I have a neighbor down the street who likes to hunt a lot. He keeps me pretty well supplied with materials. The last time I spoke with him, he mentioned he had several deer hides professionally tanned, and we decided I would make him a quiver to go with the bow I made him last year. As payment I could keep enough of the leather to make my own quiver as well. This is the result. Turns out "professional" was a bit of a stretch of the term. The hides came back full of HUGE holes all over them. He had hoped to make some buckskin pants or a jacket out of them, but I struggled even to find enough clean leather for the quivers.
I wanted to keep things as natural/primitive as possible, so I decided to twist up my own sinew cordage to stitch them together--but then the leather was too thin to make good straps, so I had to stitch two pieces together back-to-back. It took more than I expected, Ever tried to make 50+ feet of sinew cordage -- as fine as possible so you can sew with it? It took quite a while, but I got pretty good by the end, and it was somehow relaxing to sit there and twist-and-wrap, twist-and-wrap. Each quiver has a beef rawhide pocket at the bottom of the quiver in case he or I ever put in broadheads.
I have to admit I used some rubber cement to hold things together while I sewed, so I guess I cheated on the primitive a little. Also used a stainless steel needle instead of a porcupine quill. . .and I used some CA glue to stabilize the spongy centers of the antler buttons (I feel so dirty
) but other than that I like how they turned out. At the last minute I added the wrap stitching around the top, and I think that really cleaned up the look.
Tell me what you think.
