Friday 8 April 2011

Leatherwork

I bought some leather to make a new quiver which I've made a start on. There are some useful leatherworking video clips on Youtube which showed the use of an awl.
Previously I'd punched holes, but this would take forever on all the stitching on a quiver. I couldn't find an awl so I improvised by grinding a point onto a cheap Electricians screwdriver (43p from Wilkinsons,I bought 3 of 'em as I'm always misslaying them at work). It works a treat, the steel is neither too hard nor too soft so it takes a nice point without snapping or bending.
The handle is too skinny and it hurts the palm of my hand after a while so I've turned a wooden handle from a scrap of Ash, using my pillar drill as a lathe. I used my old quiver as a guide to cut out a paper pattern and I've stitched it using alternate holes and single stitching just to tack it together so I could see how it looked and make holes through both sides together for the internal partitions.
There will be 3 sections to hold arrows numbered as ones, twos or threes for field shooting (arrow are named and numbered for identification purposes). There will be useful pockets for tab, glove, my tool for digging arrows out of trees etc. I'm using a sheet of 1/4" MDF as a cutting board.
I've just added the 'reactions' boxes along the bottom of the posts so I can see if I'm hitting the spot.

1 comment:

  1. Your tools for leather work are quite interesting and these tools help to make a beautiful pattern.

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