The Process

Riveted buckles

Each buckle starts with a length of 8mm round 304 stainless steel. Though stainless steels are more laborious to forge than mild steel, we opt to use stainless steel (when possible) for it's corrosion resistance.

The first step is to forge the round stock bar into the flatter, rectangular profile needed for the buckle type (most commonly 9*6mm), and to chamfer the corners. 

Then the overall buckle shape is formed. This process entails heating the bar and - with a hammer - shaping it on the anvil or on one of our hand-forged buckle jigs.

If the buckle in production is one of our "full" buckles, composed of two half shapes and a heel bar, we will also need to forge "set downs" at the ends. On the full round buckles, these set downs have a rounded shape and shoulder, and on the full square buckles they have a square shape and straight shoulder. 

At this stage I forge the "heel bar", which is the term we use for the length of bar at the rear (or the center for “full” buckles) of the buckle that the pin is wrapped around. The heel bar will typically be 4mm - 6mm round bar with either straight or rounded "set downs" at each end. These set downs will locate the heel bar to the ends of the buckle and accommodate the rivets. 

Once we have the basic form of the components forged, it's time to drill the holes for the rivets. Once the holes have been drilled, I'll begin the first stage of filing to ensure that all of the components for the buckle fit together as accurately as possible. During this stage I'll file the components independently of each other, and will also file the buckle when attached together with bolts. 

The next stage of filing is partly cosmetic, and will only ever be carried out on the inside of the buckle, when necessary. I tend to file the inside of the buckles as it will be in regular contact with our leather, and a finer filed finish will reduce the likelihood of the buckle marking or catching on the leather. If the buckle is so unsightly as to need filing on the outside, it will be discarded in favour of a buckle with a better forged finish. 

At this point we have a fully forged and filed buckle and heel bar, attached to a heel bar with bolts. If the buckle is to have stainless steel rivets, it's at this point that - one by one - the bolts will be removed and a rivet* will be set in their place.

*Forging rivets

When required (or by request) I forge my own rivets to use in my belt buckles. To accomplish this I use an ingenious, but simple tool. 

The main body of this tool is composed of two halves of spring steel, forged by power hammer and by hand from an old land rover leaf spring. Each half is a square length of bar measuring approximately 15*15*90mm. Both halves have two holes drilled into them, and one half has tapped holes, thus bolts can be used to attach the halves together. Prior to heat treatment of the tool, and with the two halves attached with the bolts, holes are drilled at different diameters (3mm, 4mm, 5mm, in this case) into the crack between the two halves.

To make rivets with this tool, short lengths of bar are placed into the holes with a measure protruding from the top of the tool. The exposed bar is then struck with a hammer to forge the head of the rivet. When the rivet is forged, the bolts from the side of the tool can be loosened and the two halves separated, thereby allowing the rivet to be easily removed from the tool.

With the buckle held together I can punch in the recess for the pin into the buckle. If this were to be done before the buckle is bolted or riveted together, the shape of the buckle would be deformed by this process.

Next I'll forge the pin, which begins with the same process as the buckle: by forging a length of round stainless steel bar (usually 6mm) into an approximately 7*4mm rectangular profile. A slight taper is then forged onto the end of this bar, which is then carefully scrolled around over the edge of the anvil to create a loop or "eye". Then to attach the pin to the heel bar on the buckle, I heat up the eye we've just formed and - using scroll tongs - open it before closing it around the heel bar.

The pin will usually take a little straightening and tidying up, then I'll use the rounded face on my hammer to impress a very slight bend or concavity into the pin. This is done for aesthetic appeal, but it also slightly improves how the leather sits on the buckle when worn. To finish the pin, I cut it to length and then dress the end to ensure a good fit into the recess in the buckle.

Any stainless steel components will then need cleaning with some serious chemicals. Then they'll be brushed with a stainless steel wire brush to improve their luster. It is only after this cleaning stage that copper rivets can be added.

For a buckle with an integral heel bar like our "original double pin", the process differs slightly. 

The first difference is that the forged bar is formed into a closed loop, as opposed to the more open shape of the riveted buckles. This loop is then welded shut primarily to increase the strength of the buckle, but also because a fully closed loop is more predictable to work than an unclosed loop (the material moves more uniformly). 

Once we have our fully closed loop of flat forged bar in the shape of a buckle, the next step is to start forming the heel bar by removing a portion of surplus material at the rear of the buckle. This is done by first making two cuts into the rear of the buckle at the desired measurement (this will correlate with the width of the leather strap for the belt in question), and then using a chisel to cut between these lines, thereby allowing the material to be removed. 

The final step in the formation of the integral heel bar is to painstakingly manually file the remaining steel at the rear of the buckle into a round profile so that the belt pin can turn freely when mounted. I will then file the inside of the buckle (never the outside), and the shoulders at the back of the heel bar to tidy everything up. 

The recess for the pin, and the pin itself, are then added in much the same manner as with our riveted buckles, mentioned earlier on this page.