Oviatt's Trenchcoat

[GWD]

Buckle Color?

Light Brown to match the Jacket or Dark Brown to match the buttons?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Light Brown to match the Jacket or Dark Brown to match the buttons?

If you're going for a leather-covered buckle, then match the leather color to the button color.


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[Mysterious Mose]

For buckle verification.

It's a long shot, kinda, and you'll have to pay for it but you could see these adverts for Oviatt trenchcoats:

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=oviatt+trench+coat&scoring=a&hl=en&ned=us&um=1&sa=N&sugg=d&as_ldate=1940&as_hdate=1959&lnav=hist3

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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GWD, your coat's original buckle might have looked and functioned like this one:

 

[GWD]

Thank Marc and Mose!

I took Mose's advice and got this;

This was from a Jan 3rd 1953 L.A. Times Ad. Obviously not the same trench coat, mine was made in Italy. Nevertheless it's worth sharing.

 

[Tomasso]

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GWD, your coat's original buckle might have looked and functioned like this one:

I doubt it because the back side of the pointy end would be showing and it's not really in a finished state.

Your move, Clouseau.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

fftopic: Here's the "colorful sports jacket" from the ad's bottom righthand corner:

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[GWD]

That's amazing Marc!

I'm going with the dark brown leather buckle

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Your move, Clouseau.

You're right. It must have been a simple friction buckle.


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[Marc Chevalier]

I'm going with the dark brown leather buckle.

But that's not a friction buckle. For the one you've chosen, you'd have to punch holes along the belt.


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[Tomasso]

My father had a belted A&F safari type jacket that featured a friction buckle made of horn. I bet they're still out there. That would look cool.

 

[GWD]

But that's not a friction buckle. For the one you've chosen, you'd have to punch holes along the belt.


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I'm just going to remove the "thing-a-ma-jig" from the middle with a pair of pliers.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I'm just going to remove the "thing-a-ma-jig" from the middle with a pair of pliers.

You can do that, but then you'll be left with a belt buckle that doesn't keep your belt cinched. Without real friction to hold it in place, the belt's tongue will gradually slide out of your buckle as soon as there is any "pull."


You need a special type of friction buckle. Does anybody have a photo of one to show GWD?


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[GWD]

This is what is on my London Fog Trench Coat.

I'm not saying it works well. If there is something better, I'm very interested in finding it!

 

[GWD]

Something like this???

Or This?

Or This?

Or This?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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A buckle like this one. (See 5th photo from the left. It's a back view of the buckle): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ategory=104001&_trkparms=algo=LVI&its=I&otn=2




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[GWD]

Where in the hell am I going to find one of those? [huh] lol

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Another option. These have ridges in the back to keep the belt from sliding open: http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-Mackinaw-r...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1bfda12bfd

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[BellyTank]

If you find that the leather covered buckle, with the "tang" removed, is too loose to keep the belt cinched up properly, you could probably tweak it by bending it so that it has a bit of a "V" to it- so that the sides are bent back from the centre, effectively making the buckle narrower- get a bit more tension. Or, when you sew the belt onto the centre of the buckle, put some more cloth inside the fold, to fatten it up, so the belt will be tighter going through the buckle. Or, to the same effect, get some plastic pipe, or tube, split it open and glue it in place on the centre bar.
The belt should be sewn as close as possible to the belt centre.
You'll be able to make something work, if you find the right looking, right sized buckle.


B
T

 

[GWD]

Another option. These have ridges in the back to keep the belt from sliding open: http://cgi.ebay.com/WWII-Mackinaw-r...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1bfda12bfd

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I ordered one of these last night ^^^^ it looks like it should work okay. If not, it's easy to change as I find more options.