Belt and buckle bumbling

**lukeyrobertson** · 24th September 12, 08:59 PM

Hey opositive, is that belt one that attaches via a velcro system or by the small buckle system on the back of the belt? Very nice choice. I'm drawn to the circular buckles for some reason. Prices seem very good, too. Thanks for the heads up.

**Tobus** · 25th September 12, 06:05 AM

So Artificer and Tobus, do you think a black belt and Sam Brown buckle would be OK with an Argyle (I kinda think not but... maybe)? Better for day, I think.

I've certainly seen it done. That style of belt/buckle with a tweed Argyll gives it a more casual look, to my eye. It would be fine for day wear out-of-doors. But personally, I think it might be a little strange if worn with a Barathea Argyll when trying to dress things up. This is one of those little nuances that gives day wear such a broad range of dressiness.

I've also seen some nice round buckles with various celtic designs. Does the rabble think they would do day OK?

Personally, I think the round buckles can only do day wear. And again, more on the casual end of the scale. I've never been a fan of round buckles, though. There's something about the shape in that particular location that seems to jar my sense of aesthetics. And it almost borders on looking 'costumey' to me, but perhaps that's just my own personal bias. There are plenty of folks who like that look, and if you do as well, then go for it.

i had seen the picture tobus posted (or something similar) before and really liked the embossed belt and pewter buckle, but i liked the celtic dogs buckle a bit more than the antiqued plate.

Just to clarify, the belt I showed above is not embossed. It's tooled. There's a big difference! Embossing is done by a machine that simply presses a design onto the leather with a wheel, and gives a very shallow indentation. Tooling is cut-in by hand and requires hours of labour with a mallet and stamping tools. It gives a much deeper impression in the leather, as well as adding stiffness due to the compression of the leather.

Most vendors who sell belts with designs on them are selling embossed belts. They're cheap to make and can be done in mass production runs. But a tooled belt is truly a one-of-a-kind item, and no two will be the same. If you're ever looking for a unique, custom belt that will really stand apart from the embossed ones, find a leather worker that is willing to do the design and tooling for you. It's well worth the money if you want your belt to stand apart from others. Not everyone likes belts with designs on them (the traditional Scots seem to prefer plain belts), but if you do like designs, tooling is the way to go.

Here's a comparison of my (black) embossed belt and my hand-tooled belt. Notice the difference in depth of the impressions. Also, here's a better photo of the buckle I showed earlier.

**artificer** · 25th September 12, 06:33 AM

Originally Posted by lukeyrobertson

So Artificer and Tobus, do you think a black belt and Sam Brown buckle would be OK with an Argyle (I kinda think not but... maybe)? Better for day, I think. And Rondo, very nice... very nice indeed.

I'm going to look up the waist plate link, Tobus.

You might wear a Sam Browne with a tweed Argyll, but, as Tobus mentioned, it would be far too casual for a black Barathea Argyll.

ith:

**opositive** · 25th September 12, 05:09 PM

tobus--thank you for correcting my bumbling of terms. i still am a newbie.

as for whether this is a small buckle or velcro system, i have not received these items yet. i hope it is buckle. good point. i need to ask that in the future.

**lukeyrobertson** · 25th September 12, 08:49 PM

Opositive,
I appreciate that this forum makes room for "bumbling". Thank you for the links, good sir.

Tobus, how does the buckle on the tooled belt attach? It sits nice and flat with the belt.

Thanks for the images and help. I agree that the sam brown belt is not suitable for the black barathea Argyle.

Still thinking and searching.

**opositive** · 26th September 12, 05:45 PM

celtic dog buckle and embossed zoomorphic belt arrived today. both are marked as made in scotland. small buckle adjustment system. gus approves.

**Tobus** · 27th September 12, 05:56 AM

Originally Posted by lukeyrobertson

Opositive,
Tobus, how does the buckle on the tooled belt attach? It sits nice and flat with the belt.

It's a standard kilt-belt buckle. One one side it has a metal loop that's fixed to the buckle, and the other side has a hook. For this particular belt, we just folded the leather back on itself and wet-set it. When the leather dries, that fold stays rigid, and will hold the load of the buckle just fine, especially with the use of a keeper ring around it. This is a lot simpler than using the internal buckle/strap assembly that traditional kilt belts have.

On the other end of the belt, I made my own shaped metal ring that attaches to the belt and accepts the hook of the buckle. You can buy them online, but it's not hard to bend one from 1/8" steel rod. Once that was made, we just permanently attached it to the belt by punching a few holes through both thicknesses of the folded leather and running a leather strip through the holes. You can see it in my photos above (just to the right of the buckle in the pics). There are numerous ways to make this connection, but this one lays very flat and doesn't require any additional metal hardware.

I usually wear this belt with a keeper ring on either side of the buckle (as shown in my photo in post #4). The keeper ring will hide the leather strip connection if I keep it slid over next to the buckle, which I didn't in that photo.

Anyway, I have found that most kilt belt buckles (waistplates) will not lay flat. It's an annoying problem. Of the three waistplates I have, two of them lay so lopsided that I just won't wear them. And the reason seems to be that the fixed metal loop on the back of the buckle is just too tall. It stands 'proud' way more than necessary, and makes that side of the buckle jut out. The hook side is usually very flush on the inside, so it lays nice and flat. I'm not sure why they make the buckles like this, but it almost seems intentional. It's pretty hard to find a buckle that lays evenly.

**BCAC** · 27th September 12, 08:32 AM

There was a solution for this problem posted on here once. I just did a search for it and unfortunately, I can't find it. I will try to explain how I remember it. The solution is to fold the belt to size (which would give you a loop where the belt goes back on itself) and push this loop through the metal loop on the back of the buckle. Then you need something like a bent piece of 1/8" steel rod to put into the loop of the belt to stop it being pulled out when wearing it. This way, if you have understood my explanation, the buckle lays much flatter.

**Tobus** · 27th September 12, 09:17 AM

That explanation makes perfect sense, and it's worth a try!

**Grizzly** · 27th September 12, 11:53 AM

Lukey

You could do a lot worse than to have a look here http://www.centaurdesign.co.uk/products/kiltbelts I have just ordered a 3" belt with a zoomorphic design together with a matching sporran belt. Very nice people and easy to deal with. If you like a belt but prefer a different design thats no problem, in fact the design I ordered was from a different belt but they will tell if you if it can be done. The belts are made on the premises and hand dyed to the colour(s) you prefer.