I have now made my remaining belts, probably the last for this year. The sterling buckles are gently curved and have centre cross bars.
One was made from strip and filed to shape. The other was made from round wire, faceted in the mill and then swaged.
There is little more to say about the metal work, so I thought I would introduce you to some of the tools I used on the leather. Don’t read on if you know all this already.
I am still an abject beginner at belt making, being mostly self-taught, with some advice from suppliers and suggestions from ps_bond for finishing the edges.
Starting on the left in picture 3:
The skiver is used for thinning the leather from the back, particularly where it is folded over the cross bar. It has very sharp disposable blades. By cutting on a sheet of glass it saves the blade from too much damage when it inevitably slips off
The tool with the wooden handle is a beveller, which is used with a pushing action to remove the sharp angles of cut edges. It litters the floor with fine leather laces.
The dark wheel with a hole and a grooved edge is a slicker. You are meant to run it along the slightly wetted edge of the belt to achieve polished finish. I have never previously had much success with it. This time it occurred to me to mount it on the spindle of my Proxxon grinder polisher. That was much more effective, particularly when I used bees wax as a finish.
The dividers are there to show that accurate marking out is essential. The rivets are set with the large concave punch, so as not to damage their heads.
The hole punching pliers suit me fine, although it seems that professionals prefer separate punches.
Mission completed. Dennis
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