Custom Armguards by Chad Orde...

[shreffler]

When Chad first posted his armguards for sale in the Sponsor's Classifieds, I commented on how great they looked. Chad messaged me and simply said if I was ever in the market for one, to please let him know.

The minute I saw them I had a vision come to mind for a new armguard for my Dad for Father's Day. He currently has an old one that he's had for years, and slowly added things to it to make it work for him as he went. Here's his old one:

 

 

You can see he added a knife to the armguard, and replaced the straps/buttons as he went.

I wanted to make a 2.0 version of this. I emailed Chad and we got the ball rolling...he sent me a scanned copy of one of his blank armguards, and had me mock up how I wanted it to look.

The vision I had was a dark brown guard with his initials carved in the top (of course I had to get a matching one too, can't let him have all the fun    :D   ), a compass, a custom sheath to hold a mini Asbell knife, and to top it all off I sent him some antler that was my Grandfather's to use for buttons.

Chad took every step possible to make sure it turned out exactly how I wanted. We spent roughly 30 minutes discussing different options on the phone, and sent a bunch of emails/texts back and forth hashing out the details - I felt like I was ordering a custom bow, his attention to detail and customer service was perfect. He even sent me updates like this along the way        

   

Now this was no easy task, as attaching a knife to an armguard is not something that's a walk in the park. I gave him the pictures above, discussed different designs (ones done by Tim Roberts and G. Fred), and he finally created the system you see below.

These turned out so much better than I expected, and I know my Dad is going to be so stoked when I give his to him. This is something both of us will be able to wear for the rest of our lives and always be able to count on in the field.

 

A big thanks one more time to Chad. They should be in the mail today and here on Wednesday, and I'll post an update with my Dad and I wearing them this weekend. If anyone's looking for an armguard, you know where to go.

Alex

[Whitetail Addict]

Wow, those are nice!! Your Dad is going to love it. Chad did a great job on them.

It's really nice of you to do that for your Dad.    

Bob

[cmh]

Nice looking armguards  

Great looking leatherwork! Everything I have seen that Chad has made has been awesome!

Bisch

[KyStickbow]

Looks awesome!

[elkken]

I won Chad's St Jude offering for one of his string trackers and a special turkey edition arm guard ... they have arrived and are VERY NICE
http://auction1.tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=204;t=000048

[shreffler]

Ken, I saw those - looked really nice. That turkey armguard is sharp!

[nineworlds9]

Suhweeet!

[Gary Rieck]

Very nice. How did you attach the compass'?

[shreffler]

Gary, I believe he puts it on some kind of base, then stitches the base to the leather. Then he stitches a pigskin backing to the entire backside of the armguard, covering up the base and making it a smooth surface.

He may chime in here though, as that's just my guess.

[Chad Orde]

Gary,
Alex is correct I make a base that slips over the compass and fits in the groove tight then stitch the compass base to the leather. I have used this method and improved over the years with great results.
Anyone looking for a custom armguard for the 2015 season or a gift. Come up with what you like and let me know and we can go from there. I'm still working in my design for this years deer season thinking a carved whitetail or a Bear Archery logo carved in.......


Thanks for the comments guys,
Chad Orde
810-360-5872
chadorde@gmail.com

[Danny Rowan]

Yep, great work, I have a beauty of an armguard with a moose scene on it and one of his string trackers.