Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Elleth wrote:[Elleth: Greg is an idiot, and just screwed up your post. Wrong button. Feel free to fill this back in when you have a moment.]

Ha! With great power, comes great chances of messing things up!

So many times I have clicked the Administrator's 'edit' button when I though I had clicked 'Reply'. Luckily I've caught it so far... but I'm glad to see I'm not alone.

Ha!

Let's see.. I think I was saying...

That looks amazing! What are your plans for the cargo straps (if you don't mind may asking)?

Mostly just copying others who I thought knew what they were doing - even if my bow's too long to carry Ursus-style on my quiver.
That said, I've had thoughts of keeping an "always ready" arrow - maybe with a crescent head as a primitive blunt - stuck in the "boot" and use a cargo strap to keep it in place. Then just reach back, lift, and pull down to draw it. It's worth the experiment, I just haven't tried it yet.

ALSO I had my first brief outing with the quiver yesterday.

The (not so very) bad: it slips down a little more than my commercial quiver. Not badly so - I can still reach everything - it's just enough to move the fletching farther back and out than I prefer. I imagine that's because I've a single comparatively narrow strap: my commercial one is a "backpack style" I've been wearing over one shoulder, so both straps worked together to keep everything in place quite well. It's a minor issue to be sure - I may eventually try adding a side strap as Harper mentions, but I think I'll just use it a bit more and see how it shakes out. I fit the buckle while I was wearing my cloak, and took my walk in just shirt sleeves, so that may have made a difference as well.

The (very very) good - I was caught in a rain shower, and for the first time was able to just pull up a sock and protect my fletching. THIS IS AWESOME. As far as I know the "sock in a quiver" model was ahistorical and thought up by WETA, and I'm a little surprised to find it actually works quite well. Hunh.

Last thing: I did note that the snapsack on the shoulder strap - sitting against my left hip and belly more or less - interfered a bit with the bow carry I've come to adopt. Normally I carry the bow mostly crosswise across my body, arrow on string, string against my belly. There's an interesting dynamic tension set up that way just by the weight of the bow and your arms pulling against each other, so it's actually a fairly restful position you can walk in for quite some time. It's also VERY quick to pull up and aim from, and the pressure against your body of the string is an unconscious reminder of where your limb tips are. It doesn't work so well in deep brush, but on the trail it's fantastic.

Anyhow - I find the snapsack on my left forces me to shift things up a bit, so the bow points more fore-and-aft rather than across my body. It's not bad exactly - just a different enough experience to note.

caedmon wrote: Ha! With great power, comes great chances of messing things up!

So many times I have clicked the Administrator's 'edit' button when I though I had clicked 'Reply'. Luckily I've caught it so far... but I'm glad to see I'm not alone.

The "Quote" button and "Edit" button aren't right next to each other...but if you click on the edit button on accident and the post starts out with a quote, the screen is literally identical, and there she goes.

Elleth wrote:The (not so very) bad: it slips down a little more than my commercial quiver. Not badly so - I can still reach everything - it's just enough to move the fletching farther back and out than I prefer. I imagine that's because I've a single comparatively narrow strap: my commercial one is a "backpack style" I've been wearing over one shoulder, so both straps worked together to keep everything in place quite well. It's a minor issue to be sure - I may eventually try adding a side strap as Harper mentions, but I think I'll just use it a bit more and see how it shakes out. I fit the buckle while I was wearing my cloak, and took my walk in just shirt sleeves, so that may have made a difference as well.

Here's the trick with side straps: They'll hold it solidly in place, but they'll also prevent easy access to the free half of your cloak. Useful in a scrap, but not so much for a traveller to easily fend off a wind, cover up while walking in the rain, etc. Before you start significant modifications like that, might I suggest just tightening it down another notch? Also...try wearing it with a cloak. The added bulk may surprise you in how well it holds things in place.

Wow... That looks great. I'll admit that I too have been eyeing Urthgard's quiver ever since I first saw it, and this is a wonderful rendition. It also has alerted me to the fact that I need to get back to assembling my kit sooner or later, or I might just fall behind.

I did promise an update: there is an issue with the "Faramir Style" way of wearing the buckle, where you pass the belt through the frame and back out. It's nice and clean, but the way the pressure works with this method, the tail end of the belt is basically trying to lever the tongue out the back of the frame. Derp - should have anticipated that. On the other hand, comparing it to the Casa Loma pics of Faramir's costume at Alley Cat Scratch, the WETA team ran into the same issue.
(top is my buckle, bottom is one of theirs - presumably after quite a bit of rough treatment on set)

In truth, it's not that bit a deal. I wouldn't want to dangle from a tree limb by it or anything, but for the comparatively light weight of a quiver I don't intend to change anything. I'd prefer a nice tempered steel tongue to prevent the issue entirely, but sadly that wasn't an option with Shapeways- the cast metals bend and the steels crack. I also suspect wearing the buckle in the normal fashion would sidestep the issue, but I've not yet tried that.

Quick update: I've finally actually finished the arrow sock. The top is edged with a bit of braintanned goat done by Udwin (thank you!!) and closes with the same manner of toggle tie that I use on my snapsacks. I also followed Ursus' lead and added a leather spacer inside. Now it keeps my fletching from banging up on itself, and neatly seperates my bodkins from standard points. The roving head is outside the bag in a first to grab position.

Nicely done !

Looks great. How's the toggle closure working for you?

Nicely done, how is the leather spacer held in position inside the arrow sock?

Iodo wrote:Nicely done, how is the leather spacer held in position inside the arrow sock?

Thank you!

The same way as on traditional ones: holes are punched every 3/4" or so around the perimeter of the spacer. I then sewed it into place with fairly thick thread. It's secure enough to stay in place, but can be snipped out in a jiffy.

This gentlemen discusses the historical pattern at about 4:30:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWPpMg6WHbc

Mine is roughly oval to match the size of my quiver - thus smaller in diameter than the arrow sock. I had to gather a fair bit, but that's not yet led to any problems.

Thank you for that, and for the link to the video, its answered most of my questions about the use of an arrow sock, very interesting.

Absolutely wonderful work!

Yes brilliant! Just awesome!

The (very very) good - I was caught in a rain shower, and for the first time was able to just pull up a sock and protect my fletching. THIS IS AWESOME. As far as I know the "sock in a quiver" model was ahistorical and thought up by WETA, and I'm a little surprised to find it actually works quite well. Hunh.

After my last outing, I was was struck again by how unique and *practical* the WETA arrowsocks were. I figured "hunh.... why not just ask them? It's been 20 years sure, but someone might still remember..."

So I sent -

[...the Ithilien] quivers have a drawstring bag inside a leather quiver: is that something your team came up with from scratch, or is there a historical antecedant for it somewhere?

The WETA team was kind enough to forward this reply:

Indeed there was a practical historic precedent that inspired our design. I can't recall the exact source for our design inspiration, but they were not uncommon. A quick google image search of medieval longbow quiver brings up plenty of examples. I hope this is of some help.

So presumably.... plain old medieval arrowbags were the original source? It could still be there's a forgotten pacific inspiration I suppose, but unless and until a true "drawstring sock in a stiff shoe" antecendant shows up in a pre 21st century reference, looks like the answer might have been under our nose the whole time.