This picture shows the space above the middle called "The Top" with 4 strands on the right and 3 on the left with the unfinished braid below.
Now
pass the tongue through "The Top" to straighten out the twists in the
strands. 
If you read on I'll take the mystery out of the Mystery Braid for you.
If you would rather just buy a custom made belt, Plain, Dress,
Braided, or a Ranger belt you can save this for another time and
go directly to
my Leather
Belt page.
Now
we are ready to do the "Mystery Braid". My method is simple but we need
to learn a couple terms. I have divided the belt strands with 3 on one
side
and 4 on the other. This space between them I call "The Middle" even
though it
really isn't. This is our reference point. The top of "The Middle"
where the middle gets narrow, in the top of the picture near where the
holes start, is called "The Top". Remember where "The Top" and "The
Middle" are. Ok, we start the braid by
crossing over the 4th strand on the right. It is important to count the
braid as you do it. When you cross over the first strand, that's ONE.
When you cross over the strand on the left, that's TWO.
Here's
the trick to locking in the braid. Take the tongue and pass it through
"The Middle". Then the strands will be twisted as
they appear in the picture below. 
This
picture shows the space above the middle called "The Top" with 4
strands
on the
right and 3 on the left with the unfinished braid below.
Now
pass the tongue through "The Top" to straighten out the twists in the
strands.
That's simple enough, isn't it? That
gives you this loosely braided belt. What you have done once you can do
again.
Start
at the buckle end and tighten the braid. That will mean crossing 14
strands but not to worry about the count. When the strands above "The
Middle" are straight we are back to where we started and can braid
again,
counting up to 7... then pass the tongue through "The Middle" and
through "The Top". Do
that as many times as you can by forcing the braid really tight to the
bottom.
You
should end up with something like this. Now go through the braid and
even it out by braiding it tighter on the top and feeding the looseness
to the bottom. Look at this picture and the one above to see how the
braid ends differently on each end.
Here the braid is evened out and I have done one more thing. I have made a final trim on the sides of the belt where the braid starts on the tongue end. Take a look at the picture above to see the difference. I do this last because the tightness of the braid affects the angle.
This produces a full and substantial 1-3/4" belt the
same width through the braided section as on the ends.
Now you can remeasure the length and determine where to attach the buckle so that you have the size you want. That's all there is to it.
Ready to learn more? How
about Making
a Handmade Leather Belt or how
about making a Custom
made leather Backpack
Custom made Braided belts, Harness leather belts, Ranger belts,
Dress belts and Bridle leather belts are available from LeatherGoods Connection