Sporran maker?

[Alba]

Hello,
I'm curious if anyone knows what material was applied to the old style military leather sporran cantle faces to make them shiny? It also seems to have had a habit of seeming to melt and stick to things that the leather face rested against for a prolonged period of time.
Does anyone have any ideas on what this finish was?
Thank you.

[figheadair]

Hello,
I'm curious if anyone knows what material was applied to the old style military leather sporran cantle faces to make them shiny? It also seems to have had a habit of seeming to melt and stick to things that the leather face rested against for a prolonged period of time.
Does anyone have any ideas on what this finish was?
Thank you.

I don't know the answer but would be surprised if anything other than the ubiquitous Brasso was used to polished them.

[Jock Scot]

Hello,
I'm curious if anyone knows what material was applied to the old style military leather sporran cantle faces to make them shiny? It also seems to have had a habit of seeming to melt and stick to things that the leather face rested against for a prolonged period of time.
Does anyone have any ideas on what this finish was?
Thank you.

No idea, but perhaps shoe polish and beeswax and elbow grease?

[Padraicog]

Polishing brass is a chore. A trick I was taught was to polish the brass and then apply clear nail varnish. Many of the brass cantles I have seen have been treated in this way

[Alba]

OK, I'll try again as people don't seem to understand the question. Polishing brass is fairly obvious. The question is what was the black paste that hardened and gave old leather sporran cantles faces their shiny facade. It was clearly an applied application as it tends to warp, flack and run or time. Not sure if this is due to temperature, humidity or what, but the effects are obvious on older military sporrans. Below are some images of what I'm talking about. (I hope. First try adding pictures)

You will note how the leather can be seen under the past on the old Cameron Highlander (Canada) sporran cantle. And how its deformed around the Scots guard one and bubbled on the Cameron Highlanders piper sporran cantle.

You will also note how it's adhered to the Cameron badge of a different cantle. So it's obvious a paste of some kind that was brushed on. The question is, what was?

IMG_8415.jpg
IMG_8416.jpg
IMG_8417.jpg
IMG_8419.jpg
IMG_8418.jpg

[Janner52]

OK, I'll try again as people don't seem to understand the question. Polishing brass is fairly obvious. The question is what was the black paste that hardened and gave old leather sporran cantles faces their shiny facade. It was clearly an applied application as it tends to warp, flack and run or time. Not sure if this is due to temperature, humidity or what, but the effects are obvious on older military sporrans. Below are some images of what I'm talking about. (I hope. First try adding pictures)

You will note how the leather can be seen under the past on the old Cameron Highlander (Canada) sporran cantle. And how its deformed around the Scots guard one and bubbled on the Cameron Highlanders piper sporran cantle.

You will also note how it's adhered to the Cameron badge of a different cantle. So it's obvious a paste of some kind that was brushed on. The question is, what was?

IMG_8415.jpg
IMG_8416.jpg
IMG_8417.jpg
IMG_8419.jpg
IMG_8418.jpg

I would suggest black boot polish, spit and beeswax. That is the traditional British army way of giving leather a high gloss finish.

[OC Richard]

The question is what was the black paste that hardened and gave old leather sporran cantles faces their shiny facade. It was clearly an applied application as it tends to warp, flack and run or time.

You're talking about what was called "Japanning"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanning

Japanning was also applied to leather, which could be called either Japanned leather or Patent leather

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_leather