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I've learned something, now that I have my fancy-pants homemade belt holster:
It really does a good job of pulling down my fancy-pants on that side. It also causes even my most stout belt to stretch and sag over time.
Now I know why people talk about a proper belt being just as important as the holster. It's just no good to draw from a holster on a sagging belt. The belt lifts as you draw, bungling up your smoothness of motion, and the sagging is a dead-giveaway, plus it's uncomfortable all day long.
I need to make a REALLY sturdy belt. And by that I mean, it's gotta hold it's shape for years, never stretching or sagging. It's gotta be stiff and solid.
It also has to be small enough to fit through my pant loops. About 1.25 or 1.5 inches width is what I need.
How would you go about, making the strongest leather belt you can make?
It really does a good job of pulling down my fancy-pants on that side. It also causes even my most stout belt to stretch and sag over time.
Now I know why people talk about a proper belt being just as important as the holster. It's just no good to draw from a holster on a sagging belt. The belt lifts as you draw, bungling up your smoothness of motion, and the sagging is a dead-giveaway, plus it's uncomfortable all day long.
I need to make a REALLY sturdy belt. And by that I mean, it's gotta hold it's shape for years, never stretching or sagging. It's gotta be stiff and solid.
It also has to be small enough to fit through my pant loops. About 1.25 or 1.5 inches width is what I need.
How would you go about, making the strongest leather belt you can make?
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Re: Make a REALLY strong belt?
Tue, November 18, 2008 - 5:25 PMSounds like you really need to go for the biggest cross sectional area you can fit throught the belt loops of the stiffest leather gou can get with perhaps a more flexible tongue attached, or more of a clamp style bukle.
OTOH, might be a good idea to go back to square one and rethink the whole project on the basis that your belt is now really about holding a heavy weight at your hip, which might mean 2" belt loops.
easier to make functional look good, than cool stuff functionial.
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Re: Make a REALLY strong belt?
Tue, December 2, 2008 - 2:52 AMTo avoid stretching of belts
Rule number 1: consider the stretch of a hide: The stretch goes along with the hair directions, that is, roughly from the spine towards the belly. On other words, if you cut a strip from belly to belly, it will always stretch. You need to cut your straps from a back, in the direction from head to tail. The least stretch is about an inch or two off the side from the center, that is the spine.
Rule Number 2: line your belt: Two thin leather glued and stitched together have less stretch t6han a very thick single strap of leather.
Next thing to consider, specially with large belts is to cut your straps in in slight curve. The body is not perfectly cylindrical, but more or less conical. So if you want a strip of something laying snug to your body, a straight belt won't do. It may sit perfectly snug at the bottom, but gape at the top.
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Re: Make a REALLY strong belt?
Fri, January 23, 2009 - 2:12 PMI had a guy make me a gunbelt once. he took two thickness's of leather, basicaly one what most makers call a gun belt in thickness and what would be a dress belt for thickness, glued them together. then used one of those beautifull hand operated leather stichting machines to sew the whole mess together. It's a beast! BUT it worked. It did take me a good while to break it in. Damned stiff to fit thru the belt loops. It fit just barely. And it just fit thru standard loops on a holster one would use for concealed carry. BUT (again that word) my pistol no longer flopped over sloppily giving away that I was carrying. it didnt matter what i carried, berretta, fullsized colts, whatever the belt didnt care. I still have it and it works great. hope that helps some.
carl -
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Re: Make a REALLY strong belt?
Fri, January 23, 2009 - 7:20 PMthat does help. thanks.
being as I don't have a stitching machine, I do all my sewing by hand and I'm still procrastinating on this project because of the pain-in-the-ass factor of trying to hand-stitch such a long, straight stitch line...on both sides....
But I did make a nice little leather billfold, I hate having things in my pockets and I've never found a wallet that was satisfactorily thin for me. This one is simple and minimal, enough room for a couple cards and some greenbacks, and it's about 3/8 of an inch thick, when fully stocked with the things I usually keep in a wallet. just fine. -
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Re: Make a REALLY strong belt?
Sat, January 24, 2009 - 7:05 PMuhm, do you still have a cobbler around your town? they would have the machine to handle something like i'm sure. shouldnt cost more than a few dollers if you have it ready to go to be stitched. -
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Re: Make a REALLY strong belt?
Sun, January 25, 2009 - 11:25 AMthanks carl! I had no idea it would be so cheap. i'm going to look into it first thing tomorrow.
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