Almost has me wishing it was colder so I'd be wearing jeans...almost
Redmeadow Knives
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Glad it made it, and a day early too! I hope it fits and suits you well. If you have any issues let me know.Belt has arrived, and it is awesome!
Great job John
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Belt has arrived, and it is awesome!
Great job John
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Horsewright
would be good places to start, there are others out there but we're the coolest
I don't think it would help with the distortion, there's a lot of bend going on at that point. The lining helps, you get a lot of strength from lamination (think plywood). The lining and the border stitching help stiffen things up and that keeps any distortion confined to the hole instead of warping the whole tail. You can tell I don't overthink this stuff huh
Aw shucks you're cooler than I am! Ya got that BadA.. gunslinger stitch down my friend! Guys I can pretty much echo everything that John says. Finding quality leather at a store just ain't gonna happen. Its kinda like a lot of factory sheaths. I couldn't tell ya where to go to buy such bad leather if ya wanted to make one just like it. Quality glows and I can see that in John's belts. Ya can dang near reach through the pics and feel the quality.I'm gonna ramble here on my opinions of buying a belt.
I hope those of you that have gotten belts are happy with both the quality and fit.
I've been researching (non-custom) belt companies and seeing what's out there. Doing basic google searches for a belt, I've found a couple with completely different company names and completely different backstories that insinuate they are each making the belts themselves though they use the same stock photos and have the same model names, I'm guessing they are drop shipping from the same source. The prices are usually around $50-100 and I'm sure they do what a belt should do but I wouldn't waste my money on them. It's like a knifemaker buying a knife or a candlemaker buying candles, we know too much. We can see through the marketing and know what's BS. Before making belts myself I would have fallen for these easily. That's NOT to say that there aren't legitimate non-custom belt companies, just be aware there are a lot of hokey ones that show up in a search that have beautiful convincing websites.
Long story short on what I've found when it comes to belts in general:
If you want a belt to last get one that's lined, a one piece belt no matter the thickness will stretch and turn into spaghetti most likely within a few years. The big issue with this is when you try to use it for a sheath, holster, phone case, etc. They will bend and flip out and "take a set" like a spring does. A lined belt will hold strong not only around your circumference but also it's width, meaning anything mounted on it is not going to bounce around and stretch the leather, leaving you with a curl.
A lined belt will break in to your shape like a one piece belt but the difference is a one piece won't stop breaking in, it will keep going and eventually be spaghetti that will most likely crack and fail and you'll need to shift holes.
Just because a belt has rows of stitching doesn't mean it's two piece lined, it can still be one piece of leather. That's fine and could help reduce stretching but it can look misleading.
I've recently been looking at belts every time I see them in stores now, from Retail to Ranch supply. They have some attractive designs but I would pass unless they're having a ridiculous sale. If you find yourself needing a belt, I personally wouldn't waste my money (and I'm a frugal bastard!). The quality just isn't there in my opinion. Now, if custom belts were in the 300 dollar range, that's a bit of a jump but knowing that a quality custom belt can be found for around $100-150 and will last close to forever, that's a jump I'd consider. Just food for thought.
If you really want a quality belt that lasts go with a custom maker, the prices are not that much higher than an off the rack belt and they will last you a long time. Myself or Dave
Hardware is another thing to take into consideration. I use Chicago screws which are strong and will allow you to change buckles. I haven't had good luck with snaps, they can pop loose and wear out, not a fan. Rivets are strong as heck but you're not changing the buckle without a rebuild.
That's just a quick run down of what I've found and some of my opinions. I thought it might help answer any questions. If you have any other questions let me know and I'll do what I can to answer them. I'm new in the belt game and want to do things right.
Mack just took this pic of my own personal belt that I wear daily. I don't remember how old it is, years. This is water buffalo top lined with a Horween latigo. Bout bullet proof. I was experimenting with seven holes on 3/4" centers for carrying a pistola instead of five at 1". Personally I don't find it makes much diff. Anyhoo wanted ya to see this pic of the buckle hole:
I'm gonna ramble here on my opinions of buying a belt.
I hope those of you that have gotten belts are happy with both the quality and fit.
I've been researching (non-custom) belt companies and seeing what's out there. Doing basic google searches for a belt, I've found a couple with completely different company names and completely different backstories that insinuate they are each making the belts themselves though they use the same stock photos and have the same model names, I'm guessing they are drop shipping from the same source. The prices are usually around $50-100 and I'm sure they do what a belt should do but I wouldn't waste my money on them. It's like a knifemaker buying a knife or a candlemaker buying candles, we know too much. We can see through the marketing and know what's BS. Before making belts myself I would have fallen for these easily. That's NOT to say that there aren't legitimate non-custom belt companies, just be aware there are a lot of hokey ones that show up in a search that have beautiful convincing websites.
Long story short on what I've found when it comes to belts in general:
If you want a belt to last get one that's lined, a one piece belt no matter the thickness will stretch and turn into spaghetti most likely within a few years. The big issue with this is when you try to use it for a sheath, holster, phone case, etc. They will bend and flip out and "take a set" like a spring does. A lined belt will hold strong not only around your circumference but also it's width, meaning anything mounted on it is not going to bounce around and stretch the leather, leaving you with a curl.
A lined belt will break in to your shape like a one piece belt but the difference is a one piece won't stop breaking in, it will keep going and eventually be spaghetti that will most likely crack and fail and you'll need to shift holes.
Just because a belt has rows of stitching doesn't mean it's two piece lined, it can still be one piece of leather. That's fine and could help reduce stretching but it can look misleading.
I've recently been looking at belts every time I see them in stores now, from Retail to Ranch supply. They have some attractive designs but I would pass unless they're having a ridiculous sale. If you find yourself needing a belt, I personally wouldn't waste my money (and I'm a frugal bastard!). The quality just isn't there in my opinion. Now, if custom belts were in the 300 dollar range, that's a bit of a jump but knowing that a quality custom belt can be found for around $100-150 and will last close to forever, that's a jump I'd consider. Just food for thought.
If you really want a quality belt that lasts go with a custom maker, the prices are not that much higher than an off the rack belt and they will last you a long time. Myself or Dave
Hardware is another thing to take into consideration. I use Chicago screws which are strong and will allow you to change buckles. I haven't had good luck with snaps, they can pop loose and wear out, not a fan. Rivets are strong as heck but you're not changing the buckle without a rebuild.
That's just a quick run down of what I've found and some of my opinions. I thought it might help answer any questions. If you have any other questions let me know and I'll do what I can to answer them. I'm new in the belt game and want to do things right.
Worse than that (not cutting from the bend or spine) a lot of commercial belts are made from whats called "bonded" leather. Literally leather fibers glued and compressed together to form the Spam of the leather world!I think there are probably a lot of commercial belts that aren't cut from the bend. You and Dave have some proper field experience, and I'm sure with the build time involved it's actually quite a deal.
I don't typically edc kit off of my belt (sheaths, holsters) so it's light use. Due to gut issues like bloating, I don't like to feel restricted so every day comfort dictates the height of the belt and the buckle I use... I've been testing out this design, it's been about a year now but I can already see it start to stretch just a bit, if I was carrying a sheath or a holster it would likely be more dramatic.
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The above belt was not cut from a bend and you can tell (was a pretty poor piece of pockmarked leather to begin with, but I always use my scraps for testing designs). As you can see it's fuzzy on the sides even though it was properly burnished. The first three holes on the left are unused, the hole I use (second from the right) is stretched to an oval even through light use. The buckle, which was intended for strapping and not belts, marred the leather because of the sharp corners on the inside left from the cast. It is very comfortable though, and I do enjoy not having a belt loop. The inspiration was taken from... you guessed it, the Swiss
But yeah, anything overly heavy would stretch this thing out.
Send it back John and I'll make one that fits. Not being able to size these personally creates a problem that I knew I'd have to deal with going in.
No such thing. Besides, the questions I'd have for you if you taught me how to drive a tractor trailer would probably shave years off your life!!
Thanks John, will mess around with the fit some more tomorrow, but it matches up perfectly to the other 2 belts, so your measurement method is spot on. It is thicker than those though. And being wider may be giving the illusion of feeling a bit tighter. Been working from home for a couple years, so haven't had to dress up in a while.
That, is impressive.Aw shucks you're cooler than I am! Ya got that BadA.. gunslinger stitch down my friend! Guys I can pretty much echo everything that John says. Finding quality leather at a store just ain't gonna happen. Its kinda like a lot of factory sheaths. I couldn't tell ya where to go to buy such bad leather if ya wanted to make one just like it. Quality glows and I can see that in John's belts. Ya can dang near reach through the pics and feel the quality.
Mack just took this pic of my own personal belt that I wear daily. I don't remember how old it is, years. This is water buffalo top lined with a Horween latigo. Bout bullet proof. I was experimenting with seven holes on 3/4" centers for carrying a pistola instead of five at 1". Personally I don't find it makes much diff. Anyhoo wanted ya to see this pic of the buckle hole:
Even with all the use and abuse this belt has gone through, (I have never conditioned it by the way, a nuther lil experiment, I'm trying to kill it), there isn't much elongation on the hole. Want a solid belt? Lined and stitched is the way to go from quality materials. Heck my son used his to drag his cow elk back to camp:
Cowboying like he does, a guy could be in the middle of no where and have to get down because ya run into some clown.
So if there's no trees in this county to tie your horse too, a guy might have to hobble his horse so he can do whatever he needs to do like fix fence. Sometimes he'll forget the hobbles on one of his other saddles and he'll use his belt to hobble his horse. Hobbling is securing the horse's front feet so ya don't have a long walk back home. And ya wonder why they call it The Sagebrush Sea?
Thanks
For those those of you that have been around for a while you know I'm kooky about certain things and had a good natured battle once with Melivin Purvis (I miss Shel) about my disdain for the color Oxblood. Contacted the supplier to see if I could confirm somehow the color but this looks like straight up oxblood.
