Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1875 — Mending Harness. [ARTICLE]

Mending Harness.

A “ stitch in time” in the harness at this season will probably save considerably more than the proverbial “nine” when the busy season commences. To mend harness the first thing needed is a clamp for holding it. A very good clamp may be made of a stave of a flour barrel cutin two in the middle. A small block with two sides beveled is fixed on the top of a larger block and the staves are screwed firmly to it. Screws are to be preferred to nails, which would be liable to split the staves. The upper end of each stave is smoothed and beveled so as to take an even and firm hold of the leather when it is slipped between them. Fine copper wire is a better material with which to mend harness than thread, and is much more convenient in use. A roll of this wire should be kept on hand. Rivets and burrs should be used for splicing traces or heavy parts of the harness. A few of these with a punch and a light tack-hammer for clenching the rivets should form part of the tools, and a straight awl should be procured for making holes in the leather when the original holes have become filled up or worn so as to be useless. A seat may be made by fixing two legs to a piece of board about two feet long; the other end will then rest upon the larger block when it is in use. When not in use it may be hung up oh the wall of the tool-house by a hole in the end. Such a harness-mend-ing apparatus, in lack of a more costly “ kit” of taels, ought to be kept in every farm workshop. A strap may be mended in two or three minutes for one cent that would cost ten cents at the harnessmaker’s, and the loss of time.— American Agriculturist.