Originally Posted by olebat
Originally Posted by miriam
Will an old belt still in the package still be any good - if so how would I know?
They're sort of like tires, they begin to get little lines and cracks of dry rot. I just put my foot in the center and pulled on both ends. It won't stretch, but if it's bad, it'll start to give. That's never happened to me with a sewing machine belt, but it has with leather lace for sewing moccasins. The leather belts usually hold up pretty good until they go onto a machine. Once it starts to work, the cells tighten, causing the belt to loosen. I think, If ya got it - use it. If it's bad, it'll break.
I tossed the ends that I cut off to my fur babies. One of them likes to chew (Bad Habit) on electric cords, so I thought she would enjoy chewing on the waste leather. Neither of them will touch it. Guess I won't have to worry about them working over the treadle belts. I can't leave an electric lamp or anything with an exposed cord in their room. I didn't realize it for a while. I'm lucky they didn't short the circuits or cause a fire.
My puppies did that when they were younger and after getting the stew knocked out of them they left them alone.
Billy