With the arise and burgeoning popularity of the Clan of the Cowbelt, I thought I might share a lil trick I came up with when I was making lots of belts. There were lots of times I was making 10-15 at time, say for a wedding party or something. Anyhoo this is such a handy lil deal time saver that I do it even if I'm working on one belt or a single strap. In the pics these are the straps for two rifle scabbards. This trick is about beveling and how to make life easier and save a lot of time. These four straps have been laid out all in the same direction with the buckle slot to the right.
The bottom three straps have been bevelled on the top edge. Now do the top strap.
Once all four have been done, roll them towards you so each strap is face down on the bench and then do the top edge again of each strap.
Now flip each strap end for end but leave them face down on the bench. Your new top edge will need to be bevelled. In the pic below, the bottom three straps have been rotated end for end the top one still needs to be.
Then bevel your new top edge. After that roll them towards you so the face side is up and lo and behold the top edge needs to be bevelled. Do this and you are done. You can do the four straps in just about the time you could do one, once you have the procedure down.
You can also learn to move your feet as you bevel an edge on a long belt or strap and that will really cut down time as it doesn't take long to bevel a strap its whole length if you are walking along as you bevel. Thought this might help the kids some if they are helping out.
