Horse Knee-Cap: Cupped Leather Block, Cloth Shield and Flock-Stuffed Chamois Roll (Hasluck, Saddlery, 1904)

"Knee-caps are of felt, fawn rugging, kersey cloth, union, buff leather, black rubber, etc."

With no press, damp some half-curried leather and beat it, as a shoemaker beats boot soles, until it takes a hollow cup shape. Let it dry, then cut it to a wide oval about 5 in by 4 in.

Make the cloth, kersey or leather about 8 in at the top and 9 in deep, and round the bottom. Bind all of it except the straight top with patent binding or cloth; buff leather need not be bound.

Put the leather block on the centre with a piece of shaped cardboard under it, paste the two together and press the cloth down into the hollow. Stitch the block to the cloth about 1-1/4 in from the top and 1-1/2 in from the bottom.

Cut a piece of leather 1-1/8 in wide and 1 in longer at each end than the cloth at the top. Make a hole at each end 1 in from the point for a 5/8 in strap. Put a chape, buckle and loop in the hole at one end and a 5/8 in strap 9 in long in the other, and stitch both firmly.

Cut chamois the same length and width as the strap. With it hanging down in front of the knee-cap and the three edges together, stitch it all along through the top leather and the cloth. Turn the chamois over the top towards the bottom and stitch it along the bottom side of the top strap, rather slack. Make two rows of stitches across the centre, leaving an opening of about 1-1/2 in exactly in the centre. Stuff both parts of the roll from each end with flock, then close the ends by stitching chamois and top leather together.

Put a 5/8 in chape buckle and loop at the bottom of the block pad, slanting slightly downwards, with a strap 10 in long on the opposite side. For a pair, reverse the buckles so each is on the outside.

From **Saddlery**, edited by Paul N. Hasluck, David McKay, 1904 (archive.org saddlery00hasl), chapter X, "Knee-caps and Miscellaneous Articles", pp. 81-84, Figs. 33-35; every fraction was read on the scan. He also suggests a better block cut with a tongue up under the top strap, and a fastening with two squares and a 5/8 in rubber ring; those are not shown here. The thread, the tools and the metric figures are ours.