From this to this...Jango girth belt results

Cruzer

Well-Known Hunter
Well guys here's the girth belt I was able to make with a roll of that bolo material we ordered a while back from India. I also included a couple pics of it with my Seeker ammo belt. If anyone who also ordered some of this stuff wants more explaination and build up pics, just let me know how I can help.

Enjoy,
Cruzer

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Man Cruzer:eek: you still amaze me everyday! Truly an artist. I would deffinitly be up for more details as im planning on starting my girth as well with the same sweet sweet bolo that you supplied us bucket heads.
(y) (y) :cheers
 
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Is that cardboard or leather on the inside? Looks killer you need to open yourself up a leather hsop now! LOL
 
looks awesome, nice to see what the end product will look like
I finally went to the local Tandy store yesterday and picked up what I needed for mine :) weeee... I got the sanding part done, but figured the neighbors and my wife would think I was crazy if at 1am I was in the garage using Acetone..lol..

good job
 
Thanks guys.

Firstsonofsolo...it does look like cardboard to me too, but no it's leather :lol:

Kivas...STOP the sanding, that's too much work.:lol:

All right here are the few build up pics I took because the process is exactly like my other belt build up pics, with a few tweeks because I went full leather backing on this one, and of course the staining process was different.

Here's what I did:
  1. Cut my cord in strands that were 4" longer than what I needed for my belt length. I.e. I needed a belt that was 38", so I cut my strands to 42" so I would have plenty of excess for trimming later on. I ended up with 21 strands.
  2. Poured about 1/3 of a gallon of acetone into the metal paint pan (enough to submerge 3-4 strands coiled). Placed four strands in the thinner at a time and let soak for about 2-3 minutes. Then took a rag (I used painter's rags from Home Depot-package of around six) and scrubbed the surfaces while swirling them as they were coiled to try and get as much paint off as possible while in the thinner.
  3. Then removed each strand separately and wiped off a couple more times with a clean rag soaked in thinner. Used about one rag folded into fours for four strands, using a new clean side for each strand. Then tossed and got a new rag for the next 4 strands. Did this for all the strands.
  4. Cut out a piece of my leather backing to the dimensions shown. **Note there is correction made to one of the dimensions-the width of the belt should be 7", not 5 1/2" .
  5. Laid the leather backing on top of my plastic curved trash can liner that I clamped down to some bar stools. Glued the center strand first from one end to the other on the center line and about 1" shy of the end trim lines, and allowed it to fully dry. This preglued strand helped to keep all the other strands straight and parallel (sp?), plus it allowed me to push all the other strands against it so that they were nice and tight against one another when the glue dried. **Note- I glued the center area first before proceeding to one side when the center was dry, and then to the other side when that side was dry. The glue I would recommend using is "Leather Weld" sold by Tandy Leather because in all my leather work I've found this glue gives me the strongest and most permanent bond when glueing leather to leather. However, if that's not availabe, the "Leathercraft Cement" will also work well, and that's what I used on this belt because I didn't have any of the other kind on hand. But in my opinion the "Leather Weld" gives a slightly more permanent bond.
  6. Centered the leather backing on the trash can liner. Smeared glue all over the center section (about 15"-20") below the center strand. Glued each strand down one by one, folding each strand in half before I placed it down so that I knew where the center was and placing it on the center line marked on the belt. Constantly pushed the strands towards that preglued center strand so that they were tucked nice and tight together. Let it all dry (20-30 minutes) before moving onto the top part.
  7. Did the same for the area above the preglued center strand.
  8. Slid the leather backing with glued strands over and glued the below and above areas just like with the center areas. *******Very Important Note-when glueing the sides down, don't glue your strands all the way to your trim marker line. Only glue them about 1/2"-1" shy of that line so that you can pull the leather backing back after all the strands have been glued down so that you can trim all of the strands together side by side. I used a sharpie to transfer my trim line to the strands and I used one of those tools that holds the long razor blades to trim my strands by placing it on the line and hitting it with a mallet to get a nice straight cut. But a person could also just use a utility knife and make sure they cut each strand nice and straight in a line.
  9. I then doused the leather backing area that was left unglued with glue and the flap that would be folded over and glued it down and over. I used a lot of glue in this area to where it permeated and saturated the strands so that everything would glue down nice and hard. But don't use so much glue that it gushes out too much onto your strands that will be exposed because then you'll just have to spend a lot of time wiping the glue off. I used both dry kitchen paper towels and a damp sponge for cleaning the excess glue that did ooze out.
  10. Let it all dry and then trim the excess leather backing around the edges that isn't glued to the strands.
  11. Punch the holes. I used a 3/16" punch and punched through the third strand from the ends, and then every 4th strand from those holes. It should come out evenly to where your center hole is located on that middle strand of the belt.
  12. I used a hiking boot shoe lace to join the two sides, but if you look at one of the ref. pics from the Paris exhibit, they used a white shoe lace. So it's your call, but I wouldn't recommend using a piece of leather lace because it doesn't slide through the holes easily and it's prone to breaking.
That's it for the fabrication part...and my fingers are tired of typing.

I'll post what I did to stain/weather it in another post later on.

Sorry there were so many steps and some were long. I wanted to make sure I fully explained what I did to help out as much as possible, because this process has really worked good for me on my belts so far.

Hope this helps,
Cruzer

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great information there Cruzer. I am sure this is the obvious question..but.. I am guessing that your use of the all in one dark brown was applied before glueing correct?


oh.. and I didn't spend tons of time sanding. just a couple quick light passes with about 80 grit

and one more question, why 7 inch? when 21 strands at 1/4 inch each = 5 1/4 ? I am guessing you trimmed to the appropraite size after as at 7 inch it's easier to work with?
 
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Kivas, no, no I didn't do any staining what-so-ever until the belt was completely made.

Honestly, about the trimming, I'm someone who likes to cut excess and trim the excess later on rather than make the mistake of cutting something too short...that's it. As long as you glue that first middle strand right on the line and tuck in your other strand tight to that, then you could get away with less width. I also found the extra width helpful in giving me a larger piece to work with and when spreading the glue around cuz I didn't have to worry about smearing it off the leather.

Also, I used some very flexible backing that is about 1/16" thick (maybe even a tad less) and I glued the strands to the "fuzzy" side so that when I wrapped my ends around the finished side showed and because I figured the glue would stick better to the rougher surface.

Also keep in mind that I cut my strands with 4" extra when I could have gone with 2" extra and gotten another strand for 22 total. But, I didn't need 22 so I didn't worry about it, but a taller guy who wants more strands might. As long as you find the exact center of your strands when your gluing them down in the center, and be sure to place that on your center marker line, you're good to go. But I would leave some excess for trimming so you can get that straight edge on the ends.

I also tugged on the ends of each strand before I found the center in case any had shrunk a little.

Oh, and when your cord first comes off the spool, it will be very coiled, so I took mine off the spool and laid it in the sun for a couple days at the side of the house and then for a few more days in the garage to help it relax a little and take out some of those bends.

Anything else just let me know. I'm happy to help.

Cruzer
 
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I'll add a testimonial here for Cruzer's Girth Belt Tutorial. I used it to do my girth belt and it all when together like clock work, very easy!(y)

:cheers
 
Cruzer, 1st off thanks for responding so quickly. Second of all thanks for the valued information.

I too tend to err on the side of caution so had planned on cutting my piece a little wider than 5 1/4. Seeing as I have a nice sized chunk of hide as you do, I'll simply follow your lead.

Will be nice to see some progress on this tonight :) (along with re-doing my built up cod piece)
 
Looks awesome man! I think I am going to save this for a winter project since I wont really be able to paint during that time. When I do though I will defently be refering back to this. Great work as always Cruzer!
 
Thanks guys.

Whitearmor this project took about 8-9 hours from beginning to cut the strands to finishing the staining/weathering. So that's not too bad I don't think.(y)

Kivas you bring up a good point about having to buy a nice "chunk of hide" just for the backing of this belt.

I need enough leather for 4 more belts and then I'll have extra I probably won't have any use for. I don't mind cutting and making pieces available for others who also bought some of this bolo material so they don't have to buy a whole hide like Kivas and I did. $10 should cover a padded envelope, shipping, and the cost of the material if anyone is interested. If not, I paid about $45 for my piece of hide in the "sale" stack at our local Tandy store.

Later,
Cruzer
 
:love theres just no words.................well theres alot..............but man..............its like...........the first time i saw halo 2................:lol:

I can only imagine that your fingers hurt from typing, I hope you did it in word just incase the internet shut down..that would be bad....

Well Cruzer, thank you for this FLIPPIN AWESOME tutorial, it will deffinitly completly uterly and something elsely help me 200%

I would totally be down for throwin a couple more clam shells your way for sweet sweet cow hide. Man i wish i had more time to do all my projects........

Oh i just find out that i get the 3rd and 4th off at school (im in class right now shhhh) so hopefully i could ATLEAST get started.

Thanks again Cruzer, you are the Fett:cheers
 
I got mine done this weekend.... wowzers does it ever turn out beautiful. I had one minor glitch.. as in the leather I had bought I barely had enough to make the stitching cover piece..so likely not as wide as it should be(covers the two ends.. just) but I am very happy with the way this turned out.
 
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