On occasion, I've made belts that did not have stitching seen. The only stitching I did was the backing around the buckle and a lot of careful work to place the front of the belt over the backing through the buckle. Most of it was glued up to that point and then worked around to the back. I used a strong solvent based adhesive and Uniters edge paint on the edges and inside the buckle tongue. It's time consuming but it's the look wanted. I also used a fabric tape as a non-stretch reinforcement (I don't know what it is but I got it in Woodhead's, Cape Town) but I've never used anything other than veg-tan as a backing for a belt. I suppose as long as you can get the length required, anything will do but I think consideration ought to be given to the fact that it'll be sliding in and out of and held against fabrics worn by the user. Not sure this helps any, but no one else was answering!

Hi! Being a complete beginner, could you tell me what these would be used for? Thanks!

@atelierpeternitz Wow, thank you for your kind comment. That helps me a lot! Mind if I ask one more question? Then, which way do you prefer? Using awl?

Hi James. I tape it down the my cutting surface and use a long ruler.

I don’t think it kills any characteristics of the leather, it’s purely so that the final items won’t get too bulky and thick

@atelierpeternitz peter therefore you never use the salpa inside retourne bags? how do you give structure to the bags to be turned over?

Hi Peter, I recently got some hides form Carriat split down to 1.2mm. I’m trying to cut a nice straight line it so I can begin to cut belt straps out of it with a draw gauge. What I’ve done so far is lay the hide down on the desk, take a long flat bar and place it over the hide edge, clamped that down on either end and cut along the bar. I often find the leather doesn’t end up completely straight. Let alone trying to square off the far end to make straps, unless there’s no need for that

Oops sorry I guess I misunderstood your post! I think almost nobody owns a splitter because they are huge investments. Most buy the right thickness right away, send it to a splitter or use a bell skiver for smaller panels. A difference of 1.2 or 1.3 in different parts of the same skin is not really noticed. Hope someone else can answer your question!

3/4hp has been plenty with my skiving. 2.5mm veg tan has been the thickest thus far.

U can also use this as a baseline: https://campbell-randall.com/product/sa-gbsm-550-goldstar-brushless-servo-motor-34-hp-110v-1

Yes, I know, thank you! I've seen that, it helped me a lot, just wanted to hear from others too ;)