Brass MOD "Culloden" cantles

[Manxstralian]

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."
Took the cantle to Tandys leather, in Surrey, last Tuesday, to buy leather for making a sporran bag. Walked out with a couple hundred dollars worth of leather .... And left the cantle behind, somewhere in the store; by the time I twigged to it, it had grown legs, and disappeared.
( lucky I bought two ... But still, after five years of searching )

Could you offer a reward? Surely there aren't that many people who would even know what it was, and maybe just thought "ooh, pretty!". Considering the prices we all paid, a $50 reward might be worthwhile...

Still, that's terrible luck, and hopefully it gets handed in as "lost property".

Cheers,

Cameron

[McMurdo]

That is terrible, luckily you have the second cantle, still I think its a sad commentary that it went missing.

[jhockin]

Tandys Leather location, in Surrey, is in a very poor part of town ( what is often referred to as a "skid row" area), so not surprising that anything that might be worth a few dollars might be 'pocketed'. I just hope whoever felt the need used it for basics, rather than 'feeding a monkey'.
Lesson learned. If I take the remaining one anywhere, it will be physically attached to my body.

[Manxstralian]

This is a nifty idea! I'll try do this as they roll out of the shop and maybe collage them all together in a big "Brass Cantle Club 2014" image.

ith:

The rabble's collective enthusiasm has taken me over, and I too will be a member of the "Brass Cantle Club 2014". How many of us are there in the club?

Looking forward to owning my own heirloom piece!

Cheers,

Cameron

[Stoff]

OK, now for the (possibly stupid question) what is the best low tech way (for the money poor among us) to go about making one of these lovely cantles on our own.

[artificer]

OK, now for the (possibly stupid question) what is the best low tech way (for the money poor among us) to go about making one of these lovely cantles on our own.

In all honesty, if broke is the issue you'd be best served waiting until Robin finds more of these to sell. If you're building one of these from scratch you're starting at over $40 in brass sheet alone, then you've got a metal saw (even a cheap jeweler's saw is ~$15 and a pack of blades is $5-8), silver solder (~$15 minimum), and a high-temperature torch to think about. As with many 'hobby' projects, it's easy to spend quite a bit on tools when you're starting up.

BluesCelt has done some very sharp pieces from 'found' brass objects, if you search the forum for his DIY threads you might find some inspiration toward repurposing some brass, but if you're thinking of buying new sheet brass you're better off waiting for Robin.

ith:

[Stoff]

Thanks. I am still thinking on how to get the brass and ... maybe ... copper? Some times I have come across scrap sheet copper. HMMMMM. Something to think about.

[artificer]

Thanks. I am still thinking on how to get the brass and ... maybe ... copper? Some times I have come across scrap sheet copper. HMMMMM. Something to think about.

without taking this thread too far off course I will simply say that copper is WAAAAAY too soft for this application when used at a reasonable thickness. Stick with brass.

ith:

[McMurdo]

Just to bring this back to the original purpose of the thread, I would like to add my thanks to Shawn and to Scott as well. I have wanted one of these for years however they have always been too much for me. So thanks to Shawn for posting about them and thanks to Scott for taking on all these and for all the information that continues to be posted here.

[Bluescelt]

I agree with Artificer on the cost to construct a MoD style cantle from scratch. You can find the materials at McMaster-Carr but they are not cheap. The most inexpensive way I have found has been using spun brass lamp bases but they look somewhat different than the MoD cantles. Even using the lamp base I still needed to purchase flat stock to make the back plate and barstock for the hinge.