What would you use for an antique-style frog button?

D

Dan D'Silva

Joined
May 31, 2020
Messages
74
Hi again,

I've had a nearly-complete dagger in vaguely 19th-century style sitting on my bench for quite a while because I'm having a devil of a time finding a good frog button, and I'd like to make more period pieces in the future. Judging from photos, it appears buttons at the time were usually soldered or fastened to the metal throat, and were relatively wide, shallowly domed on top and flat on bottom. Modern button studs are made to be attached directly to the leather and the heads appear relatively smaller and more deeply domed, both on top and on bottom.


Scabbard with modern button and current work piece.

Example of an antique with the type of button I'm looking for.

Up to now I've been cutting them from brass plate and sometimes hammering to dish them, which always gives me an uneven, amateur-looking result. I've considered using various other hardware but there always seems to be a catch; brass carriage bolts, for instance, seem to be difficult to find in the right size (for most of the ones I'm working on or planning, this would mean a button head around 3/8 to 1/2 inch wide). Right now I'm thinking maybe shortening the shanks of solid brass Chicago screws and posts, and soldering them together to make a solid unit with a wide, flat base that will join well to the throat, or else soldering the screw to the throat and attaching the post with Threadlocker. But I'd like to know if anyone has a better suggestion.
 
Dan D'Silva said:
Hi again,

I've had a nearly-complete dagger in vaguely 19th-century style sitting on my bench for quite a while because I'm having a devil of a time finding a good frog button, and I'd like to make more period pieces in the future. Judging from photos, it appears buttons at the time were usually soldered or fastened to the metal throat, and were relatively wide, shallowly domed on top and flat on bottom. Modern button studs are made to be attached directly to the leather and the heads appear relatively smaller and more deeply domed, both on top and on bottom.


Scabbard with modern button and current work piece.

Example of an antique with the type of button I'm looking for.

Up to now I've been cutting them from brass plate and sometimes hammering to dish them, which always gives me an uneven, amateur-looking result. I've considered using various other hardware but there always seems to be a catch; brass carriage bolts, for instance, seem to be difficult to find in the right size (for most of the ones I'm working on or planning, this would mean a button head around 3/8 to 1/2 inch wide). Right now I'm thinking maybe shortening the shanks of solid brass Chicago screws and posts, and soldering them together to make a solid unit with a wide, flat base that will join well to the throat, or else soldering the screw to the throat and attaching the post with Threadlocker. But I'd like to know if anyone has a better suggestion.
Click to expand...
You might want to look at knob buttons used for western spurs. Google the phrase "spur buttons" and you will get a wide variety.
 
The frog studs on period pieces are often quite large and often oval depending on the period. Seems to me it would be easiest to braze together a ground and polished shape.
 
Fonedork said:
An old maker told me he would make them by turning a nautical bolt on a lathe.
Click to expand...

I've only done two, and it's been a long time. But I turned down stainless steel bolts on my drill press. Nothing fancy with tools, just a drill press and hand files. I roughed out the bolt head shape with a grinder first. They went on hard sheaths, so I had a steel collar on a wood sheath. Tapped and threaded fine machine screw threads. They came out great.

ETA: My granddad made knives and taught me the basics early on. He made a lot of old style traditional sheaths with frogs. He's the one that showed me the bolt in a drill press way, but he would also reuse the collars and sheath tips off of old sheaths. Probably not so easy to find now, but he would frequent flea markets and buy old sheaths or abused knives with hard sheaths so he could take the hardware off to use at a later date.
 
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