After Wang An cut a strip from the cloth-layered padding, he suddenly realized that simply cutting it like that wasn't appropriate.
The reason why soles made from cloth-layered padding are so sturdy isn't solely because the padding itself is strong; at least half the credit actually goes to the dense, fine hemp twine.
It was fine hemp twine, not ordinary thread.
To put it simply, stitching a shoe sole consists of repeatedly and densely sewing fine hemp twine through several layers of cloth-layered padding.
Therefore, if he wanted the dog's armor to be sturdy, if he didn't use fine hemp twine, he would at least have to sew lines as densely as one does when stitching a shoe sole.
Thus, Wang An took the two pieces of cloth-layered padding and walked toward the sewing machine.
As the "clatter-clatter-clatter" sound rang out, the two pieces of padding were tightly bound together by the machine.
Furthermore, the distance between every two needle holes was only about two millimeters.
A single layer of cloth-layered padding is generally made of three or four layers of fabric glued together, but the padding in Wang An's home consisted of five layers.
The main reason was simply that Wang An's family had too much fabric.
With plenty of fabric came plenty of new clothes, and once there were plenty of new clothes, the old ones were basically all processed into cloth-layered padding.
Normally, shoe soles are stitched using five or seven layers of padding; it's not that people didn't want them thicker, but if there were too many layers, the finished sole would deform.
The reason Wang An used two layers of padding was that he had to consider the thickness and weight of the wild boar hide.
In fact, Wang An could imagine that once this armor was finished, the weight certainly wouldn't be light, and putting it on the dog would definitely reduce the dog's agility.
However, when choosing between reduced agility and saving its life, the latter was inevitably the choice.
After sewing the padding, Wang An first cut it into strips. However, when he gathered the cut strips together, he discovered that this stuff was fucking hard!
If this were installed on the dog, the dog's waist might not even be able to bend.
Consequently, Wang An pondered for a moment and cut the strips of padding into squares.
He had suddenly thought of fish scales, and fish-scale armor had existed in ancient times.
Doing it this way would absolutely guarantee the dog's agility to the maximum extent.
Then, Wang An took the pile of square padding pieces and the trimmed boar hide and walked toward the sewing machine once more.
In this manner, small pieces of padding were stitched onto the wild boar hide one by one.
Of course, Wang An did it like fish scales, with one piece overlapping half of the next, rather than laying them out flat.
After a full hour of sewing, a piece of dog armor was finally produced by Wang An.
It had to be said that a tailor's needlework was different; although the materials used for this armor were crude, it looked both aesthetic and generous.
The moment the armor was finished, Wang An trotted excitedly toward Da Hei outside the house.
Da Hei looked at Wang An in confusion, not knowing what he wanted. After licking Wang An's hand a few times, it stood there obediently wagging its tail.
Looking at Da Hei wearing the armor, Wang An initially felt it was actually quite good.
Excluding the dog's belly and back, it could protect Da Hei's shoulders and the area above the base of its tail.
However, after a while, Wang An discovered that the armor wasn't very secure on the dog and tended to rotate.
The tendency to rotate was mainly because the armor was barrel-shaped; during intense running or fighting, the armor would very likely shift position.
After pondering for a long while, Wang An decided to add a piece of deer hide with a hole to each of the four corners of the armor.
This way, the dog's four legs could be inserted into them—much like a human wearing underwear—to achieve the effect of fixing the armor in place.
The reason for using deer hide was that, by comparison, only the softness of deer hide could ensure it wouldn't chafe the dog's legs.
Furthermore, although deer hide was soft, it was still a genuinely sturdy type of leather.
Thus, Wang An stripped the armor off Da Hei again.
At this time, Liu Guilan, who was working in the yard, leaned over. Looking at the armor on the dog, she immediately understood what her eldest son was doing.
Because Liu Guilan had also heard the conversation between Wang An and Wu Dong.
Therefore, seeing so much painstakingly made cloth-layered padding being cut into small pieces and reassembled, her face showed obvious heartache.
However, Liu Guilan didn't say a single word of opposition. After thinking for a moment, she offered a suggestion to Wang An
"Xiao An, you've got to find a way to protect that dog's neck too, otherwise what happens if those big claws bite the dog's neck?"
Although Liu Guilan was a bit stingy in her daily life, this wasn't actually a flaw, as the vast majority of Chinese women of this era were masters of frugal housekeeping.
Many actions that seemed overly stingy weren't because she wanted to be stingy, but were actually forced by life.
One must realize that before Wang An was reborn, his family's life wasn't great. If Liu Guilan hadn't been stingy, the whole damn family would have been eating the northwest wind.
There is a saying, "One does not know the cost of firewood, rice, oil, and salt until one manages the household," so while Wang An felt helpless regarding his mother's usual stinginess, he absolutely understood it. In Wang An's heart, his mother was right!
Moreover, Liu Guilan had never dropped the ball when it came to important matters.
Hearing his mother's words, Wang An also frowned. Whether it was a tiger, leopard, or lynx, when hunting prey of a similar or larger size, their habitual trick was to lock the throat.
Although for a tiger, killing a dog didn't even require biting the neck—since biting anywhere would work—it had to be said that if the dog's neck could be protected, the dog's safety would indeed increase significantly.
However, the flexibility of a dog's neck was much higher than that of its waist, because a dog might twist its neck to observe its surroundings at any given moment.
At this time, Wang Dazhu, who was also working in the yard, leaned over.
Then, the three of them looked at the dog's neck and fell into deep thought almost simultaneously.
Actually, the moment Wang An heard Liu Guilan mention protecting the dog's neck, he immediately thought of the spiked collars from later generations. Unfortunately, he had no electric welder, and he didn't know if the village blacksmith could make one.
After a while, Wang Dazhu suddenly said, "The thing protecting the dog's neck can't be too wide; it's best if it just prevents those big claws from getting a grip."
Hearing this, Liu Guilan's eyes instantly widened as she said
"That's right! Then just drive iron nails backward into a wooden board, and then sew the wooden board onto the leather, and that'll be it."
It had to be said that the method Liu Guilan thought of was actually quite good.
Hearing this, Wang Dazhu subconsciously nodded, echoing, "Mm-hmm, that really is a good way."
At this point, Wang An said to his parents, "Dad, Mom, I'll go see Blacksmith Luo and see if he can forge a spiked iron ring."
As Wang An spoke, he turned and walked out of the yard.
(End of Chapter)