Overly curly Vanguard Belt? Try this....

The last 3 shows at Crown Point have had very low attendance, and thus my sales have been abysmal. I would venture to guess it's a combination of some very nice weather keeping people outdoors doing fun things, and the dreadful economy and inflation keeping people from having any discretionary money to spend.

I took advantage of the lack of customer interaction to put my nose to the grindstone and make more belts to backfill my inventory. I got 11 made on Saturday and another 5 made on Sunday. My inventory is in very decent shape, which is great because I'll be at the Valparaiso Gun & Knife Show next weekend. It's always great to go into a show with a healthy inventory.

In the process of belt-building, I came to the end of a roll of material while cutting belt blanks. Because the material is synthetic and comes on rolls, the innermost portion of the roll is tight and the belt material comes off the roll very tightly wound up and curly. This is not generally a problem for shorter belts because that curl can be begrudgingly managed, but for folks with larger waistlines it can be a nightmare trying to put on a belt that curly. I've witnessed my larger sized customers really struggle to get a curly belt through the belt loops of their pants as they work around their backside and around. I kid you not, I've seen some poor folks breaking a sweat trying to do this.

I've always felt bad and wished there was something I could do to "relax" the curly material and straighten it out. Since I was cutting lengths of 53" and 54" at the end of this roll, I knew the poor souls who bought those belts would hate the curly nature of them. On the last cut which was incredibly curly and coiled up, I decided to try an experiment I'd been thinking about for some time.

I reverse-coiled the belt blank against its natural curl, and I coiled it up pretty tightly. I then put a pinch clamp on it to keep it in a tight roll while I applied low heat from my heat gun for a minute or two, evenly applying it all over the rolled up belt from all angles. The theory was that maybe some application of heat would relax the curl and straighten the curly material out.

The trick was to NOT go overboard with application of heat, because a heat gun on a high heat setting can quite literally scorch and bubble the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). (Don't ask me how I know this)

In any case, after letting the coiled and heated belt cool for a moment, I removed the clamp, and voila! It uncoiled nice and straight. I was thrilled to see that I can now correct for overly curly belts, an issue of which more than a few customers have made mention. I always build the belts so that the curl naturally conforms WITH the curve of the waistline and not against it, but even so, too much curl can often be untenable. All Vanguard Belts have some degree of curl like that, some worse than others.

Most belts that I build will not require this heat treatment to relax the curl, but when I reach the end of a roll, I can now take a moment to correct that extreme curling effect or "memory", and make the belt far more manageable for the wearer.

If you are a prior customer who was unfortunate enough to have bought a belt that has way too much curl or memory to it, it may be worth trying my method of applying a tightly wound coil to it opposite its natural curl, and either clamping it or tying it with string or maybe a zip tie into that tight roll, and then applying some heat from a hair dryer. If you have a heat gun, you could use that too, but I must caution you to use a LOW heat setting and not a high one. If it's a cheap heat gun and only has one heat setting, then apply heat judiciously and from a bit of distance. I have a lot of experience applying heat to the material with a heat gun for the purposes of creating the fold that wraps around the roller buckle's heel, and with high heat you can ruin the finish of the material, so go easy. I strongly recommend low heat when using a heat gun to bend the belt material. If you use a common hair dryer, you'll have to experiment. I doubt most consumer hair dryers would get hot enough to ruin the belt's finish, but it is possible. Perhaps I'll experiment with that at home and report back here. Again, start low and maybe work your way up in temperature until you get the belt to relax.

For me this was a significant discovery as I always hated selling belts with so much unwanted curl or memory to them. Now I can correct for that when necessary, making the daily use of the belt far more normal for the wearer. I hope this was a helpful tip for my loyal customer base.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the unwanted curl or memory in your belt. I'm happy to perform the process for you if you are uncomfortable trying it. And remember, your belt is under warranty for life so if you inadvertently manage to destroy the belt or its finish, I'll replace it up to twice. So don't be afraid to experiment -- I'll be learning right alongside you what the material can or cannot withstand.

I never cease to be amazed at the resiliency of this belt material. The more I work with it, the more I learn about it.

If you haven't pulled the trigger and bought a Vanguard Belt yet, trust me when I tell you that you're missing out. Give one a try, and I'm sure you'll agree with my 500+ customers that own one that it'll be the best belt you've ever owned. I stand behind my product and will make sure you're covered if it ever fails you. You can't go wrong.