Project Blog - Historic Sporrans / Brass Cantle Project

[artificer]

All pix after the first grind (to get rid of the sand texture). Secondary grind, shaping and polishing still needed.

Front


Quarter


Rear


Top


More description to come later.
ith:

[ShaunMaxwell]

Very cool! Can't wait to see what's next...

[Downunder Kilt]

Congratulations Scott on designing and working through to this point. I think it looks great and await to see the final finish. Cheers mate

[Calico]

Very interesting. Good job getting here.

It looks rather heavy, though. What is it weighing in at rough cast?

[artificer]

Very cool! Can't wait to see what's next...

Congratulations Scott on designing and working through to this point. I think it looks great and await to see the final finish. Cheers mate

Thanks guys!

Very interesting. Good job getting here.

It looks rather heavy, though. What is it weighing in at rough cast?

It looks heavy, but it's really not much heavier than a built-up.

I have davidlpope's built up cantle here that I'm putting a new bag on. His comes in at ~12oz, my cast version is ~14oz before additional grinding.
I need to take a few .001ths of an inch off the outer faces yet, and the inside has a fair bit of grinding.

The knobs will add a bit of weight, but not too much.

I'll reweigh everything after I get a final grind.

The big bonus of the cast version is it will NEVER break. No long joins to come apart. Nothing to twist out of alignment.

[Drac]

All pix after the first grind (to get rid of the sand texture). Secondary grind, shaping and polishing still needed.

Front


Quarter


Rear


Top


More description to come later.
ith:

Looking good.

I bet it will look even better with an axis hide

Jim

[Ryan Ross]

Yep... this is the one folks have been waiting for!

Excelent job, Scott... can't wait to see it finished and fitted with a bag!

[artificer]

Sigh.

Continuing problems with the production of the second version of the master have led me to the brink.

I'm purchasing some new equipment for making built-up versions of my cantles.

This will also allow me to make more than 1 or 2 different shapes, and make them out of more than just cast brass (pewter & silver).

Shortly I'll also have a few pix of the final hair construction on one of the MacLeay pieces, based on the construction of the old-school originals.

[artificer]

While I continue to advance on the built-up brass cantles, I have fine tuned the build of the traditional hair sporrans a bit more from my original prototype.

Below is based on the sporran of Donald Stewart as painted by Ken MacLeay (Plate 5), but with a customized cantle shape.


The body is a blend of four hair colours to replicate as closely as possible the rustic look of Mr. Stewarts original. Unfortunately, I cannot properly light both the body and the cantle at the same time, enough light on the hair means blinding glare on the cantle

So below is a WIP pic with a better depiction of the true hair colours.


Detail of the cantle with small tooled detail and pinking


Traditional hair attachment and body construction

I used black instead of the more traditional 'raw' leather. I have also incorporated additional attachment methods under the 'flaps' to increase long term durability.

Rear

I changed from the kidskin of the prototype as I wasn't pleased with how the kidskin scuffed on the edges of the flap and pocket after use.

Rear Open

The interior pocket faces are lined with pigskin.

This one also has a larger pocket than the original prototype.

As always, constructive commentary and critique are welcome.

ith:

[Downunder Kilt]

Stunning Artificer. The attacment of the hair is superb and something you do not see in this day and age on modern hair sporrans. Congratulations on another outstanding sporran mate