Does anyone know of a leather supply that sells precut leather ovals
for lining conchos? also, do I need something more than the ‘chicago
screw’ for putting the conchos on a leather belt? The conchos are
about 3X4 inch ovals. Quite large.
Joyce
I’ve bought from Tandy Leather before and they do a great job.
Didn’t find precuts on my search page but I know they have them. The
2nd url seems to have them at a great price.
http://www.tandyleather.com
http://www.twinleather.com
Good luck
Lisa Fowler
screw' for putting the conchos on a leather belt? The conchos are about 3X4 inch ovals. Quite large.
I don’t know about precut leather ovals… However, I have made,
years past, many a concho belt. The way it’s done (doesn’t mean you
have to…) is like this: On the back of the concho is soldered a
low, “U” shape, made of something like 1/4"-3/8" wide 22 gauge sheet
(some use copper). The length of the U is the width of the belt, and
the height of the two legs is maybe 1/4" - 3/8". The conchos are
strung on the belt, and then the U’s are crimped down (just push on
them) to hold the conchos in place. The other, fancy way for a large
belt is different: You still do the conchos the same. Then you get a
very wide belt, wider than the conchos probably, and evenly space
marks along it, one for each concho. Then a rectangular hole is cut
at each mark the same size as the “U” part. To string it up, you use
a narrow belt, which also has the buckle and holes on the ends, push
the U’s through the holes you cut, and string the narrow belt through
the backs of the conchos, on the inside of the belt. If you’re
looking for ovals, maybe you have something else in mind, but that’s
the traditional way…
If you have a lot of these to do in the same size, a punch cutter
could be made. However, usually the leather ovals are hand-cut to
match the size of the concho, and often the leather backing is
totally dispensed with. As for mounting - I have rarely seen the
use of Chicago screws in traditional conchos. More often I see a
copper shank that is soldered onto the back - often a strip on a
concho the size that you are stating above. That strip - shaped
like this ] - would then have a leather strap pulled through it. If
you want the conchos applied to a wide belt (wider than the maximum
size of the concho’s width), the copper shank is usually a rounded
shank. This would be similar to the back of many coat buttons, just
a circle of metal. A punch or slit is cut into the leather, the
shank is pushed through, and a thinner leather - usually a latigo
cord - is pulled through from the back side to secure the concho.
BBR - Sandi Graves, Beadin’ Up A Storm
Stormcloud Trading Co