Leather dying question

[Grooveski]

Yeah, I need to borrow a heat gun to do the inside. A blow heater was fine for the outside but no use inside. Just going to paint it in and blast it a couple of times.
The strap I'm going to quickly dip as there's a bit of braiding up over the shoulder and the whole thing would frankly be a pain to do any other way.
And I need to make a bag to cover the feathers, tons still to do really.

Next? Mark 2 maybe, try it again with hindsight. Turned out ok but felt like a test run all along and there's a dozen things I'd change.
Prefer back quivers but want to get in a bit of practice first so this was mainly curiosity.

Sidetracked again.

 

[nickg]

Ok I'm now way off topic. Theres a book written by Adrian Eliot Hodgkin called The Archers Craft. Written in 1951 but recently reprinted he gives a lot of information about bow hunting since it wasnt proscribed as it is today. he says this of qiuivers :-

"It should be 22" long; 5"wide at the top and 4" at the bottom; flat sided and collapsable. If you like a hard, ridgid, tubular affair then your diameters will not be so great .. ; but dont take such a thing with you into the woods. The best thing to do, .. is to take a sheaf of 12 broadheads and measure what will hold them comfortably; then make whatever takes your fancy. .. It must be nioseless; and this rules out hard leather, wood and canvas, which all either cause the arrows to rattle as you move, or make an intolerable noise as you push through the undergrowth. .. And finally it must keep out the wet .. As an accessory, in case it rains .. procure an oiled-silk or plastic sponge bag (??!!) with a draw string. Slip this over the feathers of your arrows,..wet does them no good and anyway makes the feathers all soft and liable to be crushed out of shape."

Elsewhere he states a preference for belt mounted quivers rather than shoulder slung saying that it is less likely to foul on branches etc and requires smaller more discrete movements to draw a shaft out - less movement means that you are less likely to alert the quarry. Also more easy to drop a hand onto to control. Try bending down with as back quiver to pick some sorrel or pig nuts and see how long it takes you to pick up all the arrows again and again.

I know that you wont be hunting (in the UK at least) but they are intresting points to think about when designing the next one. Mine is made of soft deerskin and with a dozen broadheads in it makes barely a sound when walking.

Nick

 

[Fire Ferret]

That came up you beaut Grooveski, nice job, would like to see the next one you make. Bring 'em along to the next scottish meet?

X
Ferret

 

[Grooveski]

It's great for what it's designed for(holding half a dozen or so arrows with heads in a convenient spot that won't tangle in trees) but for the field I prefer a back quiver because of the flowing motion between quiver and bow.

I can't slip into rhythm with this. I like to disengage my brain sometimes and chuck arrows in the general direction while concentrating on just hitting anchor or just releasing or the likes.
A break in rhythm can interfere with that kind of practice. I don't find the action of taking the arrow from the quiver a problem but laying the arrow roughly in place then moving my hand to the nock is one too many operations to really be able to do it in auto-pilot.

I get what you're saying about noise and movement but I'm unlikely to spook a big foam block. I've also dumped a few quivers worth of arrows in the past and you're right, it's no fun. I've got a couple of goatskins that I bought specificaly to make a floppy quiver so will probably give it a go at some point.

Thanks for the book reference, it sounds like an interesting read and I like the oiled silk bag idea (I was going to wax some cotton).


Willdo Ferret, and cheers for the patch of sealskin. It made a nice wee rest.

 

[Grooveski]

Originaly Posted by nickg
(??!!)

Sponge bags. You know, bags for sponges.

Hmm, one of those little green expid drybags would do a grand job with the webbing removed.

 

[nickg]

MMMMMM pretty AND functional - why fight it ;-}

Actually it was the oiled silk reference that got me - like you can find one in any branch of Boots. OK now somebody will tell me that you can!! lol

Seriously, i'd be interested to know if anybody has tried oiling silk