How I make crocodile skin leather belts

[RockyAussie]

This is the process where I make our 19mm (3/4") crocodile skin belts. I must first say that this is more of a manufacturing style of post and I will try to give small scale alternative methods where and if I can. The first step in making these belts is the cutting up into strips the crocodile as this sometimes affects the numbers of backing and fillers that need to be made to go with them.  As a general rule I keep back the tails of the skins after other products are made for the purpose of making the belts. My strap cutter is not wide enough for the full width of a tail normally and this must be done in one or sometimes 2 runs through.

Note that there is now a wide sweep after the cutting and this makes it difficult to manage running the next part through the belt cutter.

To overcome this we take a bit out to straighten up a little better

This time we can use the fence guide on the strap cutter

As you can see it still has a fair amount of curve but this is overcome latter on in the processing.

After this we need to join them up into lengths long enough for the belts. We now end for end the pieces to find comparable size scale size and angle to hide the joins as much as possible.

He3re a very sharp knife and and experience is a must. There should be at least a 1/2" of overlap at the join.

Contact glue is then applied and given some time to tack off. Normally several are done at a time.

This is then carefully lined up and

pressed and tapped into place making sure that no excess glue is left behind.

This process is repeated until all the sizes are made up for the order.

That is the upload limit for now so I will be back with more later. There will be a link to a little video on the belt sanding as well.

 

[RockyAussie]

I should have pointed out that the first cuts of the croc and the backings starts at 22mm wide and is later cut down to the 19mm width.

Here shown joined up there is over 200 pieces for a couple of customer orders

As many of these colours have to have matching edging I will separate the black edged ones with black backings first and go onto the skiving stage of the tops next. This is done on my Fortuna skiving machine with the aid of a roller foot that helps to prevent craze cracking in the glazed crocodile skins.

The skins are supplied at around 1mm thick and therefore do not need to be split any thinner in this case. 

The thickness at the skived edges is taken down to about .5mm in order to make 1. Cleaner and better for gluing. 2. allow the croc to flex over the filler more easily and improve the profile. 3. thinner edges make for better edge coating results.

Next the backings are cut and split down to around the 1 to 1.1mm range

And then moved on to the embossing of the sizes and customer branding.

The sizes are done quite quickly by making the size stamps onto blocks that I can lift out on the run from the holder and put in a new size that gets preheated on the top of the embossing machine.

The metal box holding the size stamp is held in with a strong magnet and a pair of pliers is used to get them in and out.

The next step is making up the fillers that give a high profile to the finished appearance. For this I have used some splits from earlier larger width belt job.

I used my belt combiner machine with 3 knives for this job but a strap cutting machine would also work fine.

Following this I have then taken them to all of the belt lengths of the orders.

Will be back later......Cows need to be fed.

 

 

[RockyAussie]

The tips on the fillers could be done on the clicker press but in this case I've decided that cutting them could be just as quicker by hammer and punch

After this they get split to 1.4mm thickness (yes.... I know I should have done this before cutting into strips)

After that they get their edges skived. A strong magnet helps to make this easy and quick.

I do this one side at a time as I like to get the tip done along with the edge skive.

Now the fillers are ready to attach to the backings. They get sprayed all together on a purpose built spray table that I can tilt toward the operator for better application.

They now can be lifted off and placed for another operator to peel apart and attach as shown below.

Next the croc pieces are glued up along with the combined filler and backs. This takes some practice to not have the croc flip up while spraying.

These are then carefully placed together as shown. If it were not croc and only leather tops, they could be fed together straight into the combining machine all together. Normally my hand that is holding the camera here would be walking along holding one side down whilst the other is pressing down the croc into place.

I think that is about the picture limit now again so I'll be back later.

 

 

 

 

 

[jimi]

Thanks for taking the time to share Brian...Very informative.

[RockyAussie]

After they are together I press down around the edges with my cow horn slicker very firmly as this particular belt style is not stitched and it is very important that the adhesion and edging methods used are done well.

they are now ready to go through the combining machine that will take about 1.5mm off each edge as it goes through. note that the roller on the front helps to press in the profile a little as well as it runs through.

Here at the back you can see the edge strips being removed.

After they are all combined  they go up to the clicker press to have their tongue and buckle holes done.

Purpose made jig holders keep the knife in place as they get press cut into shape. How these jig holders are made can be seen in this link -

After the holes are done the edges all need to have a bevel sanding and that is done on another one of my purpose built machines made for this purpose. Basically it is 2 bench grinders set in a table that allows me to move them closer and further apart as well as adjust up and down and angle in and out and back as well.

That's it all for tonight I will add more tomorrow. See this link of the edge sanding machine in action if you wish - and say you like it (even if you don't)

 

The back is set and sanded first

Then the top checked and set how much removal is wanted as well.

Edited August 3, 2019 by RockyAussie
forgot something

[mikesc]

Extremely interesting, thanks Brian. :)

[RockyAussie]

5 minutes ago, mikesc said:

Extremely interesting, thanks Brian.

Boring as hell for many I'm sure  but for any interested in working with croc I reckon they will like it some. I am starting to make waaaaay to many typos so until tomorrow ...goodnight to you all.

[Handstitched]

Well, thats quite  interesting, thanks for sharing  

 I got some Croc back straps from Cairns QLD some years ago , however,  the straps were a tad short,so,  I put my thinking cap on , voila,    <Uncle Fester 2.0 . I made them into Ranger belts with veg tan ' embellishments'  .

HS 

 

[chrisash]

Great work Brian, one question , do you do your own dyeing or is it done at the tanners, I guess you must run quite a large number of workers based on the large number of things you produce

[garypl]

Brian, you never cease to amaze me with the fixtures and equipment you design to use in your shop.  Really interesting!

Gary

[blue duck]

Don't reckon I will ever get to use croc, but it is still a good read. Your endless contraptions are just awesome.

[RockyAussie]

13 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Well, thats quite  interesting, thanks for sharing  

 I got some Croc back straps from Cairns QLD some years ago , however,  the straps were a tad short,so,  I put my thinking cap on , voila,    <Uncle Fester 2.0 . I made them into Ranger belts with veg tan ' embellishments'  .

HS 

 

They look good and sturdy. I bet you had some fun adding the leather over the first 2 crown bones and then stitching through them as well. Did they not have a couple of inches past the crown bones? normally there should be 2 to 3 inches past them bones. Let me know if you want some more.

13 hours ago, chrisash said:

Great work Brian, one question , do you do your own dyeing or is it done at the tanners, I guess you must run quite a large number of workers based on the large number of things you produce

No the skins come already coloured the only colouring I have to worry about is mixing the edge coat colours. I will touch on some of that later. As for workers and numbers that is mostly my wife and I and a couple of part time assistants. I could use a lot more, but the training times and labour costs make that difficult. I sort of hope that by sharing the knowledge here that some others will pick it up before my time is gone. Some more competition here would be nice as well.

12 hours ago, garypl said:

Brian, you never cease to amaze me with the fixtures and equipment you design to use in your shop.  Really interesting!

Gary

Thanks Gary. To be honest I like designing  and making the equipment more than making the products most times.

 

4 hours ago, blue duck said:

Don't reckon I will ever get to use croc, but it is still a good read. Your endless contraptions are just awesome.

Although I do croc mostly, many of the steps and the equipment used are usefully applied in other applications. I hope that some parts at least can be of help to you and other lookers as well.

I will be back......

[RockyAussie]

After the edges are all sanded the tips and ends must also have a little bevel sand and to do this I have a finishing machine that can sand and polish and a few other things.

This can be tricky to not sand too much and does need to be done carefully as to not over sand. An angle as shown is generally best.

This is about what it should look like when done sanding

Note that close up it is now looking all a bit furry/rough

before any edging is applied I carefully singe the fibres in with the aid of a heat gun. This must be kept moving fairly quickly and not allowed to get overly too hot or the glue will also soften and start to release. Quick and close is best. NOTE: I do not go for getting extra smooth before the edge coats are applied as I want the paint to grip as well as possible and I have found that if it is overly smooth the paint can be peeled off in long strips.

After that I apply some edging through my belt edging machine (another purpose made machine of mine for the job) Normally I apply 2 or 3 coats at this stage. Here is a link that shows this machine in action -

As can be seen below it is necessary to lay the belts with the profile facing down in order to stop any edging from touching the tray on which they lay. This does not mean on these skinny buggers that I won't wipe edging on with my huge fat fingers.  I will show you this later.

 

After this step the ends need to be done and that I do on another single edge machine as shown below. This is also done with 2 or 3 coats.

At this stage once the edging has dried well, normally overnight I go onto the ironing in stage which is done with a temperature controlled soldering iron with a purpose shaped tip.

With this thickness belt I just use a long piece of hardwood with a saw cut about 1/4" deep used to hold the belt steady. I press the iron to the back side and wipe it down the length first and then the front side and finish with one wipe down the middle normally.

A grey Scotchbrite pad is then used to give a extra smooth finish and a little grip for the finish edge coating. On some jobs this could go to the polishing stage and still look better than most other makers edging. In this case it goes on to have the extra finish coats.

Be back with more later.

 

 

[Handstitched]

@RockyAussie Theres about 40mm in the  the veg tan, with backing, ( out of view)  you can only  just see it in the first pic, after a bit of  ' jiggery pokery ' , sanding etc.  I would love a few more of those, , but,  croc is so ex$Y ( ' one powerball  ' ) . Even those cost me a bit , so I didn't waste too much. The supplier gave me the off cuts as well  , so I turned them into key rings etc. 

HS 

[RockyAussie]

7 minutes ago, Handstitched said:

so I turned them into key rings etc. 

Yea I know ...quite often the left overs make the profits worth it... wrist bands and such.

[RockyAussie]

After the Scotchbrite sanding it should now look pretty clean like this -

They then go through the edging process as before shown and then the detailing is done prior to the polishing.  you can see here where having some smaller fingers would come in real handy. Note the edging on top...

and again

this comes off with a lot of wetting back and spit and hard rubbing and oh did I forget BAD LANGUAGE?

 Somewhere in there I forgot to take some pics of the hole burning in but this pic should give you the idea. The crew punch holes and tongue holes are all smoothed in and shaped a bit with this purpose shaped soldering iron tip. Mostly the back lining is concentrated on as I like the buckle tongues to slide into them nicely.

Following that is the polishing so back at the finishing machine and with some clear Hooco wax polishing stick

With the polishing I like to get all of the edges done first as I can generally get 4 or 5 belt edges done together as shown

then the tops and backs get done

and then a cotton glove really brings them up nice

I have found it best to use towels when doing a lot of polishing and handling from this stage onward.

Some like these get snaps put in and they often need to be 2 pack painted in an earlier operation. PITA. take note that I like the smaller snap fitting to the front of the belt.

That is about it all so other than getting a few more shots of some buckled up belts later on... please feel free to comment. I must add that the methods here are only what I have worked out to do myself and any improvements and criticisms are equally welcomed and sort after.

Regards Brian

[blue duck]

Brian and Mrs. Brian ~ Thank you for taking the time to share all of this. Your insight and willingness to share is truly appreciated.

[Scoutmom103]

Agree with Blue Duck.  Really appreciate your willingness to share and help others.

[RockyAussie]

11 hours ago, blue duck said:

Brian and Mrs. Brian ~ Thank you for taking the time to share all of this. Your insight and willingness to share is truly appreciated.

 

8 hours ago, Scoutmom103 said:

Agree with Blue Duck.  Really appreciate your willingness to share and help others.

Thanks to you both and I hope that it may help and have some useful answers sometime... if not now

[noobleather]

Another great "How do I do that?" Rocky. I read,looked at the pictures and can learnt some things that I will use in my rudimentary leather work.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

What temp is your soldering iron edger set to?

[RockyAussie]

2 hours ago, noobleather said:

What temp is your soldering iron edger set to?

Ha Ha ....I have no idea. the temp varies depending on how fast I can do the wipes and the size of the job etc. On my light dimmer turn knob I have a nikko mark that is generally an average but for thick belts its higher and thin belt lower. You know when the edging smooths and runs along nicely that it is right. Some colours are high and some lower etc. The brightness of the light changes as it goes up and  I mostly go with a 60 watt iron.

Here an old workmate has had extended boards put on to clamp the hornback belts better and note that the angled nails keep the iron in place between changes. Scientific worked that out.  The legs at the back on the workmate are extended to have the belt comfortably closer to work on. Note that I tape the irons up where the wire goes into them because they start to crack up there after a couple of years use if you don't.

Cheers for now

Brian

[Rockoboy]

WOW! What a tutorial. Between what @RockyAussie and @Handstitched have posted, I am sure that I can find a use for my croc back-straps now!

[plinkercases]

Brian,

As has been said thank you so much for ting the time to share all your various processes.

Your purpose built machinery and aids are a amazing as your products!

Thee double angled belt sander is just brilliant.

[RockyAussie]

9 hours ago, plinkercases said:

Brian,

As has been said thank you so much for ting the time to share all your various processes.

Your purpose built machinery and aids are a amazing as your products!

Thee double angled belt sander is just brilliant.

Thanks for the compliment @plinkercases but honestly I would be embarrassed  to say how many thousands of backstrap I sanded on the finishing machine by hand one edge at a time using the same angles. Same said with my edging machine sadly. It would be good to see ahead what other people come up with that may be inspired by something that I shown here..

 

10 hours ago, Rockoboy said:

WOW! What a tutorial. Between what @RockyAussie and @Handstitched have posted, I am sure that I can find a use for my croc back-straps now!

Yeah that makes me think I should do a  post on a heap of backstrap products I make. They can be quite challenging to make use of with all of their peculiar bone variations and skinning cuts. Here a couple anyway might be good for a little inspiration-

Hornback crowns into buckles

Hornback belt with some of my bangles as well

another hornback belt

That should give some ideas A?

[Rockoboy]

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 6:40 AM, RockyAussie said:

That should give some ideas A?

Still working through the ideas, trying to get the process sorted in my mind. Thank you @RockyAussie for the belt splits. I have a couple ideas of how I can use them, pics to come.