Web belt

[bearbeast]

Today I finally received a belt I ordered a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it is too short for me, but I think I will search for new webbing for it and replace the original one. This might be blasphemy for collectors, but I bought the belt for use, not necessarily collection.

It is a WWII Officer's web belt in original packaging:









I am happy to have gotten an original one, but a bit disappointed it is too short. For some reason I really wanted one with a brass buckle and stamped text on the back, so at least this I got.

Cheers,
Bear

[Indiana Jeff]

Nice find. Getting a quality buckle is the hard part, getting webbing to fit is much easier.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[bearbeast]

Thanks, Indiana Jeff! Definitely think so too. Already ordered some belts from Amazon, which had good reviews about the webbing quality.

[Indiana Croft]

What’s the length of the belt?
If I’m reading the box, it says 40 as in 40”

if so I’d be interested in purchasing it, that is if its for sale.
I have couple of buckles this would look sweet with.

Croft

[bearbeast]

What’s the length of the belt?
If I’m reading the box, it says 40 as in 40”

if so I’d be interested in purchasing it, that is if its for sale.
I have couple of buckles this would look sweet with.

Croft

Good eye, it is exactly 40 inches, Croft. I would like to keep the original webbing, maybe I am foolishly optimistic, but I hope to lose some weight in the next months. I went down around 5 pounds in the last weeks.

So I'd like to switch back to the original webbing, if I am successful. I can close the belt even now, but it chokes my beer belly... Just two more inches off my waist and it will be a great fit.

Cheers,
Bear

[Indiana Croft]

No worries, and keep up the good work.
May I ask where you found it, on line or a Army / Navy store.

Croft

[bearbeast]

Thank you, Croft!

I found it at an online shop in the Netherlands, called "byf41".

Not sure if I can link to it here, but I hope so:

https://byf41.com/online-shop/u-s-ww2-o ... -web-belt/

Marked as "sold" now, I guess they only had the one piece...

Quite hard to find such things in Europe. But importing from the US is a bit of a hassle due to my country's crazy Customs office.

Cheers,
Bear

[Indiana Croft]

Won’t open on my iPad, so I’ll ty the computer.
But now I have the itch to try and find a vintage web belt.

Croft

[bearbeast]

Won’t open on my iPad, so I’ll ty the computer.
But now I have the itch to try and find a vintage web belt.

Croft

I know what you mean, Croft. I was in a fever searching for this belt, but I was so happy when I found it!

[bearbeast]

Small update.

The new webbing from Amazon just arrived, which is good, because it will still take a few months for the original one to fit me.

It is a bit thinner than the original webbing, but I added a thin 0.8 mm roohide to the inside of the buckle and it works fine:



The khaki colour is also almost identical to the original webbing, a detail which made me quite happy:



Cheers,
Bear

[bearbeast]

I thought I'd posted this already, but I guess I did not press 'submit'.

For any EU Indy fans, I found that the Swedish army pants belt has a great brass buckle in 32 mm width, just like Indy's belt:



I think this should be more accessible in the EU at various military surplus stores, than the US officer web-belts. Only thing you'd need to do is change the webbing. Otherwise the buckle is nice and sturdy.

A special note: I found these at militarysurplus.eu, an online store in my country, Romania. But beware: I for one got my order without problems. However the site has reviews from people saying they never got theirs. Pursue carefully and at your own risk.

Cheers,
Bear

[Thunderspy]

Ah that's great thanks. I must say, I thought finding these buckles would be way easier than it actually is!

[bearbeast]

Maybe it is not so hard, I might be bad at googling.

But a lot of the modern reproductions are just thin steel, plated with something way too shiny and some times they give you small cuts on the fingers, due to the rough edges.

The US one is nice sturdy brass, well made, but it was on the expensive side, since it was authentic.

The Swedish one was a nice find, because it is really well made, from solid brass, and is really cheap, €4 only.