Chapter 403

After Wang An cut a strip from the cloth layers, he suddenly realized that cutting it directly like this was not appropriate.

Because the reason shoe soles made of cloth layers were durable was not solely because the cloth layers themselves were durable; at least half the credit actually went to the dense, fine hemp rope.

It was fine hemp rope, not ordinary thread.

Because stitching shoe soles, to put it plainly, was repeatedly and densely sewing fine hemp rope through several layers of cloth.

Therefore, if one wanted the dogs' protective gear to be durable, even without fine hemp rope, one would inevitably have to sew it densely with thread, just like stitching shoe soles.

Consequently, Wang An took two pieces of cloth layers and walked toward the sewing machine.

As the "dang-dang-dang" sound rang out, the two pieces of cloth layers were tightly stitched together by the sewing machine.

And the distance between every two needle holes was only about two millimeters.

One layer of cloth layers was generally 3 or 4 layers of cloth glued together, while Wang An's family's cloth layers were 5 layers of cloth.

The main reason was that Wang An's family had too much cloth.

With a lot of cloth, there were many new clothes, and with many new clothes, the old clothes were basically all beaten into cloth layers.

Normally, stitched shoe soles used 5 or 7 layers of cloth; it wasn't that one didn't want them thicker, but if there were too many layers, the stitched soles would deform.

And the reason Wang An used two layers of cloth was that he also had to consider the thickness and weight of the wild boar hide.

Actually, Wang An could imagine that after such protective gear was made, the weight would definitely not be light, and putting it on the dogs would certainly reduce their agility.

But if one had to choose between reducing agility and saving one's life, then one would inevitably choose the former.

After stitching the cloth layers, Wang An first cut them into strips, but when he gathered all the cut strips together, he discovered that this stuff was really damn hard!

If this damn thing were put on a dog, the dog's waist might not even be able to bend.

Consequently, Wang An pondered for a moment and then cut the strip-shaped cloth layers into squares.

Because Wang An suddenly thought of fish scales, and there was also fish-scale armor in ancient times.

In this way, it would definitely be able to guarantee the dogs' agility to the greatest extent.

Then Wang An took a pile of square cloth-layer pieces and the cut wild boar hide and walked toward the sewing machine again.

Just like that, small piece by small piece, the cloth-layer pieces were stitched onto the wild boar hide.

Of course, Wang An did it like fish scales, with one piece overlapping half of another; it wasn't in a flat state.

After an hour of sewing, one piece of dog protective gear was finally made by Wang An.

One had to say, a tailor doing needlework was just different; although the materials for this protective gear were rough, it looked both beautiful and generous.

The first thing Wang An did after finishing the protective gear was to run happily toward Da Hei outside the house.

Da Hei looked at Wang An suspiciously, not knowing what he was going to do. After licking Wang An's hand a few times, it stood there honestly, wagging its tail.

Wang An looked at Da Hei wearing the protective gear and initially felt it was quite good.

Excluding the dog's belly and back, it could also protect Da Hei's shoulders and the area above the base of its tail.

However, after a while, Wang An discovered that this protective gear wasn't very secure on the dog and was prone to rotating.

The reason it was prone to rotating was mainly because the gear was barrel-shaped; in the event of the dog running and fighting intensely, this gear was very likely to shift position.

After pondering for a long time, Wang An decided to add a piece of deer hide with holes to each of the four corners of the gear.

In this way, the dog's four legs could be inserted into them, just like a person wearing underpants, to achieve the purpose of fixing the protective gear.

And the reason for using deer hide was that, by comparison, only the softness of deer hide could avoid chafing the dog's legs.

Furthermore, although deer hide was soft, it was also a type of leather that was quite durable.

Consequently, Wang An stripped the protective gear off Da Hei again.

At this time, Liu Guilan, who was working in the yard, came over. Looking at the protective gear on the dog, she immediately understood what her eldest son was doing.

Because Liu Guilan had also heard what Wang An and Wu Dong and the others had said.

So Liu Guilan looked at the cloth layers that had been painstakingly beaten and then cut into small pieces and re-stitched, and her face clearly showed great heartache.

However, Liu Guilan didn't say a single word of opposition and even thought for a moment before offering a suggestion to Wang An:

"Xiao An, you have to think of a way to protect the dog's neck too; otherwise, what if those big claws bite the dog's neck?"

Although Liu Guilan was a bit stingy in managing the household, this wasn't actually a shortcoming, because the vast majority of Chinese women in this era were experts at running a household with diligence and frugality.

Many practices that seemed overly stingy weren't because she wanted to be stingy; in reality, it was forced by life.

One must know that before Wang An was reborn, his family's life wasn't very good; if Liu Guilan hadn't been stingy, the whole damn family would have had to drink the northwest wind.

There was a saying, "One doesn't know the cost of firewood, rice, oil, and salt until one manages the household," so although Wang An was helpless about his mother's usual stinginess, he absolutely understood it, because in Wang An's heart, his mother was not wrong!

Moreover, Liu Guilan had never dropped the ball on serious matters.

Hearing his mother's words, Wang An also frowned. Whether it was a tiger, a leopard, or a lynx, when hunting prey of a similar or larger size than itself, its habitual trick was to lock onto the throat.

Although for a tiger, killing a dog didn't even require biting the neck, because biting anywhere was the same.

But one had to say, if the dog's neck could be protected, the dog's safety could indeed be increased quite a bit.

However, the agility of a dog's neck was much higher than that of its waist, because a dog was likely to twist its neck to observe its surroundings at any time.

At this time, Wang Dazhu, who was also working in the yard, came over.

Then the three of them looked at the dog's neck and almost simultaneously fell into deep thought.

Actually, as soon as Wang An heard Liu Guilan mention protecting the dog's neck, he immediately thought of the spiked collars from later generations, but there was no electric welding, and he didn't know if the blacksmith in the village could make one.

After a while, Wang Dazhu suddenly said: "The thing to protect the dog's neck shouldn't be too wide; it's best if it can prevent those big claws from getting their mouths on it."

Liu Guilan, upon hearing this, instantly widened her eyes and said:

"That's right, then just nail foreign nails backward into a wooden board, and then sew the wooden board onto leather, and wouldn't that be it?"

One had to say, this method Liu Guilan thought of was actually quite good.

Wang Dazhu, upon hearing this, subconsciously nodded and chimed in, saying: "Mm, this thing really is a good method."

At this time, Wang An said to his parents: "Dad, Mom, I'll go see Blacksmith Luo and see if he can forge a spiked iron collar."

As Wang An spoke, he turned and walked toward the outside of the yard.

(End of chapter)