Tried my hand at a tooled belt... What do you think?

[battlemunky]

Good work Yin! I appreciate you leaving it natural as well.

[YinTx]

2 hours ago, battlemunky said:

Good work Yin! I appreciate you leaving it natural as well.

Thanks.  After I oiled it and neat lac'd it, I liked it well enough not to do any antique.  Not very often that happens for me!  Even the background burnished well enough that I didn't feel it really needed dye to make the tooling stand out.

Interestingly, the beauty of the pattern really doesn't show itself until you stand back about 5 feet and realize how striking it really is.  I'll have to see if I can get a photo like that somehow...

YinTx

[CastleLeatherWorks]

very nice job! im not a tooling guy myself but I can appreciate the work.

question though, on a belt like this how many hours would you say you put into it? also how much would you charge a customer for said belt.

[YinTx]

2 minutes ago, CastleLeatherWorks said:

very nice job! im not a tooling guy myself but I can appreciate the work.

question though, on a belt like this how many hours would you say you put into it? also how much would you charge a customer for said belt.

Thank you.  I'm not the fastest tooler there is, or the fastest leatherworker, so my times are probably much slower than most.  I'd say I have 10+ hours into it.  I imagine some can do it in 4 hours or less.  

I saw a gentleman selling some very nicely hand tooled belts at a show recently, lined and stitched, for $150.  A lot of folks felt he was charging way too much for a belt, since a lot of stuff comes up out of Mexico for much less than that.  He less than politely told them to go to Walmart.  

Then again I see belts online for over $250 that aren't near as nice, so I suppose your brand, your location, and your clientele have a lot to say about how much you would be able to sell something like this for.

YinTx

[CastleLeatherWorks]

8 minutes ago, YinTx said:

Thank you.  I'm not the fastest tooler there is, or the fastest leatherworker, so my times are probably much slower than most.  I'd say I have 10+ hours into it.  I imagine some can do it in 4 hours or less.  

I saw a gentleman selling some very nicely hand tooled belts at a show recently, lined and stitched, for $150.  A lot of folks felt he was charging way too much for a belt, since a lot of stuff comes up out of Mexico for much less than that.  He less than politely told them to go to Walmart.  

Then again I see belts online for over $250 that aren't near as nice, so I suppose your brand, your location, and your clientele have a lot to say about how much you would be able to sell something like this for.

YinTx

yea I suppose you are right in regards to who your customer is. I myself am looking for those customers who are willing to drop the dough for quality goods.

not the guy who goes to walmart and thinks $20 is too much for a fake leather belt/wallet that will deteriorate in a less than a year.

[battlemunky]

Yeah, costing these handmade items is almost as hard as making them. I hand stitch exclusively so any belt with a liner doesn't get priced for less than 75 for a plain dyed belt. If it's tooled, I figure another 20 to 50 bucks whether its carved or stamped. So far though, I've only stamped. I'm working up the nerve to carve one. I'm making a lined belt for myself and I may carve the lining just in case it turns out less than amazing.

[ABHandmade]

Very nice work!

[Retswerb]

14 hours ago, YinTx said:

 I'm not the fastest tooler there is, or the fastest leatherworker, so my times are probably much slower than most.  

I think we all think this about ourselves, except for a handful of speed demons who probably think they’re around average! 

Either way, the belt looks great, thanks for sharing.

[YinTx]

6 hours ago, Retswerb said:

I think we all think this about ourselves, except for a handful of speed demons who probably think they’re around average! 

Either way, the belt looks great, thanks for sharing.

Appreciate the compliment, and perhaps you are right, but I don't have anything to compare myself to, except the YouTube videos that are edited for speed and time, so not really a comparison!

YinTx

[Scootch]

Really nice job.  

I've tooled one belt for a 36" waist and have about 15 hours of work in the belt including 7.5 hours of hand stitching.  I might could move a little faster now but the dread of hand stitching has prevented me from making another.  I'm not sure how anyone could come out selling products with much sewing without buying a sewing machine.

Again, nice job.

Scootch