute Extra Virgin Olive Oil.   I don't have to worry about running out of a dye.  This is important as the nearest Tandy is over 30 miles away, and as Murphy's Law would dictate is closed when I need something leather related.

AND, . . . the most important part is that your colors are 95% of the time absolutely repeatable.  Sometimes a piece of leather will take the dye different that another piece did, . . . but generally stated, . . . using the same process time after time, . . . standardized, . . . makes for better results whether it is cutting, stitching, or dying.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Steve75]

6 hours ago, Dwight said:

AND, . . . the most important part is that your colors are 95% of the time absolutely repeatable.  Sometimes a piece of leather will take the dye different that another piece did, . . . but generally stated, . . . using the same process time after time, . . . standardized, . . . makes for better results whether it is cutting, stitching, or dying.

May God bless,

Dwight

The biggest challenge I have is finding the right size container to perform the dip dye in.