Antler or horn buttons.

[Chris the Cat]

Folks,I am after some nice antler or horn buttons to replace the ( Cold! ) metal ones on my vintage Swedish wool army jacket.
Anyone on here I can approach before I look 'off site'!?
Looking for 9,about 3/4 inch.
Cheers.
Chris

 

[Chris the Cat]

Anyone? Before I let this sink!!
C da C.

 

[Mesquite]

Why not get a section of antler and make your own?

It's a simple process, slice into sections, rienforce the pith with superglue, when dry smooth down on sandpaper, then drill the holes and hey presto your very own buttons

 

[Wayland]

Or in a pinch wooden ones can be found in most haberdashers.

 

[Toddy]

I have some but they're a bit smaller than that. I'll dig them out if they'd do though.
Warthog1981 made the ones for his bushshirt from antler cut lengthwise so that it didn't have a weaker core. He said it took ages and I don't think he's up for doing it again if he can help it.

How about leather ? Maybe 2 or 3mm thick and hardened in hot beeswax ? They would work and they'd look good too

cheers,
Toddy

 

[brancho]

Rustic wooden ones are quite easy as that size really just cut a branch into slices sand smooth drill some holes and your done.
I havel only made one button though and it was less than half an inch accross.
I would make antler buttons teh same way Toddy described as it how I made some SAK scales.

 

[jojo]

A leather button, nice and easy to do!

Cut a circle of thick vegtan leather, (that one was 1/2"), cut another circle of thin leather about twice the diameter of the insert, punch some holes around the edge, sew with a longer thread than needed and then sew to your shirt. Quicker to do than to say!

 

[Kerne]

I've cut "lengthways" buttons from antler and they're Ok if you want square-ish buttons with rounded edges. If you want round ones, it's a LOT of filing/sanding. The square ones look quite cool, however.

 

[Chris the Cat]

Cheers folks,some interesting ideas there!
Chris.

 

[mr dazzler]

There is a section in Swedish carving techniques where Mr Sundqvist shows how to make traditional wooden buttons. Basically fashion the front face on the end of a stick. Then slice it off with a fine saw. Then drill and carefully ream the stitching holes.
Toggles are nice too. They could be antler, horn, wood, maybe even stone. Better than plastic any way.....

 

[baggins]

You could have a look at Brisa. The guy has ots of neat stuff on his site.
www.brisa.fi

 

[brancho]

You could have a look at Brisa. The guy has ots of neat stuff on his site.
www.brisa.fi

The postage is quite high and it would be cheaper to buy stuff from the UK even though Dennis a great guy. Highland horn or some knife scale suppliers would be better.

 

[brancho]

The only button I ever made from alder burr

 

[forestwalker]

The last time I made buttons I

1. drilled in 2-3 cm into the material (a juniper stick),
2. rounded the end,
3. cut it off (a fine toothed japanese saw makes a fairly smooth cut),
4. sanded the back,
5. rounded the edges of the hole with some fine sandpaper wrapped into a cone,
6. smooted the inside of the holes (or they'll eat the thread), and
7. finally dipped in BLO, and allowed to "dry".

Actually it only took a few minutes per button, even of there were many steps.

 

[Chris the Cat]

Thanks again Cats!!
C da C.