Hey Guys,
I made some more belt loops the other day and I'm pretty happy with the process and results, so I though I'd share. Making a loop takes around 10 minutes, doing them in batches would speed it up.
First I cut a small rectangle of kydex and mark out the shape and where the holes will go. This will depend on what your sheaths look like:
Then I drill the holes using a sharp brad-point drill bit:
Then the notch at the top is scored and snapped out. This makes room for the bulge around the front of the handle on my sheaths:
Then the outer holes are fitted the #8-6 rivets. The rivets seem to make the holes sturdier and the whole plate stiffer, as well as adding a more finished look:
The plate is then shaped on the belt grinder with a 36 grit belt:
A piece of webbing is then cut to the right length. In my case I want the loop to be 3-1/2" long so I cut the webbing a little more than double that:
The webbing is then folded double, and the fold is hammered to give it shape:
The ends of the webbing are then cut at the same time so they're exactly equal:
Now we need to melt the holes through the webbing so rivets can be fitted. To do this I use a woodworking awl that I heat with a torch, and a small template made from a scrap of tool steel:
The template is clamped to the webbing with a spring clamp:
The awl is heated with a torch:
And then both the holes are burned through:
The cut end of the webbing is then sealed with the flame from a cigaretter lighter:
And then the whole thing is riveted together with #8-10 rivets:
Then the loop is finished!
Hope this helps someone!
-A
