Making a belt

[fiftycrushplan]

I want to make a belt for the first time.  What dye is best for this and what type of finish do you guys apply afterwards?  Thanks.

 

 

 

[Dwight]

We will excuse you for being a KW fan, . . . everyone has to have some sort of hang up, . . . 

If you want to make your first belt, . . . get some shoulder leather, . . . buy a nice double shoulder . . . get a 6/7 ounce weight.

Measure the belt you have on right now, . . . from the outside of the buckle, . . . to the hole you use the most.  THAT is the size belt you will be making.

You are going to need a pattern, . . . believe it or not, . . . in order to get both ends to work out correctly.  Send me an email address, . . . I'll send you the patterns for each end.

I cut two pieces from the shoulder, . . . side by side, . . . 1 and 7/16 inches wide, . . . do the end treatments, . . . contact cement them together, . . . sand and smooth the edge, . . . sew the two pieces together, . . . bevel and dress the edges, . . . give both sides a light coat of neatsfoot oil (the oil, . . . not the compound), . . . when it dries, (24 hours minimum later), . . .  Idip dye them in Feibings oil dye, . . . reduced 1 to 1 with Feibings reducer, . . . and allow that to dry for another 24 hours.

My favorite color is saddle tan, . . . but you can pick your poison.  The darker tans and black, . . . generally will dye more smoothly, . . . less blotchy places.

Finish with a couple light coats of Resolene, . . . cut 1 to 1 with clean tap water.

You will then have a belt that will last you 20 years, . . . providing of course that you don't do too much of that pizza and sub-sammiches while you watch Ohio State whoop up on KW.

Just holler if there is anything else we can do to help..............

May God bless,

Dwight

PS:  I'm actually a second generation Carter County fellow, . . . married to a first generation Lewis County lady (50 yrs and counting).

[zuludog]

I have made mostly knife sheaths up till now, but I too plan on making my first belt soon. I have a good buckle that I rescued from a favourite belt that fell apart, and I have bought a 3mm veg tan belt length from Tandy

There are several videos on YouTube about belt making, but I am basing my belt on these - 

Making a Simple Leather Belt by Ian Atkinson    and  Stitching a Leather Belt Keep by Nigel Armitage

I will dye it with some sort of medium brown oil based dye from Tandy/Fiebings (I have a few in stock),; and Tandy/Fiebings  Gum Tragacanth & Edge Kote.  Again, there are a few videos on dyeing leather, but this is quite comprehensive - Information about Dyeing Leather by Ian Atkinson

You may have noticed that hikers hardly use leather boots any more, they have all changed to synthetic, including myself. That had left me with a couple of large cans of leather grease. I scraped them into a jar and thinned it slightly with White Spirit, which is the British name for thinners or turpentine substitute. Apply with an old toothbrush and soak it in, let it dry for a couple of days, then buff with a rag. I've been using this on my sheaths for a couple of years and had no complaints; I'll use the same for my belt. I suppose I'll have to buy some proper stuff soon!

I have been skiving leather with a hand held skiving knife till now, but for the longer length of the fold over I will order a Trimming Plane from Clas Ohlson, as shown in Ian's belt making video