I have read in several postings about the increased wear to the kilt by sporran chains vs. leather belts. As a scientist, I have been trying to hypothesize what might be the mechanism for the increased wear from the chain. Could it be that individual fibers become lodged between links, whereby they are torn from the fabric? Any thoughts on this?

Rick

rick

my education in friction is .. if the rod bearing don't get no oil, the rod bearing is gonna break.

my understanding is the sporran strap is free around the hips. obviously, with hip movement there is a tendancy for a 'to-n-fro' movement of the strap with hip movement. with a steel linked chain strap, no doubt, the wear upon fabric will be aggressive. even a leather strap will have an affect on a wool or thinner fabric.

it's not " if " ..... it's " when " :)

'brose

The chain will fray the material over time.

Has anyone thought of using clear heat shrink tubing which is used to cover electrical wiring, and can be got from most electrical supply companies.
At least you would stil be able to wear your chains with the decrease in kilt wear.
cheers.

A very interesting question! I'm not expert, but in my opinion, a chain would not be worse on a kilt than leather. Looking at my sporan chain, I see that the links are joined on the inside of the chain. The links on mine are twisted in such a way that at no time could the joint on the link of my sporan chain come in contact with the wool. I would think the rough side of a leather sporan strap would be worse on a wool kilt.

Thus, I like the chain for the sporan better and see no reason why it would be any worse, since no part of the link joint touches the wool.

The chain has a smaller surface area than the strap, so it applies the weight in a smaller area creating more or faster wear... Plus I would think that with the increased contact area of a strap that there would be a little less to and fro movement that would affect wear as well..

Just the rambling of an engineer..:lol:

Good point, Paul.

I have a MacGregor kilt that is about 80+ years old (No, I'm not a MacGregor by any stretch of the imagination, and yes, I wear the kilt despite that fact!)

Anyway, it is a very heavy and well woven cloth. And all I can tell you about the previous owner is that he must have been in a pipe band or some other unit that had him marching a lot, and he wore a heavy sporran with a chain strap. Because there is obvious and visible wear in the cloth on either hip, right where a chain strap would lie.

So, those that are wondering, yes, even on the highest quality wool, a chain strap will create wear in the cloth if worn for a long enough period of time.

I'll bring out my chain strap if I'm going somewhere formal. Otherwise, I wear a leather strap.

Aye,
Matt

Yup - our band used to wear chain straps with our sporrans, and we gave them up when we got new kilts because the wear on the kilts was so significant. Granted, we march hundreds of miles in various parades over many years, so I wouldn't worry much about it if all you do is get your kilt out for special occasions. But, if you wear your kilt a lot, or want it to look nice forever, it doesn't much matter whether you have good tartan or lesser quality tartan, your kilt will take a beating with a chain.

As a scientist, I'm also curious why this is the case. If any link has a join that could rub on the tartan, that would be the most obvious culprit. Even if the joins look smooth, they won't be quite smooth where the two sides meet. If the link joins are "hidden" where the loops join, then I'm not sure what the answer is. Maybe it's very slight roughness of the plating, or maybe, as Rick suggests, it's just a little tug on a few whisps of fiber caught between links, repeated thousands of times. Once it starts to get fuzzy, the latter would accelerate.

Cheers!

Barb

I would guess it is because the chain is smoother. I know it sounds bass akwards, but if the chain is smoother it will slide more and the wearer walks, causing friction over a smaller area. The leather strap (as I understand it) has a slightly rough side which faces in, which I would guess causes a sort of "gripping" action against the wool. result, less movement of the strap against the wool, less friction, less wear.
That's what I think.
Sounds good anyway. hahahah

I have to ask, why is it that just about every sporran maker these days sells or provides chain straps with every sporran? This is a comparatively recent habit which I simply cannot understand. Perhaps chain it less expensive than leather, I do not know - it could well be here in the United Kingdom, where most of our decent leather has to be imported. Perhaps it is a matter of 'fashion'.

Not so many years ago, all-leather (Day) sporrans were sold with leather straps, whilst silver-cantled/sealskin (Dress) sporrans came with chain straps. It was unheard of to see a chain on a day sporran.

I have two all-leather sporrans that were delivered to me with chain straps, which I have never used. Those destructive chains were replaced by leather straps before I would wear either of those beautiful sporrans. Then there was another one that came from the USA (could it have been my Buzz Kidder?) with an all-round chain (ie: no leather and buckle fitments at all). What was THAT about?