27/08/2009 by Paul Carpenter.

As part of the Armour, I made some horn clip piece’s which when sewn onto the Quiver enabled the bow to be attached unstrung and strung. I am not sure if this could be done with other types of bows which have profiles but with my horse bow which is rectangular with flat widths and covered in leather, the horn pieces seemed to work very well keeping hold of the bow when not in use but still allowing quick removal when in use.

I liked the idea so much that I used the same idea on my hip quiver for field archery - only this time I just used one longer horn piece and still holds the bow quite firmly. Below are pictures of the these horn pieces in action on the armour quiver and my hip quiver.

I can upon the idea for these horn pieces after much thought of how to attach the bow on the armour quiver - regardless of the fact that the armour is for a kid who may never actually ride a horse let alone use the bow while riding (despite the enthusiam of such a thing from one of our horse owner friends) I tried to see the attaching of the bow from the perspective of a mongol archer or more importantly from my perspective and how I might like the bow to be stored enabling not only a secure way to keep the bow while not in use but also when it may be called into use.

Leather straps were of course the first idea but they would mean fasteners in some fashion or loops of leather both meaning that the whole quiver would have to be removed or someone else would have to remove it for me, so hence the horn clips, could use plastic or metal but horn seemed more in keeping with the whole armour.

I did try stream bending the tops of horn (which are fairly thin) but the result kept breaking, so in the end I just sawed rectangular blocks from the tips of horn then using a wood drill bit the same diameter as the thickness of the bow limbs, first drilled a hole then sawed out a groove, smoothed down and polished. On the armour quiver I attached the clips by rawhide, but on my quiver I used leather lace. Quite simple really, probably not unique but they do a great job and leave both my hands free so I still use them to alaberate on all those high tales of adventure! 

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20/08/2009 by Paul Carpenter.

After much deliberation, I decided to fix on a leather handle to the knife below by the use of a rawhide knot and not just any normal small knot but a whopping 32 bight one - I could of very well just sewn a strip of leather on but thats just to simple for me. Plus have’nt played around with rawhide lace for awhile now and it was good practise.

The first photo is of the blade and horn sheath, the second of the finished article with the knot tigthen on, the third photo is of the knot striaght off of the mandrel that I used to tie it on.

Thge mandrel is 2 inches in diameter and the nails were placed 4 inches apart. Lace was 3.5mm wide and the length about 8m, altho it is best to just wind the lace around all the nails to get a better idea of length ( I forgot to measure it!!). I just used the 13 bight 12 part pineapple knot pattern shown in one of my tutorials - fid work and braiding knife handles plus lace prep - After following it for awhile you should see the pattern being formed.

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18/08/2009 by Paul Carpenter.

Amazing how you can spent weeks making odd bits of something while trying to visualise what the finished article will look like or even work and then within a day the whole thing comes together - still got a few fitting prob’s to sort out but over all I’m quite pleased with it. Now just the boots.

Oh and if you ever make something like this for a kid and the new stiffness of the leather makes them stand like a robot - put on some spice girls music - got my kid dancing!!!!

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13/08/2009 by Paul Carpenter.

This is an old design I used to make years ago, was quite popular back then and only stopped making them as I was making my own rawhide at the time. Since then I have no found a new source and thought I’d try these out again.

Here is the tutorial in case anybody fancy making one their selves - Rawhide quiver tutorial

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06/08/2009 by Paul Carpenter.

Finally started my kids new armour. Just hope he has’nt grown another 2 inches by the time I’ve finished it!!!

managed to finish the helmet and body piece as seen below. As with most plans, the finished product is near enough to what we had planned, except the helmet was supposed to resemble the facial features more but the thickness of leather prevented to much moulding - not to worry, my kid still likes it so no worries. The body piece is adjustable slightly to allow for proabaly a few months growth knowing him, but at the moment it slides onto him thankfully eliminating the need for countless buckles.

The body piece is made from 6 individual pieces of saddle leather - I had never tried this type of construction before but the results I think are not too bad, they could of very well been worse. The carving especially is a real achievement in managing to actually get them all to match up and resemble the bulls head and horns.

Next I need to do the arm guards, a different type of upper leg guards and high boot to finish it all off. Should be fun - if only the mistake teach me a few more lesson I’ll be happy. That and my kid has’nt grown too much by the time I finish!!!

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