What happen ?

[khill]

Just new to leather working so I thought a belt would be a starting place . Bought a 8-10 oz blank and put a 1.5-2 oz liner on it . Measured it against cheap store bought belt and cut .

Finished it up and it looked great ! Only problem is that it is approx. 4-5 inches to short . WHAT HAPPENED ?

[Constabulary]

4-5 inches too short, really? Mismeasured, miscut or forgot the buckle end fold or all together? Or what do you think what happened? Leather does not shrink 4-5 inches all of a sudden.

[Dwight]

10 minutes ago, Constabulary said:

4-5 inches too short, really? Mismeasured, miscut or forgot the buckle end fold or all together? Or what do you think what happened? Leather does not shrink 4-5 inches all of a sudden.

I had a customer one time who might have argued with you . . . it would have been in fun . . . but an argument anyway.

He wanted a single revolver western fast draw type rig . . . and I made it for him.  

His "girth" was 53 inches . . . so of course I made the belt 4 inches longer as per usual for cowboy rigs.

When he showed up to get it . . . it was 3 inches too short . . . his girth was now 56 inches.  

So maybe leather does not shrink . . . maybe the subject grows???

May God bless,

Dwight

[Rahere]

Perhaps the old belt no longer fit. It would be typical of forgetting the buckle turn-under, though.

Another classic in this domain is using an old tape measure (which has stretched) to measure, but a steel rule (which doesn't) on the leather. This is the root of the old adage, measure twice, cut once - always use the same measure. 

Edited November 7, 2020 by Rahere

[zuludog]

I think that the two most common reasons for a belt turning out to be too short are - 

Your waist of your trousers/pants may be, for example, 34" but that is against your skin. Remember that belts need to go over your clothes so you should give them a bit extra, say 1,5 to 2"

But to have a belt that is short by 4 or 5" it sounds like somehow you've got confused and forgotten to include the buckle turnover

there are loads of videos on YouTube about making a belt, have a look at a few and see how it's done

You could also make a mock up or pattern - cut some card, say  breakfast cereal packets into strips and tape them together till you have a belt length. Then make it up as you would for leather and see what it's like

Ah! I've just re - read your OP, where you say you bought a blank - did you actually measure it yourself to check, or did you just assume that the measurements from the supplier were correct? 

[chiefjason]

I measure from the fold for the buckle to the most used hole on their current belt.  That gives me a starting point.  Then on the blank that measurement gets transferred to the HALF WAY POINT of the buckle slot to the middle of the hole pattern I'm using.  And with gun belts I usually fudge that measurement about +1" or so.  And I tend to use a 9 hole pattern and a bit of a longer tongue since most folks buying a belt from me are to match and OWB holster of mine.  A bit too long is more tolerable than too short.  

The last time that happened I asked the guy to measure the belt and the idiot gave me his waist size.  He could not even get to the first hole in the belt.  

If the belt is for you, I'd guess you cut or transferred the measurement wrong.  If it's for someone else, I bet they gave you their pants size.  

Edited November 7, 2020 by chiefjason

[jcuk]

Sorry can't resist you need to cut down on the pies mate.

But does sound like you'd not allowed for the buckle turn. Use this as a learning experience we have all done similar things along the way.

When i started we were taught to work from two sizes (c/s) cut size (m/u) made up size even now i still write this down even for a customer belts even though its work i can do standing on my head not so very long ago i did not write both sizes down guess what yes i did make that mistake. 

 

JCUK

Edited November 7, 2020 by jcuk

[zuludog]

I don't really want to divert this Thread, but here's another common mistake that's easy to make

If you make a knife sheath, check and check again that it's not going to turn out left handed if you want right, or reversed, or a mirror image, or however you want to describe it;  you'll probably know what I mean

Guess how I found that out?

[Handstitched]

16 hours ago, khill said:

Measured it against cheap store bought belt and cut

Maybe there in lies the problem ?    I always measure the client's waist, using a  tailors tape measure with both metric & imperial measurements, and  quite often I get them to measure it  so there no dispute  , and  I never use another belt for the measurement .Where the tape measure meets the front & centre, , thats the centre hole. ( Thanks Al Stohlman   )   I also refer you to what ' Dwight' said  

@zuludog Yep !!  been there done that . Oops, my bad,  !!  A'h yes, learning stuff... isn't it wonderful?    

16 hours ago, Dwight said:

So maybe leather does not shrink . . . maybe the subject grows???

Yep  

HS

[LumpenDoodle2]

On 11/7/2020 at 12:37 PM, Dwight said:

So maybe leather does not shrink . . . maybe the subject grows???

May God bless,

Dwight

No, sorry, I don’t want to contradict you, but I have extended quite a number of belts this year, which have shrunk while lying in the back of a wardrobe for 20+ years.

Same with working with customer over the interweb, to whom I always say “did you breathe in when you measured yourself, and looked down to see the tape?”.    

Back on subject, it does sound like the buckle fold, and the thickness of the new leather blank may have been underestimated measurement wise.   Something that is very easy to do, even to the best of us.

 

[khill]

Thanks for all the replies . Yes it will be a learning experience never forgotten .