A few years ago I was given a belt made out of old bike inner tubes (specifically, the Ballard Belt from Alchemy Goods). It worked great! A little stretchy and a nice repurposed object.
Things fall apart. Eventually the belt hole that fits me got torn out:
I asked around and no one local had a grommet tool to lend me. So I bought my own from Sail Rite (after going down a rabbit hole and looking for vintage setter dies on eBay). With the right tool for the job, it was a ten-minute repair and the belt once again holds my trousers up. The only thing I’d change would be to get a smaller size of grommet. I used #1 size, 5/16″ in, and for a belt I think #0 (1/4″) would be better. Here’s the fix, step by step.
First I hammered a cutter tool (in the background of this photo) to make a clean hole for the grommet, over where the old hole had failed:
Then I inserted the top and bottom pieces of a grommet into the setting die and got ready to whack it with a mallet:
And voila! The hole was reinforced and usable again:
It does look a little distorted, not that I think anyone ever looks closely at my belt. Maybe if I had cut a bigger hole there would be less material to bunch up? I have two sizes of cutter and can’t remember which one I used.
A smaller grommet might help as well. But regardless, my fix mates with the other part of the buckle perfectly:
Of course, one of the holes now of course looks different from the others, but I like that – the belt is now sized precisely for me. This repair technique also offers the opportunity to install a hole at any point, in case the user of the belt wants to wear it a little tighter or looser than the old hole allowed.
The grommet would grip tightly anywhere, it doesn’t have to go where the old hole went. So you could buy a belt that doesn’t fit at a thrift store, or get a belt from a loved one, and create a strong hole exactly where it will fit you.
Was it silly that I spent $70 on tools to fix a $40 belt? Well, I wanted to fix the dang belt and didn’t have another option. But (if you know me, you know what’s coming next) now I can lend the tool to people! And it will cost them $0. Maybe we can get more belts fixed.
Here’s the grommet tool’s listing on Meutch, the peer-to-peer sharing site. Since that link will expire in 30 days, I’ll throw in a screenshot here to illustrate:
If you live in Ann Arbor, feel free to request the grommet setting kit from me on Meutch. Maybe you can repair your belt, or shower curtain, or make something attachable with a carabiner, or …
I’m looking out for other uses for this tool. For instance, I installed a grommet on the safety clip for my bike carrier, a device I invented to tow bikes around town and that I intend to write up in its own post.
That’s all. I hope this helps someone who believes their belt has more life in it even after a hole tears out!
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