Lengthening a Handmade Leather Belt | How To Modify a Leather Belt | Handmade Leather Belt
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Handmade Leather Belts, Repairing Handmade Leather Belts, Constructing Leather Belts, The Best Leather To Make Belts, The Tools Needed To Make Leather Belts, Tools For Your Leather Craft Hobby, are all topics that I cover on my channel. Today I will be modifying this leather belt. A subscriber reached out, needing help making a custom belt fit the person it was purchased for.
Today I will be using two layers of full grain leather to modify this custom belt. The vegtan leather that I am using today was purchased from Montana Leather. I prefer to use two layers of full grain leather for a very stable belt blank.
The top layer is Montana Leathers MTL
www.montanalea...
The liner is Montana Leather Vaqueta in Brown.
www.montanalea...
I used a selection of tools purchased from many of the companies that support my hobby. Somewhat in order that I used the tools. The strap cutter is from Tandy Leather. I have used the strap cutting to cut close to 1,000 leather straps.
tandyleather.c...
I used my Barry King mallet and strap end punches to begin to form the belt.
www.barrykingt...
From Weaver Leather I used the heritage economy splitter, stitching chisels, and rotary hole punch.
www.weaverleat...
I used Tiger Ritza thread and John James from The BuckleGuy.
www.buckleguy....
I used leather finishes from Fiebing’s in Milwaukee. I used Neatsfoot oil and TanKote.
fiebing.com/
The stainless steel buckle and Chicago screws are from Landwerlen Leather in Indianapolis.
You can reach Eric Landwerlen at 1 (800) 827-9867
That covers the majority of tools and supplies. If I missed what you are looking for please ask in the comments. Others might be interested as well.
I used Weldwood contact adhesive to laminate the two layers of leather. The sewing was completed using Weaver stitching chisels in the 5mm size. I followed with Tiger Ritza thread installed with John James needles. I like the durability of the woven polyester thread. The Tiger Ritza thread is prewaxed making the process of using it very fast. The belt was sealed with TanKote.
www.montanalea...
@montanaleathercompany
fiebing.com/
@FiebingCompany
www.barrykingt...
@barrykingtools2906
Creating Tooled Leather a fun way to really change the appearance of a project. The stamping in the belt was created by Barry King. The axehead stamp is the number two size. If I were to purchase it again I might go with a number 1 to give a bit more room for the stitches when sewing the belt
Thanks for your support!
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@InMyBusyLittleShop
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Great job. Its not easy tieing into old work. It's even harder to tie into someone else's old work. Thanks for taking us along 👍
You bet. Thanks for your support.
Hello Robert, as your customer, I just want to say we are more than happy with the repairs you made on the belt. You did an outstanding job. You are such a talented craftsman. Thanks so much for helping me out.
Linda, You bet. I’m glad you brought it to me and that I could help out.
Nice done. Great job helping someone be able to use their belt again for many years to come
My client is very happy.
Fun Project
That’s is for sure
I think you done a good job.
Thanks! I appreciate you following and providing feedback
Well... at first, I thought, oh heck no. You did a fantastic job. I really liked the way you plugged the end near the buckle.
Thanks. Yeah I created a test piece first. I originally thought that maybe it would be better to finish with something like a blank piece. After the test I thought that I could get a reasonable repeat. The plug I think worked out good. I thought after the belt was done that I could have French skived the back side and left more meat on the plug.
Mission accomplished! You did a great job. I'm not sure I would have tackled that challenge. Absolutely put your makers mark on it, you made it usable. As far as charging, we usually don't charge the true value of our time and knowledge. Later
Thanks for commenting. Sometimes I take on projects really just to help out. Thanks again.
nice work
Thanks!
Great work Robert, when I was in the saddlery business I would put my stamp on what I made, not on repairs. Luckily for the customer you are retired and seemed to enjoy the challenge. Having the customer decide it was of greater value than you charged sometimes works out they will pay you more than you asked for.
Good morning video....watched while having breakfast.
Cheers...Freddie
That’s a great point on repairing an item. Thanks for watching and sharing your knowledge.
Excellent repair & a very difficult one! I would have offered to make a new belt, but I don’t think that would have satisfied the customer. You made the right choice. No, I would not put my maker’s mark on any repair that I make. Again excellent work!
Thanks for the feedback. Great point concerning the makers mark. Thanks for supporting my effort.
Tracing works. Do you think tapping off the belt onto your blank would work?
Dang. Tanner I really wish that I had you in the shop. That would have been a perfect project to try that on. I bet it would have been better. I’ll try and remember the next time.
I love your new camera. The picture is very clear.
Thanks!
Cool fix.
Thanks! The client is really happy with it.
That is a very professional solution on an almost impossible ask. Very good job.
Thanks. I have extended a few belts. I think was my best result. Color matched well. Customer happy.
I applaud you for taking this project on... looking at it at the beginning and it being embossed i would have past it by...lol... good job brother!!!
Thanks. It was a bit nerve wracking to start. I was confident that I could at least make it useful
Wow! I would have tried to talk them into a new belt. Do you know if the original maker was offered the fix?
I’m not sure what steps they tried. I do know that they live a great distance from where the belt was purchased.
I think it came out great. By golly, you are a true craftsman!
Thanks for watching.
Very nice fix
Thanks. I appreciate you watching.
Yes. Makers mark. What you did was harder than making the belt. I would be more than fair on the price because i think it would make a customer for life. And in the long run, you will come out ahead. But that's just me. Again, great job.
Thanks. We are thinking along the same lines. I charged little more than the cost of materials and shipping. Enjoy your weekend
Your very creative!
Thanks. The belt owner was extremely happy with the results.
The repair looks good. I would be nervous myself that it's not a sewn edge belt, and that glue is taking a lot of stress. Don't think I would have put my makers mark on a repair unless I actually made the belt. And yeah, it was an embossed belt. Stohlman had a lot of emboss rollers made in his name, and I'm sure that was on of the patterns.
What to charge? Well, if it's not a regular customer and I am not just doing someone a favor, sure looks like you had as much time in it as making a new one. If you are doing it for fun, that's one matter. If you are doing this as a business, that's another matter. Whatever you decide to charge is up to you. A lesson I am sure you already know, is the person who undercharges and does cheap priced work, will be over run with people wanting cheap work. The person who charges what they are worth will be as busy as they want to be. Not knocking what you do or whatever you charge, just pointing out the nature of people and how things end up working. In my business I charge my worth. I am busy enough and have no complaints. Others who do the same at bargain prices are very busy, offer poor customer service because of it, never seem to make enough money, and end up out of business in a few years. Sometimes it's a tough balance between what you charge and how much time you have. We all need to strike a balance of time and money made in that time.
All great points. I try to be careful when talking about pricing as I am not trying to put food on the table. My “business” model only works for me. I agree about being careful about setting prices. I will probably be raising my pricing a bit this summer. The cost of leather has gone up faster than I have raised my prices. Great advice. I hope everyone reads it.
You are braver than I am, Robert, to undertake such a complicated repair. That said, the project came out great! I doubt that the average person will not even notice the repair details when it is being worn. Very nice job and another resource video for me should I ever face a similar request. I was wondering if you used Resolene or Tan-Kote as a resist before adding the antique to the end of the belt? Thanks for another very informative video.
I used TanKote. I find that the Resolene seals it too much to hold onto the antiquing. Great question
Thanks, Robert. I have found the same issue with Resolene and antique so have started to turn to Tan-Kote as a resist for that reason. Unless I don't want the base color to change too much as a result of the antique process. Nice to know I'm on the right track as I continue to expand my leatherworking experience.
Glad to be a resource
Hi Robert, I am a few years into leathercraft as a hobby and I would like to turn it into a side business. Do you have any advice on how to build a customer base starting at 0. A little background on my situation is that I work full time Monday-Friday, I have 2 toddlers that keep me busy on the weekends, so I don’t think doing craft shows/markets would work at this time. I know this hinders local sells, so I would like to build an online presence but I have know idea on where to start. Do you have any advice/tips to point me in a direction to start selling? I appreciate any help that you can provide. How do you build your sales channels?
Ryan, The real life should take the first position in life and it sounds like you understand that. I have only lightly investigated an online presence. My first thoughts are that I would need to increase the cost substantially to cover the cost. Secondly, I’m concerned about turning it into a full time business. While I would love to sell a few more belts I do not want to get too busy.
I keep investigating these larger craft shows that could take every bit of a weekend. I’m not interested in that at all. I would suggest looking for two or three “events” that you can set up a small table and show your items. My table top time is about 36 hours total in a year. That is three different weekends.
Try to find an event like a farmers market that will let you set up once every couple of months or once a month. I sell my items when I get them in peoples hands. I then get referrals from that. It will start slow.
I know that is not exactly what you are asking. I think you can control the time. If you want to talk more reach out in FB Messenger and maybe I can give more ideas.
Hi Robert. That looks like one of the belts I used to make when I was the leather crafter at Dollywood. Does the end under the buckle happen to have a letter punched into it? Thanks for another great video.
I don’t have the belt here anymore. It’s seems that it only had a size stamped on it. Were they made with a roller to create the pattern?
@@InMyBusyLittleShopI believe that particular design was made with a plate design that we repeated using a hydraulic press.
@@carverdwThanks. BTW I slowed down some of the footage and there was a DW on the belt.
Robert u are a great leathe worker job well done 30$ is it a fair price R560 in my currency
Thanks. I keep saying that it’s more of a hobby than anything
I would charge for supplies. Your time could be paid by the learning experience. Unless you've done this before
@@Earth-Chiming Thanks. We are on the same page. I also thought it would be a great topic for the video. Something to get others thinking. I appreciate you watching and commenting.
And yes, definitely put your maker's mark on the belt. You basically rebuilt it better than what it originally was. With the amount of time and materials you put into this project, it wouldn't be unreasonable to charge at least $50.00 for the rebuild. Just my two cents worth!
Robert did not make the belt, it was not his design... so you would feel good about putting your mark on the belt? Just a belt he fixed or adapted. Vary telling.
Thanks. I do appreciate your feedback. Thanks for taking time to comment
I see both points.
I'd say no on the maker's mark just because you wouldn't want people to think you were taking credit for the original maker's work. As for price, you added a liner, belt material on both ends, a keeper, a new buckle. Plus you attempted to tool in a design to reasonably mimic a stamp that was already there. Heck you even made custom tools to do it. Honestly $100-$120 easy and that'd probably only cover your time and materials. This was a charity job
Thanks for the response. It seems that most say that for a repair they would not use a makers mark. That actually helps me create a division line of when to mark. The cost of repair you make a good argument as to the cost. It really does take a similar amount of time and actually maybe longer with the stop and think factor. I appreciate your feedback
Is futz a real word? 🤣🤣😂
You are to funny. Well actually yes. Have a great Saturday
@@InMyBusyLittleShop Same to you my friend.
You should not put your name on it....
Thanks for your feedback.