chrisash Report post Posted October 28, 2018 Hi folk I have been making original one piece dress belts and looking at making some hand stitched lined ones Normally i just use veg tann 3-4mm38 mm wide belts Any suggestions for lined belts with preferably a thin soft liner, (Any thoughts) maybe sheep Seems hard to find leather belt strap in the uk under 3mm and think complete belt at 4mm thick is as thick as i want to go, dont have the money to buy in a side just for belts at present hense buying in straps Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcuk Report post Posted October 28, 2018 Do you have pull through leather splitter if so split your leathers straps down to half and line them that way no need to purchase anymore leather that how i do mine and prefer that way. Others here may have a have a different method for you. hope this helps JCUK Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted October 28, 2018 Thanks Sorry no splitter at present, on a long wish list Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted October 28, 2018 In my experience sheepskin (often called nappa or basil) seems to always be a bit too short for lining belts. Pigskin tends to be larger, not very expensive per foot and readily available, though usually only in chrome tannages (don't know if that floats your boat or not). Of course there are plenty of calf and cow leathers available, suitable for the purpose. I rarely see anything other than bridle or similar 3+mm leather sold as a strip so you'll probably have difficulty buying anything specifically for lining unless you're willing/able to pay for a bigger bit of leather. My double layer belts tend to be "equal", i.e. lined with a second layer of what the top is made from, but this is probably not so suited to a dress belt. Where are you buying your strips/straps from? Perhaps the vendor can split them for you? If you were nearer I'd say come over for a cuppa and use my splitter. Is there someone nearish you who might have a splitter they'll let you use? If you let me know more specifically what you're after (colour etc.) I can have a look through my stock and see what I have that might suit you. I have a crank splitter that I can usually persuade to take 4mm bridle down to 2, or if not I regularly have access to a 12" band knife splitter that can be has a tenth of a millimeter accuracy. You can fit a lot of coiled up belt blanks in a £3 RM small parcel! Longer-term, Abbey England sells a 2.5mm bridle butt. It appears to be very similar to their 4mm Italian bridle, which I use a fair amount of. I realise it's probably more than you might want to invest in a piece of leather at this point but they are a very reasonable price for the quality. No need to buy a whole side, these belt-length butts are about 10SQFT. I I've had one of the 2.5s on backorder for a month, I'll let you know what it's like when it comes in. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted October 28, 2018 Hi mat thanks for the offer So far tried both Tandy and Artisian for veg tan strips, thinking also of geting a sample from Le Prevo, been geting natural and antiquing myself How does Bridal stamp is it ok or to oily for stamping Be interested to know what you think of the bridal butts, about how long is a normal butt, do you get the 50 inch strips ok? Many thanks Chris Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted October 28, 2018 36 minutes ago, chrisash said: So far tried both Tandy and Artisian for veg tan strips, thinking also of geting a sample from Le Prevo, been geting natural and antiquing myself How does Bridal stamp is it ok or to oily for stamping Be interested to know what you think of the bridal butts, about how long is a normal butt, do you get the 50 inch strips ok? Le Prevo used to make leather stuff then moved into selling supplies, I think, so they may well have some sort of splitter. I didn't realise you were using tooling leather, I think I have some in various thicknesses. Let me check and get back to you. If you mean stamping like tooling, it's not much my thing so I've never tried on bridle. Bridle leather can absorb water with a little work (certainly enough for a crisp turnback, or for some wet moulding) but due to the amount of tallow/grease/wax I think it won't every be as toolable as proper tooling leather. Bridle takes stamps like embossing plates just fine dry, either cold with a lot of pressure and several seconds' dwell time or heated with less pressure and dwell. It also takes a hot crease well. The 4mm butts I buy are more like a "belt butt" or "mini butt" than a proper saddlery butt -- average about 48" long though obviously this varies from piece to piece. "Normal" butts are about 60" -- great for horse applications but wasteful for trouser belts unless you're Mr Creosote. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted October 29, 2018 Matt did you see the post about Sedwick leather calling in the administrators Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcuk Report post Posted October 29, 2018 You could try these people good to work with to they offered to split down a hole bridle butt for me because they did not have the weight i wanted at the time i said no because the finish on the flesh would not be as good. http://www.metropolitanleather.com hope this helps JCUK Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
