Gear designed to fail under stress

[D.A. Kabatoff]

thought i'd quit the hi-jacking of Elton's saddle thread and start a new one for anyone wanting to comment on gear designed to fail under certain stress.

Ben, you mentioned making rope straps that would break if there was too much stress on them. Were you making those 3/4"s wide? I understand the concept of how to make a rope strap that goes over the horn but am trying to figure out how to make it strong enough to not break too easily if a rope is lightly caught on tree branches but weak enough that it will break if a rider was hung up or the rope snagged something with no give. You mentioned making the slit as close to a 1/4" to the end of the strap... do you think that is practical or would it be worth going maybe 3/8 - 1/2" away? I might have to make a few and go test them.

thanks,

Darc

[jwwright]

Darc, on that type of rope strap, I make them 1/2" wide, and I cut the slit to go over the horn up to about 1/2" of the end. This seems to work out well. On my personal saddles, I generally have a more substantial strap as I use my catch rope as a nightlatch once in a while. JW

[greg gomersall]

Darcy i was brought up being told that a rope strap should be designed to fail, yet more and more people seem to want them stoughter. If you are attaching the strap to the fork with a screw just above a bag punch slit you can skive the rope strap down where the screw is so that hopefully the hole will tear out in a bad situation. Greg

[D.A. Kabatoff]

JW, Greg,

thanks for the ideas... I've only ever done crossover type straps and I usually do like you described Greg trying to skive the end down as well as narrowing it a little.

Think I'll try those dimensions JW and maybe make him an extra one a little stouter just in case.

Darc

[kseidel]

I do like Greg said and skive the end attached with the screw. I do this on both the loop over the horn as well as the cross over styles. I use 5/8" latigo for the loop over the horn and leave an inch or so from the tip to the slit and punch a small hole at each end of the slit to help prevent it tearing out too easily. It seems to tear out easy enough at the screw. (sometimes too easy!)

Keith

[gtwister09]

Darc,

The 1/4" is way too close but when you are slave labor you do what you are told. One year I repaired the rope strap on one saddle 5 times. Not good.

Since then I have changed my thoughts on the process completely. I believe that the far end of the strap is the wrong end to plan for failure.

I made them out of 1/2"-5/8" stap (never tried the 3/4). Like I said I changed my thoughts on the end as well. It doesn't take many times before a new strap is cut. Some of the older hands had the length down so close that one break would require a new rope strap. I place the cut for the far end 3/4" away and do just like Keith does with the holes punched at each end for the horn loop. I likewise do the skiving just like Greg (1/2" or less) on the screw end. This makes A LOT more sense because if it breaks you only skive that screw end again and reattach it. This saves on cutting new rope straps. Even the older hands could live with at least 2-3 or more breaks before replacing the rope strap.

This changed system worked out pretty well and didn't give a high rate of what I would call false positives. A hooked spur always ripped it out. Dragging it through trees rarely had a break (Higher speeds - lope or gallup and hooked on an old gnarly oak tree would yield a failure). The 1/2 strap with a cut 1/4" away from the edge on the far end is in my opinion is prone to excessive failures.

Regards,

Ben

[jwwright]

I like the idea of skiving down the end for straps that are attached with a screw. I do that on cross over style straps.

On the style that loops over the horn, commonly called a Texas string in our part of the world..........many times it is not attached with a screw, or a little D ring. The most common method is to loop the strap through the gullet, and put a bleed through.

I always enjoy learning about regional differences. I've cowboyed in several states, but darn sure have not seen it all!

JW

[gtwister09]

JW,

I hear what you say about regional differences. Growing up all I had ever seen was square or round skirt rigs with mostly full doubles and maybe a 7/8. In skirt rigs were considered to be only used for pleasure riders and not for working. Stamping styles were pretty limited to Porter's and baskeweaves. There were a few older Fraziers that some older cowhands had that had a meandering stamp or some geometrics.

After high school I still remember the first Wades that I had ever seen from a bunch of Canadian cowboy's who worked for a Canadian who had bought about 60 sections near us. They came down to work his cattle. All I could think is that the skirts looked like butterflies and how could they hold up with in-skirt riggings. Oh what an education I was in for!

Regards,

Ben