Sticks and Bonnets?

[Bugbear]

Thanks, Moosedog.

[Jock Scot]

Thanks, Moosedog.

Ted, don't get too fired up on all this matching thing. I think your bonnet can be any colour you choose. Mine, I wear with everything, is a beaten up duck egg green(I can't get that colour any more) or my greeny grey coloured thing(I don't like it much).Pick one you like and don't bother about it, after that.

[Bugbear]

Ted, don't get too fired up on all this matching thing. I think your bonnet can be any colour you choose. Mine, I wear with everything, is a beaten up duck egg green(I can't get that colour any more) or my greeny grey coloured thing(I don't like it much).Pick one you like and don't bother about it, after that.

Oh... I'm sorry Jock Scot, I had just read that the traditional color is navy blue, and wasn't sure if other colors were acceptable. I would actually prefer a lighter blue bonnet for some reason. I'm trying to sort through it all, and trying to understand how the bonnets are to be worn.

I mean, I can't look at the pictures.

[Jock Scot]

Ted,for some one in your shoes the balmoral is dead easy! Could'nt be easier in fact! As you know, the balmoral has a bow on the back, all you have to do is centre the bow knot on the back of your head(by feel) and the rest is correct! Then run your finger around the rim, to get the height right around your brow, ears etc. and Bob's your uncle, its correctly placed on your head! I do that all the time, particularly if there is no mirror to hand.

[Bugbear]

Thanks, Jock Scot. That sounds easy enough.

[Bugbear]

As far as a walking stick, I have been using a stick around my gardens and orchard that was once a part of a garden tool. It's probably ash and must have been the handle of a square shovel. It is tapered to the end and has long deep cracks along it's length as those type of un-finnished handles tend to develop out in the weather. Kind of reminds me of the old fence posts you find out here in the South West.

It needs a hand-grip top to it and probably a tip of some sort which would just about make it a good length for a walking stick. If it were staned to darken the crackes, sanded smooth, then a light finnish added, it might have a little character.
It's on the short and heavy side for a cane, but I've been using it around the property lately, and it's not too bad. Just an idea.

For a stick used as a mobility cane... The wooden handle of my claw rake or a broom handle would be a better size and width. Some of the aluminum canes have a small crook at the top, but it can get in the way at times.

The one in the pictures folds up and is made of graphite fibers somewhat like the fishing poles now a days. It is covered in a reflective white tape, and they usually have red tape on the bottom eight to ten inches.

[thescot]

You'd look good with the Canadian khaki balmoral, and you can get one from Glengarryhats at http://www.glengarryhats.com/balmora...temcplb97999i0.

I have one, and it's fine, looks good, and goes well with brown stuff. It's a little lighter weight, I think, than my oldest balmoral made in Scotland, but it looks good.

And, no, you don't have to have a cockade or a badge, but both look good to me. I sew a white ribbon cockade on all my bolmorals because I like the look. I you want one, just PM, and I'll send one to you.

I wear a variety of badges on mine: clan, masonic, etc. I even put on outdated Scottish regimental badges occassionally since I'm pretty sure no one will mistake me for a member of the 92nd Regiment of Foot. (That badge went out in 1881.)

What ever you decide, you always look debonair, so do what makes you happy. The balmoral is traditional in a snappy outfit like your picture, but an ivy hat looks pretty good to me, too.

[Panache]

You'd look good with the Canadian khaki balmoral, and you can get one from Glengarryhats at http://www.glengarryhats.com/balmora...temcplb97999i0.

Their desert tan also works well with the SWK Lamont variant tartan







Cheers

Jamie

[Bugbear]

Their desert tan also works well with the SWK Lamont variant tartan
... ...
Cheers

Jamie

Thanks, Panache. I will keep that in mind.

[Bugbear]

Thank you, Puffer and thescot. I did see your post on the tams, Puffer and I'm looking into those.

Really, all I have to put on as a cap badge is the zebra pin Moosedog sent me.

I guess that would be fine, and I have put it on the side of a flat cap when not kilted. And for some reason I have it in my mind that I would like to wear a light or mediuim blue bonnet. I have no idea why, but that is what I see in my mind. Even a navy blue one seems like it would be all right.

An update on the stick: I sanded a little on the stick with the deep weather cracks that i described before. It is smoothing up nicely, and there is a wavey texture to the stick when turned in the hand from all the vertical cracking. I don't have any steel wool right now, but it looks like it will polish up quite well. Should probably look into stains and outer coatings...