Quiver Project

[Manveruon]

As some of you may know, I've been talking about making myself a new quiver for quite some time now. The quiver I've been using heretofore was made for me by the local SCA baron (at the time), several years ago, and was always meant to be a sort of placeholder until I could make my own. It has served me well, but it's extremely basic, and I've been wanting to switch over to a back quiver anyway (the old one is a hip-quiver that I hang on a shoulder strap/baldric/thing, and it really gets in the way when I try to move around). So after talking about it for ages, I've finally started constructing my quiver!

I wanted to use Strider's quiver from the Lord of the Rings movies as inspiration, but I never really meant to make an exact copy. Still, my version is definitely going to be reminiscent of that design. I now have all the pieces cut out, so all I need to do is stain and assemble them (the latter of which will doubtlessly be the hardest part). This is by far the biggest leatherworking project I've ever done, and I'm pretty proud of how it's coming so far!

Normally I'm really bad at taking pictures as I work on a project, but I actually remembered to do so this time, so as to show you find folks how the project is going!

Here are all the pieces laid out on my floor as it should theoretically fit together when finished. Note that none of it is actually put together yet, just laid that way so as to get an idea of what it will all look like. These two are basically the same, just different lighting:

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2290.jpg

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2292.jpg

When I looked at this though, I thought the end-caps seemed way too bulky, so I cut them down a bit, which can be seen in the following pic. I also shaped the top end-cap a little more, to mirror the curve of the opening:

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2297.jpg

Overall I'm very happy with the general shape, although I think I may tweak it just a bit more as I put it all together. I know I already want to cut the bottom end-cap down just a little more.

Anyway, here are a couple shots of the actual bottom piece of the quiver. It's made up of two very heavy (armor grade) flat discs of leather, and then a slightly thinner molded piece, which will theoretically be both glued and stitched into the tube itself. It was definitely the hardest part for me to conceive, and I hope like heck that it works the way I want it to. It does at least fit into the rest of the quiver nice and snugly, when I fit all the pieces together, which is good. I just know it's going to be a pain to sew it into the bottom of the tube once the rest of it is sewn up. Anyway, here's that piece:

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2298.jpg

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2299.jpg

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... image1.jpg

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... image2.jpg


So that's everything so far! I'd love to hear what everyone thinks!

[kaelln]

Manveruon, that looks like a really good start! I like the one where the bottom curve follows the top curve.

[Mirimaran]

Looks good from here! Good luck with the sewing, but I think it's the reason for the center seams on the movie version, that everything is sewn at once. I know that on mine I ended up sewing blind, as I was feeding the needle through and feeling inside the quiver to get the bottom stitched up! Do no recommend lol can't wait to see the finished product, and love those arrows!

Ken

[Ranger of Halt]

Looking good, I like it.

[Willrett]

Looks great

[Jonathan B.]

Looks good.

[Alderic]

Looking good.

[Aaron]

Fantastic work, looks like it will serve you well (you know, once it's stitched up and all ).

[Manveruon]

Thanks guys! I've been considering just exactly how to the whole thing up, and I think I just realized that I designed the bottom all wrong. I should have molded it the other way, so that instead of being a sort of "cup" shape with a lip that curves upwards and is sewn into the body of the quiver from the inside, it would be sort of an inverted cup shape, with a very small lip that curves downwards and is sewn to the body from the outside. It would make all the difference in the world, and would mean that I could attach the bottom last of all, once everything else was already sewn up. Bah! Why didn't I think of that before? Anyway, I'm off to re-mold the bottom!

[Peter Remling]

I've done at least 4 quivers with the inverted cup design, however I didn't mold the leather. I took two circular pieces of lighter weight leather, suede will work also. I sandwiched a piece of heavy weight between them with the outer (dofter leather pieces) apprxly 1/2" larges. Stitch the overzied pieces to you quiver walls.

The result is easier to stitch and quieter as the sandwiched bottom absorbs a lot of the sound. To reduce the noise even more, you might want to line the inside of the quiver with fleece.

Your design looks great.

[Manveruon]

Interesting thought. I may try cutting a piece of felt or somesuch to put in the bottom, so as to muffle it. Or I might even have a little piece of sheepskin lying around somewhere.

[Gondian]

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

[Ernildir]

Impressive design. What purpose do the enwrapping strips of leather serve, besides looking awesome? Is it convenient to hang things from them?

[Manveruon]

To be honest, at this point they don't serve much purpose besides decoration. I liked the look of them on Strider's quiver in the LotR movies, so I tried to emulate it - although I suspect the straps on the movie quiver are arranged somewhat differently than mine. Still, I think this is a reasonable facsimile. That being said, I know that in the film at least the topmost of those straps served to help secure Strider's bow by means of a buckle. This can be seen briefly a couple times during the first two films.

As for my own quiver, I didn't design it to carry a bow the way Strider's movie quiver did, but I had a thought that the straps might be useful for securing a bedroll to the quiver itself. First though I'm going to try the quiver on, sans bedroll, and see how it lays. If I feel like the bedroll won't make it lay too wonky once it's attached, I'll give it a try. Otherwise, I had thought of using them to hang smaller pouches, or even to attach an additional body strap in case I decide to convert the quiver from a 2-point to a 3-point suspension. So, while I didn't necessarily add the straps to the quiver with one specific purpose in mind, I'm hoping they'll prove useful in one way or another.

[Ernildir]

So I understand you've decided to try an inverted cup for the bottom, but for the quiver I'm working on, I'm thinking I might like to try something more similar to your original design. How did you construct the original bottom piece?