The Wild West sporran, very limited utility

[AKScott]

Now that I have built one, I get it. Agressive search button users will find the occasional reference to the "Wild West Sporran" in older threads; no pictures, no rationale.

As a warning to others, here is the problem:



This look only works with level one very casual, and it only works with some but not all very casual shoes. Pictured are the same work boots I wear when using my chainsaw.

This sporran might work with modern rather than traditional kilts, and given it is made of 6-8oz vegetable tanned it might stop small caliber bullets. It is also well enough constructed to remain my personal albatross for the rest of my natural born days.

The following thumbnails are provided for edification and entertainment purposes only. Having failed dismally in my responsibiity to serve as a good example, it is my civic duty to serve as a horrible warning.

There is probably more than one way to skin this cat. For stitching curves into stiff leather I prefer to get the stitches in, and then tighten them. From here I took the slack out of each stitch one at a time so I was only fighting the stiffness of the leather and the thread, the needles were not in the fight. As an aside I should mention I am not a fan of running a single thread up one way and then back the other. I have read lots of sporran makers online who swear by the method. Coming from repairing draught horse tack to here, single needle stitching is a method I swear at rather than by.



This is the strap the rises up from the front wall of the sporran. I cut the T shaped hole to accomodate the button on the back wall.



This is the pineapple standing on the back wall of the sporran. It is two courses of square braid finsihed with a crown knot, seizing in black small stuff below. Together with the previous, this is how the top stays closed.



Empty item with the top latch undone:



Latched and loaded:



Front view:



Nominal dimensions are 7" wide by 9" tall. I used a nine inch cake pan for the outer curves and a four inch prep bowl for the inner curve of the cantle, on a paper pattern. The gusset I think was 3 inches across the bottom and around the curves, then tapered to maybe 2.5" Cutting the front straps into sixths freehand for later braiding was a mistake. I do have a sporran with no flap to hold out of the way while open.

[Whidbey78]

I'd actually wear that. It's different, but in a cool way.

[cavscout]

I like the western look of it. It's a nice combination of Scots-Western. Nice job

[Riverkilt]

Really like the concept - hope you won't give up on it.

I've adapted a deerskin Shoshone made pouch as a sporran, but wear it seldom as it doesn't hold much. Here's a pic right after I bought it at a shop on the Kaibab-Paiute reservation on the Arizona Strip.



I also commissioned a hair on buffalo sporran from Miss April's Carpetbags. I like it a lot and wear it often. Its deep, wide, and simple. No closure, the weight of the buffalo leather itself keeps the long flap in place. Nothing to unhook or refasten, just lift it up and take it out, or dump it in.



Point is, don't quit. I think western looking sporrans are doable. Good work out there on the point figuring out what works.

[MacGuffin]

I like the idea of a hunting sporran with some Western-style tooling on either the body or the cantle.