Back Quiver Build Along - St Jude...(photos have been restored-)

[Bud B.]

I will begin editing these photos from photobucket (scammers) to Imgur links. I hope they stay linked for a looong time. 7/31/2017


I thought I'd do a build along on Hermon's back quiver. I've had a few folks PM or email me asking for pointers. I'm not a pro. I'm a hobbyist who likes doing many things. As a lefty growing up I had to make some things (six shooter holsters) for myself since not many left handed things were readily available. This is well before the world wide web sensation that's totally changed our lives.

So...

Let's talk leather.

You'll need a good shoulder of vegetable tanned 6/7oz leather. You can go thicker (7/8) or thinner (5/6), but from my experience 6/7 is a good weight/thickness. Some leather workers use other leathers. A web search will help you choose what you should get based on your needs. Veg tanned leather needs to be treated before your finished product can be used. That's why I like it. You can treat it with whatever quality treatment you desire.

The basic tools needed are: a razor knife, a straight edge ruler of some sturdiness, a flat cutting surface, a leather punch for making crisp holes, a soft face hammer for the punch, and a pencil. I use other tools and devices to help me along, but those are the basic tools needed.

You'll also need some good quality lacing. I use lacing made for leatherwork, not shoe laces bought at discount stores or other places. They will work, but they are not as sturdy as you'll need. I use 3/16 wide lacing. You'll be pulling it with some force, so sturdy lacing is a must.

   

I'd like for this to be an informative build along. If you have questions or input based on your experiences, please jump in. Let's make this fun and inspiring. I know some of you have been wanting to make one, so here's your chance to get going.

[Bud B.]

I make mine generally 22ish inches tall and I like for the body to be around 7 inches wide.  For that size I'll cut a rectangular piece of leather for the body that's 19" wide and XX inches tall. We'll discuss the XX later.

If you want a tapered body you can make your rectangle then reduce the lower width by 1" inward on both sides. Then cut the excess off. Trust me. Do the rectangle first, then reduce the lower half. It's easier that way and the waste of leather is nominal.  This one for Hermon has 90 degree corners and will have parallel sides. No taper. Leave the length longer than you think you'll need for now. Remember the XX?

 

 

 

[Hermon]

[Bud B.]

Let's mark the spots we're going to punch our holes along the bottom. For this I bought a cheap metal yardstick and drive punched marks along the 1/2" measurements approximately 1/4" from the yardstick's edge. I then drilled the holes with a cordless drill and smoothed out any burrs off the holes' edges.

OR

You can take your pencil and lightly draw a line across the width of the bottom 1/4" from the bottom edge. Then mark every 1/2" mark starting 1/2" from the edge that will be your overlap of the body. .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and so on...You'll see why later.

If a RH quiver, then the RH edge/side of the unrolled body will overlap the left side of the unrolled body when you finally do roll it into a tube and begin lacing. It'll look like a G when rolled over onto itself.

With your lower hole marks, mark all the way to the left side of the leather. When you punch, start at the right side (for a RH quiver) and go all but the last three holes when punching. Do not punch the last three holes, yet.

You can barely see the pencil marks on this lower edge in this pic.

 

[vintage-bears]

       
Very nice

[cahaba]

Great build along. Thanks Bud! Looking forward to the finished product.

[cmh]

Where do you get your leather?

[Bud B.]

Get my leather at Zack White Leather in Ramseur, NC. About 12 miles from me.

Gotta run. Will post more later. My wife hijacked the laptop.

[cmh]

Thanks  

[Butchie]

[Bud B.]

Now to mark the holes along the sides of the leather which will allow us to lace up the body.

Now Hermon wants this one to be 21" deep. We have to take into account the holes along the bottom which are 1/4" from the edge. We also have to take into account the extra piece of leather we're going to put in the bottom to help fight off those razor sharp broadheads. If our quiver body will be 21" and some change tall and we account for the fold over at the top, we're looking at a length of about 23 1/2". So we have to start our marks for the body lacing holes just above 3/8". We also have to make sure the holes are 1/2" from our target mark of 21" deep. That way when we fold the top over the holes line up properly to lace the overlap into alignment with everything else.

From the bottom:

 

At the 21" mark:

 

When we find the spot where our first holes should begin up the side I use a little pattern I made from thick card stock. It came from the back of an old desk calendar from work. Holes are 1/4" from the edge and 1" apart square. The card stock is 1.5" wide.

OR

You can draw a faint line with the pencil up the side 1/4" from the edge. Then another line 1.25" from the edge up the side. From the measurement we've determined, then mark spots on both lines in 1" increments up the sides. Do this to both sides.

IF you use a pattern like I did, the pattern has to be placed the right edge to right edge and left edge to left edge on the leather so the holes align from the pattern equally for lacing. Don't flip the pattern. Just slide it over to the other side.

 
 
 

[Bud B.]

Now for the punching of all those dots...................................... about 125 of'em for now


 
 
 


Notice we didn't go all the way with the holes on the bottom left.

 

[Lineman72]

   

[Caboo]

Thanks for the detailed description!

[Bud B.]

Before lacing up the body I did some treating of the quiver leather. I'll cover that in more detail later.

Now to the lacing. I start with rolling the quiver leather over onto itself. Remember the G?

Here it is:

     


Now you can see why I left the last three holes unpunched on the lower edge. I'll punch those after the body is all laced up and lined up.

The fist X

 

The inside. Notice the lace does not cross on the inside. We don't want those razor sharp broadheads to catch on anything so we keep'em in a straight line with the body. This is with the quiver laced farther up (inside view).

 

[Bud B.]

With getting close to the top I'll need to do the fold over at the mouth. It helps to wet the leather to do this.

Here the top is already folded over, but I run water in a pan deep enough to submerge the lip to be folded and the fold itself. I don't dunk it too deeply.

   

Aligning the holes in the fold over. A big nail helps get the holes lined up, but be careful not to scratch up the leather.

   

Folded and laced

 

This is how I do the extra lacing. If Glenn wants to cut it or use it to cross over to the back of the quiver to use as a divider from BH arrows to his stumpers, that's up to him.


   

[Bud B.]

Now that the body is laced and aligned, time to punch those last three holes for proper alignment in them.

 

[Bud B.]

Here's the bottom cut out from a pattern.

 

How I make the bottom is kinda weird but crafty.

Stay tuned.

[Bud B.]

What I've done in the past is take the quiver body and find two matching glasses from the dish cabinet in the kitchen that are of a nice size for the bottom. I place the two glasses in the body tube with the body lying on its back on the counter and push the glasses apart until the leather is tight. I get a measurement of just slightly over 7" x 3 1/8" with the nice oval ends. I transfer the 7 x 3 1/8 measurements to the card stock and then use the glasses to draw the nice rounded ends in the 7x3 1/8 rectangle. I cut out the pattern.

This is what I get:

   


   

[Bud B.]

Before punching the pattern I used a cutout blank leather bottom to mark as I held it to the quiver bottom. Holes are 1/4 in from the edge and 1/2 inch apart, except in the rounded sides. This is marked by eye. When the leather is marked I punched it and then marked the card pattern with the holes already in the leather and punched the card stock pattern for future use. This pic is from Tim's (azwatasha's) build marking the leather bottom.