Henry Bowman
Senior Member
I've yet to find a good gun belt that looks like a fine dress belt. Why can't the gunleather makers try:
1. Skive (bevel) the edges so that it doesn't look so thick and strain the belt loops on dress pants.
2. Use a finer thread with a shorter stich length (more stiches per inch) for stitching the belt. This will be easier to do if the edges are skived.
3. Angle the holes. If you will notice on belts that are well worn, the tongue of the buckle wears the hole and crooks the belt. This is to accommidate the fact that the hole and the buckle tongue meet at an angle, even though the hole is made perpendicular to the belt. This problem is exasserbated when the belt is thick (like most gun belts).
4. Use a smaller, dressier buckle. Not a big hunk of brass or steel.
5. There are other ways to make a belt stiff without making it so thick. Stiffen the belt with an insert of spring steel or plastic (like UHMW or the like) in the part from about 10:00 o'clock to 2:00 o'clock, rather than making it 3/16 or 1/4 inch thick. A basic full grain belt body could be used with a finer leather or exotic outer layer for looks. The stiffener could be laminated in-between to make it stiff without adding thickness.
6. Make the ends of the belt that interact with the buckle thinner. FAST does this by stiffening only the part of the belt from about 7:00 o'clock to 2:00 with thickness. It does not, however, incorporate any of the other above suggestions.
I think that the problem is that holster makers add belts as a sideline. Instead, I would go to a high end belt maker and work on modifications to make it a good gun belt without "cowboying it up." I think that a fine dress belt could be widened from about 1.1" to about 1.25" and a stiff filler used instead of the foam one that you find in many dress belts and (with angling the holes) we would have what I'm seeking.
Any other thoughts?
1. Skive (bevel) the edges so that it doesn't look so thick and strain the belt loops on dress pants.
2. Use a finer thread with a shorter stich length (more stiches per inch) for stitching the belt. This will be easier to do if the edges are skived.
3. Angle the holes. If you will notice on belts that are well worn, the tongue of the buckle wears the hole and crooks the belt. This is to accommidate the fact that the hole and the buckle tongue meet at an angle, even though the hole is made perpendicular to the belt. This problem is exasserbated when the belt is thick (like most gun belts).
4. Use a smaller, dressier buckle. Not a big hunk of brass or steel.
5. There are other ways to make a belt stiff without making it so thick. Stiffen the belt with an insert of spring steel or plastic (like UHMW or the like) in the part from about 10:00 o'clock to 2:00 o'clock, rather than making it 3/16 or 1/4 inch thick. A basic full grain belt body could be used with a finer leather or exotic outer layer for looks. The stiffener could be laminated in-between to make it stiff without adding thickness.
6. Make the ends of the belt that interact with the buckle thinner. FAST does this by stiffening only the part of the belt from about 7:00 o'clock to 2:00 with thickness. It does not, however, incorporate any of the other above suggestions.
I think that the problem is that holster makers add belts as a sideline. Instead, I would go to a high end belt maker and work on modifications to make it a good gun belt without "cowboying it up." I think that a fine dress belt could be widened from about 1.1" to about 1.25" and a stiff filler used instead of the foam one that you find in many dress belts and (with angling the holes) we would have what I'm seeking.
Any other thoughts?
Hopefully, it would look "feminine," rather than "female."
