Sporran makers

[scratchy]

I've been wondering if you work with customer supplied hides/pelts? I'll be going on a wild boar hunt soon, and may have a chance for an exotic goat/sheep(most likely Corsican). Is there any specific area of the hide that is better to work with than others, and how should the cape be prepared?

Thanks.

[Wompet]

I'm not a sporran maker, but if this an out-of-country hunt, make sure you know tha applicable US Fish and Wildlife and USDA import regulations for when you get back. It's never fun to make the trip, bag your limit, get a couple of nice trophies/hides, and then lose everything when you come back in.
Also, in some cases, USDA regs state that hides have to be treated a certain way in order to be enterable, so treatment may not entirely be your choice.

[scratchy]

This will be somewhere in Tennessee, but I have heard of a recent case of anthrax in Delaware or Connecticutt from untanned African hides...

[MacWage]

I've been wondering if you work with customer supplied hides/pelts? I'll be going on a wild boar hunt soon, and may have a chance for an exotic goat/sheep(most likely Corsican). Is there any specific area of the hide that is better to work with than others, and how should the cape be prepared?

Thanks.

This will be somewhere in Tennessee, but I have heard of a recent case of anthrax in Delaware or Connecticutt from untanned African hides...

OK, NOW I am curious!
WHERE are there wild boars and exotic sheep/goats for the hunting in TENNESSEE?

[James MacMillan]

OK, NOW I am curious!
WHERE are there wild boars and exotic sheep/goats for the hunting in TENNESSEE?

His backyard!!!

[MacWage]

His backyard!!!

Whose?

[Howard Clark]

So ya dinna think there be any wild piggies in the land o Tennessee. Hmmmnn look here click on the hawg hunt button on the left. This guy is a friend of mine, and he can set you on them if that is what you want to do. One needs to be fairly courageous to do this with a knife, or a spear, even with the dogs.

Anthrax is only dangerous if you have never been around any livestock and eaten dirt. It is present in the soil nearly everywhere, and if you have ingested said dirt, you already have antibodies, especially if there were horses involved in the work where the dirt came from. If however you have lived your whole life nice and clean in the city, anthrax could be trouble.

I think a sporran made from a hide that you procured your very own self is a fine idea ! Tanning it is a bigger problem, potentially.

[turpin]

For a hair-hide sporran (as opposed to fur), there is usually a distinct grain of the hair, and it tends to change directions as you move around the hide. I did a sporran from a customer-supplied deer hide, and I kept running into directional changes that are hard to see until the piece is cut out. It drove me nuts.

Probably the best location to cut the front panel from a hair hide is right down the center of the back, as the hair typically "parts" there and you have the best chance of good "hair symmetry".

Next, if you want a gusset from the hide, you really want two pieces each just over half the length needed for the gusset, because if you cut a full-length piece and sew it on the fron and rear panels, one side will have the hair running down and the other will have the hair running up. You cut two pieces and sew then together with the hair running toward the seam - the seam then is positiond at the center bottom.

hope this is helpful.

[scratchy]

OK, NOW I am curious!
WHERE are there wild boars and exotic sheep/goats for the hunting in TENNESSEE?

here there are piggies

His backyard!!!

[scratchy]

Uhhh....what's a gusset?