I never needed an arm guard the last few years when I was shooting recurves. But I got me an R/D longbow this spring and the brace height is about 1-1 1/2" shorter than I was used to. It will occasionally hit my arm hard enough to leave a little red mark, but nothing extremely painful, so I wasn't too concerned with it. But the last week or two, I've started wearing long sleeve shirts a little and they were catching my string and affecting arrow flight so I decided I'd have to have an at guard after all. I finally dug my leather working supplies out yesterday (haven't used it in about a year because I haven't been building any knives lately). I considered doing the simplest arm guard possible since I needed it right away, but I decided if I was going to drag everything out, I might as well do it right. I sketched out a pattern on paper, cut it out, and tweaked it a little to get the fit right. As it turned out, I didn't have a single piece big enough, so I couldn't do one too simple anyway. I decided on a three piece design and did a basket weave pattern on the middle section, two tone color, and used some plain silver grommets for the lacing. Here's what I ended up with. I'm happy for my first one. You guys let me know what you think and what I could do to improve it. I think I would like an elastic band/hook closure better for easy on off, but I was using what I had on hand. Never know, I may fine tune the design a little and become a sponsor on here in a few years. I haven't been building knives lately because of the time required. Projects like this go a lot quicker.
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg614/tomsm44/image_1.jpeg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/tomsm44/media/image_1.jpeg.html)
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg614/tomsm44/image.jpeg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/tomsm44/media/image.jpeg.html)
That is awesome...
Great job. That will work.
Sweet great job!
Looks pretty dang good to me.
very cool! only thing i might have done different is to have stitched the centerpiece over the side pieces- just an aesthetic opinion- but i think its great, well executed- and your tooling looks great. classic basket weave is always great!!! :thumbsup:
Very nice...I like it!
QuoteOriginally posted by fujimo:
very cool! only thing i might have done different is to have stitched the centerpiece over the side pieces- just an aesthetic opinion- but i think its great, well executed- and your tooling looks great. classic basket weave is always great!!! :thumbsup:
I think you're dead on with that. That was actually my original thought, but as I said, I was using scraps. The piece I used in the center has a couple of 1/8"-1/4" nicks along the edge from cutting pieces off of it. I would have had to cut it about 1/2" narrower to stitch it that way. With it on the bottom, I could leave it wider and the nicks would are hidden. My son wants me to build him one once I get some more leather and I may build it that way. I also think it would look better if the center piece tapered toward the front. I'll post pictures if I build anymore.
Also, as I said, I'm not crazy about the lacing method. It looks good this way but isn't the easiest to get on/off. I've seen the ones with elastic that stretches around and hooks to the other side. If any of you have other preferences on closure methods, I'd love to hear it.
well good plan made- tricks of an ol' crafter eh?
i make buttons out of antler or bone, then attach them to the arguard- not too loose , but with enough clearance to get the elastic under. then use a thin piece of shockcord to "quick lace" it up.
have seen the guys using the boot lace hooks- but the buttons work well for me. if i ever get back to the mainland again- i will look for some of the hooks.
Well Done!
Nice work!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :archer:
Nice leather work for a "rush" project. I also prefer the shock cord over lace up style as well. Since I do not have an ASL anymore I only wear an armgaurd with long sleeves like you. And like you I found the lace ups to much to fuss with.
Looks great!!
Very well done. I hate my arm guard!!
Looks like you have a nack for arm guards!