Making your own Biothane® straps
If you’d like to replace your own Biothane® straps and they’re not suitable for coverage under our warranty, follow the guide below to get the best results. We use suitable bench-mounted presses and cutters to make our straps, but you can make your own at home with much cheaper tools.
You are doing this at your own risk.
For your safety, make sure you familiarise yourself with any tools you have not used before, and ensure they are sharp. Dull tools on Biothane® can act in unexpected ways. We accept no responsibility for anything that happens to you by being brash with bladed tools. Use common sense.
The materials you’ll need
Using the materials we list here, you’ll be able to make your own straps to your liking.
You’ll need a suitable length of Biothane® strapping to make your restraint straps. If this is your first time, order more than you need, just in case.
We use 304 stainless steel eyelets in our restraints, but these can be expensive. You can use whatever eyelets you wish, as long as they are 6mm in internal diameter, and are suitable for materials 2.5mm thick. They should not crush to an internal diameter less than 5.8mm and should crush to a total height of less than 4mm.
To help keep water out of the webbing of your Biothane® straps, you should seal all cut ends and punched holes with a suitable sealant. Although the stuff we use is expensive and only comes in 5 litre bottles, we can recommend Angelus Satin Finisher for leather as a good alternative.
The tools you’ll need
With fairly basic tools, you can make your own straps! However, some of these tools are not suitable for repeated use on Biothane® and will require frequent sharpening. Biothane® requires very sharp tools to get good cuts.
Your kitchen scissors in the back of the drawer won’t cut it. Good quality fabric scissors are essential, and keep in mind that after cutting lots of Biothane®, they will likely need to be sharpened too.
This is for punching the larger hole on the “trapped” end of the strap, which is usually snug in the locking clasp.
This is for punching the smaller hole on the “free” end of the strap, which is the part you insert into the other side of the clasp to lock it shut.
For getting those nice rounded edges on the “free” end of the strap, you’ll need a half-round cutter. For cuffs, you’ll need a 20mm size, and for collars, 25mm.
To get those lovely shiny eyelets into the Biothane® straps, you’ll need a basic grommet setting kit. We advice practicing with these, as freehand they can be very difficult to get good results from.
If you’d like to seal your straps against water, apply it using a small brush.
These tools listed above can all be used freehand, but will have generally poorer results than when using a press. To use them freehand, you’ll need a hammer, and a surface to hammer on. Spare Biothane® scraps are a useful substrate to put below the Biothane® you’re cutting.
Cutting your straps
1
To begin, measure the length of strap you need to your own specifications. Keep in mind that you will need at least 20mm of additional length for your cuffs, and 25mm for collars. We generally recommend 35mm of extra length for cuffs and 40mm for collars. When marking your Biothane® for cutting, use a pencil or marker, and use your scissors to cut a few millimetres longer than the line. This helps with rounding the edges of the free end and gives better results.
2
Align your half-round cutter to the line you’ve marked and punch your round end into your strap, taking care to align it centrally. For cuffs, you should use a 20mm punch, and for collars, a 25mm punch.
3
It’s now time to punch the smaller 6mm hole on the round end. Carefully align the 6mm hole punch to the centre of the strap, with the centre of the punch laid 10mm from the tip of the round end for cuffs and 12.5mm for collars. Punch the hole.
What your rounded free end should look like on 19mm cuff straps after punching the 6mm hole.
What your rounded free end should look like on 25mm collar straps after punching the 6mm hole.
4
Now do the same for the larger 10mm hole on the flat end. Use your 10mm hole punch in the same way to punch the larger hole, with the centre of the punch laid 10mm from the flat end for cuffs and 12.5mm for collars. Punch the hole.
What your flat trapped end should look like on 19mm cuff straps after punching the 6mm hole.
What your flat trapped end should look like on 25mm collar straps after punching the 6mm hole.
5
Making sure your Biothane® is clean, carefully apply your sealant to all cut ends of the strap using your small paintbrush. You may need several coats. Wait until completely dry.
6
Push the main part of a stainless steel eyelet through the 6mm hole at the rounded end of the strap, and set it down in the main body of your eyelet setting tool. On top of the tool, place the back of the eyelet, making sure that it’s facing with its convex side upwards. Crush the eyelet with the other part of your setting tool.
That’s it! Well done, you’ve made your own strap!
Need help with this?
You are very welcome to join the Discord server to get help with your DIY efforts!