I worked on a weekend project and finished it yesterday. I have a leather supplier near me. I go there regularly and buy from their scrap bin. There was a piece of thick saddle skirting leather in there that just called out to be a back quiver.

I got it home and laid out some mental plans and started cutting and thinking of how I wanted the shape. I had enough left over for the bottom cup of the quiver out of the same 1/4 inch thick leather. This stuff is t-h-i-c-k. I bought a strap and brass buckle to allow adjustment of the shoulder strap.

After sewing and figuring I came up with this.





It's still a little wet from the wet forming. It holds alot of arrows. I still need to line the top with some fur I have and foam the bottom.

I can get it to sit on my back pretty good but need to work on drawing arrows smoothly. My concern I guess is that I'm not very flexible. I never have been.

Has anyone else used a back quiver with some flex concerns? How'd you overcome it?

I plan on oiling this one to even out the color but not too much that it'll transfer to my clothes. I might take this one deer hunting. It will definitely go into the woods for stumping and squirrel.

If you back qiver users can help a new user out I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.


Bud

Looks like you did a nice job.....  

Take the arrows out and sit on it. You have to soften it up some. The first quiver I built was too stiff and that makes it a pain to use. Arrows will fall out when you bend. My second one came out perfectly, not too stiff and not too soft, and I loved it for hunting. Sadly, it was stolen.

You do plan to dye it, no?

Nice job. Very nice stitching. Leather projects are great winter time fun. Consider using leather string through the middle to act as a divider (near the top).

 Very nice looking, congrats!

Do you have an industrial sewing machine. Your work is really tight & nice. I'd put a fur collar around the top lip hanging down the outside & inside around 2" deep. You have right to be proud. Very nice.

Nice job,congrats.

That looks good!  

Very nice!

Bud,
Nice work. I have made a few that were laced together.  I too have some trouble with drawing the sticks out.  I am right handed, so as I reach with my right hand over my shoulder, I use my left elbow to push the bottom of the qiver back and up. This will push the nocks forward toward your right hand.   I also made mine so that the arrow nocks are kind of off the point of my right shoulder.   One thing about stretching to reach them, it improves your flexibility.
Again, well done!

Very Nice.I am looking for a deeper back quiver and may have to make my own.That gives me hope.  

looks good..damp the leather slightly and oil it and as your oiling it..use a hair dryer on low and heat it into the leather..by doing this...you will perserve it and you wont need to worry about as the oil will stay on and it will be little more flexible..you can add montana pitch blend to it and it will last forvever..you can also put it the couch and sit on it for a few days and more you use it..the more supple it can become...good luck...it looks great

Thanks for the compliments. It's going to take some getting used to for sure. I need to do some stretching exercises I guess.

I took it into the woods today just messing around. It isn't a good one to take through thick pines. I kept getting hung up on the lower dead limbs of the pines. In the open woods it was great. I'm still trying to develop a technique for getting the arrows out. Hopefully it'll come with time.

I'll post up some more photos when I get it closer to the finished product.

Thanks again.

Bud

Bud, that's a fine looking quiver to be sure! Back quivers take some getting used to but, stick with it as they are unique once you get the hand of it.      

Nice job!!!

I'm impressed. Can you post the dimensions and pattern for this if you're willing? I'd like to try making one for myself

Thats really fine. Beat it up, step on it, stick it under your mattress and such and Ill bet it softens up enough for you.Regular usage with get it to darken from sweat, rain, dirt and the like. That looks like it will last forever.

I'll make some measurements when I get home. No pattern. All in the gray matter.

The quiver is 19.75" tall with a 16" circumference at the top and 12" circumference at the bottom. I cut an oval form out of a 1" thick pine board for the bottom and wet formed the leather to it and nailed the leather down for a cupped shaped bottom. The blackened spots on the bottom section are from the nails I drove through the leather and into the pine form. Once that dried I removed the nails and cut another pine form to fit inside the bottom of the quiver itself. I then placed the cup over the quiver bottom and then drove the same nails back into the same holes which punched the holes for the quiver body. The pine form inside kept the shape while I drove in the nails.

Sewing it was a booger. My hands aren't real small so getting the baseball stitch inside the quiver seam was tough. The bottom stitching was equally challenging.

The strap was just a straight cut strap from Zach White Leather Company in Ramseur, NC. The buckle is a simple solid brass. I had a spare concho from other leather projects and used it backwards on the strap bottom. A leather punch cut the holes in the top part of the strap.

Scrap leather = $8

Leather strap = $6.50

Brass buckle = $1.59

Cheap project if you ask me. I watched football while stitching, and stitching, and stitching....

If you do something similar, just remember to oval the top outward and oval the bottom inward. A straight cut across wouldn't fit properly.

Nice work. When you get into the low hanging limbs and brush, grab the bottom of the quiver with our left hand and tuck it up under your left arm till you make it through the brush. It keeps from tearing  up the fletching and nocks and getting hung up. It works for me anyway.

Okie man, that's the same way I do mine when in thicker vegetation. Works just fine and then you just shift it back up when clear.