[QUOTE=shakeytails;7596453]
I’ve done the “torch the nail” trick on regular nylon, it doesn’t work as well on beta because it starts to melt the coating and gets messy. What’s “double needles in pre-made holes”? Is there a website or something that illustrates the technique?
It doesn’t surprise me that a STB racer would have some experience fixing tack!:winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
I don’t know if there is anything that shows double needle stitching because it is a lost art but the technique is fairly simple. There is a thing called a stitch marker that marks where to make holes, then you run them through with an awl (talking leather here). Take two harness needles, a length of waxed thread and put a needle on either end, and start stitching - pass the one needle through the first hole then from opposite side, both through the next and the next to the end of the holes. What you are making are running stitches with two needles and it is better than the looped stitch from a speedy awl.
It surprises me you would think that about the harness track because I learned harness making from a friend who couldn’t find an apprentice anywhere and I was too old for the gov’t programmes. He was the last of the harness makers on the track in western Canada and even though I lacked the proper equipment, I fixed stuff for guys when we still raced here - covered shadow rolls, restitched stuff that could be repaired, all by hand, and had even acquired a small pile of stuff that needed repairs, but I got through it. Impressed the hell out of the younger trainers but not the few remaining old guys who knew where I learned. it’s a job that no one wants anymore and I loved it almost as much as I loved training.
For halter repairs, I just put a new strap (leather or nylon) in and rivet the thing…no one seems to mind here in the middle of nowhere.
FTR, I had to teach my shoe maker (by trade) younger cousin how to use double needles because that technique is no longer taught…pity because it comes in handy to re-stitch things like moccasin tops, and baseballs, although those are different stitches.
It would be nice if I could actually produce a stitched lead shank or two that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to use in public… the repaired halters won’t ever leave the farm.