Brass MOD "Culloden" cantles

[creagdhubh]

I have to tip my hat to Shaun who let his fellow xmarkers in on the deal and didn't snap them all up to sell at a profit. Well done him.

Well said, and I couldn't agree more.

Here's to you, Shaun!

Cheers,

[Jack Daw]

I think they are beautiful cantles. I would have purchased another, but I've got larger-than-normal expenses this year.

[artificer]

Believe me, Tobus, the thought crossed my mind! But then the better angels of my nature prevailed...

I'm hopeful that all who wanted one were able to get in on this offer.

Looking forward to seeing what folks do with theirs... Perhaps I should have titled this thread "The Artificer Full Employment Act"! (My greatest fear is that, as I'm waiting for my cousin to provide me with the pelt necessary to complete my project, I'll be way, way down in the queue by the time I'm able to send the necessaries to Artificer!)

Cheers,

SM

Don't worry too much Shaun- drop me an email.

Not to put words in his mouth, but I vote that Artificer consider today's date as your entry into the queue. Of course, I don't have a dog in this fight LOL

Entry into the queue?- I'm going to have to start giving Shaun a commission!

ith:

[Llama]

I'm happy to say that I snatched up one of the last ones! I had inquired about the cantles last week but had a long, hard weekend and didn't get back to reply that I actually wanted one until Tuesday. Thankfully, he had been holding one for me because of my inquiry.

I'm going to use this as an excuse to finally try my hand at sporran-making. I'll still buy one of Scott's bags one day - but if I'm going to buy the bag, might as well have him make an awesome new cantle too.

[brownbess]

I was the guy who let the cat out of the bag last year that Mr. Upton was selling these. I bought 3 of them at a reenactment at Fort George. I used one for my Rev War 42nd RHR grenadier uniform. The other 2 will be to my sons Liam and Finnegan. I hope they will love a true piece of their Scottish heritage. I'll post pictures soon.

[McMurdo]

I got mine this morning in the post, to say I am happy is an understatement. Now I just have to send it out to Scott and wait.

[Llama]

Does anyone have any advice for removing any residual lacquer that might be left on the cantles? Maybe an old thread?

Since these first two seem so clean, I'm wondering if one of the later ones will have some lacquer left on.

My first instinct would be to use acetone, but I figured that I should check first.

[creagdhubh]

Does anyone have any advice for removing any residual lacquer that might be left on the cantles? Maybe an old thread?

Since these first two seem so clean, I'm wondering if one of the later ones will have some lacquer left on.

My first instinct would be to use acetone, but I figured that I should check first.

Scott (Artificer) would know. I wouldn't touch the cantle until you hear from him.

Cheers,

[McMurdo]

Does anyone have any advice for removing any residual lacquer that might be left on the cantles? Maybe an old thread?

Since these first two seem so clean, I'm wondering if one of the later ones will have some lacquer left on.

My first instinct would be to use acetone, but I figured that I should check first.

There is no residual lacquer on mine, hopefully the rest will be the same. If yours has lacquer on it then get in touch with Scott and ask him how he does it.

[artificer]

Does anyone have any advice for removing any residual lacquer that might be left on the cantles? Maybe an old thread?

Since these first two seem so clean, I'm wondering if one of the later ones will have some lacquer left on.

My first instinct would be to use acetone, but I figured that I should check first.

A lot of it depends on what the coating is. I had one come through that literally NO chemical I would feel comfortable working with would remove.
In the end I had to remove it by physically buffing it off.

Generally speaking with the ones I've seen that have been lacquered/varnished acetone (or, in a pinch, pine-sol) will do the job. You might need to get at some of the nooks and crannies with an old tooth brush,
especially if it's been coated more than once.

Not related other than lots of XMarkers are getting these cantles for the first time-

One thing I'd advise people to look at on these cantles is signs of repair. I've seen some cases where these have gotten bent or broken and been repaired with soft solder rather than rebrazed with silver.

They'll look a bit like these

badrepairouter.JPGbadrepairinner.JPG
This was a particularly shoddy repair, you can see the solder was actually used as a fill rather than someone getting the brass back into the proper shape.

A soft solder repair means a very weak 'mechanical' join compared to a brazed repair which actually forms a 'diffusion exchange' between the silver and brass, making for a joint that's harder than the original brass.

ith: