The perfect gun belt

[Cheez]

Hi folks, 

I am trying to make the perfect gun belt. 

My struggles: gluing 2 pieces of 7 to 8 oz leather together on a flat surface. The problem with this is I am getting wrinkles on the inside of belt, also the inside belt holes look funky over time (bulged out slightly). This problem I have seen on a few of my belts, not all of them.  I understand that the inside layer of a belt travels a shorter distance than the outside layer which makes since that something is going to give.                                                                       To fix this problem. I have started gluing my belts around a 50" bucket. This seems to work out great! This makes the inside layer at least an 1" shorter than the outside layer.  I just tell my customers to look at this as a top shelf belt and keep on your top shelf not a hanger.. My question is, will I encounter any bad side effects from gluing belts this way? The last thing I want is for the outside of my belts to show wrinkles. 

Struggles # 2

I am using a cowboy 3200 with #277 top and bottom thread. When I hammer the top stitches down they sit down nice,( acceptable to me) however after hammering down the stitches on inside of belt they are raised up more than my liking. (not acceptable to me).  I don't think it  is a setting on my machine as the knot is sitting in the middle like its supposed to and I don't see any loose stitches. To fix this problem I have been using a stitch groover on bottom of belt.  I don't like using the stitch groover on the bottom. If I could decrease my bobbin thread size I think this will alleviate my raised stitches. My question: with me using #277 on the top what is the smallest thread I can use in my bobbin that will work on 2 pcs of 7 to 8 oz leather?  My second question: Will this help or am I better off just using a stitch groover?

 Thanks for your help. 

 

 

 

[MADMAX22]

There are several makers that glue the pieces together over a curved table/barrel/whatever they can get a slight curve over as you have done. Lots of makers use one size smaller in the bobbin so 277 top and 207 bottom. 

I personally like grooving the inside or use a creaser or whatever to make an indentation for the thread to sit in. This keeps the thread from wearing on the cloths and what not. 

[OLDNSLOW]

I use a creaser to create a channel for the thread to sit in it works for me, you may have to work at it to find what you like the best.  I use the same size bottom as I do on top so that I don't have to buy a bunch of different thread.