Making a Kilt Pin

**sarge** · 19th February 11, 05:02 PM

My Great Grandfather was a fire captain. I have the badge from his dress cap. It is the typical police style cap badge (except a bit smaller) that has a small bolt like thing welded onto the back and you put the bolt through the hole in the front of the cap and tighten a nut on it to hold it on.

Any ideas on how this could be made into a kilt pin. I would get a kick out of wearing his badge

**JOHNNY FAIRLESS** · 19th February 11, 05:17 PM

Hello. Im a Fire Captain myself ! I like the idea. I'd say if it's a post back like you descibed, you could put a thin large diameter washer on the backside and simply tighten a nut down on it. Thats assuming you dont mind the hole it will put in your apron. The only other thing I would suggest would be removing the post, then, soldering a pin back to it. You can find these at any fabric store and some craft stores. Hope this helps it's a great way to honor him.

**xman** · 19th February 11, 05:26 PM

If it's a steel cap badge and the bolt' isn't too big, you might simply try a rare earth magnet for the inside of the apron. Could even cut the post away if that works. You'll avoid tearing the kilt if it catches on something as well.

**Bugbear** · 19th February 11, 06:07 PM

My gut feeling tells me it might not be a good idea to cut that bolt off if it is an old badge; in other words don't alter the badge.

I don't know the size of the bolt or the badge.
Maybe if you go to a craft/hobby store and get the parts to make a lapel button,
you could use the wire pin and only the back plate of a button by drilling a hole in it and using the badge bolt to clamp it all together.

Just a couple of thoughts, good luck.

**JOHNNY FAIRLESS** · 19th February 11, 06:40 PM

Have you considered using it for it's intended purpose ? I bet it would be a great hat badge on mounted on a traditional glengary hat. Just a thought, that way you don't have to alter it in any way.

**AKScott** · 19th February 11, 06:49 PM

I would be cautious about altering a family heirloom like that, and leery about putting that big a hole in a kilt apron.

If the post back is soldered on you might be able to unsolder it and then fastena pin back as has already been suggested.

Curious about the weight of the badge as is. On 16 ounce wool with no sporran I find a 25gram blanket pin type kilt pin is more than heavy enough.

The 55gram kilt pin I made two or three pages back in the DIY section is really too heavy for occasional use. Perhaps rare use at that weight, I'll have to see when I actually wear it

**sarge** · 20th February 11, 07:19 PM

Thank you for these ideas. Most of you seem to grip the problem that I dont wantto poke a big hole in the kilt, but I prefer to not alter the badge. I like the magnet idea, but the bolt would still require alteration. I would say its about a 3/32 bolt about 1/4 inch long.

I guess I could have a 1/8 hole stitched in the kilt, and it would not be too obvious; but that's a hard thing to do

**xman** · 20th February 11, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by sarge

I guess I could have a 1/8 hole stitched in the kilt, and it would not be too obvious; but that's a hard thing to do

Don't do that. At 1/4" deep I don't think you're going to have much luck there without alteration. You could try building up a few magnets on the back to get to 1/4" and then use another behind the over apron to see how that looks, but I'm sceptical myself. Perhaps using it for its intended purpose is your best route after all.

**Tim B** · 2nd July 11, 09:38 AM

I've been away for a while and just read your post, so I'm a bit late with advice. I am a police officer and I took one of my old cap badges (with the screw bolt) applied it to an inexpensive Stilwater sporran. I just poked a small hole in the flap of the sporran and screwed the badge on. I wear it with my USA Kilts Law Enforcement Tartan. This doesn't answer your question about converting it to a kilt pin, but you can still honour your family member and keep the piece in tact.

**Mickey** · 2nd July 11, 09:53 AM

I use my post backed USMC cover emblem as a kilt pin a lot. I slip a bamboo skewer between the fibers, and use that to spread open a hole. Carefully put the screw post in so as not to tear any strands, then I put two thicknesses of cardboard over the post, about an inch square each, then tighten the nut down. The cardboard spreads the load over the whole emblem so all the weight is not pulling on the post. It also keeps in flat. When I take it out, a gentle rub of the fabric between my fingers is all that's needed and you can never tell there was anything there.