On-line jewelry store Hip-Hop Bling offers a small collection of men’s belt buckles that double as cigarette lighters.

The holidays are upon us, and there is obviously a rising interest in men’s belt buckles. Why not? Belt buckles make terrific gifts. I’ve been cleaning things up on the Men’s Belt Buckles blog to make it easier for you to find exactly the right buckle for your man.

As I explained in an earlier post, I added links to several online belt buckle stores. I also weeded out-of-stock items from my own a-Store—that’s a customized online store offering specific selected products from amazon.com.

My a-Store lets me create collections of men’s belt buckles representing specific themes, and I’ve included shopping pages for horse-lovers, for silver-enthusiasts, for gamblers, and for football fans. I’ve also added a section for cowboy belt buckles, though this is the first time I’ve mentioned it in my blog. Find the link to my buckle a-Store in the right margin of this page. Yes, I’ll add more categories over time.

Design your own Men’s Belt Buckles

Today I added links to two other online belt buckle stores. These links introduce categories of men’s belt buckles I haven’t yet talked about: Belt buckles with built-in cigarette lighters, and extremely customizable buckles.

Body Candy, an on-line jewelry store, has an extensive selection of men’s belt buckles, with emphasis on customizable. On the left: you supply the photograph; they put it on the buckle! In the center: one of many buckles designed for engraving. On the right: scrolling lights reveal whatever message your man wants to convey. Click here to visit Body Candy.

A belt buckle with a built-in cigarette lighter found at Hip-Hop Bling is very practical. Even if you don’t smoke, having a lighter in your belt buckle comes in handy: light campfires, charcoal grills, candles for romantic dinners, chafing dishes, Bunsen burners, gas stoves… no need to carry a separate device.

In another vein: check out the huge collection of customizable men’s belt buckles at Body Candy. You’ll find buckles to which you can add several initials, and even buckles that display messages of your choice in lights! Links to these added belt buckle dealers appear in the right margin of this page.

I hope you find what you’re looking for, and thanks for visiting!

Technorati Tags: belt buckle stores, buy belt buckles, custom belt buckles, custom buckles, mens belt buckles stores

While I like to discuss a particular belt buckle theme and present many examples of buckles within the category, I also want my readers to find just the right belt buckles.

To that end, I long ago created the Men’s Belt Buckles aStore: an on-line store that offers belt buckles from Amazon.com and the vendors who sell there. You can visit the Men’s Belt Buckles aStore by clicking the image under the title in the right margin of this page (scroll down if you don’t see it there).

More Sources of Men’s Belt Buckles

Of course, there are far more sources for men’s belt buckles on the Internet than Amazon.com. So, I’ve tracked down a few belt buckle stores and added links to them in the sidebar. So far, I’ve included The Belt Buckle Shop, Hot Buckles, eBlade Store, and Belt Buckle Knife, but I plan to add even more in the near future.

If you haven’t found what moves you in any of my posts—or in my aStore—I hope you’ll visit these other vendors; maybe they have what you’re looking for.

Technorati Tags: belt buckle stores, buy belt buckles, buy mens belt buckles, mens belt buckle stores

This buckle made from German silver would complete the outfit of any long-haul trucker.

While men’s belt buckles are jewelry that even the manliest man might be willing to wear, few buckles are made out of precious materials. The vast majority of men’s belt buckles are brass, steel, pewter or German silver.

German silver? While it sounds impressive, German silver is an inexpensive alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc. If you were around in the 1960s, you might remember the word copper-nickel in common use as the United States eliminated silver from coins, and started making copper-nickel dimes and quarters. German silver looks a lot like real silver, and the term often appears in belt buckle ads as a misleading marketing gimmick. Men’s belt buckles made of German silver have no silver in them unless they are also silver-plated.

One manufacturer offers a series of belt buckles with single-letter initials. There is gold plating on the letter and raised border of each buckle, while there is silver plating on the embossed background. These make attractive personalized gifts when you know which letters to order.

Men’s Silver Belt Buckles

There is not a huge market for mass-produced men’s belt buckles made entirely of silver. In fact, many of the most desirable silver belt buckles come from silversmiths who make their creations one-at-a-time. For these hand-made accessories, you can spend two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, and even more dollars, and be confident that you’re getting a rare creation indeed.

As you might guess, handmade silver belt buckles often have western themes, but with diligence you can find many other designs as well. If you can’t find a design that appeals to you, you can probably find a silversmith willing to do a custom job—but be prepared to pay extra for the service. Here’s a link to the web site of Randall Moore, who offers a modest selection of very nice hand-made buckles.

This smooth, polished sterling silver belt buckle works on belts that accept interchangeable buckles up to an inch wide (it’s not for web-style belts that require clamp-on buckles). The belt’s face could hold a characters, should you want to have it engraved.

This sterling silver belt buckle looks sharp as it is, but the design features a smooth rectangle on a textured feild. Find an engraver, and that rectangle could hold your initials or the initials of a loved one for whom you want a personalized gift.

Silver-Plated Men’s Belt Buckles

To satisfy customer demand for silver, seriously commercial manufacturers turn to silver plating. A silver-plated buckle might start out as a copper-nickel one (German silver), but then it goes through a chemical process that makes real silver stick to it. The outer surface of a silver-plated buckle (also called layered silver, silver clad, and electroplated) is pure silver, but that’s a thin layer of silver. With normal wear, the silver plating may, eventually, rub off… but it takes a lot of rubbing; many silver-plated items survive several generations without losing their silver shine.

Go Silver!

Many gorgeous silver men’s belt buckles originate from the west. These buckles tend to be hand-made, so they’re hard to find, and generally quite a bit pricier than buckles made for the masses.

The good news is that you can find silver men’s belt buckles in many price ranges. Occasionally, you can find a high-production commercial silver buckle for under $100, but that’s a rare find. Of course, hand made buckles can be much more expensive. Silver-plated buckles cost as little as $30, but might cost much more depending on the craftsmanship. German silver buckles (no silver at all) can cost $30 and up—German silver may not be the real thing, but it’s still a high-quality metal.

Follow our links to our affiliates to buy your silver buckles today. Or, check out our e-store where we’ve recently added silver-plated, German silver, and a few pure silver belt buckles to our selections.

• Collecting Western Belt Buckles – As Porterfleischner popularity of Western style grows, so does the fashion and accessories of that style. Western Estelleradvany Buckles are currently going through a fashion revival. Today Western Belt Buckles are worn proudly by our …

• XXL Dollar Sign Fully Iced Out Hip Hop Bling Belt Buckle – TONS of stuff added daily, keeping checking back for LOADS of new stuff! TONS of stuff added daily, keeping checking back for LOADS of. TANG CLAN OVAL Belt Buckle Bling: XXL Iced Out. XXL Dollar Sign Fully Iced Out Hip Hop Bling Belt …

• unique personalized gift – Offers a variety of western saddles, silver belt buckles and sets, money clips, and bracelets. Custom work available.Manufacturer of graphical leather belts and buckles. From patterns of chimps to a western showdown. …

Technorati Tags: custom, german silver, silver, silver-plate