Farting around with leather.

[hawgrider]

Made some progress over the weekend. Got it stained and 2 coats of Atom wax topcoat. Still need to mount the ammo loops, burnish the edges of the belt and trim the belt at the strap end.

Might try to darken the holster to see if I can get a better match.

[Infidel]

Heard you mention the Atom wax a while back so for this application I wanted to try it. Figured it would be more flexible than Resolene.

You are correct the tiger thread was pricey that spool is 500 meters and was about 36 bucks and took for ever to get here. I'll check out Makers leather supply thanks for the link! I'm going to need something beside brown like you mentioned maybe some white.

This gun belt venture has been the most difficult so far for me. Measuring my fat ass and getting it right on the belt wasn't easy for a simple minded guy like me. Lack of planning is my strong point lol!

Made some progress over the weekend. Got it stained and 2 coats of Atom wax topcoat. Still need to mount the ammo loops, burnish the edges of the belt and trim the belt at the strap end.

Might try to darken the holster to see if I can get a better match.

LOL, I suffer from the same problem, can't tell you how many pieces I've had to recut because I didn't factor something in or because I forgot to include something. It's all part of the learning process.
Leather Balm is good stuff and you're right it's a lot more flexible than resolene. It's perfect for this project too since it won't be super shiny, just a light satiny gloss to it. Belt looks great so far.

[hawgrider]

LOL, I suffer from the same problem, can't tell you how many pieces I've had to recut because I didn't factor something in or because I forgot to include something. It's all part of the learning process.
Leather Balm is good stuff and you're right it's a lot more flexible than resolene. It's perfect for this project too since it won't be super shiny, just a light satiny gloss to it. Belt looks great so far.

Thanks!
Flying by the seat of my pants here so I left things long to start with and as it goes together then I can make a better decision where to cut.

And the big hair puller is mounting the ammo loops in exactly the correct spots... Ill never be happy if they are off center

[RubberDuck]

From that pic the color is pretty close
As for the loops even if you do get them straight I will stare at them with a smirk just to screw with your OCD

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[hawgrider]

Close ?

Trying to end up spaced evenly with the buckle centered. Once I figure out if they are in the right position I'll try to center them in the width of the belt.

[hawgrider]

From that pic the color is pretty close
As for the loops even if you do get them straight I will stare at them with a smirk just to screw with your OCD

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You know it! A crooked picture drives me apeshit!

[Infidel]

That looks pretty good but you might be better off putting the belt on and have someone there to move stuff to where you want it. Centering them might look nice but if you can't reach that last loop there's not much point. As it sits now you should be ok as long as you're not a T-Rex, I might prefer another inch between them to make it just a little easier to reach them all.

-Infidel

[hawgrider]

That looks pretty good but you might be better off putting the belt on and have someone there to move stuff to where you want it. Centering them might look nice but if you can't reach that last loop there's not much point. As it sits now you should be ok as long as you're not a T-Rex, I might prefer another inch between them to make it just a little easier to reach them all.

-Infidel

Ah yes the reach factor could be an issue for a fat guy.

[hawgrider]

Pretty much done for now on the belt. Mounted the ammo loops and made a keeper for the belt strap and the overlap section.

All in all I'm pretty happy with it for a first time venture.

The goods-
It fits my fat ass, its sturdy, the color is pretty good, the match of colors is not to bad, the ammo loops are snug and I landed them on the belt pretty darn close to where they needed to be.

The bads-
because the belt is 2 glued pieces thick my edges didn't stain and burnish as well as I'd liked. So at some point I'll order some edge paint from Tandy to fix that.

Either the stain or the leather balm atom wax changes color and leaves a weathered cracked look when the belt is bent or flexed which I'm ok with but I didn't expect it to do the when the leather is bent or flexed. I'm betting it's the stain which is Pro dye. Maybe an oil stain would have been better?

[Broncosfan]

Hawgrider It looks great! I like the weathered cracked look. It gives it character and looks like its been worn and used.

Excellent Job!