dhaverstick

Thanks, all! Each hook has two holes drilled into its base. I then just sewed the hook to the arm guard. Darren

I hardly ever make myself a leather doodad, but I had some time between other projects so I whipped up this arm guard. The backing is vegetable tanned cowhide and the facing is pirarucu hide, a fish in South America. The arrowhead is carp hide, the trim is deer hide, and I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler. Everything was sewn up by hand using artificial sinew. I was happy with it. Darren

I hadn't made any belts before so I had a couple of false starts before I got a process down that worked for me. Below are the two belts I've finished so far. Both have a vegetable-tanned cowhide backing and a cape buffalo facing. The trim along the edges is lambskin and I sewed the brown one down with artificial sinew and the other one down with D97 bowstring material. I bought the buckle sets off Etsy. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Darren

I finished this back quiver yesterday for my good friend, Joe Hollingshad, of Devil's Backbone Outfitters. I had made Joe a possibles bag and a knife sheath a while back and the last time I saw him, he asked me to make a quiver to match the other two items. Hopefully, he will be happy with this. Quiver details: The body and straps are made from bison hide. The black leather around the tracks is shark hide and the light colored leather is deer hide. The brown leather trim on the quiver and straps is caiman hide. The black trim is deer hide and I carved the strap buttons from deer antler. The whole shebang was sewn up by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

I finished this back quiver a couple of days ago. It will be my auction donation for the 2025 United Bowhunters of Missouri Festival (Feb 7th-9th). The body of this quiver is made from bison hide. The colored leather is ostrich leg skin and the black leather in the geometric designs is also bison. I trimmed everything in black deer hide and carved the strap buttons out of deer antler. I used approximately 7-8 artificial bison worth of artificial sinew to sew this project up by hand. I hope it makes the club a few dollars. Darren

My best bud, John "Cool Johnny" Norris, asked me a while back to make him a medicine bag necklace. Due to the bag's small size, it was hard for me to come up with a design that would be functional, would look good, and would be something that I could actually sew by hand. After a few starts and stops, I settled on the bag you see here. It is made from deer hide. I'm still not crazy about how it draws to close but it is what it is. I had a better idea for what I wanted the lanyard to look like, but that also provided some challenges. First off, I had to learn how to do a 4-strand round braid. Braiding deer lace can be a challenge because of how stretchy it is so I used suede lace which is a little more stiff. Then I had to design a clasping mechanism that I could carve out of deer antler that wouldn't be too bulky. I had a vision in my head of a hook and loop kind of clasp with the hook having wings at the end to lock it in place. That proved to be tough to carve out and I lost a bit of skin in the process. Lastly, I needed to figure out a decent way to secure the deer antler beads and turkey spurs in place. I settled on putting a metal brad through each piece and then epoxying the brad in place. I hope it brings Cool Johnny good luck in the woods. It already has a bunch of powerful mojo in it! Darren

I finished this side quiver last night. It will be an auction item at the upcoming induction ceremony at The Archery Hall of Fame & Museum in Springfield, MO. Hopefully, it will make a little money for the organization. I made it so that it can be worn around the neck by the straps or on a belt with the belt loop holder. Specs: The fawn colored leather is elk hide and the red, white, and blue leather is deer hide. The black leather on the thunderbird and ravens is bison and the rest of the black leather is deer hide. The hanger ring was carved from moose antler and the hanger buttons were carved from deer antler. I sewed everything up by hand using approximately 10 miles of artificial sinew. Darren

I finished this back quiver and matching arm guard a couple of days ago. They will be donated to the live auction taking place at the United Bowhunters of Missouri Festival the weekend of February 9th-11th in Springfield, MO. Hopefully, they will make the club a little money. The body of the quiver and the arm guard facing are made from water buffalo hide. The black leather that the arrowheads are made from is stingray hide and the shiny yellow bands are ostrich leg skin. The straps and trim are made from deer hide and I carved the buttons and lace hooks from deer antler. I sewed everything up by hand using approximately 4 miles of artificial sinew. My fingers need a rest now! Darren

I finished these arm guards yesterday and will be donating them as raffle items at the United Bowhunters of Missouri Rendezvous coming up in a couple of weeks. Both of them have a vegetable tanned cowhide backing and the facing is made from the hide of a large freshwater fish in the Amazon River basin known as a pirarucu. The arrowheads are made from ostrich leg skin and the trim is deer hide. I carved the lace hooks from deer antler and sewed the tan one up by hand using artificial sinew. I sewed the blue/gray one up with artificial sinew and B-50 bowstring material. Hopefully, they will make a little money for the club. Darren

Man, I love to bowfish! One of my near-future hunting trips is to go to the coast and shoot rays. Good luck! Darren

Carp hide is awesome to work with! It has a really interesting texture and is tough as iron. Darren

My friend got his arm guard yesterday and sent me this photo. He was quite pleased and that makes me smile. Darren

Those are lace hooks that I carved out of deer antler and then dyed black. Darren I have made many, many arm guards using this design and have never had a problem. When the guard is wrapped around one's arm, the lace hooks are well away from the bow string's path. Darren

I finished this arm guard yesterday for the feller who got me into bowhunting. He and I are headed to Mexico next month to chase Gould's turkeys with our recurves and I thought he needed to be dressed appropriately. I actually don't remember if he uses an arm guard or not so, if he doesn't, I guess he has a nice leather coaster to set his coffee on. This arm guard has a vegetable-tanned cowhide backing and a facing of leather that comes from a pirarucu, or arapaima. That's a giant fish that is native to the Amazon River basin. The tan trim is deer hide and the black leather is carp hide. I carved the lace hooks from deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

I finished this scabbard today for a good friend of mine. Knife sheaths and scabbards are always a challenge for me because of the leathers and methods I prefer to use. This one was no exception. It has a vegetable tanned cowhide liner with giraffe hide on the outside. The green bling on the front is ostrich leg skin and the trim around the edges is deer hide. I sewed the whole thing up by hand using approximately 10 miles of artificial sinew. What's sad is I will probably have to charge him more for the scabbard than what he paid for the machete! Darren