A new quiver for my Son

Rancid Crabtree · #1 08-01-2008, 01:14 PM

This Quiver is for my Son Josh. It goes with the Longbow I made for him. He does not like back quivers and thinks a hip quiver is ok but when I explained this quiver to him, he thought he would like it.

I made a pattern from a piece of padding from when I installed hardwood floors in my dinning room. It is about as thick as the leather I am using but a bit more flexible. It makes a good prototype material.

My biggest concern with having such a big opening in the side of the quiver is that, over time, as the leather softens, it will fold or collapse. I will reinforce the quiver to prevent that from happening.

I am making the quiver out of 8 Oz. tooling leather.

In order to stiffen the sides of the quiver, I stitched long strips of leather to the inside of the quiver.

I left one end open so I could insert 3/32 dia. music wire the entire length of the quiver.

the next step is to at a bit if stiffness and decoration to the opening.

I stitched this piece of 5 Oz. leather to the quiver while flat (before shaping.

The next step is to shape the quiver into it tubular shape. I wetted the leather to allow me to shape the quiver and then used a blow dryer to save a bit of time drying it off. I then marked an overlap and used rubber cement to join the to ends so that I could punch the stitching holes.

With the bottom stitched, I joined both sides of the quiver opening.

Rancid Crabtree · #2 08-01-2008, 01:15 PM

Then I cut a slot for the shoulder strap.

Next, I added a piece to the bottom of the quiver that I could attach the other end of the shoulder strap to.

And then gave it a bit of decoration and some stitching holes.

Stitching the already rolled tube proved to be a real pain.

For the bottom of the quiver, I used a piece of 3/4 inch thick pine.

And then added a layer of foam to reduce the noise.

The bottom is held in place with decorative nails.

I do not have a large enough piece of leather to make a continuous shoulder strap so I have to join a few strips together that I cut out of one of my bigger pieces.

Rancid Crabtree · #3 08-01-2008, 01:17 PM

I stained the quiver with a mixture of dark brown and oxblood to create a burgundy. I added about a tablespoon of this mixture to a pint of denatured alcohol. I did not want a dark stain but rather an antique look and I know the neatsfoot oil will darken the leather even more. Once the quiver was dry (blow dryer assisted) I applied brown edge kote to all the exposed edges of the leather. Once it dried, I polished it with a piece of bone.

The next step was to return the oils to the leather that were lost during staining due to the alcohol and blow dryer. Without this step, the leather would crack when flexed. As you can see by the buckle on the right, the oil has a darkening effect on the leather.

After a few hours sitting in the sun, the oils had soaked in and I applied a coat of mink oil to further moisten the leather and to waterproof it.

The burgundy was a good color choice for this project.

The end user seems satisfied.