Craft a custom belt and make memories along the way with Tandy's Belt Bar experience in select stores. Find your store below and visit us to get started. Prefer to craft at home? Order the materials you need and follow our step-by-step guide to create your own one-of-a-kind belt!

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Instructions:

Sizing Your Belt

Step 1: Grab your belt blank, a belt you currently wear, and a tape measure.

Step 2: On the belt you currently wear, measure from where the leather meets the belt buckle to the hole you use most.

Step 3: Snap the ends of your belt blank together and measure out the length you just found from where the fold starts. Mark that spot in the middle of the belt blank with a scratch awl.

Belt End & Adjustment Holes

Step 1: Place Tandy's acrylic template on top of the belt blank and line up your marked spot with the 3rd hole from the right.

Step 2: Using the scratch awl and template, mark two holes on either side of the 3rd hole, plus a line at the end of your belt tip.

Step 3: Punch out your adjustment holes with the oval punch, making sure to center the punch on each mark.

Pro-Tip: Press the oval punch lightly, then lift it to check that it's aligned horizontally before punching all the way through.

Step 4: Using your end punch, place the point just inside the line you marked earlier to remove the scratched portion of the leather.

Step 5: Run your edge beveler along the edges of the belt to round and smooth the corners. Be sure to bevel the inside edges too!

Belt Dressing

Step 1: With a wool dauber and your Neatsfoot oil lather a layer of oil on the grain (smooth) side of your belt. Allow this to dry before continuing. If you want a veg-tan belt proceed to step 3.

Step 2: Using the same process as the oil, add your dye of choice now to the inside and outside of your belt.

Step 3: Again, using the same process add the Fiebing's Pro-Resist to seal the grain side of the belt.

Step 4: Now rub your finger over the flesh (rough) side of the belt and determine which direction the fibers lie down when you do this. Apply your Tokonole and burnish in the direction which makes the fibers stand up.

Step 5: Lightly apply Tokonole to the direction which makes the fibers stand up.

Step 6: Now burnish this area moving in the same direction.

Step 7: Continue repeating steps 5 & 6 until you have finished the entire belt length.

Step 8: Lightly apply Tokonole now to the edges of your belt working to make sure you apply just enough without too much.

Step 9: Burnish the edge of the belt now with the rounded area of the wooden slicker.

Step 10: Again, continue this process until you have completed the belt.

Step 11: Place your belt buckle on the end of your belt and the belt keeper between your two buttons and you've just completed your belt!