third sporran--dress

**DWFII** · 3rd January 09, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by turpin

VERY nice!. I'm always interested in alternative approaches to standard sporran construction, and the leather cantle is one of them. Want to share a ways shot with us?Is that an elk or caribou hide? Where did you source your balls?

Turpin, BeeDee, anyone else who's interested,

I am terrible about taking pictures especially when I am in the midst of trying to find my way through. This is only my third sporran.

They say a "picture is worth a thousand words." Well, maybe a couple hundred words is close. So in lieu of a photo...maybe I can tell you some things and if it's not clear you can always ask.

First the beads...I am pretty sure I got the beads at General Bead. That's where they were the cheapest by a little bit. But you can also get them at Ohio Bead. I can't vouch for them but one of my main worries was that a sterling silver bead that large would be too thin walled. The beads I got from General were quite thick. I was surprised at how thick...enough that I could grind a third of the bead away without distorting the shape of the bead.

Second the cantle...the cantle is cut from about a 9 or 10 iron insole shoulder. An outsole bend of the same thickness--slightly under 1/4 inch--would also work but be a little stiffer and harder to sew into. I sew the bag to the cantle by hand using what is known as "round closing." There is a front and a back cantle but in this case the back cantle is covered by the back of the bag. [Being black and needing to be dyed, I didn't want to take any chance that the dye would come off in my kilt. That said, for black I usually use an "iron black" which is not so fugitive or prone to rub off.]

A rabbet is cut in the where the edge of the bag will fit and about an eighth inch away a groove is made. Then the bag edge is laid into the rabbet and a hole is made with a curved awl from the groove to the rabbet and through the edge of the bag leather and then out on the surface of the bag about an eighth of an inch further in.

It requires a very thin flexible needle on each end of the thread or a pair of bristles--either nylon or the traditional boars's bristle--and they are fed from opposite directions through the hole and tightened down. When the job is done the leather lies flush with the inside surface of the cantle.

The leather for the bag is "softy buffalo" --a water buffalo tanned in India for the shoe trade--and a very nice leather, with a nice "hand," BTW.

The cantle is closed with a snap on a short strap that is round closed to the front cantle, fits in a notch at the top of the back cantle and the snap is on the back cantle.

I hope that helps...

**DWFII** · 3rd January 09, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by chasem

That looks fantastic, what do you charge?

Thank you! thanks to all.

As for "charge(ing)" I don't make these for sale. It is too much work. If I set a price it would either be so high as to turn away all inquiries or so low that I could not recover my time.

That said someone like Turpin or anyone with moderate skills working leather could probably make a duplicate ...and maybe make a better job of it too...

The best thing about this approach is that the cantle does not clank and all ornamentation is created from off the shelf components and could be varied at will.

**SFCRick** · 3rd January 09, 07:35 PM

very nice indeed

**CelticRanger66** · 3rd January 09, 07:36 PM

Outstanding Work!!

**Carolina Kiltman** · 3rd January 09, 07:46 PM

Truly a work of art!

**Kerr the Walker** · 3rd January 09, 07:59 PM

That looks awesome!

**DWFII** · 3rd January 09, 08:26 PM

Turpin

Well, not exactly a "how-to" but here is a quick snapshot of the round closing I described above. You are looking at the inside of the back cantle. You also see that the snap back has been inset into the leather and a leather cover placed over it.

The second photo is of the outside of the back of the sporran. this is the softy buffalo I mentioned. It goes all the way to the top of the cantle and then turns over the edge. It is then round closed (that's what you're seeing in the first photo).

Anyway..fast shots, pardon the quality...hope this clarifies things a bit.