Horseshoe Leather Keychain

A strap of undyed vegetable tanned leather, folded into a loop and closed by an antiqued brass shackle. It is the keychain that hangs from a belt loop or a wall hook, and that darkens from sand to caramel as your hand passes over it.

The hardware is a shackle: the horseshoe shaped piece with a screw pin that holds rigging on a sailboat and chain on a truck. Here it is solid brass with an antiqued finish, and it carries a short phrase engraved in relief, from the factory. The key ring, also brass, runs through the bow of the shackle. The pin unscrews with your fingers, no tool, to change the ring or take the keychain off the belt.

The leather is full grain cowhide, vegetable tanned and undyed: the color that arrives is the color of the hide, a pinkish beige that light and use darken within weeks. The strap is 4 mm thick and the edge is left raw, unpainted, showing the fiber. Same logic as our Drover Leather Belt: the more you use it, the better it gets.

Ranch and Feather

Two models, same strap and same shackle. Ranch is the plain strap, the leather speaking for itself. Feather carries a feather engraved in low relief on one side of the loop, pressed with a hot iron, which darkens before the rest and gains outline over time.

It arrives disassembled, in four pieces: the strap, the shackle, the pin and the ring. Assembly takes a minute: fold the strap, line up the two holes, pass the bow of the shackle around the outside and the pin through the holes, and screw it in. The ring already comes on the bow.

Specifications

• Full grain cowhide strap, vegetable tanned, undyed
• Solid brass shackle, antiqued finish, screw pin
• Brass key ring
• Ranch model plain, Feather model with low relief engraving
• Shipped disassembled, assembles without tools
• Unisex

Measurements

Measured on the piece.

Care

• Undyed leather stains with water and grease in the first days; once it darkens, it stops marking. To hurry the tone along, leave it in the sun for an afternoon
• Do not use cream or polish before the leather darkens on its own; after that, a drop of neatsfoot oil or beeswax, once a year
• Brass darkens over time. To brighten, a dry cotton cloth; to keep it as it came, do nothing
• Check the pin now and then: a brass thread loosens with use

The phrase on the shackle is a factory engraving and does not indicate origin, sponsorship or affiliation with any brand or organization.