About British Sterling Silver Buckles

British Classic Sterling Silver buckles have a close association with the equestrian trade.

In the early 1900s, any person living in rural surroundings would have simply walked down to the local saddler and then would have chosen a brass harness buckle and the colour of stirrup leather. That belt would probably have lasted a lifetime. The buckle, made from real carriage brass with a steel tongue, was designed to harness the strength of the horse and as such was unbreakable.

The method of making these brass buckles was by sand casting and this method continues today in Walsall, now another suburb of the Birmingham area and the centre for leather and associated equestrian goods manufacturing for over 600 years.

The original names of these buckles, such as Bristol, Buxton etc., are indicators as to where the design was first conceived. The Bristol, Swell Front and the Buxton are classics and their simple lines remain a favourite standard that have transcended the fickle changes in fashion. The West End was exported to the USA in the 1820s and became a favourite for the gun belt. In old western movies, when the costume and wardrobe department adhered to fact, this buckle was featured more than any other. Many fell wearing this buckle pattern on their gun belts at The Alamo in 1836.

End Tips
British harnessing never incorporated tips to the end of straps. Because of this, British belts today remain plain ended. In larger harness tack for shire horses either appearing at shows or applying their strength in the street hauling goods, or even hearses, the embellishments are lavish. Flat tips, smaller than the outside dimensions of the strap, are often attached, but the use of end tips for belts originated in Spain and were, from there, exported to Mexico and thereafter adopted into the North American culture.

How the Buckles are Made
The first step is deciding on a pattern/design. In years gone by the sketch was taken to a modeller with experience in the jewellery trade, someone who had all the correct knowledge as to what was possible in the lost wax casting process. There can be no undercuts, for example, since the rubber mould of the original, once cut into top and bottom halves, would not be separable. These two halves have to be separable in order to check the captured detail and, later in production, to remove the cooled, hardened waxes. Today, most modellers with good reputations are working on figurines and objects most often associated with spin-off merchandising or the giftware market. In most cases, the associated trade employed will have at hand CAD technology and the approved design can be viewed on screen and the software then taken directly for CNC milling.The advantages of CNC milling are relevant in straight forward projects since the CAD technology can oversize the original so that the finished item when cast has already been configured for the percentage loss: 1.5% for the wax and 1.5% in the casting.

The original buckle design has to have escape channels welded onto it, in the correct proportion/dimension to allow for the flow of molten silver to successfully fill the cavity left in the casting chamber by the lost wax.In production, given that the mould is now ready, the two halves of the rubber (checked beforehand to see that there is no visible interior damage) are taped together or, if small, are held tightly together and offered up to the nozzle of the waxing machine. Under compressed air pressure the molten wax is injected into the rubber mould’s cavity.

Once dry, these wax facsimiles of the final item are then ‘pinned’ up with a soldering iron onto a tree-like trunk of wax with the aim to get as many items as possible within the designated possibilities of the circumference and inner dimension of a casting cylinder. This tree is then placed within the casting cylinder sleeve and a special mix of plaster poured so as to completely capture the wax. Since time is money then the lost wax process is normally set aside for an overnight session. In pre-programmed temperature controlled ovens, the wax is slowly and comprehensively melted away and lost. What remains is a cylinder with a column of attached cavities, those cavities, replicas of the original design captured within the baked and hardened plaster.

Casting silver comes in the form of pellets and these small pieces melt with speed when subjected to fierce voltage within the crucible. The casting cylinder is placed in an horizontal position, directly opposite to the crucible which is hinged for articulation and aligned so that the top hole, left by the lost wax process, can receive the molten silver travelling at 125 MPH, centrifugally.

Alternatively more modern equipment can make use of vacuum technology to further ensure that the molten metal penetrates every nook and cranny, reducing the risk of loss due to porosity. Porosity is caused when the molten metal collides with oxygen that cannot escape within the cavity, turning the silver into articles with small holes or patches of dull grey that cannot be worked up to lustre. This can be a time consuming problem since the castings are uniform in colour when released from the plaster, after cooling, and the problems are not manifested until work begins by working up the pieces. Introducing the molten silver into an environment, created by vacuum, is superior to the centrifugal process since the oxygen problems are minimized.

Now the work begins. The plaster is broken way and the column of buckle carcasses and loops, when released, reveal objects grey, rough and lacklustre. Metal snips remove the articles from the tree and these are set aside. Rough hand filing begins the clean up process and, at this stage, potential rejects due to porosity become obvious. Small holes can be filled but grey patches determine that they are worthy of no more time expenditure. Finer hand files complete the clean up and the different components are ready for polishing. Polishing by high speed electric motor, driving different types of mop wheels and compound, is a skill learned by hands-on experience: not too little and not too much. Finally, the buckle parts are taken to a barrel polisher for rotation in crushed walnut. The journey of the British sterling silver buckle is now coming to a close. Hours of skilled work, at every stage hand-wrought, have produced something beautiful but as yet not ready to market.

The buckles, loops and tongues must be presented to the Assay Office for testing. If true to description, they are hallmarked and only then can they be offered for sale.