For those who need round leather belting and can't find it, I also have
another possibility. Sometimes an old leather belt can be resurrected.
Say, for example, the cleated end has been cut away until it's about an
inch too short. You might try this, since it's a goner, anyway.
After measuring for the right size belt you'll need, soak the old
belt in warm water and alcohol, and then hang it up with a heavy weight
(about 20 lbs or more, until it's fully dry. This does two things:
it stretches the belt a little, and then prevents the belt from
stretching again. While you're wetting it, you can also be scrubbing
it down with soap and water, or something to clean it up. What's to
lose?
This same technique should be done to all new leather belting too, by
the way. Of you will just order an uncleated length of belting, plus
a cleat, you can prestretch the belting first. After that, preserve
the belt by working leather preservative deep into the belting, before
making it into a belt.
There used to be leather belting sold with a nylon or some kind of
plastic webbing inserted in it, like polypropylene ski rope, that
prevented it from stretching. That way, you had the solidity and
grab of the leather, along with the stability of the internal webbing.
A pretty cool idea, I thought. But I don't know where to get that
anymore, either.
Craig Brougher
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