sporran closure

[plaid preacher]

Greetings everyone. I picked up what I think is a lovely sporran on e-bay a while back. I like everything about it. I like it's shape, and especially the detail on the flap. Only problem ... there is no clasp. I don't carry a lot of stuff in my sporran but find that the weight of my wallet and keys cause it to spread open a little more than I would like. Anyone have any suggestions for a quick fix on this one?

Thanks.

Robert100_1870.jpg100_1871.jpg

[TheOfficialBren]

Ah! I suggest a magnetic closure. Thom at A_Hay Custom Sporrans turned me on to these when he sent me a magnificent sporran that he had made. It really sold me on the idea.

You can find the approprite "craft" magnets at an arts and crafts or sewing store. They are not powerful enough to affect any of your magnetised cards but they are strong enough to firmly shut your flap. I know this from first-hand experience.

Nice find.

[Psynister]

Ah! I suggest a magnetic closure. Thom at A_Hay Custom Sporrans turned me on to these when he sent me a magnificent sporran that he had made. It really sold me on the idea.

You can find the approprite "craft" magnets at an arts and crafts or sewing store. They are not powerful enough to affect any of your magnetised cards but they are strong enough to firmly shut your flap. I know this from first-hand experience.

Nice find.

My thoughts exactly - magnetic.

[Nathan]

My thoughts exactly - magnetic.

I recently picked some up at the dollar store for a project I'm working on. $1 plus some contact cement and you're off to the races...

[A Hay]

I also would recommend the use of a magnetic closure and I use this on most of the sporrans I make.

Since not everyone may know how to install these, I would like to offer a short tutorial of how I attach them to the sporran, other methods may also work.

Here is a picture of what they look like:

This shows two complete sets, on the left the prongs are down and on the right the prongs are up. The prongs go through leather then the silver disks are put over the prongs, against the leather and hammered down to secure the parts to the leather. Sounds simple but there is more to it.

First step is to position the part with the protruding round stud on the underside of the top flap of the sporran. I begin by cutting out a round disk of soft leather about 2 inches or 5 centimeters in diameter. The color of the leather is up to you, but should be complementary to the sporran. I then press the prongs of the stud piece into the center of the leather circle. This leaves indentations where to make a cut with a sharp knife for each of the prongs to go through. I push the prongs through and then turn the leather over and place the silver disk onto the prongs. I then lightly tap the prongs towards the center, overlapping them. This creates a tight and secure hold of the stud disk to the leather.

Next step is to locate the place where you want to attach the stud to the underside of the top flap. I dry fit the leather to get an approximate fit first. In your case, since you have 3 tassels it may be necessary to offset the stud to the right or left of the center tassel because you will need to go through the face of the sporran with the prongs of the other part of the closure, the one with the hole in it. I suggest this method. Put the two parts of the magnetic closure together. They will snap into place with the prongs of the part with the hole down. Align the prongs horizontally or vertically relative to the sporran. Hold the stud part and leather against the underside of the top flap. Fill the sporran with the items you would normally carry in it. Then lightly press the top flap against the face of the sporran. You can peep under the flap and see if the prongs of the hole part with fit properly around that center tassel or even above. Positioning the two parts is critical since if you don't you may find the point of closure is too far down the front of the sporran and you can't get it to snap closed when you fill it up! (Voice of experience speaking)
Once you have properly positioned the top and bottom locations, hold the leather disk in place and put a couple of small marks on the underside of the top flap so you can reposition the leather disk after you put the glue on it.

I use a leather bond white glue that has some give to it. Put a thin layer on the prong side of the leather disk and place the glued side against the underside of the top flap of the sporran. Hold or clamp it in place until the glue dries thoroughly (if using a clamp, put something on the front face of the flap to prevent marking or scratching it with the clamp. I usually set it aside for at least an hour. This assembly will get the greatest strain as you open the flap so you want a strong bond.

Once it is set, reinsert the closure part with the hole onto the stud part. If it looks like it is in a good position when you close the top flap against the front of the sporran (which is full of what you normally carry), then press lightly on the top flap. This will leave an impression of the two prongs on the front of the sporran, marking the place you will need to cut slits to push the prongs of the hole part.
Now cut the slits for the hole part, just long enough to fit the prongs.
Push the prongs through the front face and then put the metal disk over the prongs on the inside of the sporran. Push the prongs toward the center so that they tightly secure the hole part to the sporran. You can leave it like this, but to prevent the prongs from scratching anything inside the sporran, I cut another 2 inch or 5 cm circle of soft leather and glue this to the inside of the front of the sporran, over the prongs and hold it in place until it is set. Since this bears no strain, you don't have to be quite as careful of clamping it.
I snap the closure together and set the sporran aside overnight to ensure the glue has time to develop a full bond.
Sorry I don't have pictures to illustrate each step, but I'll do that the next time I assemble a sporran.
It may sound complicated, but if you walk through each step as a dry run, before gluing, it should make sense. You can always send me a personal message if you have questions.
If other members of the forum have suggestions or ideas, I would welcome them.

Tom Hays

[OC Richard]

Not all sporrans are made with a closing mechanism, for example I owned an Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders sporran, the badger full mask type, and the weight of the badger face was reckoned to be heavy enough to keep the flap shut. However I don't remember seeing a typical Day sporran, such as you have, without a clasp.

[Katia]

but they are strong enough to firmly shut your flap.

I know so many people that I wish I could try this on...