The Buckle Buster® is designed to be used with a one inch wide over the center buckle, found on many tie-down straps. The tool also works for other devices, such as, boat tie-downs, straps used to secure tree stands to trees, motorcycle tie-downs, and other devices that are used to strap or band items that use the over the center buckle.

The Buckle Buster® is designed to act as a lever to give the operator a mechanical advantage and total control of the over-the-center buckle when engaging or disengaging the over-the-center buckle. The over-the-center buckle is a device that when open, rest at 180 degrees and at fully closed, rest at 0 degrees. There normally should be little or no pressure on the strap between 180 degrees and 120 degrees. The Buckle Buster® is designed so that the starting pressure point of the buckle on the strap is at about 120 degrees. The handle of the Buckle Buster® should be parallel with the mold surface and the curved part of the tool should be up. Slide the groove on the Buckle Buster® onto the tongue of the over-the-center buckle. Grasp the handle and gently move the handle towards the closed position. Be sure to hold on the handle, because at about 45 to 30 degrees from closure, the buckle is going to try a snap shut.

If you are using a new strap or one that still has a lot of stretch left, starting to apply pressure at 120 degrees should make the strap plenty tight on the mold. Remember that the more the straps are used, the less stretch they will have. Rule of thumb is "the less stretch the strap has, the closer to 90 degrees you should start applying pressure