I hate belts... pick away

[CaptQuirk]

Belts... Why did it have to be belts? I don't hate belts, per se, I just hate all the hand stitching involved. But, I was asked by a friend that owns the local Pawn Shop if I could make a new belt for him. Since he always treats me good, how could I say no? The last leather I got was a side of 5-6oz veg tanned. The first thing I did, was to start trimming it down to a more manageable piece. Cut the belly, and take the strap cutter to the back and make belt and strap blanks. He wanted to reuse his buckle, which fit a belt of about 1". My smallest precut blanks were 1.5". I could have just trimmed it down, but since he usually carries a pistol, I decided to go with a pseudo ranger style. I trimmed the buckle end and the tongue end down, and left the rest of the belt wider. Two layers of 5-6oz veg tan, Fiebing's Dark brown dye, and all 5' of the belt is hand stitched.

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by CaptQuirk

[Dwight]

Ohhhh, . . . my friend, . . . you are a glutton for punishment.

But I do like the design,  Good thinking on cutting it down to match his buckle.

Not meaning to sound drastically critical, . . . what happened to the top side of the tongue?  It looks as though you didn't sand the edges down smooth, . . . and your edger kinda hit and missed.  Rest of it looks real good though.

May God bless,

Dwight

[CaptQuirk]

14 minutes ago, Dwight said:

Ohhhh, . . . my friend, . . . you are a glutton for punishment.

But I do like the design,  Good thinking on cutting it down to match his buckle.

Not meaning to sound drastically critical, . . . what happened to the top side of the tongue?  It looks as though you didn't sand the edges down smooth, . . . and your edger kinda hit and missed.  Rest of it looks real good though.

May God bless,

Dwight

Thank you Sir!I have a love/hate relationship with my edger... mostly hate. I don't use it enough to have it down quite right. The tongue end just refused to be sanded or burnished. I'm thinking it came from the back end of the cow, considering what a pain in the.. well, you get my drift. Only my second belt, and hopefully, there aren't too many more in my future.

Edited January 16, 2017 by CaptQuirk

[YinTx]

Belt looks good, but it brought up a question that I have always had regarding dye on the liners.  I have always been using 'roon on the liner, just to avoid any bleed out into the user's cloths if it gets wet/sweat, etc.  Is this just a paranoia of mine, or a worthwhile concern?  I have discovered with the Fiebeng's dyes, I can buff to my heart's content, and no rub off.. but if it gets any water on it.... dye everywhere.  Bag Kote doesn't solve the problem, either.  And I don't like the plasticy look of Tan Kote....

YinTx

[klaykrusher]

I'm currently building a belt and gonna try sno-seal all the way around, we'll see what happens.

I've had great luck with resoline or mopnglo, both applied with a foam applicator.  Even with some serious sweating, no dye bleed out what so ever.

[CaptQuirk]

1 hour ago, YinTx said:

Belt looks good, but it brought up a question that I have always had regarding dye on the liners.  I have always been using 'roon on the liner, just to avoid any bleed out into the user's cloths if it gets wet/sweat, etc.  Is this just a paranoia of mine, or a worthwhile concern?  I have discovered with the Fiebeng's dyes, I can buff to my heart's content, and no rub off.. but if it gets any water on it.... dye everywhere.  Bag Kote doesn't solve the problem, either.  And I don't like the plasticy look of Tan Kote....

YinTx

I oiled it, rubbed it, oiled it again, and kept rubbing till nothing came off, then hit it with a wipedown of M&G, and rubbed again. I feel pretty sure it won't bleed. Either way, it was a VERY light coat of dye on the inside.

[Dwight]

I put all my belts together, . . . and sew most of them after sanding and edging them.  (exceptions are the ones the owner wants to have white stitching, . . . dye them and stitch them later)

Then I dip dye them in Feibings oil dye.

Then I give them a good buffing, . . . work on burnishing the edges.

Give em a good coat of 50/50 resolene, . . . 

Have yet to have anyone complain of dye rub off.  Just does not happen to me.

May God bless,

Dwight

[dikman]

Looks good to me. I'm sure you're friend will love it. Yes, hand stitching belts is a pain (in more ways than one) but you end up with a superior product and great bragging rights! However, you couldn't do it for a living due to the length of time it takes to do it (I doubt if anyone will pay for the hours involved).

[alpha2]

A quality edger is a joy to use. The cheap entry-level Tandy type are almost worthless. Once I tried a good one, I bought replacements for all other edgers and never looked back.

Handstitching can be a pain, but I did my first lacing job last weekend, I may never do another.

[bikermutt07]

I have 2 of the craftool pro refers and they work pretty well if I keep them sharp. The one I just bought had a burr on the outside of the groove. It didn't want to glide thru the leather. Had to employ my loop to see where the problem was coming from.