I met The Beltman
Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:19 am
Recently my wife and I traveled to North Carolina to visit family and celebrate my father-in-law's 91st birthday. While I was there, my nephew-in-law, Johnathan, and I drove to Apex, NC and met The Beltman. What a great experience! He lives in the woods, a mile or so off the road down a dirt road, in a beautiful country home. His shop is filled with the smell of leather. He showed us bull hides, horse hides (I ordered a horse hide belt), elephant, rhinoceros and crocodile. He gave us the grand tour of the facility, explained how the belts are made, the pride he takes in making the belts and the special things he does in the process to make the belts just right. He told us that elephant hide is nearly indestructible, but it's not the stiffest hide - that's horse hide. In fact horse hide is so stiff that it's the only leather that he cannot stamp patterns into.
He took us into his home and served us coffee, in mugs held inside elephant hide "coozies" (which I told him he should be selling) sitting on elephant hide coasters. We sat on his veranda and talked about guns and reloading. Then he took us back to his shop, opened up his safe and showed us several of the guns from his amazing collection. TAM, you'd like him. He's a 1911 man all the way.
He told us a story that I thought was amazing. Last year his wife won a contest at work (she's a stock broker). The prize was an African safari. After the trip was over, he and his wife extended the trip a few days and went to Zambia. One day they went for an elephant ride. The elephant he chose to ride was so large that he didn't fit in the chute, so he and his wife had to be hoisted up its back to get on the elephant. He was wearing his elephant hide belt. When he approached the elephant, the elephant moved his trunk to the belt and sniffed around it a full 360 degrees. Then he wrapped his trunk around the Beltman's neck and "hugged" him. The guide asked, "Is that an elephant hide belt?" He answered, "Yes." The guide said, "He thinks you're an elephant!"
If you need a belt, this guy is a straight shooter who takes a great deal of pride in his work and refuses to settle for second best. I can highly recommend him.
He took us into his home and served us coffee, in mugs held inside elephant hide "coozies" (which I told him he should be selling) sitting on elephant hide coasters. We sat on his veranda and talked about guns and reloading. Then he took us back to his shop, opened up his safe and showed us several of the guns from his amazing collection. TAM, you'd like him. He's a 1911 man all the way.
He told us a story that I thought was amazing. Last year his wife won a contest at work (she's a stock broker). The prize was an African safari. After the trip was over, he and his wife extended the trip a few days and went to Zambia. One day they went for an elephant ride. The elephant he chose to ride was so large that he didn't fit in the chute, so he and his wife had to be hoisted up its back to get on the elephant. He was wearing his elephant hide belt. When he approached the elephant, the elephant moved his trunk to the belt and sniffed around it a full 360 degrees. Then he wrapped his trunk around the Beltman's neck and "hugged" him. The guide asked, "Is that an elephant hide belt?" He answered, "Yes." The guide said, "He thinks you're an elephant!"
If you need a belt, this guy is a straight shooter who takes a great deal of pride in his work and refuses to settle for second best. I can highly recommend him.
