Bullet Proof Straps - Latigo Or Harness And Best Way To Splice.

[BDAZ]

How does the chrome tanned do in water? These traps will be used in mostly fresh and possibly brackish water.

From my research it does seem that Latigo will accept gluing if both surfaces are roughed up a bit.

Cya!

Bob

Edited April 4, 2014 by BDAZ

[johnv474]

Can the straps be shorter, connected by hardware? Three or four 6' belts with buckles would be stronger than a glued, skived joint in my estimation. They would also be multi-purpose if there were holes to adjust lengths.

Must the straps be a uniform thickness? If not, a splice made by weaving could work. Imagine three roles of 1/8" holes, parallel to the strap length, with 3/16" leather lacing criss-crossing and being braided in and out, extending an inchbor two past the joint. Aesthetically, maybe not beautiful but in conjunctin with or in addition to stitching, the joint may no longer be much of a weak point.

Lastly, how about using a slice of rawhide? Skive joints--the longer the better, cut rawhide to fit skived section, drill/poke 3-4 rows of holes parallel to strap length, going beyond skived section about 1-2", then cement all three layers together and stitch. If the rawhide holes are a bit oversized, the cement will bond with itself as well.

However you cut it, as described the straps would all have one point of failure. A second layer would allow you to stagger joints and give a backup in case of failure. Any piece of leather can have a weak spot. The nylon webbing as backing or a central layer would be a good idea to resist stretch.

Of course, the typical guidance about cutting strap from the near the animal's spine and parallel to it, applies. Making the straps as wide as possible will help, too. 2" straps would be about 33% stronger than 1.5" straps, for example.

For water-reistance, an oiled leather may be in order. A couple light treatments with oil and a few light treatments with Dr. Huberd's Boot Grease will have water beading up like it had Rain-X on it. Huberd's is mostly beeswax and pine tar pitch.

Maybe some of those give you some ideas.

Edited April 13, 2014 by johnv474

[BDAZ]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have subsequently received a sample and they require straps that are 9 feet in length tapering from 3/4" to 1/4" near the end, There cannot be an apparent splice so a scarf will be required. I believe I may be able to get away with double thickness for the splice if there's a smooth transition have done a few splice samples and they seem to hold up though who knows when they are used in the field.

I will use latigo but have not yet received the order so it may all be moot.

Cya!

Bob

Edited April 13, 2014 by BDAZ

[WyomingSlick]

Cliff Ketchum who made leather items for stuntmen in Hollywood would use fiberglass strapping tape between 2 stitched layers of leather to significantly strengthen them. You could perhaps just use that method to strengthen long scarf joinings. The resulting spliced section should be stronger than the rest of the strap.

See, no hard feelings !

[BDAZ]

Thanks! Great idea! I'll do some testing this week. No hard feeling either!

Cya!

Bob