dhaverstick

I recently finished these arm guards for a couple of customers. Both have a vegetable-tanned cowhide backing. The facing on the brown one is hippo hide and the facing on the other one is elephant ear leather. The arrowhead is diamondback rattlesnake skin and I burned the bear onto a piece of elk hide. The trim on both is New Zealand red deer. I carved the lace hooks out of some antlers I took off a buck I killed with my longbow. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew, B-50, and B-55. The last two materials I use to make bow strings out of too. Darren

I finished these two arm guards last weekend. It was just pure coincidence that both customers wanted a dark brown facing with a petroglyph on it. The one with the man dragging a deer has a facing made of hippo hide. The other one is caiman. Both have elk hide trim and I burned the petroglyphs onto a piece of elk hide with a woodburning tool. I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler and sewed everything up by hand with artificial sinew. Darren

Thanks, all! Noobleather, it takes me longer to carve the lace hooks than anything else. Not counting that, I'd say I have 5 hours in it. Darren

Wow!

Here's an arm guard I finished over the weekend. It will be a raffle item at an archery event next weekend. The backing is vegetable tanned cowhide. The maroon facing is shrunken bullhide and the tan facing is cape buffalo. The olive trim is New Zealand red deer. I carved the lace hooks from deer antler and sewed the whole thing up by hand using artificial sinew. Hopefully, it will make the archery club a little money. Darren

I finished this shooting bag for a good friend, and fellow blackpowder hunter, just in time for turkey season. He is a taxidermist and had done a lot of work for me without charge. After I badgered him a while he finally said he would take a shooting bag as payment. He wanted it specifically for turkey hunting so that's what he got. The stalls hold pre-measured powder and shot and the other pockets are for a pot call and strikers. The body of the bag is bison hide. The turkey fan is made from tanned carp skin and the turkey feet are ostrich leg skin. The morel mushrooms are made from rattlesnake skin and all the trim is New Zealand red deer hide. I carved the buttons and clasp from deer antler and everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. Hopefully, I will get a picture of this bag laying next to a big gobbler this spring! Darren

Thanks, all! Sheilajeanne, those two bumps are where I put a small piece of leather over the spots where the trim edges meet. I hate leaving a raw edge showing! Darren

Well, after many long hours and sore fingers, I finally finished my donation to the United Bowhunters of Missouri Festival live auction. This year's offering is a back quiver and matching arm guard. The maroon leather is bull hide and the golden leather is cape buffalo. The light trim and bling are deer hide. I burned the shapes onto the leather with a wood burning tool. I carved the lace hooks and buttons from deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew. Hopefully, these items will make the club a little money. Darren

Thanks, everyone! Kulafarmer, I killed that moose about 70 miles north of Edmonton, AB. The guide and I skinned it out in the bush and took it to a tannery in Edmonton which, oddly enough, sent it to someplace in Ontario to actually tan it. From the time I turned the hide in to the time I received my leather took about a year. What amazed me about the whole deal was the price; only $7 a square foot! The hide those rifles are laying on is the finished product and I think I ended up with a little over 30 square feet of 5 ounce leather. What I do to outline the colored pieces is glue down 1/8" leather lace around the perimeter and then sew it down with a single thread of artificial sinew using an "X" stitch. Darren

My good friend, John Pruitt, made a couple traditional muzzleloader rifles for my dad and me and asked me to make him a shooting bag as payment. I finally finished it yesterday. What is really special about this piece is that the body of the bag is made from the hide off the moose I killed with my longbow in 2015. The light brown dotted leather is ostrich hide and the colored leather is ostrich leg skin. The trim and fringe are deer hide and I carved the buttons out of the antlers off a buck I killed with my longbow. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. The bag has one external pocket and two internal pockets. I hope he likes it! Darren

Over the weekend, I finished this guitar strap for my brother. I love working with exotic leather and this project has several critters represented. The orange looking leather on the face is water buffalo and the dark brown is tanned carp hide. The white lettering is emu hide. The trim and back is done with deer hide and I carved the buttons out of the antlers off a little 6-point buck I killed with my longbow last year. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

Sure looks good to me! Darren

Friday night I finished this banjo strap for my baby brother, Dale. I told him I would make him a leather doodad of his choosing for his 50th birthday. It took him a couple of years but he finally decided on a strap for his banjo and one for his guitar. This strap is made from bison hide and is covered in ostrich leg skin that I painted. The trim is deer hide and I carved all the buttons out of the antlers off a little 6-point buck I killed with my longbow last November. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. I can hardly wait to get a picture of him with his banjo and new strap.Darren

Finished up this arm guard last night. It will be a can raffle item at the upcoming United Bowhunters of Missouri Rendezvous. I was going for a tarnished metal look. The back of the arm guard is vegetable-tanned cowhide. The facing is ostrich leg skin that I painted copper and then buffed with a teal glaze to make it look oxidized. The trim is New Zealand red deer that has kind of a tarnished bronzed color. I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler and sewed the whole thing up by hand using artificial sinew. Hopefully, it will make the club a little money. Darren

Thanks all! Joel, I have some arrows to build for my caribou hunt this summer and then I am starting on another shooting bag. I will try to remember to document the process so I can share it with you. Darren

I just finished this bag for a feller who contacted me on Facebook. He is from Texas and wanted a big ole Texas star on it. I think he'll be pleased. The body of the bag is bison leather and the trim and fringe are deer. The black bumpy looking leather is caiman and the stars are out of ostrich leg skin. I found some bleached legs skins I was able to dye myself to get a good match to the trim. I carved the fasteners out of deer antler and sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew. There is one pocket on the front of the bag and two pockets on the inside besides the main pouch. Darren

Next weekend is the United Bowhunters of Missouri Festival and we have a big live auction on Saturday night with all kinds of goodies up for grabs. For my donation this year, I had this box call made by Charlie Miller and this pot call (ceramic over slate) and strkers made by Vince Crawford. I made the leather holsters to carry them around in. The holsters have a vegetable-tanned cowhide frame covered in ostrich skin. The trim is deer and I sewed everything up by hand with artificial sinew. Hopefully, they will make the club a little money. Darren

Here's something to make you forget about winter for a little while and think about killing a spring gobbler. A friend of mine made me a nice ceramic-over-slate pot call and two strikers and I made this holster for it. The set will be an item in the live auction at the upcoming United Bowhunters of Missouri Festival. The holster frame is made from vegetable tanned cowhide and is covered in ostrich skin. The trim is deer and I sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew. Hopefully, it will make the club a little money. Darren

Yes, I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler I've got laying around. I have mixed feelings about using elephant hide too. However, these were remnants that had the CITES bracelet on the stuff so I figured they were on the up and up. Darren

I made these two arm guards for a couple in Florida. They don't bowhunt but they compete in SCA archery tournaments. The Society for Creative Anachronisms is a group of folks who role play living during the Renaissance Era. I met the husband, Eric, several years ago when he was on a traditional archery forum looking for a bow string. I told him I'd make him one and we struck up a friendship. For Christmas this year, he and his wife, Kelly, decided to give each other one of my arm guards. I told them that all they needed to do was pay for the leather. Both arm guards are made from elephant hide and are trimmed in deer. The lace hooks were carved from deer antler and everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. Darren

Here you go, CaptQuirk; 4 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies fresh out of the oven! Darren

Earlier this year, my good friend, bowyer and gunsmith, John Pruitt, made my dad a nice bamboo-backed osage bow and some flint tipped arrows. As a thank-you, my dad made John a thin blade hunting/fillet knife similar to the one in the photo. John was hinting around a few weeks ago that he now needed a sheath for that knife so I crafted this one up for him. Unfortunately, John also expects cookies each time I send him something so I still have those to make. I gotta quit spoiling that old man! This is a cross draw sheath that has a vegetable-tanned cowhide core. I covered that with ostrich hide (light brown) and tanned carp hide (reddish brown) and trimmed the whole thing in gray New Zealand red deer hide. I carved the strap button out of a piece of deer antler and sewed the whole thing by hand with artificial sinew. I'll get the cookies baked this evening and get John's package in the mail tomorrow. Darren

I just finished this Lakota style quiver for my good friend, John Pruitt, in Spring City, Tennessee. He's been hinting around at wanting one for a while now and I finally had the time to make one for him. Besides that, John just finished up my new flintlock turkey gun with the Colerain jug choked barrel and he thought the quiver and 4 dozen homemade cookies were suitable payment for his time and services. Both items should pass each other in the mail this week. The body of this quiver is made from elk leather and the yellow trim is deer. The arrowheads are made from cane toad skin and the brown band of leather at the mouth is tanned carp hide. I burned the petroglyphs onto pieces of deer hide and then sewed them on. That idea was inspired by the shirts Mike Yancey is now selling at his Pine Hollow Longbows website. The strap is made from New Zealand red deer hide and I carved the buttons from deer antler. Everything was sewn by hand using artificial sinew. I should get my new shootin' iron Friday and I plan to have it broken in on a squirrel or turkey some time Saturday. Darren

That's a good looking quiver and I love the bamboo backed bow!