New Projects in the Works

Hard Kit is all other accoutrements that are not clothing, weapons or armour. This includes pots and tents, and flint & steel, and other things like that.

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Elleth
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Elleth »

...oh my.

That is going to be absolutely exquisite!
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Manveruon
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Manveruon »

Yet more progress shots!

This little end-cap was perhaps one of the most difficult things I have ever constructed. Of course I couldn’t just do a plain, flat end-cap, which would have been difficult enough - no, I also had to make it CURVED. Oof. But I think it turned out pretty good, overall! The stitching on the inside of the bottom lip is definite rough, and I may try to even that out later, but for right now, it functions, and it’s nice and sturdy! And from the outside, I think it looks really slick!
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And here you can see the whole thing laid out together. None of it is actually constructed yet except for the end cap and the binding at top and bottom, but this should give a pretty good sense of what it will look like when it’s finished! I’ll probably be working on the straps next. (Just ignore the awful, messy workbench!)
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Taylor Steiner
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Taylor Steiner »

Wow!
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Iodo
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Iodo »

That is absolutely amazing :P
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Shadrack »

spectacular!
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Manveruon »

WELLLLL. This... is not going well, unfortunately.

I was getting SO CLOSE to the end of this project, and I was pretty excited, although a little apprehensive about a few details - but then I managed to completely screw up several steps that are, unfortunately... well, they’re completely irreparable.

So.

I don’t know.

I can finish it, technically. It will be functional... technically. But it won’t be what I wanted, and I don’t really know what to do about that. Maybe I’ll try to sell this one and start from the drawing board for myself, but just... UGH, I spent SO MUCH time and effort on this. Like... waaaaaaay more time and effort than I could reasonably charge for, particularly when then final result has such notable flaws.

I’m honestly feeling pretty defeated right now. I’ll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning I guess. And I can post some pictures here in a bit to illustrate the problems I’ve had.

Ugh.
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Elleth
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Elleth »

Oh no! That's heartbreaking! :shock:

There have absolutely been those crafting moments when I wished the physical world had an "undo" button... and more than a few almost-done projects that went into the garbage bin or onto a shelf to try and fix "someday." It's part of the game. :(

I am curious to see what happened... something with the strap slits?
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by theowl »

I've definitely been there. That sucks man, but with lessons learned with this one imagine how cool the next one will be.
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Manveruon »

Elleth wrote: Tue May 04, 2021 9:34 am Oh no! That's heartbreaking! :shock:

There have absolutely been those crafting moments when I wished the physical world had an "undo" button... and more than a few almost-done projects that went into the garbage bin or onto a shelf to try and fix "someday." It's part of the game. :(

I am curious to see what happened... something with the strap slits?
Yeah, you’re actually right on the money. I royally screwed up the strap slits. I don’t quite know how, but I clearly mis-measured them, and they ended up COMPLETELY crooked.
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I now realize that the strap holes should have been laid out in a totally different pattern too, because this weakens the overall integrity of the quiver itself a bit too much for my liking - especially because I ended up making it from a slightly lighter weight leather than I originally intended. And I also don’t really have any room for the buckles I was going to use to secure the straps for the bow, so I don’t really know what to do there.

And then the other thing is, I completely mangled the buckle plate when I tried to attach it to the strap with the little brass tacks it came with. I managed to totally dent and bend the plate itself, while not even fully peening the tacks through their corresponding holes, and somehow during the process the whole thing shifted to the left, while digging into and damaging the strap itself.

So. Yeah.
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Anyway. I’m just... ugh. Beyond frustrated. To tell the truth, I hate making quivers. Like... REALLY REALLY hate making quivers. And every time I do a new one I get a little better at it, but I still don’t like it. This time around I tried some really unique new techniques, and I learned a lot from them, but GOOD FRIGGING GRIEF they took a lot of time and effort, and I’m honestly just not sure I want to bother with that again after this. But... I don’t know. We’ll see.

I’m doing a photo shoot with all my new kit items next Monday, and I’ll probably get this damn thing functional at least by then so I can wear it with the rest of my new gear, but then I may start from the drawing board. Or I may not. We’ll see. :/
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Manveruon »

Also, all of those photos are turned sideways for some reason, and I have no idea why, but at the moment I don’t have the energy to try and fix it. :/
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Elleth
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Elleth »

The mark of a great craftsman isn't that he makes no mistakes: it's that he's learned how to *cover* his mistakes so well you never notice them. :mrgreen:

I think that's very recoverable.

Did you cut the slits while the leather was flat, then sewed it up? If so, the misalignment is very likely caused by the leather stretching as you were doing the back seam. If so, you might be able to take off the foot, unsnip the bottom 8" or so of backseam, and with a bit of judicious stretching/pulling get things back into alignment. The stitching on the back might be a bit uneven, but I think you could cover that fairly well.

Otherwise, from least bother to most perfect -

1. cut the slits wider so they line up, then use a wider strap or set in a strap sleeve. Very easy, but it might look a bit off balance.

2. cut some slits wider so they line up, then inset patches to fill the gaps. It will look rustic sure.. but it will absolutely look real, and it's the kind of thing historical craftsmen did all the time. If I just wanted to be *done*, that's what I'd do. Heck, you could stich a "washer plate" with new, evenly aligned slits over that section, and it would absolutely look like it was just a bit of re-enforcement you'd always meant to be there. The cost is just the weight of a few square inches of scrap leather, and any unevenness would only be visible from the inside.

3. Biggest investment: cut off the throat, top patch, and foot and make a new body. It looks like most of the work is in all those decorative elements. The center portion is a pain - and not cheap I'm sure - but compared to the rest of your work is probably the easiest to swap out. If I was insistent that it just *had* to be right, darn it, that's what I'd do.

I totally understand the grief.. but in a year or two the pain will be all done with and you'll have something awesome. I think everything of mine that's halfway decent I've made *at least* twice, and most of it still has imperfections in design to be fixed "next time... eventually."

Finally - remember the "real" rangers were likely viewing all this stuff as more or less disposable. It was gonna get rain spattered and sun-baked and sword-slashed and rock-crushed anyway: a slightly uneven slit wouldn't have been worth fussing over.
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Elleth
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Elleth »

Looking at your pictures again... I'm really thinking what happened was you had maybe a softer spot or twist in your leather, and as you worked your way stitching down from the top you slowly put in a stretch on one side. Something like this:
quiver-craft.jpg
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edit: also note how the two pairs of slits on the back side aren't exactly parallel, but are a little kilter to each other: that's a strong sign there's a twist in the quiver body, and the seam holes are offset by a stitch or two.

I'm betting the best way forward is going to be to take off the foot, take off the strap, open up the foot seam at least as far back as that strap attachment point (making a nice place to hide the seam transition as well :mrgreen: )

... then work your way back down the foot of the quiver, pulling things into position. Worst case you *might* have to open the quiver back up farther back, but the same general idea.

Another trick I've done with quivers is to take scrap bits of thread and loosely do "tacking stitches" at points along the quiver body prior to sewing the whole thing up. That keeps a little mistake from compounding over the length of the stitch.

Same idea as on this pouch, tacking the leather backing to the cloth body to keep everything lined up:
Image
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Iodo
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Iodo »

Amazing work Manveruon :P

I agree fully with Elleth, you put you're self down too much, If I could make something as beautiful as that I would be mighty proud of myself :mrgreen:
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Manveruon »

Elleth wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 12:50 pm Looking at your pictures again... I'm really thinking what happened was you had maybe a softer spot or twist in your leather, and as you worked your way stitching down from the top you slowly put in a stretch on one side. Something like this:

quiver-craft.jpg
edit: also note how the two pairs of slits on the back side aren't exactly parallel, but are a little kilter to each other: that's a strong sign there's a twist in the quiver body, and the seam holes are offset by a stitch or two.

I'm betting the best way forward is going to be to take off the foot, take off the strap, open up the foot seam at least as far back as that strap attachment point (making a nice place to hide the seam transition as well :mrgreen: )

... then work your way back down the foot of the quiver, pulling things into position. Worst case you *might* have to open the quiver back up farther back, but the same general idea.

Another trick I've done with quivers is to take scrap bits of thread and loosely do "tacking stitches" at points along the quiver body prior to sewing the whole thing up. That keeps a little mistake from compounding over the length of the stitch.

Same idea as on this pouch, tacking the leather backing to the cloth body to keep everything lined up:
Image
Thank you, Elleth, I really appreciate the time and effort you spent here analyzing this! And I definitely see what you’re talking about - however, I happen to know that the issue with the strap holes was literally just a case of my mis-measuring and then punching them somewhat carelessly. I know this for three main reasons: first, because all the stitching holes were punched with a 6-prong stitching fork, and I counted every single hole both before and during stitching to make sure they matched up with each other exactly. Secondly, because I actually stitched it from the bottom up rather than from the top down. And thirdly, because I punched the holes for the straps when I had already been working for several hours straight, and I was admittedly really fatigued. I knew the moment I punched them that I had gotten them a tiny bit crooked, but I told myself they were close enough, and proceeded to go ahead and stitch it all up, at which time I noticed how badly misaligned they were (incidentally, I did actually do that “tacking” trick you’re talking about, and it helped a lot! Unfortunately it couldn’t fix what I had already done with the hole punch :/ ).

Interestingly though, you are absolutely correct about the weak point in the leather, and I now very much wish I hadn’t punched those holes at all, because that section is EXTREMELY frail now.

In any case, the quiver is totally finished now, bow-suspension straps and all. It looks... well, it actually looks pretty great overall. The unevenness of the strap holes in the front part of the quiver at the bottom is barely even noticeable, and the offset of them in the rear doesn’t really cause any problems. However, because of the leather I used and the design of those strap holes, the whole thing just has a tendency to, like... crumple. I’ll attach some pics when I get home later if I can.

In the end, I think I’m going to just rebuild this from the ground up (I actually already started cutting a new one out. I’m not sure what I’ll do with this version. Technically it’s functional. But I don’t know how it will hold up to a ton of practical use, because of the weak points, so I don’t think it’s a good choice to keep it as my regular ranging quiver as I had originally intended.

Once again though, I really appreciate your thoughts on the subject, and I’m honestly amazed at how well you picked up on some of the more fiddly details of the build, without my even describing them to you! It’s almost like you’ve done this sort of thing once or twice before, haha :lol:
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Re: New Projects in the Works

Post by Greg »

What I would recommend going forward would be to ditch the slits and instead sew on stylized belt loops. Every time we stitch something to the outside, it stiffens things, rather than allowing that crumpling. It's fantastic craftsmanship...I just don't see the functional need to cut slits in the sides. Looking forward to seeing the final product!
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