Scottish Cross Belt

[Capt. Jas.]

Scottish cross belt (baldric) for sword with buckle based on a painting of Sir Stuart Threipland of Fingask 1716-1805.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Great looking piece of work ! The painting looks like it shows the butt end of a highlander pistol. Maybe the subject is carrying one cross draw in the belt...

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Pistol straps were used to carry it tucked. Not quite sure how the one Thriepland is carrying but its utilizing the hook.

 

[Ames]

Good looking work.

 

[Artificer]

Scottish cross belt (baldric) for sword with buckle based on a painting of Sir Stuart Threipland of Fingask 1716-1805.

It is no secret I admire Capt Jas’ leatherwork greatly and once again he does not fail to impress. Here he has taken what can be a rather mundane shoulder belt to hold a sword and scabbard into a VERY Nicely done elevation of the basic Baldric.

Some members may not know that Capt Jas makes most, if not all the buckles he uses. Though he generally followed the lines/style of the buckle in the portrait, I see he followed the “flavor” of earlier buckles he made in the top most part of the buckle, as shown in the second photo. The hand filed in “fan” there is very similar to other buckles he has made and I appreciate that as a way to suggest it is his work to others.

I also appreciate the historical accuracy he used in stitching the buckle to the strap with three stitch lines that run parallel to the length of the strap. Further, I really like the loop stitches he made on each side of the outside edges of the strap. Though it is speculation on my part as to why he did it, I assume it was to keep the edges of the strap “contained” so they would not flare out and make it more difficult for the adjustment strap to be moved inside the buckle. That is a nice feature, indeed. He also took the stitching of the body of the “frog” portion of the Baldric into an artistic design with tasteful curves.

I also compliment on the use of TWO sliding “keepers” for the adjustment strap. I know from practical experience with period military gun slings, shot pouch straps, etc.; that a second keeper is a boon to actually using such articles and esthetically pleasing to boot.

So I congratulate Capt Jas on making such a fine piece as this and suggest all of us who wish to better our own leatherworking projects, use this piece as inspiration to elevate our own projects.

Gus

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Hi Gus, Thank you kind sir.
The buckle is actually a pretty faithful example of the one in the painting.
The looping over the edges at the buckle is done as a containment of the skived down buckle fold. Its commonplace on English strap work.
This was to be intended as a private purchase piece of equipment for an officer and normally I also make the strap weight and metal keeper but the buckle was the beginning of a custom set which was cancelled in mid-process.
The buyer of this set had a heart tip weight already and chose to fall in the present work slot rather than go to end of the line and wait for the other hardware.

Here is another set I made recently with all hardware.

 

[Artificer]

Hi Gus, Thank you kind sir.

You are most welcome, Sir, and Thank you again for treating us to a look at another Scottish Baldric.

Scots Wha Hae !! (Sorry, I just could not contain it after viewing your second Baldric.)

Over the years, I've made AWI and War of 1812 Baldrics, but never one as fancy as Capt Jas.

Matter of fact I think in the mid 1970's or perhaps the early 1980's, I purchased an extremely ornate cast brass buckle from Colonial Williamsburg that I always believed was a Baldric or Shoulder Belt Buckle for an over the shoulder Sword Carriage. However, it is SO very fancy, I've never used it as the more I learned - it seemed clear to me that would have been for a much more affluent Officer than I ever even thought to portray.

Anyway, I enjoyed looking at this most recent Scottish Baldric as well.

Gus