Belt Question

[Anaka Skywalker]

I have everything needed to make my Jedi Utility belt, but I have a problem, so what else is new. Last week I went to the Tandy website and ordered the leather (one 2 inch strip and one 1/2 inch strip), rivets and dye needed to make the belt. Materials arrived on Thursday. Saturday, I went to Joann’s Fabric and bought a big black plastic buckle for the back and a smaller silver buckle for the front. I got the leather dyed and was ready to attach the leather to the buckle when I discovered both strips are too fat and won't fit. The width is no problem, but both of these strips are too fat to fit into the buckles properly. I can get the 2 inch strip to fit into the black buckle, but I can’t pull it tight so that it fits down into the buckle flush. The 1/2 inch strip doesn't even come close to fitting. Has anyone else encountered this problem and if so, what did you do to get the leather to fit? My dad suggested I use my rotary tool with the sanding attachment and try to grind it down. This sounds a bit extreme to me and I’m afraid I’ll take off too much and ruin the belt. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help!

[Mon-Jas Charan]

[shadow=red,left,300]

This happens most of the time. I'd eather sand it down with a Dremmel, or I would shave it with a mat knife. you may also need to thin the 1/2 in belt to get it to bend around the buckle. I hope this makes sence.

[/shadow]

[Anaka Skywalker]

Yep it makes perfect sense. When my dad suggested it, it sounded a bit extreme, but since I've seen the belts you made, I trust your judgement. I only hope my belt ends up looking half as nice as the two you made and posted. Thanks for your help!

[Kyrel-Dak]

there are also tools specifically made for sciving down the leather.......this is thining it, you can check with tandy if you want to buy the tool. This helps to just thin it in the desired areas but leaving it thick where you want. I am able to do this with an exacto knife but I have been doing leather work for too many years. There is another tool which slightly trims the edges and helps keep them from cracking when making tight bends like those through the belt buckle. This tool has a groove and a wooden handle. I have one and use it often. Buying the right leather tools help quite a bit and are a good investment for future projects or making belts for anyone else. The trim tool for thinning looks almost like a cheese slicer. Good luck however you happen to work on it..........

[Saberbelt]

Yup - the skiver is about your only hope. The only other thing you can do is try to grind the buckle a bit, but that can get ugly quick.

The is the main reason why I started just using sides of leather instead of pre-cut straps. I can get the exact thickness I want with very little waste. Of course, I make a ton of belts for others so going through a side of leather is easy for me

If you actually take your belts with buckles in to a Tamdy store, the store manager may let you use his tools without having to buy anything. I know the guy I buy from is one of the nicest guys in the world to talk too, and he has never given me any bad advice, and I should mention that I talk with him A LOT and bounce questions off him when I am stuck - he has yet to say he doesn't have time to talk when I have questions. It really says something when a manager stops to talk with you on the phone for an hour or more sometimes.

Dave

[Leda EmBorr]

Yeah... what they said!

I had the same problem with the silver buckle in front... but I solved it with a scissor and a brown marker to recolor the sides that I trimmed. here's a pic... but I'm sure it will look better if you use the proper tools. Mines good enough for me right now, but I may want to fix it at some point.

www.geocities.com/galaxygal_117/pics/floaters/buckle-sm.jpg [/img]

[Anaka Skywalker]

Thanks for the great advice! I am going to try to use the sanding tool, but if I chicken out I have two alternatives. I will either cut my belt like the example Leda Em-Borr gives above or visit the leather store I just found. Since I live about 2 hours from the nearest Tandy store, I did yet another internet search for leather shops in this area, and found one that's a 20 minute drive from my house. Don’t ask me why this place didn’t show up in my first search because I don’t have a clue. Anyway, I called the store yesterday and the man was a hoot. I told him I had a crazy question for him and he told me when it comes to leather working, there's no such thing. Well I told him what I was doing and about the problems I was having with the leather being too fat for the buckles. He asked me if I could come down to the shop and talk to him, so last night I went to see him. This man is going to be a huge help to me. He got so excited when I described my costume to him, that he took me outside of the shop and told me to look in the windows above their sign. What did I see? A huge cardboard cut out of Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and C3PO! He again repeated “No such thing as a crazy question.” He gave me some more tips on how to get the belt to fit into the buckles, but told me if I didn’t want to try it, that I could bring the leather down to him and he would do it for me! What a guy! I also told him about the problem I had with the pair of boots that I ordered, and he said that he’d be glad to try to fix them so that I could wear them. I sure do hope he can because if so, then I’ll have two pair of boots to choose from! So it looks like I’ll be making a trip to his shop this coming Saturday. ;D

[jason1976]

Man, you all are so lucky. The people who run my local leather shop are tuff as nails, and a lot less friendly (then nails). Every time I go in there, they stair me down, like it's high-noon in some old western. I asked the price of one of there belt blanks, that wasn't priced, and I swear one of them growled at me. I guess they just don't hold with my newfangled, ideas, about actually helping a customer.


Jason

[Anaka Skywalker]

Wow, sorry to hear the people in your local leather shop are not user friendly. I was afraid that I would run into that when I called this shop and especially when they found out what I was doing. Needless to say, I was very surprised and relieved to find the man was really interested in my project! I am taking my friend down this weekend to by the leather and other "stuff" needed to make her belt. I hope my friend is there on Saturday because I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask him.