dhaverstick

My sole consists of a layer of bison for the outer sole, a 1/4" thick piece of neoprene foam glued to that, and then another piece of bison glued on top of the foam. That gives your foot some cushion but you can still feel everything under your feet. Darren

I finished these moccasins today for my good friend, Brian Peterson. They are way too plain for my tastes but that's what he wanted so that's what I made him. I just hope they fit him well. I made them out of 8 ounce bison leather and used New Zealand red deer for the trim. Darren

Well, one positive thing coming out of this quarantine business is that I have been able to catch up on my leather work. I finished this purse for a friend of mine last night. She is one of those people in your life that was pivotal in shaping who you are and her life philosophy was the inspiration for the purse design. Kim always signs her correspondence with the peace and love symbols and when I think of her I think of them. The body of this purse was made from elk hide and the trim and lacing are deer hide. The light brown bling on the front and back is shark skin. The heart is made from ostrich leg skin and the peace sign is made from ostrich hide and ostrich leg skin. I sewed rare earth magnets under the trim at the opening to act as a clasping mechanism. The buttons were carved from deer antler and I carved the D rings from moose antler. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

I finished this side quiver yesterday and will donate it as an auction item for the Professional Bowhunters Society Gathering in Springfield, MO next month. Hopefully, it will make the club a dollar or two. The gray body of this quiver is giraffe hide. The black trim and turquoise backing is deer hide. The white/gray arrowhead and trim at the mouth is caiman. The "bling" around the arrowhead is ostrich leg skin. I carved the hanging ring from a piece of moose antler and the buttons were carved from deer antler. I sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew. There are probably a couple of rust colored specks on it somewhere. That is my blood from poking myself in the finger with a needle. I designed the quiver to be worn either around your neck and shoulder or from a belt around your waist. Darren

Thanks, everyone! Darren

I finished this side quiver today. I donated it to the United Bowhunters of Missouri and it will be auctioned off at their Festival on February 8th. Springfield Leather Company has a bunch of giraffe leather in and I just had to get some! The body of this quiver is giraffe. The brown trim near the mouth and the arrowhead are made from caiman hide. The other bling is ostrich leg skin. The yellow trim is deer hide and I carved the buttons out of deer antler. I carved the hanging ring out of moose antler. I used artificial sinew to sew everything up and it was all done by hand so it took me a while. I configured this quiver to be worn either around your neck or from your belt. Hopefully, it will make the club a little money. Darren

Here is John in all his glory. I don't think anyone cooks in his family so I sent him a pan of brownies and a do-it-yourself birthday party kit along with the leather work. He received his box of goodies Wednesday and was very pleased with the contents. I told him to send me a photo of him celebrating and this is what I got. It sure made my day! Darren

I finished this arm guard last night for my good friend, John Pruitt, who will turn 79 next Sunday. Mr. Pruitt is an accomplished bowyer and gunsmith and I have whole room full of his bows and flintlocks to attest to his skills. He's also as windy as a sack full of politicians which brings me to the story behind this arm guard. John never lets an opportunity go by to tell me some tale. Over the years I have known him, most of these tales I have heard many times. This one is no exception. John claims that anyone can hit a big target like a deer or moose but it takes exceptional skill to hit something really small like the time he killed 811 field mice with his bow in one year. Mr. Pruitt swears that all these kills were confirmed by his friends who, conveniently, are all dead now so I will just have to take his word for it. When I first heard this story, some 15 years ago or so, I think the number was quite a bit less than 811. But that is the number he is going with now so I have recorded it on the back of his arm guard for posterity's sake. John also has a sweet tooth so I will have to send him some homemade cookies or brownies to go with the arm guard. Otherwise, he will be calling me up and whining that he was slighted on his special day. That man is like a Walker hound - you make the mistake of feeding him once and now you have to feed him for life! Arm guard specs: The backing is made from vegetable tanned cowhide and the facing is hippo hide. The yellow trim is moose hide that, ironically, came from the one I killed with my longbow in 2015. The mouse was laser etched onto a piece of deer hide by my friend, Chad Thomas, at Springfield Leather Company. I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

If I can I will take it to a tannery and have it made into leather. That's what I did with the one I killed in Alberta. Ended up with 30+ square feet of premium moose hide! Darren

Rossr, there is just the belt loop. It's made for a 3" wide belt and the loop is 3 1/8" x 2 3/4". The rig is stable when attached to a belt. Darren

I finished this knife sheath today for my good friend, Joe Hollingshad, to match the shooting bag I made for him this past spring. When I gave him the bag he gave me his knife and asked me to make a sheath for it as well. That was in April and I finally got it done! I like making a cross draw sheath for long knives and this one will fit a 3" belt. The core of the sheath is vegetable tanned cowhide. The tan leather is elk hide and the reddish-brown leather is caiman. The brown trim is deer hide. I carved the strap fastener out of deer antler and sewed everything up by hand with artificial sinew. I'm just glad to get Joe's knife back to him before hunting season started! Darren

My hunting buddy, Bret Shaw, and I are going moose hunting in British Columbia the first week of October and I decided to make us some arm guards to commemorate the occasion. Bret and I have been friends ever since we went on our first archery elk hunt way back in 2005. No elk were harmed but I came home with a good friend so I'd say the trip was a success. The backing of these arm guards is vegetable tanned cowhide and the gray facing is giraffe hide. The black trim is deer hide and I carved the lace hooks from deer antler. I had the moose images laser etched onto some deer hide at the Springfield Leather Company. I then sewed everything up by hand using B-50 bowstring material and artificial sinew. I sure hope they bring us good luck! Darren

I finished these arm guards yesterday for a couple of friends. Now I get to make something for myself! Both have a backing of vegetable tanned cowhide. The one on the left has a facing made from elephant ear leather and deer hide trim. The one on the right has a shark skin facing with elk hide trim. Both arrowheads are made from ostrich leg skin. I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using B-50 bowstring material and artificial sinew. I sewed in a little extra mojo into each of them to bring these guys success this fall. No charge for the mojo option! Darren

I finished these arm guards yesterday for a couple of friends. Now I get to make something for myself! Both have a backing of vegetable tanned cowhide. The one on the left has a facing made from elephant ear leather and deer hide trim. The one on the right has a shark skin facing with elk hide trim. Both arrowheads are made from ostrich leg skin. I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using B-50 bowstring material and artificial sinew. I sewed in a little extra mojo into each of them to bring these guys success this fall. No charge for the mojo option! Darren

Over the weekend I finished this pistol bag for a friend of mine. He had approached me last February about making him something to carry his hogleg in while hunting. He gave me some deer hide he had tanned which I was able to use some of as the fringe. The body of this bag is made from 2 ounce vegetable tanned cowhide to give the bag some strength and rigidity. I then covered it with 4 ounce elk hide to pretty it up some. The dark brown trim and lace is deer hide. I carved the buttons out of deer antler and sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew. I sure hope he likes it! Darren

Sorry for the very late response. I haven't been on this site in a while. To say that Joe was blown away when I gave him his bag would be an understatement. He's a man that is not much for displaying emotion but this time he actually got a little teary eyed. He has told me several times since I gave it to him in April that I have no idea what that bag means to him. So, yes, I certainly got that warm, fuzzy feeling of doing a good thing. Darren

A couple of years ago, I became acquainted with Joe Hollingshad who owns Devil's Backbone Outfitters near Dora, MO. I met him through a mutual friend, Bill Cooper, and was originally invited to his place to kill a deer with my longbow while Bill filmed it. Well the deer didn't cooperate but Joe and I hit it off first thing. He's an avid black powder shooter and likes to play dress up like me so we had a lot in common. His big claim to fame, though, is turkey hunting. Joe has guided turkey hunters for decades and used to work for some of the big names in the business. Joe called me a couple of months ago and invited me to hunt turkeys with him on his place with Sweet Rachael, my 20 gauge flintlock turkey gun. Bill will be there to film again and, hopefully, things will turn out better this time. To show my appreciation for his hospitality, I made Joe this shooting bag. It has a springtime theme to it to get a feller in the mood for the season. I will give it to him next Sunday. I can hardly wait to see the look on his face! The body of the bag is elk hide and the trim is bison. I found some pencil drawings I liked and had them laser etched onto some leather at Springfield Leather Company. I was going for the oldtime box camera photo look with the etchings so I framed them in caiman hide which looks like a wooden frame to me. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. I was quite pleased with the end result. The bag is symmetrical with a large compartment and flap on both sides and a patch pocket on the inside of each compartment. This is the front flap. Under the front flap Inside the front compartment - I personalized it with Joe's initials. Back flap - Joe used to guide turkey hunters in the Devil's Backbone Wilderness Area using mules so I used this image to pay tribute to that. Under the back flap Inside the back compartment - had to put my maker's mark somewhere! The D rings are carved from moose antler and the hooks and buttons are carved from deer antler. Darren

As an engineer by trade and a geek by inclination, I find this whole thing fascinating! And the end result is beautiful. Thanks for sharing! Darren

Thanks, all! Gary, yes I have used horn before and if you use green horn it is tough as shoe leather. I seal all the pieces with polyurethane to keep out moisture and they are impervious to pretty much anything else. Darren

I finished this shooting bag last night for a friend of mine. He was adamant about me making the bag as plain as possible but I snuck in a little carp hide bling on the front and back flaps to cover up some stitching. He was quite pleased with the end product. Now he has to wait 9 long months to get the black powder fowler he ordered to go with the bag. The body and straps of the bag are made from bison hide and the saddle colored trim is elk hide. It has a small gusset pocket on the front, a small patch pocket on the inside of the main compartment, and a large gusset pocket on the back. I carved the D rings and hooks from moose antler and the buttons from deer antler. I then sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

Thanks, all! The bag went to a good home Saturday night. I saw the guy who bought it the next morning and his girlfriend said he fell asleep with the bag on his chest like he wanted to be buried with it. I thought that was pretty funny! Darren

This is a shooting bag/purse I finished last night. I'm donating it to the United Bowhunters of Missouri Festival live auction held this coming Saturday, February 9th. The body of the bag is elk hide and the trim is deer hide. The dark brown bling is elephant ear and the scaly stuff is ostrich leg skin. I carved the D rings and hooks from moose antler and the buttons from deer antler. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. The bag has a large main compartment and a patch pocket on the inside. It has a gusset pocket on the front and a patch pocket on the back.The strap is adjustable. Hopefully, it will make the club a little money. Darren Front of bag Back of bag Inside main compartment Front outer pocket Back outer pocket Side of bag Strap closeup

Thank you all for the kind words! I talked to the auctioneer yesterday and he said he's already thinking of a starting number for this quiver and it isn't going to be cheap. We'll see. Ted Nugent and his wife are supposed to be at this shindig. Maybe he'll open his wallet a little and take this quiver home. Darren

No, it's any form of archery. Most of the present inductees are target shooters from the heyday of the 50's and 60's. There are also some well-known bowhunters and archery manufacturers like Fred Bear, Glen St. Charles, Gail Martin, and Bob Lee. Darren