Leader Harness Back-Band and Belly-Band: Eyed Back-Band With Dees, Chain Belly-Band (Hasluck, Harness Making, 1904)

"The back-band A, to carry the traces, is the next part of the harness to be made. It must measure about 4 ft. 4 in. from tip to tip, including the terminal chains or the eye, to which the traces are hooked."

If pipe, cut the leather 6 ft 4 in by 5 in. Mark a cross-line 1 ft from each end and another 6 in from each of those, leaving 3 ft 4 in between the two middle marks. Cut a lining piece for each end, as wide as the back-band and 1 ft 3 in long. Shave both tips of the linings and the ends of the turn-in of the back-band thin. Crease, black and rub the back-band, creasing from the extreme lines right along.

Prick from the outer cross-line at each end as far as the double will run, five rows with two on each side. Put the lining under the space between the two lines so that it is 6 in over one and 3 in over the other. Put a narrow piece, shaved at the inner edge and about 6 in long, on both ends at each side of the 6 in space, to strengthen the eye. Stitch the four rows in the 6 in space with three-cord thread, eight stitches per inch; turn the edges of this part and black and rub them.

Turn down the ends, bringing the cross-lines that divide the eye exactly opposite each other; flatten the eye so the lined parts come close together, and tack it. Take two 1 in dees, with a piece of leather inside each on the flat side for about half their width. Put one in each end between the double, close to the eye, one on each side of the back-band, low enough to stitch through the leather inside when stitching the outer row. Tack down the dees and the double, stitch right along both sides, the four rows at both ends and sides running to the top of the double from the cross rows. Stitch across the back-band along the cross-lines near the eye (he says stitch or spot with lace), and open out the eye with a thick piece of wood inside.

Cut two straps 10 in by 3/4 in, put a buckle and loop on one end and punch four or five holes in the other. They pass through the dee at the side of the back-band and through a link in the trace, to hold the back-band in place. Some makers line the inner part of the eye with sole leather and put a safe under it, about 1 in wider at the bottom, narrowing to the back-band's width at the top, with the lower corners rounded, stitched in from the eye upwards.

Get a pair of 3 in chains and cut the leather 3 ft 4 in by 3 in. Turn in 4 in at the ends, and shave, edge, black and crease them. Put the leather into the openings in the chains, stitch four rows along the double part, and spot or stitch across near the chain.

From **Harness Making**, edited by Paul N. Hasluck, Cassell, 1904 (Project Gutenberg 70169), chapter VIII, "Fore Gear or Leader Harness", pp. 104-106, Fig. 102; every figure was checked on the archive.org scan (harnessmaking00hasl). He does not explain "if pipe" further. The long crupper, hip straps and tugs of the same gear are not made here. Stitching rather than lacing across the eye, the tools and metric figures are ours.