Goodies from Oconee Leather!

**KD Burke** · 11th August 09, 06:27 AM

This is Abigail:

Abigail lives in my house. She gives me odd looks when I do something foolish, like when I spent yesterday afternoon "oohing" and "aahing" over the box full of leather goods from Oconee Leather. Abby would have preferred that I do something useful; like scratching that spot just over her tail.

You see, I recently asked Mr. Steve Frazier (Cavscout) at Oconee Leather to make some belts and sporran straps for me. The process was painless and pleasant. Steve gave me an honest and accurate estimate of how long it would take to fill my order.

When made aware of some plans I have for the end of this month, he agreed to make the brown one first and ship it separately if need be to meet my deadline. As it happens, the entire order was ready well before I needed them.

I intended one particular belt to match a Thorfinn sporran I purchased earlier. When I mentioned this to Steve, he suggested that I contact Turpin Ballard at Thorfinn for a suggestion on the appropriate color of leather. I followed this suggestion, and based on Turpin’s input decided to order a plain belt in “chestnut” leather for casual use.

Steve then gave me the bad news: the chestnut leather is not available in sufficient length for my waistline. (OK, so I’m shaped like Homer Simpson……mmmm doughnuts!!) So..what to do? Steve suggested this:

He joined three short pieces with decorative rivets. The effect is really nice, sort of “rustic” in a way that I appreciate. And it matches the Sporran perfectly! If you want a good matching set, I’d personally recommend that you talk to Steve and Turpin!

By the way, I apologize for the frankly miserable quality of the pics. I was having a deucedly difficult time getting a decent exposure.

I also asked for a belt in a color Steve calls “brick.” My intention was to try to get a close match to an L&M sporran which I reviewed elsewhere.

On the one hand, the brick color is not as close a match as I would have liked. On the other hand, if it were a closer match, it wouldn’t look nearly so good with this copper “Four Thistles” buckle from Tyger Forge:

I bought the buckle from the Scottish Tartans Museum because I thought it was very distinctive, but hadn’t gotten around to deciding what to put it on. That problem’s sorted!

I also got a black one:

All I can say is it’s gorgeous too!

All in all, I am very pleased by my purchases. My many and oft repeated thanks to Steve for his excellent work!

See, Abby doesn’t get it. To her, leather is interesting only because it’s chewy. Since I won’t let her chew on even one of the little ones, she doesn’t understand why I’m so excited.

Sorry, girl. You’re cute, but I’m still bigger than you are. Keep your grubby paws off!