Can this be saved, money belt western belt

[koreric75]

So I think I have a new suede outer money belt to hang in the workshop... Everything was going great then I decided a taper on the tie side would cut down the bulk and be easier to put a keeper on the buckle side... This whole time the middle hole is meant to be the sweet spot at 44"hips, but I started my taper closer to the 5th hole...###!@!  I don't know what possessed me to do this, I had my template and notes right next to me and still cut it.  The problem now is when in the third hole the front of the belt doesn't match up... Trying to think of a way to offset this.  Worst case I only have to redo the main body since I used a separate billet for the bullet loops. Any advice is welcome.

Edited May 26, 2018 by koreric75
Added picture

[koreric75]

Just a quick bump for inputs...I sent pics to the customer, i didn't say what i think about the look, he thinks it looks awesome.  I'm going to take it to him today and see how it fits/rides, etc, and I'll tell him where I think i messed up and offer fix/redo it if he wants.  If he likes the taper then I'll finish by added a keeper,  smooth out the shape of the taper and recover the tapered portion to match and finish stitching the rest of the top.

[Rockoboy]

My first thought was ... the other end of the belt blank (the buckle side) needs to be tapered as well ... or maybe I am not looking at it correctly.

I made a ranger style belt about 35 years ago, no idea where it is now, but I seem to remember I tapered both ends of the belt blank before attaching the belt ends.

[fredk]

On 5/29/2018 at 12:32 PM, koreric75 said:

Just a quick bump for inputs...I sent pics to the customer, i didn't say what i think about the look, he thinks it looks awesome.  I'm going to take it to him today and see how it fits/rides, etc, and I'll tell him where I think i messed up and offer fix/redo it if he wants.  If he likes the taper then I'll finish by added a keeper,  smooth out the shape of the taper and recover the tapered portion to match and finish stitching the rest of the top.

Never Ever   tell a customer/client you messed up!   Bluff it out and say you are thinking of this design, ask his opinion; if he says he doesn't like it then offer to do it differently

In leather work, as in Art, things don't always work out how we intended them to; they're not wrong, they're not failures -they're just different

I think; not only should all the tapers match but the ends of the inner should be a lot shorter, cut back to between the third and fourth hole from the left, or to the fourth hole, and the other side to match

 

[LumpenDoodle2]

Fredk is right, never tell a customer you’ve mucked up.     Point is, anything different in the design is just that, it’s an inspired difference in the design,  whether inspire deliberately or accident.

I also think you might want to curve the other side a bit too, but if the customer is happy, then great.

[koreric75]

4 hours ago, Rockoboy said:

My first thought was ... the other end of the belt blank (the buckle side) needs to be tapered as well ... or maybe I am not looking at it correctly.

I made a ranger style belt about 35 years ago, no idea where it is now, but I seem to remember I tapered both ends of the belt blank before attaching the belt ends.

I considered that, but i wanted to keep the money pocket full size, and considered using that slot as the keeper but would've had to been longer.

 

2 hours ago, fredk said:

Never Ever   tell a customer/client you messed up!   Bluff it out and say you are thinking of this design, ask his opinion; if he says he doesn't like it then offer to do it differently

In leather work, as in Art, things don't always work out how we intended them to; they're not wrong, they're not failures -they're just different

I think; not only should all the tapers match but the ends of the inner should be a lot shorter, cut back to between the third and fourth hole from the left, or to the fourth hole, and the other side to match

 

I understand what you're saying, I just can't let something like that slide.  Starting out he asked for a similar to hondo john wayne holster rig, (didn't have that in my o.p.) it's easy to tell looking at a pic of that and a pic of mine something's different,  http://hondorig.blogspot.com/2012/08/john-wayne-hondo-original-holster.html

 

other wise i wouldn't have mentioned anything.  I also differed in using a separate billet for the bullet loops, it just seemed easier and looks better imho, but i let him know ahead and cleared it with a prototype drawing and made sure that would be kosher.  I did figure a way to keep the taper on one end and still have it meet up square, the belt keeper is wider than normal and not permanently attached to the belt.  When you buckle the billet the taper slides in behind in the keeper loop, for him almost to the 4th hole, then the keeper loop slides and butts up against where the taper ends...it actually looks pretty nice, and cut way down on the bulk behind the buckle area.  (i'll get pics eventually, he's going to put ammo in all the bullet loops and his .357 magnum in the holster to get some photos of the complete deal...I think the real area I didn't consider was the # of bullet loops he wanted, 30 ea .357 mag, and 6 ea .45-70 centered between them in the back, that limited the lengths of the billets and still have room for the holster....good lesson for next time. ;-)

 

[koreric75]

1 hour ago, LumpenDoodle2 said:

Fredk is right, never tell a customer you’ve mucked up.     Point is, anything different in the design is just that, it’s an inspired difference in the design,  whether inspire deliberately or accident.

I also think you might want to curve the other side a bit too, but if the customer is happy, then great.

I like the tapered both sides look for a ranger belt, i think i will use lighter veg for the core next time as that created a lot of bulk, compared to the original which is said to be a pigskin rough side out, or a calf skin rough side out, ( lots of research led to lots of differing opinions and references)  this way they can overlap without being over an inch thick...and I'll make the billets longer but still line up the sweet spot hole for just enough to make the wide parts over lap a bit.  I do think clipping the corners on both ends would be a good idea and would match the buckle style, and i could match the billets to that.

P.S. If anyone would like this in .svg format for editing you own, just holler...