Sewing flat nylon webbing at home

[vam302]

I have sewn some heavy stuff together making my own Tact gear because I did not like what Blackhawke and 5.11 were selling.

I agree, Blackhawk stuff isn't that good. 5.11 has some decent clothes for the range. There's also Tactical Tailor, they make some pretty useful stuff. Thanks for the advice.

 

[antero]

There are two types of 2" webbing. One is harder because it is saturated w/resin to make it stiff. Conventional household machine even w/thick needle and even machine oil spray will fuzz the thread at the needle, most probably, mine did this. So for the small thing I rather do it manually. Walmart has a needle kit that has 6 needles for all the heavy duty hand sewing - sail, canvas, etc. ask the lady in the department. Also get a thimble. The whole square takes 10 minutes maximum to complete.

Special machines for this kinda job cost $700 refurbished on eBay.

Never seen brass rivets. Where would you get it? However stainless steel are available in HD and Lowes.

For the DIY sheath I actually preferred rivets because knife cuts the thread, even if mine is a blunt tip.

 

[qrpc]

Conventional household machine even w/thick needle and even machine oil spray will fuzz the thread at the needle, .... .

The needle on the awl has a groove on one side for the thread, so there is no friction against the material. I don't know if any of the heavy duty hand sewing needles have this feature.

For the DIY sheath I actually preferred rivets because knife cuts the thread, even if mine is a blunt tip

I was thinking of riveting the top corners, but I didn't like the rivets I had handy. So far there has been no problem with the blade getting near the thread, but that's something I'm keeping an eye on.

 

[Dr Neil]

I have sewn a number of things with my sewing awl. Some of the material BCs are made of is tough to punch through so I will pre-punch the material with a cobblers awl.

As far as finding better quality rivets, I go to a saddle maker or a store that sells tack supplies.

When sewing webbing, I glue the pieces together with contact cement before I sew them.

 

[DIWdiver]

Gluing them together...

That's brilliant! In other words, why didn't I think of that?

Keeping them aligned while sewing is half the battle. Gluing would eliminate half the difficulty!

Do you suppose hot melt would work as well as contact cement?

D

 

[ItsBruce]

I must be spoiled. I live near a number of sailmakers and they have machines that will just about sew through plywood...I've seen them go through 6 layers of Kevlar as if it were silk. It takes them but a minute to sew webbing and they use a nylon thread that is incredibly strong.

 

[Camerone]

Gluing would eliminate half the difficulty!

Yeah, but it will also gum up your needle if you try to sew through the section with glue. I'd actually just recommend a couple of staples from a heavy duty stapler You don't need much, to be honest, once you get a couple of stitches in.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I would recommend NOT using a light duty sewing machine for resin reinforced (weightbelt) type webbing.

Over loading any sewing machine is poor practice. Deflection of the needle can damage the "hook" and replacing a hook is expensive and a PITA.

Thread size, required tension, etc. is also a limiting factor.

Sewing awl, or a trip the local sailmaker or shoe repair will provide a much better result, and less marital discord than maxing out a homeowners type sewing machine.

Rivets? I'd suggest copper "Harness Rivets"

Tobin