The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly


Wellred Weekly
Volume 1, Number 12 : December 7, 2012
 
Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking

Focus on: M C Customs
by Michael Campbell

Wellred Weekly continues its series of articles focusing on spanking implement manufacturers. This time, Michael Campbell of M C Customs, a manufacturer of hand-crafted leather tawses, straps and paddles, talks to us about his business.
History
I started manufacturing tawses at quite a young age as it was something I'd been interested in ever since being at school. However, at that time John J Dick, the main manufacturer, would only sell to registered teachers. I found the quality of the implements available through magazines via mail order at that time to be appalling, especially for the money they were charging. So, I started making my own and soon after I was asked by an adult school in England if I would supply them on a trade basis. That arrangement lasted for quite a few years.

Over time, I have taken quite a few courses but they have been mainly for hand stitching which I use in another part of my business. I also make hand stitched dog leads and collars for work and show dogs. Obviously, over the years I have invested a lot of money into new tooling and sewing machines, but apart from the stitching on my paddles (and they are stitch finished by hand) everything is done by hand.

I later started to make leather straps as well after a client asked me to make him an item that "resembled a tawse in shape, but without the tails". Of course such an implement is not at all traditional. In the 20+ years that I have been collecting and viewing other people's collections, I have only ever seen one tawse, by a traditional school maker, that was without tails. It was a particularly severe strap by a company called Hunter of Falkirk. I really only added them as I saw a demand for them based on what customers were requesting via my custom order service.

My business is a one-man affair as there is not enough money in what I do to to employ others. It is purely a paying hobby, for which I declare my earnings for tax. I also have a real job which pays my bills.


Heavy two tail Lochgelly style tawse

Types of tawse
There are actually too many makers of tawses to go into into any kind of detail and in fact most local saddlers or cobblers would turn out their representation of a tawse if asked to do so. The leather I use for the Lochgelly style and the Glasgow style tawses is the same for each weight. Traditionally, tawses from Lochgelly tended to be of a better quality and cut although I have seen a few poor ones in my time. This tends to be down to the weight stamps they carry. I have seen straps stamped 'M' that are similar to others stamped 'XH'. I believe they stamped them according to the weight of the leather they had available at any given time and of course that would change over the years. Personally, I use different types of hide for each grade and adhere to a certain set of standards. Sometimes the 'H' graded tawse may be thicker than the 'XH', but the 'XH' is a much firmer, harder leather.

Leather ferulaAmy paddle

Tradition
Although, many people buy tawses for spanking on the buttocks they were traditionally applied to the hands in schools. I have taken part in many discussions over the years on this subject. Some people have claimed that they saw, or experienced, the tawse being used on the buttocks and I believe them. However, corporal punishment was used on an almost daily basis when I was at school between the ages of 5 and 16 and I never once witnessed it myself. It was legal for teachers to punish with the tawse on the hands and anything else was illegal. However, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen somewhere in Scotland, especially as things were probably more lax in the generations before I went to school.

Oval paddleHoled spade paddle

Manufacture
I rarely complete a tawse in one stage so it is hard to estimate how long each one takes but perhaps somewhere in the order of an hour. The process involves cutting the strips of leather, marking the shape, cutting the pattern, edging all the surfaces, stamping the hanging hole, dying, creasing the edge, stamping, polishing the edges, applying dubbin and finally polishing again.

None of my manufactured tawses get returned and I think that says a lot. I also get a lot of repeat business, especially from professional customers. I have a huge collection of original Scottish tawses, and I know that I can never live up to some of them, as the leather is just not available now. The BSE and foot and mouth epidemics of a few years ago mean that cows tend to be slaughtered younger, which in turn results in only thinner hides being available.


Michael's collection of Scottish tawses

Technique
Using the right technique with a tawse can be a big problem for those with little experience of CP. The correct procedure is to aim the end of the tails so that they hit the middle of the buttock furthest away from you. If applying the tawse with vigour you might go an inch or two past the middle, but that is fine. Take your time and go for accuracy! I have seen some films from Eastern Europe where males and females are being caned and the best I can say is that the technique is horrendous, with most strokes wrapping around to the hips. If you want to punish someone hard, have the good grace to do it properly.

At school the rough or underside of the tawse would be the part making the contact. However, some people change that for a variety of reasons. The shiny side, or upper side, is more severe in the 'M' and 'H' models. I have a professional customer who makes a lot of Internet clips and they tend to use the shiny side as it is easier to clean since their thrashings often draw blood.


Extra heavy three tail Lochgelly style tawse

My customers
Some of my customers have requested that I put a hanging hole and a weight stamp on to the Glasgow tawses or straps that they order. Although this is not traditional, I am happy to do it as it makes it easier for Dommes/Doms to gauge what they are doing in a session. I never think much about where they are destined for while I am at the post office, though sometimes if it is going to someone I know, I realise that it will be used on a regular basis. Strangely, I corresponded with a customer over a 15 year period, and when he realised he was dying he sent me his collection as a gift, as he knew it would be looked after. The ones that I had made for him were unusual in that he had continually used them and applied Dubbin, which made them supple and severe.



 
6 comments:
PinkAngel said...
I found this a fascinating read. What a great job you have, thank you for sharing.
7 December 2012 19:50
bendover said...
I found this fascinated as well. What I thought very clever in design were:

Amy Paddle, which looked a lot like a wooden spoon.
Oval Paddle, which looked a lot like a hairbrush.
Holed Spade Paddle, which looked a lot like a spatula.

The article brought some great attention to punishments with such implements. I kind of cringed when I read the 'shiny side draws blood', but easy to clean.

Well done.
7 December 2012 20:25
jimisim said...
Just a couple of comments, my mother was at school in Edinburgh in late twenties/early thirties (which she hated) and once she told me that the discipline was cruel, and girls got the strap on the hands and boys on the bottom.
I also remember reading a countryman's memoir of his schooldays between the wars in which he vividly described the tawse and it use/abuse. I'm sure he said it was used on the bottom/upper thighs. But this was fifty years ago so I can't remember for absolute certainty
You are very fortunatre to have a paying hobby which allows you to use your craftmanship making such satisfying items.
8 December 2012 11:55
Februs said...
Thanks for a very interesting article. I have to admit that the idea of being able to manufacture high quality leather tawses and straps etc is a really appealing one although personally I wouldn't have a clue where to begin. I also have to say that's a fantastic collection of Scottish tawses you've put together. I notice that one of your tawses also gets a mention in the article by Juliette Tulliver, although at the time of writing it was just on its way to her.
8 December 2012 17:54
mobile_carrot said...
Fascinating article - a lifelong friend's daughter is a trained leatherworker and my wife and I stayed in the room in which she stored several saddles (the smell was gorgeous!). I did suggest in all seriousness that she looked at breaking into the spanking tools market but I think she had a moral objection which is a pity.
8 December 2012 19:56
mati said...
I didn't realised until now that the BSE-epidemy lead also to thinner leather. At least one advantage - from the view of a sub. Very interesting article.
10 December 2012 08:02

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