Bridle leather belt and tools

[Toadflax]

Having just finished another of my oak-bark tanned bridle leather belts, I thought it might be interesting to have a look at all the tools used in making a belt.

The belt is black, 1.25" wide, made from Baker's traditionally tanned bridle leather, 3.5-4mm thick, with a solid brass buckle. The belt is kept nice and simple, with the edges bevelled, dyed and burnished, and a single edge crease applied to add a small amount of decoration. With leather of this quality, you don't need to add anything more, as the leather speaks for itself. The buckle is hand stitched using waxed linen thread.

And here are all the tools used in making the belt (excluding bottles of dyes and finishes). Of course, you don't need all of these to make a belt, but they are what I have built up over time as the most effective ones to give a good end result.

Thanks for looking.


Geoff

 

[Shewie]

Very nicely done on the belt, I have leather tool envy too.

I have the basic stuff but not done much with it yet.

 

[Albus Culter]

A pain and sorry to ask. Any chance of a breakdown of the tools and what you used them to do. I've tried a few bits of leather work but only have a couple of bits (awl, stitch marker, groover) so am interested in the tools to improve my results.

Very nice simple, classic belt. Simple always takes a lot of work to look that good.

 

[Dougster]

Very nice belt there mate, and I have major Plough Gauge envy.....

 

[Man of Tanith]

A pain and sorry to ask. Any chance of a breakdown of the tools and what you used them to do. I've tried a few bits of leather work but only have a couple of bits (awl, stitch marker, groover) so am interested in the tools to improve my results.

Very nice simple, classic belt. Simple always takes a lot of work to look that good.

I would like t seco d albus' request for a breakdown of the tools.
I forsee some serious tool purchases in my future

 

[Toadflax]

A pain and sorry to ask. Any chance of a breakdown of the tools and what you used them to do. I've tried a few bits of leather work but only have a couple of bits (awl, stitch marker, groover) so am interested in the tools to improve my results.

Not at all. Happy to oblige. If I work from left to right, then top to bottom.

• Plough gauge: a lovely tool for cutting straps. Wooden strap cutters do pretty well, but this really is the bees knees.
• Saddlers round knife: possibly my favourite tool. Superb for cutting leather. You can cut very good straight lines with it, but takes more time than the plough gauge. You can also do fairly detailed work with the point.
• Small half-round knife: for more detailed cutting (e.g. the belt point).
• Hollow-back edge beveller: produces a curved bevel, a bit nicer in this thick leather than the flat edge bevellers.
• Combination stitch groover /edge crease: I find this one way better than the traditional screw crease.
• Paintbrush: for applying edge dye and gum tragacanth along over 8 feet of belt edge! A long process.
• Steel square: for straight cuts and centreing the position of the buckle holes.
• Burnishing rag: a bit of an old canvas belt.
• Cork block: to back up the far side of the leather when punching with the awl.
• Safety beveller: best tool I've found for thinning the leather where it wraps around the buckle.
• Crew punch: for the slot for the belt tongue. Can be done by punching two round holes and cutting between them with a knife, but this is quicker and gives a neater result.
• Clicker's awl: for marking cut lines, hole positions, etc.
• Diamond awl: for punching stitch holes.
• Overstitch wheel: for marking stitch positions and finishing the stitching (run over after stitching to bed the stitches in). Some people don't think these are accurate enough (can wander sideways) but if they are running in a groove I find they work well.
• Small sewing scissors: better for cutting the thread off than a knife (knife can slip and score the leather).
• Saddlers needles: No 4.
• Screw dividers: for marking the hole positions.
• 18/3 linen thread.
• Oval punch: I think that oval holes look nicer in this thick leather than round ones.
• Nylon hammer: so it doesn't peen over the ends of the metal punches.
• Hole template: to help aligning the oval hole punch. Made from a flexible kitchen cutting board. I use these for all my re-usable templates.

I think that's all!


Geoff

 

[Toadflax]

Very nice belt there mate, and I have major Plough Gauge envy.....

There are three on ebay at the moment - I won't say what I paid for mine but it wasn't anywhere near the highest priced one.


Geoff

 

[Macaroon]

Very elegant belt......................with leather of that quality, less really is more, eh? Great work!.................atb mac

 

[Albus Culter]

Many thanks for the breakdown. I'm making a manual list of my must buys. Oh no more spending potential. I may have to copy your list for future reference

Thanks again

 

[Toadflax]

Very elegant belt......................with leather of that quality, less really is more, eh? Great work!.................atb mac

Thanks to you, and all the other comments. I just went through my accounts and reckon I have made almost 60 of these in the past two years. Didn't realise it was so many.


Geoff

 

[Dreadhead]

great stuff Geoff, very envious of some of those tools! I still hand cut everything with a stanley knife

 

[Goatboy]

If anyone is looking for winecorks for needle storage I can supply them for a minimun of £4.99 each, you just have to wait for an evening after reciept of funds

Very nice belt by the way.

 

[Toadflax]

Regarding the list of tools, I'd probably say that only the following are essential. The remainder can be improvised from what are probably lying around many households (albeit involving perhaps more work and less accuracy).

• sharp knife
• edge beveller
• stitch groover
• diamond awl
• needles
• hole punch

Geoff

 

[Toadflax]

For those who expressed plough gauge envy, here's something to wind you up!

Plough gauge in action cutting some more straps for the baudriers.



With a large piece of leather, it really wants to be held in place, so that the plough gauge operator can keep a suitable pressure on - otherwise the knife can wander a little, resulting in a slightly wavy edge. Ideally I'd have an apprentice to do this for me, but have to make do with a couple of clamps.

It can also be a little tricky to get started, so I tend to cut the first 10 inches or so with the round knife. Doing this also allows you to set the gauge accurately against the part of the strap that is alreay cut - although the gauge is graduated, the markings aren't that precise.

Similarly, as I also find with a wooden strap cutter, it's often better to cut the last couple of inches with a knife, as you can easily get a bit of a curve developing as the cutter runs out of the far end of the strap.


Geoff