Pewter for cantle?

[Micric]

Just a quick question if I may;
Would it be acceptable to use pewter on a cantle? (dress sporran)

Thanks in advance!

Richard.

[Bugbear]

I can't speak to whether it is going to be acceptable.

However, I have, from time to time, done a little bit of work with Pewter, and it can be polished to mirror shine much like silver. I know this as a fact because I have personally done it with my own hands.

There is a style of finishing pewter called a satin finish that is not polished to a mirror shine. It is like hundreds of thousands of tiny scratches all in the same direction, or crossing at the same angles. It gives a dull finish, and I suppose it is fairly common.

I think mirror finished pewter would look fairly close to silver, and it does develop a patina. Chrome, on the other hand, is a lot brighter and colder looking, and does not develop a patina.

I suggest talking to some of the metal workers of the forum.

[artificer]

I think they are not uncommon. CLANART has a decent selection of polished pewter cantles.

[cavscout]

No problem at all with pewter. In fact, I love pewter accessories with the kilt. It is a nice middle ground between rugged casual and "blingy" formal.

It's also possible to have pewter plated later if you so choose. I had Gaelic Themes do a Gold Plated Pewter buckle for a customer a couple years ago that looked fantastic.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Absolutely no reason why you couldn't have a pewter cantle on a dress sporran. If it was me though, I'd have it silver-plated as that would, ultimately, give it a slightly better "look".

[Downunder Kilt]

If you want to see some really nice pewter cantles, I would suggest you try Skye Highland outfitters, one of the sponsers. I know for a fact that Josh has just received a load in for attachment to his horse and goat hair sporrans. I believe he posted a short time ago that he was looking at selling the cantles as stand alones, subject to availability.

[Micric]

Thank you all so much for the replies and suggestions!

I will have a look at Sky Island, and see what they have.

Actually, I received a sporran with a Wood cantle, and was thinking of dressing it up with pewter myself, ..but I'm always open to suggestions, and thank you again!

I'll keep you posted on what transpires.

Richard.

[rtc872]

Does anybody with a pewter cantle find that it scratches easily? As I understand pewter is a rather soft metal. Or am I wrong?

[Rollo]

I prefer solid silver cantles for dress sporran.

[Schiehallion]

I have pewter buckle and Cantle and they wear fine.. no problem with scratches .

Modern pewter is a different alloy than the old high lead alloy of historical pewter, so stands up to wear far better. A far more subtle metal than chrome.

I like pewter, not being able to afford silver, as it is more natural and of a good colour rather than a chrome plated cantle which for me tends to look cheap. Metals can vary a lot in colour... try putting silver next to other white metals.