Originally Posted by
Rodney
Part of it may be that the way leather is tanned has changed since the old days. I don't think new leather is as durable as the old stuff was.
Rodney
This is SO correct. The original belts were flat belts, but the first "round" belts were rawhide strips with the hair on. When they dried, the hide would curl towards the hair so it ended up hair inside with an outer skin of hide. I have two old belts that when they broke, you can see the hair in the center still. there was no way to tell from the outside that they were not just "leather".
Modern belts are made by running cut strips through a machine that rounds the 4 corners to make it round. Huge strength difference....