Today we will tell you about a very good leather from the Wickett & Craig factory and how we made a belt for the host of the program "On the Knives" and restaurateur Konstantin Ivlev.

Wickett & Craig factory was founded in 1867, it is a world leader among manufacturers of vegetable tanned leather. This time-consuming method of manufacturing that requires skilled workers is an environmentally friendly process that allows producing of a durable, fine leather, internationally recognized for its depth of color and rich patina.
Some operations are performed entirely by hand and require a lot of time and effort. Therefore, this processing method is more expensive than industrial tanning salts of chromium.

The name Bridle has historical roots and is derived from the initial use of leather for making horse harnesses. The main feature of this type of leather is its strength. In the 19-20th centuries, this leather was actively used in military ammunition of the Anglo-Saxon countries.

Manufacturers keep the exact technology of tanning English Bridle leather secret, but it is known that in this method of manufacturing many vegetable fats, oils and waxes of natural origin are used. After the process of tanning, the leather is drum dyed with natural substances that give it a deep and even color. Next, the leather is covered with multi-component composition on both sides and left for some time. The final stage is finishing and rich covering of leather with wax. The whole process of tanning takes several weeks.
We will make a belt of this leather. Since Constantine is a pretty large man, our task number one is to pick up a long strip. During the dissolution of leather we sign each roll and make notes of defects, length and thickness. This greatly simplifies life)

After choosing a strip we start to prepare it. First you need to make the leather thinner in the place where you will install the buckle, so the belt will not be so thick in the place of folding two layers.

Our new tool helps us.

Here is the result of thinning.

Further, according to the pattern we mark the place where the buckle should be and cut out a hole.

The size of the belt should be 120 cm + 21 cm of tail, 141 cm in total. Note the place where we will cut off the strip.

I don't have a picture of the tail of the belt, but it looks like the buckle. A granite slab helps to reduce the impact and the base helps not to blunt the tool.

The belt must be stitched. As we sew all the belts manually by saddle stitching, it is necessary to make a layout for the holes.

This punch is called a French punch. You need to punch holes along the whole strap — it is almost 3 meters.

Set, hit. The most important is that you can not allow mistakes, otherwise the strip will be ruined.

General photo of punched holes.

And now comes the boring, monotonous work. We stitch with 2 needles and the most durable saddle stitch. The thread is special as well.

The strip is clamped in a harness and stitched. 3-5 hours — and it's done :)

Here how a stitched and hit strip looks. When you hit the leather the internal stress at the seam is removed, the thread fits — it looks even better than it was

To distraction ourselves we wrap the buckle with leather — it is optional :)
Try on the strip. I missed the painting, markings and stitching stages — all is done just like with the belt but smaller. Smaller means that you put a needle in your finger or in a punch. In this case, it was the punch :)

So here is the beauty. By the way, our buckles are made of solid brass with or without coating. This is matte chrome. We take them from across the pond — only there we found an acceptable quality.

Go back to the strip. You need to handle the edge of the belt to make it beautiful. The first procedure is chamfering (corner) with edge beveler. The shavings of leather are the excess parts of the strap :)

Further paint the sidewalls with Italian spirit color.

Step 3. Apply Japanese substance and polish the edge. The photo shows the application of the agents. We do it only manually, very carefully.

The same place after polishing. We do so throughout the full length of the belt.

Mark the places for the screw holes for fastening the buckle. Punch them.

Punch the holes according to the pattern. We usually make five holes — seven in this case.

These are the belt keepers and enough is said about them :) On the background there is a tool for polishing the edge.

We decided to order a wooden box and slightly modify it. Beech, leather, sweat, and tears :)

That's the beauty as the end result.
Thank you for your attention, I will try to answer questions :)