Reproduction Western Belts

[Slago]

LOL ok ... I rewrite it correct and I apologize for the spam!

"Matt we'll never be as good as you ;-) you are light years ahead!"

^_^

 

[Mr Badger]

LOL ok ... I rewrite it correct and I apologize for the spam!

"Matt we'll never be as good as you ;-) you are light years ahead!"

^_^

Now that makes MUCH more sense, Slago!

 

[Mr Badger]

Have finished the first four retail examples, all using vintage belts, think they work very well with the existing patterns...

From left:

* Vintage steerhead-embossed belt w/amber jewels, bullet spots and nickel spots.
* Vintage tooled and dyed belt w/amber jewels & nickel spots.
* Vintage embossed belt w/green jewels, 'suit of cards' cutouts & yellow flatback jewels, vintage bullet spots and nickel spots.
* Vintage basketweave belt w/red jewels, vintage bullet spots and nickel spots.

 

[Slago]

Suuuuuper!!!!

 

[Mr Badger]

In between doing job stuff, I've been very busy making belts, wallets and wristbands... DJed at the BathVa Vintage Fashion Fair on Sunday, and launched Bam-Balam there, though hardly anyone took any notice! BTW, as I said before, this is a very small thing, to keep me from worrying about the job situation and to make a little money for a few pints – I'm certainly not competing with Matt, Ace Belts or Slago!

Seeing as the vintage fair went quite poorly, I've got two local retail stockists sorted out: the most excellent Dustbowl Vintage in Bristol, who'll be getting their stock in a coupla weeks (I'm waiting for more wallets, cuffs & wristbands), and a cool little coffee shop / gallery / vintage place in Frome by the name of Crocker & Woods...

Here's a selection of the stuff I've been doing:

I went over to Frome today and got the hanging display set up in Crocker & Woods:

And seeing as it was a lovely day, for a change, I got spiffed up in some suitable gear for a novice traveling salesman!

Working with the vintage belts I got has been really satisfying – I particularly liked varying the colours / patterns to suit any existing tooling / embossing / lacing:

Here's hoping that I actually sell some now! :eeek:

 

[esteban68]

Good stuff Mr B, do you use all new components or do you re use old buckles etc?

 

[Mr Badger]

Good stuff Mr B, do you use all new components or do you re use old buckles etc?

Ta muchly – to answer your question, the belts are all vintage, and I recondition 'em with leather feed and neaten any existing 'holes', occasionally cutting 'em to a shorter length. The wallets and wristbands are new, but faithful to 1940s-50s designs, and the leather's on a par with what you would've expected from buying 'em from an illustrated ad outta the back of a hot rod mag back in the day... the fixins are all new, with the buckles coming from Tandy and the jewels & studs from Standard Rivet in Boston, who are now celebrating their 125th anniversary!

I rub down / age all of the metal items, and I hope, allied with the fact that all of the belts have studs so you can easily change the buckle, folks in the UK will be happy to pay £60 for a belt, £45 for a wallet and £20 per wristband... affordable and authentic is what I'm going for! And I should be able to make some beer money (and avoid doing DIY!)...

Have stayed away from the kind of designs that include different coloured leather panels and am more interested in the metalwork, and hoping it complements the original leather belts I'm using... so far, so good!

 

[esteban68]

They look really good, similar thoughts on DIY, I used to competently do all ours however my times now far too valuable and I'd/we'd rather pay someone that have me cussing the house down when one job turns into many!

 

[Mr Badger]

They look really good, similar thoughts on DIY, I used to competently do all ours however my times now far too valuable and I'd/we'd rather pay someone that have me cussing the house down when one job turns into many!

I concur most wholeheartedly with your approach to DIY, and thanks for the kind words!

 

[Mr Badger]

Am just putting stuff together for my second stockist, Dustbowl Vintage in Bristol, who'll be getting the big display stand, featuring belts, wallets and wristbands, next Saturday... Holly from Dustbowl mentioned that their customers, a discerning lot apparently, have always been mad-keen on the very few 1940s-50s Western / motorcycle wrist protectors or cuffs they've managed to source, and asked if I could make some – never being one to turn down a request from a lady, I said I'd have a go! Unfortunately, I couldn't find any brown or Cordovan wristbands to decorate, but did get some decent black ones, and so decided upon this design:

I think they're pretty spot-on, but they took a hella long time to make!

 

[Mr Badger]

If you've read thru the thread, you may be wondering why my prices are now around 50% higher than I'd originally intended - the answer: costs & retailer's cut... I under-estimated the rise in postage costs to get supplies to me, the time I'd need to prep the vintage belts and, of course, factoring in a fair percentage of the end price for the retailers who are stocking 'em! But I still think that the quality's there and they're affordable for those in the UK...

 

[Mr Badger]

Worked doing some freelance editing for three days last week while trying to finish off the stuff for my second stockist, the most excellent Dustbowl Vintage on Bristol's Park Street – busy hardly covers it!

Was really stoked to set up the display stand alongside their wares – they have some really nice old G-1s, gab shirts, Hawaiian shirts, etc, and they stock Freddies of Pinewood selvedge jeans... Colin and Holly also own Uncle Sam's a coupla doors down, which has lotsa hotcha ladies vintage...

 

[SXP]

The studded & jeweled belts you guys have made look great...very impressive. I'm hoping you can help me - I've been having a devil of a time trying to find center bar buckles that'll fit 1-3/4" straps, that is, besides the standard garrison-type buckle. I'm especially looking for a clipped corner buckle (1-3/4"). I've seen clipped corner buckles by Tandy that'll fit 1-1/2" straps, but not really many 1-3/4" buckles. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Feraud]

This one has an antique finish but the size and style look right.
http://www.beltbuckles.com/jtcebarbebuf.html

 

[SXP]

This one has an antique finish but the size and style look right.
http://www.beltbuckles.com/jtcebarbebuf.html

Thanks, but I'd prefer the clipped corner buckle, like this on the same site:
http://www.beltbuckles.com/pcsobr.html

However, I'd like it to be longer vertically than horizontally, if that makes sense.

 

[Mr Badger]

The studded & jeweled belts you guys have made look great...very impressive. I'm hoping you can help me - I've been having a devil of a time trying to find center bar buckles that'll fit 1-3/4" straps, that is, besides the standard garrison-type buckle. I'm especially looking for a clipped corner buckle (1-3/4"). I've seen clipped corner buckles by Tandy that'll fit 1-1/2" straps, but not really many 1-3/4" buckles. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the kind words – this place seems to have a good selection of what you need, but the buckles are pretty pricey at $49.95 EACH!

The 'Rio Bravo 1':

The 'Pale Rider 2':

 

[SXP]

Thanks for the kind words – this place seems to have a good selection of what you need, but the buckles are pretty pricey at $49.95 EACH!

Yer welcome! Thanks. Saw this site before. They look very nice, but "pretty pricey" is right!

 

[Mr Badger]

Yer welcome! Thanks. Saw this site before. They look very nice, but "pretty pricey" is right!

I'm guessing you're paying a premium for 'em cos the guy's done his research and either sourced NOS buckles or had them cast himself... dunno where in the US you are but I've seen many, many buckles at antique malls, mostly on old military belts or just in an old cracker tin with loads of others, you may have the perfect excuse for a roadtrip! Another alternative is checking whether you've got any old 'hunting goods' stores or proper shoe repair places near you, they often have old bits and bobs knocking around – I bought a set of Cat's Paw heels from a cobbler in Brooklyn the other year, he was amazed that I even asked for 'em and only charged me $5! Even if the belt a buckle's on is the wrong size, you'll be able to reuse it...

 

[esteban68]

I 've had a few decent 'vintage' buckles off Ebay often around the 5 pound mark including some nice western types...might be worth a look?

 

[Mr Badger]

I've been busy putting together a dozen ladies' belts for the Lady K Loves label, which I delivered on Sunday, so they can take 'em to the Rockabilly Rave next weekend, to complement their repro 50s jeans and pedal pushers... as the vintage belts I sourced were all pretty long (usually size 40" or 42"), I had to do a lorra cutting down and punching more holes! Think they turned out nicely tho'...

I've also been using acetone to strip a number of brown belts and re-dyed 'em black with a water-based product, which was tricky at first but I've now got it working very well... sad to say, the black belts are deffo the most popular colour with the 'rockabilly' crowd... next up are some studded & jeweled 1950s-style guitar straps for my friends at Regent Sounds on Denmark St in 'the London' – they're total vintage Fender and Gretsch fans, and stock some really nice gear, but no-one's making that kind of decorated strap so we may sell a few...

Sales have been slow, but at least it's a bit of beer money!

We went to the most excellent Vintage Nostalgia Show in Wiltshire recently and I gave out fliers, and talked to some potential stockists, most of whom were pretty encouraging, apart from some rude dude who said 'I get my belts from a guy in California and they're cheaper than yours' – yep, but they're plasticky, all the same really gaudy design and shoddily made in Mexico! The folks from Freddies Of Pinewood were lovely, though, and said although they don't stock other folks' products, they'd get around to putting a link to my Facebook page on their website, which is nice... another thing I may get into is studding motorcycle tool rolls and panniers – a guy at the show asked if I'd do the kit he'd had made for his 1948 Harley, as he reckons that the modern stuff the company makes is rubbishy and has 'eagles all over it'! I said I was more than happy, it'd be a privilege!

Finally, I got my first celeb endorsement, in the shape of Jim Jones from the Jim Jones Revue, here's the belt I made for him: