Crafting Your Own Leather Part 3: The Gun Belt Eight Bits SASS# 25618L

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1 Crafting Your Own Leather Part 3: The Gun Belt Eight Bits SASS# 25618L In my first article I talked about how to craft a shooting cuff, and in my second article I showed you how to make a custom holster. I m sure by now you ve wanted to try this yourself, bought all the tools and supplies, made your first cuff or holster, and it didn t come out exactly the way you wanted it to. Remember, it takes time to develop a new skill, so don t get discouraged. Where ever possible, practice with scraps of leather until you master a particular technique. In this article we ll be making a gun belt to match that holster. Or perhaps you want to create a cartridge/shotshell belt. The techniques for cutting, preparing, finishing, lining, and stitching the gun belt are exactly the same as for the cuff and holster so I will not go into detail here. Belt Types: There are basically two types of gun belts; the drop belt for low slung, gun fighter rigs, and the straight belt. The straight belt is also used for cartridge/shotshell belts. The simplest type of gun belt is nothing more than a two-inch wide strip of leather with a buckle. The holster is hung on the belt ala John Wayne. It s usually larger than your normal waist size to fit low on one hip. It may or may not have cartridge loops. A good rule of thumb is to take your normal pants waste size and add eleven inches. If all you need is a simple belt like this, Tandy sells a two-inch belt blank that is already prepared to accept a buckle. A drop, or buscadero belt is a bit more complicated. It is designed so that the drop part that accepts the holster naturally sits low on the hip. There are three methods of producing this design; the first method is to use a straight belt with extra leather added for the drop. This is typically used for a two-gun belt, which has a drop on both the left and right sides. The second method is to design an angle into the belt at the point of the drop. This method is the most common for a single-drop belt and is the method I prefer. The third method involves measuring your waist and hips, then creating a curved belt to match the flare of your hips. This is very difficult to do by hand, and even with a computer, I have not had any success. Pattern: Once again, we ll begin by making a pattern out of paper. Don t shortcut this process; if you start with a quality pattern, you will have a quality result. When I made my gun belt

2 I made 4 or 5 patterns before I was satisfied with the result. Once again, check catalogs, gun shops, and other folk s rigs to get an idea of what you want your belt to look like. Generally, I like to make my gun belts at least three inches wide. I have seen some belts that are four or more inches wide to accept two rows of cartridge loops. To make a pattern for a straight belt simply cut three-inch wide strips of paper and tape them together. Wrap the pattern around your waist the same way you plan to wear the gun belt, and trim the ends so there is at least a three-inch overlap. Be sure the ends are square, and round the corners by tracing around a quarter and cutting around the tracing. With a straight belt you don t actually have to trace the full pattern onto the leather before cutting since all cuts will be straight, but be sure your cuts are straight and parallel. A dual-drop belt is a simple variation on the straight belt design. Start by creating a straight belt pattern as described above. Next, measure the width of the flap of the holster that you will hang on this belt. If you are using two different holsters, you have to measure each and remember which is left and right. Now draw an oval that is at least 3/8 high, and 1/4 wider than the hanging flap of the holster. Finish by drawing the shape of the drop around the oval. Leave at least 1/2 of leather around the oval. The more leather you have above the oval, the lower the drop will be. Cut out the drop pattern and tape it to the belt pattern at the point where you will wear your holster. Do the same for the other side and your pattern is now complete. For a single drop pattern we have to do some finagling with angles. Start by creating a straight belt pattern and a drop pattern as described above. Don t trim the ends of the belt yet. At the point where you would connect the drop pattern, cut the belt pattern in two. Be sure your cut is in the middle of where the drop pattern will go. Now take the short piece of belt pattern and rotate it up (away from the drop pattern) 15 or 20 degrees and tape it in place. The greater you make this angle the lower this part of the belt will sit on your hip. Increase the angle if you want it to sit lower. Now tape the drop pattern to the bottom of the angle you just created. Be sure the top corners of the drop touch the bottom of each side of the angled belt. There will be some overlap of the drop with the bottom of the V of the belt. Wrap the pattern around your waist in the same manner as you will wear the belt, and trim the ends so there is at least 3 of overlap. At this point, you can either use the pattern as is, or add a small piece of paper to smooth out the sharp V at the top of the angle.

3 Trace, cut, groove, bevel, and slick your project as described in my first article. Whether or not you decide to line your belt, it looks more professional to groove around the entire belt. Be sure to groove around the opening in the drop(s). You may also dye and finish your belt at this time. Belt Attachments: I prefer to stitch the attachments to my belt now and have the stitching covered by the suede lining, rather than have the stitching exposed on the underside of the belt. You will need a minimum of three attachments to your belt; buckle strap, tongue, and cartridge loops. You may also want to add shotshell loops. Remember, however, that you have a limited amount of belt space so you may have to sacrifice some cartridge loops for shotshell loops. Lets start with the buckle-strap and tongue. You could cut a couple of two-inch wide strips of leather to make these parts, but I find it easier to buy a ready-to-finish belt blank with the hardware already installed and just cut it to size. Using a belt blank, cut off the buckle end 10 back from the end; this is the buckle strap. Cut off another 11 strip which becomes the tongue. Round off the square ends by tracing around an appropriately round object (jar lids work well) then cut the leather. Punch 3 or 4 holes in the tongue 3 from the end and 1 apart. These will go through the buckle and hold your belt together when you wear it. Groove, bevel, slick and finish each piece. Do not bevel the backside of the ends that will be stitched to the gun belt. These should lie flat on the leather. You will also need to make two belt-keepers and attach them to the buckle strap; one for the tongue, and one for the overlap of the gun belt. Cut a 1/2 wide strip from your 3-5 oz. leather at least 14 long. Wrap it around two thicknesses of two-inch wide belt and cut it off even, then wrap it around two thicknesses of gun belt and cut it off even. Bevel, slick, dye and finish, then stitch the ends together to form a loop. You should now have two 1/2 wide loops. The small one holds the tongue and goes on the top of the bucklestrap between the two snaps. The large loop should be stitched between the two snaps on

4 the top of the buckle-strap that gets folded over the buckle. This will keep the overlapped ends of the gun belt together. On the buckle-strap and tongue, run your overstitch wheel in the groove only where the stitching will go. Carefully position each piece onto the gun belt. The buckle-strap should be positioned so that when it is folded to accept the buckle, the fold is even with the left-end of the gun belt. The tongue should be positioned on the gun belt so that the end of the tongue is even with the end of the gun belt. Before drilling and stitching assemble the parts with clips or clothespins and try it for fit. When you're ready to stitch, hold the buckle-strap in place and drill 1/16 holes completely through the strap and gun belt following the overstitch marks. Now stitch the strap in place. Do this for the tongue also. Cartridge Loops: Now it s time to add cartridge loops. First you need to determine how many cartridges you want to hold. A word of caution here; my measurements were based on my particular thickness of leather. You will need to experiment with scrap leather to determine your exact measurements. Each cartridge takes up 13/16 on the gun belt, so the gun belt spacing is 13/16. To find how much belt will be covered by 25 cartridges, multiply 13/16 by 25 then add 1/2 for each end. 13/16 x = 21 5/16 You can also work the problem backwards. If you want to cover 30 of belt with cartridges, how many cartridges will that be (don t you just hate word problems)? 30-1 = 35 cartridges.8125 (decimal value of 13/16) Ok, so we know that 25 cartridge loops will take up 21 5/16 of belt. However, the strip of leather that makes up the loops will actually be longer because of the loops themselves. For my leather each loop required 1 1/2 of leather. (This measurement may change depending on the thickness of leather you use.) The length of the strip will be the number of cartridge loops times 1 1/2 plus 1/2 for each end, or for 25 cartridge loops we need a strip of leather 38 1/2.

5 25 x 1 1/2 + 1 = 38 1/2 Cut a strip of 3-5 oz. leather 3/4 wide and at least 1 longer than your calculation. Start 1/2 in from one end and mark the strip every 1 1/2 until you ve marked your last loop, then cut off the rest of the strip 1/2 beyond your last mark. Drill three 1/16 holes vertically at each mark. Round off the ends, bevel both sides, slick, dye and finish the strip. On your gun belt measure down 5/8 from the top of the belt and make a mark where your cartridge loops begin. Use the tip of a pencil to make a small indentation in the leather. Move over 13/16 and make another mark 5/8 from the top of the belt. Continue in this manner until you have marked the location of all of the loops. Drill a 1/16 hole at each mark. Take the cartridge loop strip and place the top edge of the strip directly below the first hole in the belt. The first hole in the belt should be in a vertical line with the first three holes in the strip. Make sure the strip is parallel with the belt, and drill through the three holes in the strip making three matching holes in the belt. Drill a fourth hole only in the gun belt directly below the three original holes in the strip, and close to the bottom edge of the strip. Now move the strip over so that the second set of three holes is lined up below the second hole in the belt. Drill these three holes in the belt, then drill the bottom hole in the belt as before. Continue until all holes are drilled in the belt. This method ensures that all of the holes match and line up correctly. Now you re ready to stitch the cartridge loops in place. Start at one edge and work across the belt, stitching each loop individually. I used a single needle and ran waxed thread back and forth through the holes until I had completed the stitching. After completing the stitching for one loop, I cut off the excess thread on the back of the gun belt so the ends wouldn t show when I covered them with suede, and moved to the next set of holes. The method for making and attaching shotshell loops is exactly the same. Because the shotshells are larger, the measurements are larger. For 12 gauge shotshells and my thickness of leather, the measurements I used were: Strip Width = 1 1/2 Gun Belt Spacing = 1 1/6

6 Strip Spacing = 2 3/16 Once again, you may have to adjust the strip spacing to accommodate the thickness of the leather you are using. Certainly your measurements will change if you are using a different gauge. Try it first using scrap leather. I had to redo my shotshell loops three times before I got it right! Attaching the Lining If you plan to line the gun belt with suede, now is the time. Follow the directions in my first article. You may not be able to cover the entire belt with one continuous piece of suede, but you can use two pieces. Use your overstitch wheel to mark the stitching groove, then drill and stitch your belt. Be prepared for at least 2 or 3 evenings in front of the TV to complete the stitching. When you are done, you can attach your holster(s) and you re ready to go. Again, congratulations on a job well done! You now have a beautiful, hand-made rig you can be proud to show-off at your next shoot. (You probably also have sore fingers from stitching, and a small pile of scraps from leather cuttings, practice pieces, and numerous attempts.) If you want to get really fancy you can attach conchos to your leather. These are available from Tandy Leather or western apparel stores. If you want to carve or stamp patterns in your leather Tandy also sells the tools and a number of how-to books and specialty patterns. Once you discover how fun and easy it is you ll soon be making knife sheaths, cartridge boxes, saddle scabbards, and other leather accessories for yourself and friends. What a great way to get into the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting by designing and making your own authentic, unique leather accessories. Shoot fast, shoot straight, be safe, but most of all, have fun.