Chainmaille Sporran Strap

[switchblade5984]

Hey I've got a squire!

"Sinbad! Come over here! Dad has a new ball for you to play with!"

Cheers

hahahaha i dindnt knowit was in ya!

[Hamish]

I admire your talent, but there is absolutely no way I would ever allow such a chain anywhere near any of my kilts! My fellow X Markers know well of my aversion to and dislike of sporran chains for day wear. Over the years I have seen horrendous damage done to kilt aprons (in particular) caused by the inappropriate wearing of even single chain straps - which were originally designed for dress wear with silver cantled sporrans. That chain straps are nowadays supplied, almost by default, with day-wear sporrans, is verging on the criminal to my mind.

Beautiful craftsmanship but, please, not with a sporran!

[mddock58]

You could always mount the maille onto a leather strap!

[Rygar]

Wow! I logged on to talk about just such a thing. I'm a Chainmaille crafter myself, and just made a sporran chain to go with my nightstalker.

I'd like to add a few things though. There are a huge number of weaves that can be done to make a sporran chain. Most of them being considered a jewelry weave, but with a heaver ring size, works well for this purpose. There are also different metals to use as well that won't oxidize as much as the Galvanized steel mentioned and pictured. I use a 5356 alloy of aluminum, and it's bright and shiny like polished silver. Another advantage to aluminum besides the weight is that it can be anodized to just about any color you would like. (Plan on making a Bengals themed chain for game days. :rolleyes: ) Titanium is also popular but a little on the expensive side.

As for excessive wear on the kilt, yeah, chains will do that no matter what, but for the hand weaved maille chains, the closures and cuts of your rings make a big difference. I prefer using saw cut rings, which when closed correctly, there is almost no discernable end to the ring. It looks darn near, and is darn near, a solid ring where snagging and rubbing are an issue.

I'll try to get a good camera shot or scan image of my chain if anyone is interested. It's a really nice weave called GSG, and it looks like X's along the side profile.

Hey Alabama Kiltie, do you make maille as a hobby alot? Have you visited any of the maille forums? If you haven't and your interested, PM or email me, and I'll point ya over to them.

[Bob C]

I'm with the crew that would worry about these things shredding our kilts. If they could be mounted on a fabric backing, however, they could look really nice.

[Captain]

I'm with the crew that would worry about these things shredding our kilts. If they could be mounted on a fabric backing, however, they could look really nice.

Fabric or leather... I think these mounted on some leather straps would look really nice...

[alabama kiltie]

I can definitely look into leather mounting. mybe even an included device to mount that back potion to the kilt belt. and then with the hanging strap secure it to a thign leather piece. that wouldnt be all that hard to do

[Archangel]

Wow! I logged on to talk about just such a thing. I'm a Chainmaille crafter myself, and just made a sporran chain to go with my nightstalker.

I'd like to add a few things though. There are a huge number of weaves that can be done to make a sporran chain. Most of them being considered a jewelry weave, but with a heaver ring size, works well for this purpose. There are also different metals to use as well that won't oxidize as much as the Galvanized steel mentioned and pictured. I use a 5356 alloy of aluminum, and it's bright and shiny like polished silver. Another advantage to aluminum besides the weight is that it can be anodized to just about any color you would like. (Plan on making a Bengals themed chain for game days. :rolleyes: ) Titanium is also popular but a little on the expensive side.

As for excessive wear on the kilt, yeah, chains will do that no matter what, but for the hand weaved maille chains, the closures and cuts of your rings make a big difference. I prefer using saw cut rings, which when closed correctly, there is almost no discernable end to the ring. It looks darn near, and is darn near, a solid ring where snagging and rubbing are an issue.

I'll try to get a good camera shot or scan image of my chain if anyone is interested. It's a really nice weave called GSG, and it looks like X's along the side profile.

Hey Alabama Kiltie, do you make maille as a hobby alot? Have you visited any of the maille forums? If you haven't and your interested, PM or email me, and I'll point ya over to them.

A guy here makes guitar straps out of the aluminum. Really cool with the anodized colours and pretty smooth to go over shirts.
Myself, I prefer the braided leather but someone with skill could make this work. Maille was its own art form back in its day.