Horsewright
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2011
- Messages
- 13,085
We've always made a few belts over the years. Mostly for family members or close friends. Occasionally one for an order. Somebody would see one of Nichole's carved belts and order one. A fully flower carved belt isn't for everyone and they are very expensive due to the amount of time involved in carving one. This friend has four but he also collects handmade buckles so he has us build em for the buckle:
But belts haven't been a big part of our business. Ya can't even order one on our website. Recently with our discovery of the water buffalo leather and what great belts it makes we've expanded that. We had a couple little shows coming up and we'd found that these belts sold pretty darn well. In fact we had a little BBQ a few weekends ago and I looked around as I was grilling and counted 10 water buffalo belts being worn. So we made a batch up for stock. If ya got a moment follow along as we build some stock for a show:
Here I've got the belt blanks all cut out. I've punched the spear points on each end and have punched the buckle tongue slot and Chicago Screw holes as well. We use these screws on our belts as that way the customer can change out the buckle if they like. I've also cut the stitching grooves as all our belts are lined. here I'm stamping the makers mark on all of them.
Then I start cutting the lining for each belt. Each one is cut as an individual and I use a roller knife to cut this thinner leather. The lining is an Horween 4 to 5 oz brown latigo.
I skive the end of the lining so that it will lay down flat. I like the lining to end between the two screw holes. Its also necessary to rough up the leathers before glueing paying particular attention to all edges. I use a rat tail file for this.
Then I glue up both the belt and the lining.
Now they are ready to sew. I run em inside and Nichole starts sewing em. Some are double stitched and some are sewn with different colored threads. We always try to make a variety as you don't know who's coming in your booth to shop and what they're tastes are.
Meanwhile I head back out to the shop as I hear someone drive in. Its my son Logan returning from a long hot day of cowboying:
I take him out a beer as he's unloading his horse from the trailer and it looks like his horse could use one too. One hot and sweaty pony. Logan has an older belt we made him on and a folding knife pouch too from his belt loop into his pocket. We also made the martingale across the horse's chest and his spur straps. I like to see our stuff getting used hard and probably not many folks use leather harder than a working cowboy.
Meanwhile back at the ranch....(sorry for the pun couldn't help it), Nichole has some of the belts sewn up. I start melting the threads and trimming the lining.
But belts haven't been a big part of our business. Ya can't even order one on our website. Recently with our discovery of the water buffalo leather and what great belts it makes we've expanded that. We had a couple little shows coming up and we'd found that these belts sold pretty darn well. In fact we had a little BBQ a few weekends ago and I looked around as I was grilling and counted 10 water buffalo belts being worn. So we made a batch up for stock. If ya got a moment follow along as we build some stock for a show:
Here I've got the belt blanks all cut out. I've punched the spear points on each end and have punched the buckle tongue slot and Chicago Screw holes as well. We use these screws on our belts as that way the customer can change out the buckle if they like. I've also cut the stitching grooves as all our belts are lined. here I'm stamping the makers mark on all of them.
Then I start cutting the lining for each belt. Each one is cut as an individual and I use a roller knife to cut this thinner leather. The lining is an Horween 4 to 5 oz brown latigo.
I skive the end of the lining so that it will lay down flat. I like the lining to end between the two screw holes. Its also necessary to rough up the leathers before glueing paying particular attention to all edges. I use a rat tail file for this.
Then I glue up both the belt and the lining.
Now they are ready to sew. I run em inside and Nichole starts sewing em. Some are double stitched and some are sewn with different colored threads. We always try to make a variety as you don't know who's coming in your booth to shop and what they're tastes are.
Meanwhile I head back out to the shop as I hear someone drive in. Its my son Logan returning from a long hot day of cowboying:
I take him out a beer as he's unloading his horse from the trailer and it looks like his horse could use one too. One hot and sweaty pony. Logan has an older belt we made him on and a folding knife pouch too from his belt loop into his pocket. We also made the martingale across the horse's chest and his spur straps. I like to see our stuff getting used hard and probably not many folks use leather harder than a working cowboy.
Meanwhile back at the ranch....(sorry for the pun couldn't help it), Nichole has some of the belts sewn up. I start melting the threads and trimming the lining.
