Sporran snap

[Chas]

Hi Tiny,

I think it is very hard to make generalisations when it comes to kilt accessories.

In the last year I bought a sporran, direct from Pakistan and am truly amazed at the quality of the workmanship.

By the same token, on my last trip to Scotland, I bought a sporran from a 'reputable' retailer there. By the time I got back home after 4 days use it had fallen apart. Two emails and a phonecall produced an indifferent to negative response. The following weekend I drove back to Scotland and confronted them in person. Only when I paraded, up and down, outside their shop, telling all and sundry, in a loud voice, about the quality of their wares did they finally relent. A new (better) sporran, a shirt, flashes, three pairs of hose, a belt buckle and one of their employees took me across the street for a pub lunch.

The point being that we hear a lot here about poor quality, from here or there. But poor quality, bad workmanship and shoddy customer service can be found everywhere.

Regards

Chas

[artificer]

Hi Tiny,

I think it is very hard to make generalisations when it comes to kilt accessories.

...Only when I paraded, up and down, outside their shop, telling all and sundry, in a loud voice, about the quality of their wares did they finally relent. A new (better) sporran, a shirt, flashes, three pairs of hose, a belt buckle and one of their employees took me across the street for a pub lunch.

The point being that we hear a lot here about poor quality, from here or there. But poor quality, bad workmanship and shoddy customer service can be found everywhere.

Regards

Chas

Chas is correct. We don't know what the flap is, leather or leather board.

Before we talk of softening leather, check the snap itself. On the inside part of the snap, on the inside of the top flap, there is a small metal ring. It rests there to provide the friction to make the snap "snap".

On lower quality hardware, this can lose it's spring right away making the snap near impossible to lock closed and VERY easy to open.

I'm not saying this IS the problem, but I've seen it a lot. You might want to check this before trying to alter leather or fur.

You might want to try to bend one of the cut ends of the ring in toward the center of the snap a tiny bit. Use a small screwdriver or similar. DON'T over do it, you can always bend more, it's harder to unbend.

If that ISN'T the case, you might wish to investigate softening the leather flap. PLEASE make sure to verify that it's leather and not leather board before adding a conditioning creme, moisture and leather board = mush. I would try a conditioning creme like Zymol before I'd use water. Water tends to strip the oils from leather resulting in a stiffer, less flexible leather in the future.

Lastly, if all other venues fail, you could trim down the fur a touch. If you have a trimmer (like Oster or Wahl) I'd use that. Set the guard for 1" and start there. Remember, it's easier to trim again than it is to make the fur grow back

Good luck!

[Vegan Scot]

A new (better) sporran, a shirt, flashes, three pairs of hose, a belt buckle and one of their employees took me across the street for a pub lunch.

The point being that we hear a lot here about poor quality, from here or there. But poor quality, bad workmanship and shoddy customer service can be found everywhere.
Chas

No, I think the point here is that the squeaky wheel gets the oil! (And the sporran, the flashes, the hose, the buckle and the free meal!)

[Tiny]

Hi Tiny,

I think it is very hard to make generalisations when it comes to kilt accessories.

In the last year I bought a sporran, direct from Pakistan and am truly amazed at the quality of the workmanship.

By the same token, on my last trip to Scotland, I bought a sporran from a 'reputable' retailer there. By the time I got back home after 4 days use it had fallen apart. Two emails and a phonecall produced an indifferent to negative response. The following weekend I drove back to Scotland and confronted them in person. Only when I paraded, up and down, outside their shop, telling all and sundry, in a loud voice, about the quality of their wares did they finally relent. A new (better) sporran, a shirt, flashes, three pairs of hose, a belt buckle and one of their employees took me across the street for a pub lunch.

The point being that we hear a lot here about poor quality, from here or there. But poor quality, bad workmanship and shoddy customer service can be found everywhere.

Regards

Chas

Wasn't generalizing. Just trying to be sure it was in fact leather. would hate to tell another member of the rabble to soften his sporran to have it desolve because it wasn't actual leather. Was more of a caution. I don't assume the sporrans leather is junk but its never a bad idea to double check somethings before moving ahead.