Modding a SWK heavy?

[Kid Cossack]

Ladies and gents, rabble and rabblettes:

I think the general opinion of the SWK heavyweight is that, "for the scratch, it's a heck of a buy." (Scratch being, well, money.)

I think the general opinion of the SWK heavyweight is also that it suffers from a bit of "pillow butt." That is, since the pleats are not cut out at the fell, there is a great frickin' accumulation of wool at the lumbar region.

Now, reason and faith tell me that it should be possible to ameliorate this situation through the application of some DIY-ishness. That is, it should be possible to take a SWK heavyweight kilt, cut out the pleats at the fell, add horsehair canvas reinforcement, and Bob's your uncle.

Questions, however, come to mind.

Am I mad as a hatter to think so?

and,

Would the waistband need to be removed prior to "corrective surgery"?

[thescot]

How did you know that Bob was my uncle?

[Kid Cossack]

I'm psychic like that!

[chasem]

Now, reason and faith tell me that it should be possible to ameliorate this situation through the application of some DIY-ishness. That is, it should be possible to take a SWK heavyweight kilt, cut out the pleats at the fell, add horsehair canvas reinforcement, and Bob's your uncle.

That'd be the gist of it, and it should be feasible. (Though you may want to add a stabilizer in addition to the canvas)

Questions, however, come to mind.

Am I mad as a hatter to think so?

not at all

and,

Would the waistband need to be removed prior to "corrective surgery"?

Yes. The pleats are cut out from a little above the fell all the way to the top, which is covered by the waistband. I suppose you could do it without waistband removal, but then you'd still have a bulge, just a smaller one, and at the top of the waistband.

[Kid Cossack]

chasem:

I salaam abjectly in your direction, an unworthy student with a questioning mind and dang little in the way of actual skills/knowledge! (In the interest of internet clarity: I mean that in a very good way.)

I quite like the SWKs, but I've always felt that they could be improved, with a little thought and a dab enough hand.

[Spc. Scott]

Our own Ted Crocker did some work to a SWK and I thought that you might want to look at this as well. A lot of good info in this thread.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...x.html?t=39197

[hospitaller]

yes it's doable. as a matter of fact I've done it with both my SWK wool kilts.

One a Black Watch knife, and the Leatherneck Mil Boxed which was also reduced from a size 46 to a size 42.

Carefully remove the stitching, carefully re-do the whole thing.

[Kid Cossack]

That's the very thing, Spc. Scott. Many thanks.

[Spc. Scott]

Not a problem. I haven't attemped it on any of my SWKs yet but from the reading of it it doesn't sound too bad if you are reasonable skilled with the needle.

Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.

[Bugbear]

Hospitaller proved it could be done. I think you will need Barb's book as a guide to make all those changes.

Right now I'm looking into how to put non-fusable or canvas interfacing on the back of the aprons at the top.