Plain or patent leather can be employed to make the collar and winkers; patent leather must always be marked for stitching with the race compass, and a groove cut so that the patent will be raced off and the line quite visible. This kind of leather, when used to make the collar forewale, must be lined with calico to prevent it cracking.
The van saddle (Fig. 182) is the next part to be made. The tree is a miniature cart-saddle tree, with similar boards and groove. The plates to be put in the point of the groove where the backband runs through may be nickel or brass to match the furniture. Begin work by fixing the terrets and bearing-rein stand hook on the tree. Take off the sockets which are attached to the screws, and see that they are of the proper length to reach over the groove of the tree from side to side; file them down to the width of the tree if they are too long. Place the stand-hook socket exactly in the centre at the top, and mark its position on each side and end.
Cut out a hollow at the mark deep enough for the socket to enter and lie flush with the surface, and drive a small screw through each socket into the tree. The terret sockets are fixed in the same manner, being sunk level and screwed down, about 3½ in. lower than the stand hook on each side.
Fig. 182. Fig. 183. Fig. 184.
Fig. 182.—Van Saddle. Fig. 183.—Van Saddle Flap. Fig. 184.—Van Saddle Panel.
Cut two pieces of thin leather, either plain or patent, to the same shape as each side of the tree and about 1 in. larger each way. Damp them and make a nick at the top of the boards in the leather so that the centre of the piece will turn down underneath. Tack each end of the leather to the board close to the tree, then pull it tightly along the entire surface of the side over the top, nailing it here and there. Level it down on the surface of the tree, and tack the centre part between the boards underneath the tree, pulling it tight and flat over all parts.
To make the flaps, cut out a paper pattern as a guide (see Fig. 183), making it wider at the top than at the other parts and slightly raised in front. The flaps must reach down from the lower part of the groove in the centre for about 15 in., swelling slightly at the sides and gradually narrowing to about 2 in. at the bottom. The patterns may also be cut straight without the swelling sides, but in both styles they must rise in front more than at the back; as they are cut in two pieces, one for each side, this can easily be managed, because when they are joined at the top this part will stand out prominently in front.
Some flaps are made with stout firm leather, others are lined. In the first case, make two rows along the sides with the race compass and bevel deep with a hot bevel; but patent leather, instead of needing the race compass, has tallow rubbed along the part to be creased and the lines are marked with the compass; then run a warm beveller deep along the marks, being careful that it does not cut the leather.
When patent or plain leather is lined, use the race compass and prick the grooves for stitching. When stitched (or made without lining), cut and polish the edges well and join them with a stitch at the top; place a piece of leather over the joint at the front about 1¼ in. wide, and stitch it on both sides of the joint and across the front; then shave it thin at the side next the tree. A dee, of brass or other metal, is placed on the outside for fastening the crupper. Cover the joint at the back with another piece of leather, turning it down on the outside and shaving the other end thin. These pieces should be long enough on both sides to pass under the tree when the flaps are nailed. On these the tree is placed centre to centre and front to front, and a line is marked along the sides of the tree from board to board on the leather.