Beveling Belt Edges

Beveling belt edges is probably one of my favorite aspects of belt making. You can probably tell because I’ve posted three videos of it on this page. My single layer Casual Belts all feature beveled edges on the backside only. This helps reduce wear points on the fibrous backside of the leather and creates a nice clean look with a square edge on the front. On my other Lined Leather Belts I bevel both the front and backside, burnish, wax and polish the edge for a very refined look.

I use two forms of beveling tools in my shop when I make your belt. In the videos shown on this page I am using a beveling machine. This tool is set up to have a razor sharp curved blade on each side of the strap. You can adjust it in numerous ways and getting it set up correctly is a learning curve in itself! When you pull the strap through this machine you can bevel both sides of the belt at once in one continuous pull.

The other way I bevel your belt is to use a small hand tool that is pushed along the edge. On my lined belts I actually do the entire beveling process this way. Lined belts are a bit trickier to get the bevel machine working correctly, and I take no chances on them. Either way the belt tip ends are always done with the small hand tool to get around those tricky corners. When using the hand tool you need to use just the right angle on the blade to get a smooth and consistent bevel all the way down the belt. It takes a bit of practice and time to get this skill down, and once you do – it flows like butter.

Beveling a belt edge protects it from wear, prevents the ‘fuzzies’ from showing on the backside edge and makes for a comfortable and refined looking belt.