Sporran belt vs. chain

**Moses** · 2nd November 17, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by Piobair

I think a woven belt in any context is inadvisable. With a sporran, over a pair of cargo shorts in 1992, doesn't matter...

....leather can be of poor quality or the cut can cause them to sit at an angle. There are a few custom leather strap makers, Wyvern comes to mind and a guy I got one from years ago o who I can't quite remember. while I usually equate leather with day wear a super high quality, plain black leather strap might look pretty cool.

I don't have any attachment to the woven belt idea I was just wondering. There's almost no chance of me getting a silver chain, as far as a leather belt, I do wonder about the quality available and also how it might sit

**David Dubh** · 2nd November 17, 10:05 PM

In my opinion I wouldn’t do a braided sporran belt for formal wear I equate it with casual wear. If I was wearing pants a braided belt would be with jeans and kakies. I have 2 leather ones one has embossed thistles and the like which I wear for smart day wear. I wear the metal Crome chain that came with my full fur dress sporran for formal wear. I don’t think I do formal enough to spend a fortune on a dress chain strap, I would probably spend the money on a custom silver sporran. Again can’t justify the money for as often as I wear a formal outfit
Cheers David

**Todd Bradshaw** · 3rd November 17, 12:19 AM

I own plain leather straps, embossed leather straps "brogued" leather straps and chains with adjustable leather straps in the back. To my eye, the chains make better formal wear and the straps usually tend to be better when used as day wear. The thing about chains though, is that an awful lot of the sporran chains that you see have pretty cheap lousy chain on them - often with little sharp edges and looking like something from a hardware store. Ideally, you would want chain which is aimed more at the jewelry market than the hardware market. It does exist in a wide variety of sizes and patterns, silver or gold-tone from a variety of metals and smooth enough to wear next to bare skin, so it isn't likely to tear up your kilt. Do an eBay search some time for "curb chain" (whatever that is) and you will see many examples of jewelry-quality chain, and many of them are available in a variety of sizes and lengths at quite decent prices. If you have a sporran with poor quality chain you can probably buy one of these, transfer the end fittings if needed and end up with a much nicer piece of kit.

It seems to me that the typical sporran strap or chain usually reflects how much effort went into making it, and even on some of the nicer sporrans, that may not be much. I don't see any reason why that part of your kiltwear shouldn't get the same sort of attention that the other parts get.

**Moses** · 3rd November 17, 04:04 AM

Originally Posted by Todd Bradshaw

I own plain leather straps, embossed leather straps "brogued" leather straps and chains with adjustable leather straps in the back. To my eye, the chains make better formal wear and the straps usually tend to be better when used as day wear. The thing about chains though, is that an awful lot of the sporran chains that you see have pretty cheap lousy chain on them - often with little sharp edges and looking like something from a hardware store. Ideally, you would want chain which is aimed more at the jewelry market than the hardware market. It does exist in a wide variety of sizes and patterns, silver or gold-tone from a variety of metals and smooth enough to wear next to bare skin, so it isn't likely to tear up your kilt. Do an eBay search some time for "curb chain" (whatever that is) and you will see many examples of jewelry-quality chain, and many of them are available in a variety of sizes and lengths at quite decent prices. If you have a sporran with poor quality chain you can probably buy one of these, transfer the end fittings if needed and end up with a much nicer piece of kit.

It seems to me that the typical sporran strap or chain usually reflects how much effort went into making it, and even on some of the nicer sporrans, that may not be much. I don't see any reason why that part of your kiltwear shouldn't get the same sort of attention that the other parts get.

Wow a leather strap with broguing sounds perfect. I haven't seen it before but that seems great. I think the chain recommend as a finer quality chain may be worth looking into also and actually an easy solution, thanks again.

**Moses** · 3rd November 17, 04:08 AM

Originally Posted by David Dubh

In my opinion I wouldn’t do a braided sporran belt for formal wear I equate it with casual wear. If I was wearing pants a braided belt would be with jeans and kakies. I have 2 leather ones one has embossed thistles and the like which I wear for smart day wear. I wear the metal Crome chain that came with my full fur dress sporran for formal wear. I don’t think I do formal enough to spend a fortune on a dress chain strap, I would probably spend the money on a custom silver sporran. Again can’t justify the money for as often as I wear a formal outfit
Cheers David

I agree David...the braided thought was not really something I would want but mostly just throwing out an idea.

**Todd Bradshaw** · 3rd November 17, 09:51 AM

Wow a leather strap with broguing sounds perfect. I haven't seen it before but that seems great.

Chain and strap versions with broguing on the leather portions. It gets rather tedious punching all those holes, one by one, and your straps need to be two layers thick, with a perforated layer over a solid backing layer, but they look nice. These are veg-tanned and made from leather around 4 oz. in weight to keep them from getting too thick. The chain portion is a re-purposed curb chain off of eBay - plated stainless steel and it cost about $12.

**Moses** · 3rd November 17, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Todd Bradshaw

Chain and strap versions with broguing on the leather portions. It gets rather tedious punching all those holes, one by one, and your straps need to be two layers thick, with a perforated layer over a solid backing layer, but they look nice. These are veg-tanned and made from leather around 4 oz. in weight to keep them from getting too thick. The chain portion is a re-purposed curb chain off of eBay - plated stainless steel and it cost about $12.

That is so impressive - beautiful work!

Without a doubt the best I've seen - thanks for sharing the pictures.

I would think they are as nice as I'd ever need or want. A matching set in black and regular stainless would be perfection.