Kilt Pin in Scottish Red Deer Stag Antler and Bog Oak, Scottish gift, antler gift, horn gift, wedding gift, best man gift, mens gift

This beautiful Kilt Pin is part of my well established range of Scottish Red Deer Stag Antler and hardwood pieces. The antler itself comes from a Highland Red Deer, a symbol of Scotland. This particular boy lived in the hills above Lairg, Central Highlands of Scotland, a rugged and untouched part of the world. I have left the antler pretty much as the deer made it, only sanding down any sharp or overly high points.
I have capped the antler with some Scottish Bog Oak. I have been very aware of this materials existence for some time now but have been waiting to secure the right piece. This particular piece came from Muir of Clunes, 12 miles South West of Inverness. This is quite a rural, verdant and quite thickly wooded part of Scotland. My contact for this wood excavated quite a few pieces and had a very small section scientifically aged, it came back at approximately 5000 years old! To put this into context, this is when, slightly further down the road, Stonehenge was starting to be assembled. Bog Oak is created when the tree is buried in a peat bog and the wood is preserved by the acidic conditions. The wood is stained dark brown to black by the tannins in the acidic water. There is a fair amount of wastage of the wood until you get deeper into the piece. In its raw state it smells like a mix of rubber and organic material, not in any way rotten or decomposed. Working the wood is somewhat challenging, quite splintery very much like Snakewood or Ebony and is number 80 in my list of worked Hardwoods. Finished, the wood is at least as hard as fresh Oak and finishes to a fine lustre. Colour is predominately black with dark brown that has a deep iridescence and looks almost identical to Indian Ebony. There is no darker Scottish hardwood. I sculpt the wood until in joins perfectly and seamlessly with the antler and again smooth off any sharp edges.
To finish i use Shellac and Cellulose Thinners to seal the wood and bring out the true colour. I then polish the piece with two types of industrial wax to give it a deep, long lasting lustre. This method retains the original creamy white colour of the antler without any yellowing as other finishes such as varnish will give. I then attach the pin with three small pop rivets, this gives an ultra secure and professional finish, i could have used glue but i always prefer to over-engineer my products so they last.
I never cease to be impressed by the various, natural shapes that can be found in antler tines and always try to find and incorporate these in my work to make unusual and unique pieces. This one is certainly one of the more striking tines i have come across and would make a fantastic Scottish gift and complement any kilt.
It measures 106mm in length x 14mm at top tapering to 3mm at bottom. As with all my pieces i have added my “UBC” makers mark using Pyrography, in this case to the back of the pin.