Weaver Leather special belt buckle

[Gary W. Graley]

I typically do not make belts, just never liked doing them, I've made my share, one person took and folded their belt in half, tightly, and the leather surface cracked, had to make a new one, I forget who's leather that was but that made me not buy that leather again

I had purchased a belt from Amazon the other day, I 'thought' it would be ok as it had Carhartt's name as the mfg but it was WAY too soft leather, it felt like I was threading a 1 1/2" wide layer of hard jello through my belt loops, and then the buckle dented and messed up the surface of the belt on the first try, I emailed them and sent that thing back today! I remembered I had at least one of those brass buckles somewhere and found it and had JUST enough leather to slice out a 1 1/2" wide belt blank and made my own. No decorations, just a good solid belt. Here's some shots of that belt and buckle, I stitched just three holes between the buckle and the brass keeper and then down each side past the keeper. On things like this as well as sheath belt loops I do not like to make stitches across the leather, it's like making a perforated spot for the leather to weaken and finally tear, I've repaired several of other folks sheaths, usually from the knife mfg, that had stitching straight across.

special buckle designed by Weaver Leather, not sure they are still available but they are cool, and a belt saver too, you just slide the belt through and drop the tongue into the hole, no bending back the leather.

 

[harronek]

That's a cool Buckle design :thumbup:


Ken

 

[Gary W. Graley]

also, as with a lot of shots taken in our kitchen, the main light is from an old wagon wheel turned into a light fixture, I'm guessing it's very very old, but kool

here's a shot of the wagon wheel hub

my wife will decorate it per the season...

I checked Weaver's site tonight but didn't find this listed, they might have dropped it from their line up but if that's something you think you'd like, it'd be worth an email to them to see if you can get the buckle and the keeper.

G2

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I had to look at the pic for a second, it looked to me like it would loosen from the direction of tension on the belt but I was looking at it wrong. I can't remember what they are called but it reminds me of some strap buckle hardware I've seen. Very cool.

On the topic of belts. How well does veg tanned work over the long haul for belts? I've never owned one, choosing Latigo or others. Obviously veg tanned is used very often, but does it have a disadvantage over other tannage?

What weights and hide cuts are best when using veg tanned for belt making?

 

[Horsewright]

Nice belt Gary and cool light! House we're in now has an antler chandlier after you enter from the front door. Saw that when we first came to look and said ok we're home, buy the house. Those are cool buckles I've used em quite a bit. Weaver still sells em. In stainless too and also now Jerimiah Watt (JWP and Horseshoebrand sold through Weaver) did some engraved ones before they had em casted. You can buy just as a buckle, a buckle and keeper and as a three piece set. I think Paul Weaver designed the buckle so its an in house kind of a deal. Years ago my little brother made our first website. I traded him some belts for it as he is very large and can't just walk into a store and buy belts. Used these buckles and he has worn one daily since. Loves em but was like Strig a little perplexed by em at first.

Strig are you thinking of a conway buckle that has an upright fixed prong in the center? Very common in tack use. I hate those sons of a beech tree and won't use em. Ever try adjusting one of those things when its cold and the strap has some mud on it and its just starting to freeze up and you'd rather be home drinking coffee and your hands are numb and you'd rather be home drinking coffee and you're cussing that stupid strap and buckle and you'd rather be home drinking coffee and the cowboss says lets go and you'd rather be home, or at the campfire, or at the cafe, or anywhere drinking coffee? Yeah don't like those conway buckles.

Veg tan is the belt leather. Has been since veg tan. In fact its often called strap leather when it is sold. Higer end a guy could use bridle leather but I believe thats still veg tan with some other stuff added, kind of like Horweens leathers.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Bladeforums cooperated this morning and I put this info in the first post
G2

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Hmm there, able to post PART of what was suppose to be in the first post the reason I ended up making it myself, it could stand to be just a tad thicker leather, but it FAR better than the muck that was suppose to be a hard use belt!

And Dave, same thing with us, the wagon wheel light was certainly an eye grabber when we looked at this house over 30 years ago, the guy didn't have any of the walls even spackled, nothing on the concrete floors, no doors on any of the rooms in the place, it was pretty raw, no roofing on just rolled tar paper, but we saw potential and made it our own. I really hate to move but the wife has to drive so far to help with the grandkids it doesn't make sense to stay here.

a shot of the back wall, that was also done, one of the few things that we liked too. The wood storage area has a door in the back so you can load the firewood from outside, about two lengths of wood deep, very handy, saves tracking snow and mud into the house!

G2


And...thanks Dave, I now need another cup of joe

G2

 

[Horsewright]

Well while your drinking the coffee, figure out how to take the wheel and the stone wall and stove with ya if ya have to move Gary. i got some left from the first pot, come on over.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks Dave, I just took a looksee at Tehachapi Ca, looks real western there not far from Mojave either, must get pretty hot!!!

And thanks for the input on the buckles, a stainless one would be nice, have to dig deeper to find them as all the searches I tried on their web site I didn't see them any more, if I find I may also get a belt blank as this belt could stand to be just a bit thicker too.

and yep, we'll miss the kitchen area it's narrow but homey, you live someplace over 30 years, it's not easy moving, the places we've seen forsale fall way short of what we are use to, but I guess that's that..we have to sell ours first and market's soft right now I guess.

G2

Found it

Buckles

Chrome over Brass 1 1/2" Buckle

Chrome over Brass 1 1/4" Buckle

Brass 1 1/2" Buckle

Brass 1 1/4" Buckle

Keepers

Chrome over Brass 1 1/2" Keeper

Chrome over Brass 1 1/4" Keeper

Brass 1 1/2" Keeper

Brass 1 1/4" Keeper


G2

 

[Horsewright]

I always have trouble with their site. For Weaver I'm a paper catalog kind of guy. Naw doesn't usually get too hot. Elevation is about 4,500 or so where our house is. We turn on the AC only a few times a year. Mostly just open windows and let the breeze in. Now where Strig lives its miserable hot. I bet he'd love to have to turn on the ac only couple of three times a year. Yeah Nichole says we're leaving here in body bags. Good with me. Hate moving. And the views form the shop wow!

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Yes! Conway buckles.

I love you guys. I think Dave knows, but I don't drink booze at all, don't do drugs... But coffee? Yeah that's my guilty pleasure. Just fixed my first cup. Best espresso here is this little Portuguese bakery. Mom & pop are always down for a chat about work and family. My kinda people. I use to write extensive reviews of very high end cafe machines. Home models that went up to 8k, auto feed everything and fingerprint scanners for each member of the house or office, auto fill water, stuff like that.

They say this Valley used to be a desert. Last summer it got well over 105° for a long spell. I love it. I wouldn't have $800 electric bills if it weren't for the rest of the family. I ride in full black leathers (admittedly a lot at night) and barely break a sweat. I hate winter. It's been 70° all winter and I'm freezing!

The belt I use most is a heavy-ish duty 1.5" deal that has a waxy feel. Doesn't seem to stretch. I realize there are different types of hybrid tanning that includes treatments like Horween, just know nothing about them. I guess any leather will have stretch, just seems like regular veg tanned would be susceptible to more when wet. I've owned 1" dress style belts made from all kinds of stuff and don't like em. I'm not a dress up kinda guy I suppose. They do always seem to be more than one layer stitched together which is probably what keeps them from stretching.

So would my 7/8oz shoulder leather be suitable? I think I'll make a quick belt and see how I like it. In lieu of double layering would stamping help to mitigate stretching? What kind of treatment do y'all recommend for finishing? I have Tan-Kote, Neatsfoot and beeswax. I'm leaning toward the natural finishes.

Thanks for putting up this thread. It's an interesting topic.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

I'm thinking 8/9 oz would be what I'd like in a belt, but the leather I had was about 7/8 oz so for me it's pretty light but for now it'll work.

Embossing will help stiffen the leather, making it structurally a little stronger/harder, but you may find that it can also widen your belt blank, so I use to use some packing tape, the clear stuff, and apply that to the back of the belt blank and that helps to keep it from widening the leather, it can pull the backing when you pull the tape off but that'll go down.

I've made very decorative belts for people at work, a VERY long time ago. Not the floral things but I'd take an embossing of a cabin and make a theme along the belt of mountain scene, never one to stick to normal looking things. But I found that belts can be more like clothing and just stopped making them.

I think I'll try and find a 1 1/2" belt blank to replace this one, in a few months, we'll see how it goes!

G2

 

[Omega Leather Works]

The packing tape is a good method except that, as you point out, it pulls on the nap pretty badly. I can't do it any more on my sheaths. I've tried reducing the tack by first sticking the tape to my jeans but it really makes my leather, that is otherwise lovely, ugly. Tried removing wet and dry both. Would probably be great on a belt though. I'll try it. Probably need to find something less aggressive for the sheath work, but I'm not yet sure what that might be. In the meantime lighter stamping with better quality stamps seems to help.

 

[Horsewright]

Strig buddy just on your first cup? I've swithced to the hard stuff, got a can of Coke sitting here on the counter. That would be light for me leather wise. I do build belts heck for stout though. I'd build the top out of 7/8 oz and then I'd line it with 5/6 oz. I've gone to lining all belts and havn't made an unlined one in years, maybe decades. Does help with stretching. Also cut your leather along the back bone to minimize stretch. Build up all your parts and I'll stitch em together for ya when you are here. Valley was a swamp after it was a desert, place can't make up its mind. Tulare...where the tules grow. You seen those old pictures of the paddle wheel steam ships that use to cruise your hood back in the 1850s when it was under water?

 

[John A. Larsen]

Gary, Quick question, is that small post as strong as a conventional type buckle? I got a belt made by Animal Jack Leather, from Medford, OR, who used to come to our gun shows. I have been wearing it daily since at least 2009, and as he told me, once a year, I put some leather dressing on it. I normally do it in Sep, put the belt on the back deck and let the sun heat up and help absorb the dressing. It has a conventional square brass buckle, no name I can see just "Solid Brass" and "U.S.A." on the back, but seems to be quite strong and I have never had the post come out of the hole, and I wonder if you were bending down if that short post might come out? In any case good looking leather work, like all you do. John

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Nah, I try to pass on the local culture, pretend I'm not an inlander. I left my heart in San Francisco back when I lived there briefly. Valley only really looks good when you're looking down at it from the Sequoias.

If they could turn the heater on in the Bay Area and drop the silly knife laws I'd move.

I was listening to one of my favorite bands in the car just now and this song reminded me of our ongoing dis for Bako. If there's even a small bluesy/rock and roll bone in yer body ya gotta love Social D.

[VID]Social Distortion - Bakersfield: http://youtu.be/yPgAb9EYlrc[/VID]

Sounds like a plan on the belt. I figure it really should be layered too, but I'm not about to spend that much time hand sewing it for just little ol me.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Gary, Quick question, is that small post as strong as a conventional type buckle?...

John, it's a substantial cast piece, quite strong, it has a pre bend to it so it slips into the holes on the belt, if someone ever broke one, I'd say they had more problems than a bad buckle!

And Strig, man that would be a LOT of hand sewing to do! I have no plans on making a lined belt but might get a thicker blank, one thing that's also really nice about these buckles, you don't have to cut out a slot for the tongue to pass through, so it's just a folded down solid end of the belt. If it were thicker leather, I'd have skived out a channel for the keeper to fit into, but didn't see it needed on this one.

G2

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Well this lighter weight seems to be doing ok...so far, for me it's a great design of that buckle, I'll take a closeup shot of how that center piece is formed and post up a pic.
G2

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Good point about the tongue. I've only done a couple of buckles with no pattern and they take some fidgeting to get right. I'm sure it's something that gets easy but I don't plan on doing many.

Hand sewing I'd need to do it in stages or I'd end up with a huge rats nest no doubt.

 

[Horsewright]

S/B 99 to Baks then E/B 58. Get off at the top of the mountain.