Harness making

by Unknown

Fig. 101.—Cart Saddle Front Housing.

A pad or panel is next needed. Cut some thick felt to the same width as the body, and long enough to reach from the point of the semicircle to 2 in. beyond the cross line near the buckle; cover it with basil, and coarse-stitch it with a pointed needle along the centre. Turn the ends neatly over the felt and fasten; then with stitches put it in place next the crupper body. Tack down each end, and run four or five stitches here and there through the body and panel; make sure that the work is well secured at each corner. Cut a hole through the body exactly opposite the buckle 1½ in. wide and broad enough to pass the strap; this is made 9 in. long, pointing one end and shaving the other. Crease and black it, and stitch the shaved end against the narrowed end of the body. When finished and punched, this will go round the dock in the saddle and fasten to the buckle on the lay, running down through the hole made in the body.

Sometimes, instead of the opening in the bend, an iron dee is employed for the crupper, and the hip straps are fastened thereto, a strap about 20 in. long being used on each side of the dee. This is a matter of taste, but care must be taken that the measurement from the second cross line to the extreme end of the dee, when the lay is turned down, equals what it would be to the extreme end of the bend.

To make the breeching, cut the body, if possible, 7 ft. 4 in. long and about 4 in. wide. Turn it down to 4 ft. 10 in. long, the strong end less than the weak; edge and black, and crease two rows along the edges. Shave the ends, and mark a cross line about 1½ in. from the centre of the bend on both sides and at each end of the body.

Now cut some pieces 1 ft. long for lining between the two marks in the bend and shave their ends; bend them flesh outwards, leaving one end about 1 in. shorter than the other; otherwise it will be bulky when inside the breeching. Put it inside the bend after pricking the second row along the part having the leather doubled, and across the bend from one cross line to the other. When this lining has been tacked in the bend, stitch from row to row; this is the eye for the bridgeband pin used for fastening the chain. Trim the edges of the bend, blacken, and rub them with tallow and a bone; then tack down the double part as far as it goes. If, after being lined, the bend is rather hard, beat it with a wooden mallet and stitch the double part along both the ends and sides; then trim, black, and rub the edges.

The body is now ready for the lay, which must be of the same length and 1 in. narrower; edge, crease, and black it all along, and make another line with the compass ¼ in. from the inner line of the crease. Prick the two innermost lines nine to the inch, and turn down the lay at both ends to the same extent as the body. Shave the ends and tack the lay in the centre of the body, the light end of the lay being placed against the heavy end of the body and inversely; pull it down close over the ends of the body and tack it in place.

Stitch all along the pricked part from end to end to the cross lines, and spot or stitch cross lines, making the stitching bulge inwards at the middle to the extent of about 1 in. Make a hole with a large punch exactly in the centre where the stitches bulge inwards, and then, holding the round knife firmly in the hand, cut out straight at each side to remove a piece that allows the chain to enter and catch the pin. Cut another hole in the centre 1 ft. 4 in. from the ends by punching a hole 1½ in. farther on; then remove the part between the holes by two cuts, allowing space for the 1½-in. tug to go through.

Prepare the two bridgeband pins and four 1½-in. buckles to match those on the saddle and crupper. The pins have a dee at one end, and at the other a screw-thread with nut and washer to fix it in place. Two hind tugs 1 ft. 8 in. long must be cut from the leather, 6 in. being turned down at each end to meet the point; make a buckle hole in the weak end of each, and black, crease, and rub them. Prick the tugs from where the chapes leave the bridgeband to the loop or to the part which will have the loop. Place the strong end in the hole in the centre of the bridgeband from underneath, so that the joint will be in the front under the loop, and put a buckle on the other end. Make a loop about 2½ in. long and sufficiently wide to go round the two thicknesses of the strap. Make two rows of creasing, one at each end, and stitch the sides loosely together; then put the loop on the tug and stitch the end of the tug. Pull the loop over the joint and keep this and the stitches out of sight in the centre of the strap.

A safe must now be cut sufficiently long to run from the body of the bridgeband to an inch beyond the end of the buckle at the top and ½ in. wider on each side of the tug. Narrow the bottom to the width of the tug and shave it; round the other end, putting a loop on its extreme point in the centre, both the ends meeting. Stitch it for about 1½ in. along both sides through the safe; put the 1½-in. loop-stick in it, and black, crease, and finish. In the next place put the 1½-in. iron loop-stick in the long loop on the tug and beat it gently until it is quite flat and square. Fasten it securely from underneath with about five nails on each side, clinching them against the iron loop-stick inside. Crease this again with a hot iron and put a fancy stamp with the maker’s name or a neat creasing in the centre. Then put the safes in their places, fixing the loops on their ends just against the buckle at the top, and stitch the safe along the part pricked from the loop to the body of the bridgeband. Make two or four rows and strong cross-stitch the tug at the bottom. Now run a row of stitches across the top of the tug through the safe between the buckle and the loop.

Make both the tugs alike, and to prepare the tugs for the pins the loop is made as before, but it must be shorter because the tug with the dee-pin should have the same length from the body of the bridgeband as the hind tugs. Join the ends and make the safes similar, creasing the loops to a similar pattern; in fastening the safe to the tug, however, stitch a row only across the bottom and top of the tug, as it will be too short for more. Two loin straps 3 ft. 8 in. long by 1½ in. wide must be cut to fasten to the tugs and pass through openings in the crupper; point at each end, crease double at each side, edge, black, pass a hot iron along the creases, and make six or seven holes in each end to complete them.