Belt

Ten Wolves Fiveshooter · August 03, 2013, 10:38:48 AM

I wear money belts, and prefer them for all day wear over a stiff leather belts, and I agree with Cliff, the open mouth of the belt is in my opinion the best way to use the money belt , at least if you are going to use it the way it was intended, putting in or taking out coin money or paper or as they used to do carry bills of sale is only user friendly if the mouth is open, the slit doesn't allow for this...

tEN wOLVES

Cliff Fendley · August 03, 2013, 11:39:07 AM

Quote from: Red Cent on August 03, 2013, 09:37:10 AM
The picture under "Colonel Marlowe" is the mental picture I have of a money belt.

Of the hundreds of matches I have attended I have never noticed or looked, for that matter, for a money belt. I will need to do some more research and examine what you pards have posted.

Muchas gracias.

Those matches you have attended I'm assuming are SASS matches. I've never seen a money belt at a SASS match but I have made some for NCOWS shooters.

Around these parts the SASS shooters are either wearing a rig designed strictly for competition or the ones that are not and think they are dressing authentic are wearing something that resembles a hollywood interpretation of the old west.

All in all, few of my money belts are for CASers. Some are for re enactors and most are for hobbyist and collectors who want to occasionally shoot or display their 19th century firearms with a more appropriate outfit.

BobbyF · August 03, 2013, 09:27:08 PM

Good evening Pards,
Red you made this belt post at the perfect time. I am just starting to make my first gun belt from recycled police equipment as "practice". Cliff's pics, aside from being beautiful, showed me what I need to do. The explanation and definitions really simplified things. Thanks again-BobbyF

Red Cent · August 04, 2013, 09:19:27 AM

Gotta have pictures when you finish.

BobbyF · August 06, 2013, 07:56:09 PM

Hi Red, I'll send pics when it's done. In the mean time, I'm going to try to line the practice belt with a very thin ( shy of a 16th") I think it's pig skin, the belt is 25 yr old 3/16" strong belt. I was going to use contact cement,then hand stitch it using most of the existing punched holes. Do you think this will work. As always thank you all- BobbyF

Red Cent · August 06, 2013, 08:24:56 PM

BobbyF, anything works for practice. The folks here can answer your questions better than I. I think in weight at this time. I would guess the belt is around 8-9 ounce. I would guess you are using a 4-5 once for lining. I would think that once you have the right adhesion, the belt can be sewn easilty and make for a very strong gunbelt (concealed carry).

Boothill Bob · August 12, 2013, 09:54:32 AM

I'm making a moneybelt and I wonder if you makes a grove before folding it, and what weight do you use? I'm using 6-7oz

Massive · August 12, 2013, 12:38:05 PM

It might depend on the actual case. A lot of the ones I see have a noticeable radius at the fold as though nothing was done to make it fold more compactly. But then a lot of modern belts are made to a much heavier standard, so if one was making one out of heavy material and the bulk was too great, it might make sense to skive a little away. So I probably wouldn't care too much what other were saying since my actual material would have the biggest impact. If it looks bad I would skive it.

Massive · August 12, 2013, 01:00:33 PM

Bobby, I just made a modern style gun belt, my first, using similar weight materials, and it turned out beautifully. My lining material was on the light side, but it worked fine on a belt. I used a Tandy belt blank (shoot me, they had a good sale, and I was able to pick over a huge stack

), and the lining was some top grain.

I only see two potential issues with your plan. One is the spacing of stitching, it was stitched before so it should be fine. The spacing looks wide, I like around 6 stitches per inch. Probably just the picture, so long as it looks good to you. You may need and awl to re-open the holes to get needles through by hand. Sewing machines make a tight hole since the needle is grooved to take in the thread.

The other thing is that the normal way to do this work is to lay the blank over some oversized lining, when bringing the contact cement together, then press it out really hard, I use a roller for that. Then one trims the lining, and deals with the edges as a solid piece. If your edges are rolled, or already finished, it can affect making the thing look as unified as possible. Cutting back to a raw edge first is one way to get back to a starting point, and it can be easy if you have a belt gage. Or a knife and a sanding block could be used to blend the lining in. Lots of ways. If one starts with the two layers square then it is easier to locate the radius so it is centred on the blank.

Cliff Fendley · August 12, 2013, 02:15:48 PM

Quote from: Boothill Bob on August 12, 2013, 09:54:32 AM
I'm making a moneybelt and I wonder if you makes a grove before folding it, and what weight do you use? I'm using 6-7oz

You may have to groove that in order to fold it.

4-5 oz is more suitable for a money belt. I have used some 5-6 oz before but that would be as heavy as I would consider using.

I have never grooved a money belt before folding.

Boothill Bob · August 12, 2013, 03:23:41 PM

Thanx cliff.. Will use lighter leather next time..

Red Cent · August 12, 2013, 06:41:30 PM

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee189/redcent69/Leather/Waynesholster005_zpsb030d25e.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee189/redcent69/Leather/Waynesholster001_zps6d38f550.jpg

BobbyF · August 15, 2013, 09:34:32 PM

Massive, thanks for the step by step lesson. I will do as you suggest as it makes a lot of sense and backed by experience. I won't get to work on it for about 2weeks. I'm headed back to N. M. From NY and my stuff is packed. When I get if done I will post it. I also got one of those Tandy belt blanks that looks really good,that's the one I'm practicing for. Thanks mucho- BobbyF