English bridle leather belt

I have made a couple of belts before but only for family which has given me a chance to work out what my belts should look like.

When the leather is turned over to fix the buckle I want my belts to have a flush joint if it is not flush the joint will show through on the finished side as the belt is worn. I hope this will become clear as I progress, if not I hope some one will let me know.

I have chosen to use oval holes for the buckle pin as the leather lays down flat with an oval hole.

So to start with I needed buckles I like brass because I can finish it myself stainless steel is similar but much much harder so minor defects are very difficult to remove.

I am going to show two belts in this post one black and one brown my original intention was that these belts would be for me. I have been asked to make a black belt for some one else so at the moment I have a brown belt.

Having chosen the English bridle leather my plan was to make one with a shinny buckle and one with a satin effect buckle in the end the brown one will have a shinny brass buckle and the black will have a stainless steel buckle. The white bloom you can see on the leather in the top left of the picture is excess wax that comes off bridle leather occasionally a quick buff with a soft cloth will push the wax back into the leather.

It is possible that I have done things in the wrong order but my next step was to skive the end of the belt that wraps around the buckle. Remember I wanted the joint to be as smooth as possible.

This is exactly what I was looking for.

Once I was happy with the joint I removed all of the corners.. well almost all of the corners where the leather folds over at the buckle end,  where the inside leather touches the outer leather the edges that touch are not rounded.  You would end up with a grove running down your joint not a good look.

After rounding over the edges need to be smoothed or slicked. You can buy wooden or plastic tools to do this. After wetting the edges the tool is rubbed up and down causing friction which flattens the fibres leaving the edge slick it can then be dyed and sealed with bees wax.

My tool has been custom made by a local woodworker.

Two belts at slightly different stages the brown belt in the first picture is having a trial fit of the buckle and still needs a keeper made.

The black belt in the second picture has the edges dyed and finished and is ready for assembly complete with keeper.

The brown belt was the first one assembled and stitched together it would be very simple to glue and rivet the buckle in place. Not only do I find riveting difficult but I think it spoils the look of the belt. The stitching is very strong hand saddle stitching with good quality thread will last for decades.

I thought I would add a picture of the finished black belt with stainless steel buckle.

I am very happy with the way these belts have turned out.

As I plan on offering these belts for sale I have been thinking about some packaging. My first thought was tissue paper and a padded envelope was my first thought.

I wanted to have something a little better so I ordered some small boxes which are great.

Looks ok maybe some tissue paper would be a good addition although having bought some nice shoes which came in cotton bags. I started to think that would be a good option.

So the belt now has a bag which is not just for packing but as a storage option and it can also be used to polish the belt.  There is still a box and optional Sedgewick’s leather care.

Want one my63leather@gmail.com

#Leathercraft #Handmade #Englishbridleleatherbelt #Handmadebelt #Leather #Leatherwork #Leatherbelt