Vintage Sporran making Video!

**Panache** · 14th October 12, 09:53 AM

Attention would-be-sporran makers!

A friend shared this link with me from Scottish Screen Archive. It will take you to a silent 16 minute film from 1955 on how to make a sporran

http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=0958&fb_source=message

Enjoy!

Cheers

Jamie

**Panache** · 14th October 12, 09:57 AM

Looking further at the website I can see how this might be of great interest to our members

For more information on the Scottish Screen Archive take a look here

http://ssa.nls.uk/index.cfm?sid=01

**creagdhubh** · 14th October 12, 11:19 AM

Very cool! Thanks for sharing, Jamie.

**tulloch** · 14th October 12, 07:45 PM

Very interesting! I will pass the word about this one.

**MacGumerait** · 14th October 12, 10:55 PM

Panache , that's a pretty cool old video ! What got my attention more than anything else was some of the tools being used . Some of them I am familiar with , some not . Quite interesting . Thanks for sharing this !

**Tobus** · 15th October 12, 06:01 AM

Very nice find! That was an excellent demonstration of all sorts of techniques and tools that leatherworkers typically use. I like that he showed the versatility of a good round knife, including skiving, trimming, and cutting. What he didn't show, though, was the constant sharpening of the round knife in order to make it cut through leather like butter. It takes quite a while to learn the art of properly sharpening a round knife! And it was also a good demonstration of the 2-needle stitching style which I prefer. He makes it look too easy, though.

It was also a good demonstration of a 4-part round braid as well as the 5-part flat braid. And I'm glad he showed how to make those little pineapple tassels. Very informative!

The one thing that struck me is how quickly he was moving. It seemed rather sloppy and haphazard, but the end result was a fine quality product, and that's all that matters. You can tell he's been doing it so long (in production-style environs) that he's got it down to a science. And he does it whilst wearing a suit and tie!

I'm going to have to watch this several times to truly appreciate everything that was being shown.

**artificer** · 15th October 12, 06:13 AM

Thanks for reposting this, Jamie-
I cannot even count the number of times that I watched this video when I made my first few sporrans! I never tire of seeing this.

Originally Posted by Tobus

Very nice find! That was an excellent demonstration of all sorts of techniques and tools that leatherworkers typically use. I like that he showed the versatility of a good round knife, including skiving, trimming, and cutting. What he didn't show, though, was the constant sharpening of the round knife in order to make it cut through leather like butter. It takes quite a while to learn the art of properly sharpening a round knife! And it was also a good demonstration of the 2-needle stitching style which I prefer. He makes it look too easy, though.

Too true

Originally Posted by Tobus

It was also a good demonstration of a 4-part round braid as well as the 5-part flat braid. And I'm glad he showed how to make those little pineapple tassels. Very informative!

I've been dying to make a set of these since I first saw this video, and I STILL haven't gotten around to it. I love the style, and the fact they're so rarely seen today (except for on vintage pieces)

ith:

**Tobus** · 15th October 12, 06:32 AM

Upon further reflection, one thing that occurred to me is that he was tracing the Celtic knot pattern by hand from his paper pattern in order to make the filigree panel on the flap. That's very time-consuming and tedious. For production work where you're using the same pattern repeatedly, it's easier to make a beat-off pattern. (I know, I know, it's hard to say that without giggling, but that's what it's called.) This consists of a pattern cut into a master piece of leather with a swivel knife, and the master piece is then allowed to dry and lacquered.

To transfer the pattern to a new piece of leather, you wet the new leather and lay the beat-off pattern on top of it (face to face), then beat it with a mallet. The pattern will be impressed on the wet leather, which can then be cut in. It saves the step of having to hand-trace every line. I've seen it used many times for belt patterns and other production work, and it can save many hours of time, as well as minimize deviations in the pattern from tracing.