Missing a trick with belts?

[Erbswurst]

Durable outdoor equipment simply is relatively expensive to make.

Fortunately the military surplus shops throw the stuff behind you.

@Oliver G
Do you look for a leather belt or plastic webbing?

 

[Laurentius]

I need to make myself a new leather belt as my old ones have shrunk. It is not hard to make a leather belt all you need is a length of leather, a buckle, a leather punch and rivets (or screws)

 

[Laurentius]

What makes a belt a bushcraft belt?

You stalked and killed your own buffalo, skinned it, tanned the hide, smelted the brass for the buckles and cast it, under a full moon with a set of runes and the right chanting.

 

[Silverclaws2]

It was the desire to make a 'Bushcraft belt ' that set me off down another route of which will be life enhancing, when it was I selected an old boy scout clasp, for the ' Be Prepared ' moulding, a clasp, the likes of which I had not seen before. no ' Boy Scouts ' at the top of the clasp, to later find it's a design from the very early years of scouting pre 1930's . Other I have been hunting for this project is steel ' Kestrel ' spring clips, to find them on old Girl Guide belts mostly - the company that made them as a sole maker I understand ceased to exist in the 1940's. Plans are also afoot for sliding fittings to be attached to the belt for hanging my crane bag and given I use the Mora swinging fitting for affixing a knife, the inclusion of such a fitting. But this belt isn't just for Bushcraft.

I like old stuff.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

If a retailer/seller can still hook a punter with a 'bushcraft' label as bait, good luck to 'em............I thought that particular pond had been fished out years ago.

 

[CLEM]

I found a nice belt on, very similar to these £100 BushCraft belts on Soldier Of Fortune the reenactment suppliers recently for waaaaaaaaaay less moolar. Quality seems very good for the price, are the quality of the materials and stitching the same as the hand made bespoke stuff, will it be as durable and long lived? Time will tell I guess.

 

[Oliver G]

Durable outdoor equipment simply is relatively expensive to make.

Fortunately the military surplus shops throw the stuff behind you.

@Oliver G
Do you look for a leather belt or plastic webbing?

I picked up the leather belt that was the wrong size for my trouser belt loops so I'm using that, I do have a few sets of webbing knocking about for a belt kit but they're a bit military for my liking, plus having a leather belt makes it more fun to play around making leather pouches.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I am using a belt I bought from a stand at the Weald Wood Fair for £50, unlined. Talked to a leather craft person with a stand at another show and was quoted £70 for an every day leather belt. If one things about things in terms of how much other self employed people charge per hour, it doesn't seem so strange. We have all become very used to things being low cost from having them made in factories, and even more from factories in low cost economies.

Another factor may be that some other items sold cannot be sold for the hours that go into them and that a degree of price averaging goes on. Selling belts for what people are prepared to pay covers making pouches or tankards and taking only what people are prepared to pay. Maybe. That might also explain price inflation seen for wedding stuff.

 

[Allans865]

Just buy a scaffolders belt for around £20.00 Or a bit more for a really decent one.
Double buckled & good leather.
There built to last.
Thats all I use.

That's exactly what I've been using for years, even got it free from work

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[Minotaur]

Can I add First Aid to the list of things that will add a percentage to the cost of things.
Also if you think of the cost of a hand made belt £100 quid sounds about right. You pay for the materials, the skills, and the time taken for a 1st world worker.
No one in the 1st world is making £10 T Shirts.

 

[Erbswurst]

That's wrong!

Trigema sells T-shirts for 10 € that are made in Germany.

trigema – Deutschlands größter Sport- und Freizeitbekleidungshersteller

trigema produziert schon immer nachhaltig und umweltbewusst. 100% Made in Germany.

www.trigema.de

 

[Minotaur]

That's wrong!

Trigema sells T-shirts for 10 € that are made in Germany.

trigema – Deutschlands größter Sport- und Freizeitbekleidungshersteller

trigema produziert schon immer nachhaltig und umweltbewusst. 100% Made in Germany.

www.trigema.de

Damn you got me was going to ignore this. Really interested in how they doing that? Think it a loss leader of some kind or they making very low profit on it. If you look at the prices of some of the other items they sell it does not make sense why one thing costs £88 and that T-shirt costs £10.

 

[Erbswurst]

Most of their T- shirts cost 15 €. Perhaps the print doesn't sell.
But anyway: Most products can be made in Europe for reasonable prices. We are more expensive but usually also more effective. Just look for example at Opinel knives.

There are just a lot of people who want to make incredible wins and sell us cheap foreign products for prices we are used to regarding own production.

Here a handmade German hatchet for 25 €.
Lasts a lifetime.

Handbeil von Krumpholz

Handbeil von Krumpholz. Geschmiedet, klar lackiert mit geöltem 38cm Eschenstiel (600 + 800 Gramm) oder 40cm Eschenstiel (1000 Gramm) und optionalem Lederschneidenschutz. Das Handbeil ist sehr gut als Pfadfinder- und Campingaxt geeignet. Der Lederschneidenschutz verhindert ein Einschneiden im...

www.holz-jaeger.com

 

[Woody girl]

I made my own. A belt bank and a buckle were my only purchases from tandy leather craft, as I had a hole punch and some rivets. Took me about 15 minutes and all for less than 15 quid at the time. Still going strong after over twenty years of daily use aswell as in the woods with knife and pouch attached.

 

[mikehill]

Been wearing one of these every single day for three years and it is still as good as new. Been through the washing machine countless times too ! £12.95

5.11 TDU Belt - 1.5inch

5.11 TDU Belt

heinnie.com

 

[Smudge]

I bought one of these years ago for everyday wear in black, then another last year in brown, good quality, good price: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152029069596

 

[demographic]

I made my own. A belt bank and a buckle were my only purchases from tandy leather craft, as I had a hole punch and some rivets. Took me about 15 minutes and all for less than 15 quid at the time. Still going strong after over twenty years of daily use aswell as in the woods with knife and pouch attached.

Yeah, the solid copper rivets are pretty good, I bought some hole punches and a rivet setting tool off Ebay for a few quid and honestly, its a doddle to make a perfectly servicable belt.
Yeah, you can go nuts and faff on with tooling the belt with wazzy patterns but I just wouldn't wear one like that anyway. Kind of busy for my tastes.

 

[Laurence Milton]

Gone are the days when you just had a sheath knife hanging from your trouser belt.

No.................

 

[Laurentius]

I made my own. A belt bank and a buckle were my only purchases from tandy leather craft, as I had a hole punch and some rivets. Took me about 15 minutes and all for less than 15 quid at the time. Still going strong after over twenty years of daily use aswell as in the woods with knife and pouch attached.

Yeah, my leather working skills are not that brilliant, but there is not essentially anything difficult about it for a basic belt. I have made various custom pouches over the years for this and that, everytime I upgrade my mobile phone I need a new pouch for it. My stitching skills are appalling, but the pleasure is in that I made it myself and it suits my needs.

 

[Thoth]

I've noticed recently that now I can afford some really good quality kit that will last a lifetime, I haven't got quite so much lifetime left... :-D