Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
And even now, the only cantle I own is a brass MoD cantle which would have a hard time rising to the level of black tie evening wear. But I have thought about building a horse hair sporran for the MoD cantle, just to see how it turns out. I think it would look smashing with a silver-plated MoD cantle like Harold's.
Tobus,
I have been asked about doing this several times (horsehair and the ex-MoD cantle) and after a few experiments I can safely say that it's not going to work very well.
The horsehair needs a really SOLID anchor. When I build horsehair sporrans the hair is lapped between leather strips and triple stitched. This, along with the internal body work, allows
for the flexibility that can be seen in my earlier post (built like the very old ones were), but it's not "soft".



For a sack on the MoD sporrans, you need a fair amount of flex/stretch so the cantle can open.

If the face of the body is firm enough to hold the horsehair stitching, you're going to have a terrible time opening the cantle, even with a gusset in something as stretchy as Elk.

If the face is soft enough to stretch when the cantle opens, you're not going to have a very solid seat for the hair, and it will shed with even gentle use.
You also run the risk of this soft face deforming under the weight of the horsehair.

You'd be much better served with goat hair for a hinged brass cantle (which I actually have in the queue right now).
It's much, MUCH lighter and doesn't need such a firm backing.
The bag below isn't brass (obviously) but is a soft-sack construction- fully flexible- full storage.




One other thing you should definitely consider is adding a liner between the metal and any hair so you don't get green/brown patina on the hair over time.
Ususally the liner is pinked, but doesn't have to be.

Cheers
ith: