Uh oh! MOD sporran cantle trouble

[Snake78]

Tobus, I also have had trouble with these little buggers and have used the same method as Harold. Ordinary solder is no good for the job, you would have to use silver solder which requires more heat and can easily damage the body of the cantle.

I have done some high temperature silver soldering on parts that could not be distorted. I used a heat-absorbing paste to prevent discoloration and distortion. This paste is just spread around the area that you are soldering at to keep extra heat transfer at bay.

This is what I used: http://www.laco.com/prod/14/bloc-it-...ing-paste.aspx

[Downunder Kilt]

I have done some high temperature silver soldering on parts that could not be distorted. I used a heat-absorbing paste to prevent discoloration and distortion. This paste is just spread around the area that you are soldering at to keep extra heat transfer at bay.

This is what I used: http://www.laco.com/prod/14/bloc-it-...ing-paste.aspx

Thanks for the tip Snake78, cheers

[Aspiringloser]

I solder copper regularly in my line of work. I use a gel rather than the paste mentioned above. I will warn anyone who plans on using this type of heat block to be sure not to get any on the actual parts that need soldering. You'll likely not get solder to stick where any of this stuff has gotten on the joint you're trying to solder.

[Tobus]

Success! My wife's silversmith friend fixed it all up as good as new. He soldered it back in and I can't even tell it was ever an issue. He did it free of charge, too!

Oh, and while he had it, he cleaned it up very nicely. I was still struggling with the polishing in some of the more tarnished areas. But he used a buffing wheel and some jeweler's rouge and the darn silly thing looks practically brand new (except for some of the minor scratches and gouges that give it character). As a matter of fact, now I'm going to have to let it develop a patina so it doesn't look so blingy.

It went from this:



To this:




I'm not really done with this sporran yet. The bag construction itself is done, but I still need to do some 4-part round braids with Turk's head knots for the tassels on the sides and front. Plus hammer out my gusset seams so it flattens out. This was a trial sporran, though, and I have a lot of improvements I want to make to the pattern. I'm going to make the bag a little longer and with a slightly larger diameter bottom. Plus I need to get just a wee bit more relief at the top of the gusset where it buttons onto the side knobs of the sporran hinge (this one is pretty tight). My second model will have an internal phone pocket just like this one (not shown), but it will have an internal lining as well.

So anyway, crisis averted! Thanks for your help, guys.

[Aspiringloser]

Damn, son! You're totally blinging now.

[Tim Little]