If you like the idea of making your own quiver, then you cam to the right place. This article covers step-by-step instructions on how to make your own homemade quiver.
Here are the 7 steps on how to make your own quiver:
Step 1: Measure your arrows
Step 2: Measure your sheet of leather
Step 3: Cut out the leather according to your measurements
Step 4: Use the excess leather laying around to make the bottom of your quiver
Step 5: Make holes on your leather sheet and the quiver bottom spaced just one inch apart
Step 6: Sow the two sides of the leather sheet together
Step 7: Attach a strap to your quiver.
These are the steps to make your own quiver. Now, let’s go through each step in detail. You also get to see what materials you need to start making your own quiver.
Now before we begin, let’s start with the basics.
What Is a Quiver?
Quiver is an archery aid whose sole purpose is to safeguard the archer’s arrows and allow for easier transportation of the arrows. Quivers are divided into two categories back quivers and hip quivers. Back quivers are worn on the archer’s back while the hip quivers are attached to the archer’s hip.
That’s it. The only purpose of the quiver is to keep your arrows safe and allow you to transport them. Remember this definition, since it will be the guidepost throughout this article.
It does not have to be anything fancy. Let’s be fair if this is your first time, it probably won’t be. Which is perfectly fine.
Each time you make one, you will get better at it.
What Do You Need To Make Your Own Quiver
The basic tools and materials you will need are.
- A box cutting knife
- Leather sheet
- Measuring tape
- A leather hole punch tool
- A marker to mark your measurements
- A thread that can be used to sow leather together
Surprise surprise, everything I listed is available on Amazon. Or in most garages across America.
How To Make A Quiver From Leather
- Step 1: Measure your arrows
- Step 2: Measure your sheet of leather
- Step 3: Cut out the leather according to your measurements
- Step 4: Use the excess leather laying around to make the bottom of your quiver
- Step 5: Make holes on your leather sheet and the quiver bottom spaced just one inch apart
- Step 6: Sow the two sides of the leather sheet together
- Step 7: Attach a strap to your quiver
Step 1
Measure your arrows.
Arrows vary in size, the standard variations measure from 28 inches to 30 inches. Now there are outliers but the vast majority of archers will have arrows of that size. You measure your arrows from the tip of the arrowhead to the nock.
After you get the length of the arrow, you subtract 4-5 inches. That’s going to be the length of your quiver.
Once you have the length you go to the next step.
Step 2
Measure your sheet of leather.
The length of the leather sheet should be your arrow length minus 4 to 5 inches. The width of the quiver depends on how many arrows you want to fit in the quiver. As you can see in this article here, you don’t need that many arrows.
So the length of the leather sheet is the arrow length minus 4 to 5 inches. The width is between 20 and 25 inches. That should give you a nice circumference of 6 to 8 inches to hold your arrows.
Make sure when you are marking out the dimension on the leather sheet to leave out an extra inch or two in the width.
You will be overlapping the leather sides in the following steps.
Step 3
Cut out the leather according to your measurements.
You can use a standard box cutting knife or scissors designed to cut leather. I prefer scissors since it’s easier but it’s more likely you have a boxcutter knife laying around. So use that and cut out your leather.
If there is any excess leather left lying around you save it.
It will come in handy later on.
Step 4
Use the excess leather to laying around to make the bottom of your quiver.
You do this by taking the width of the leather sheet you cut out in the previous step and calculating the diameter of the leather circle you need to cut out to make your bottom.
So if the width is 20 inches, that translates to a circle with a diameter of 6,4 inches. So 6 and a half inches to be on the safe side.
So take your measuring tape, and measure out 6 and a half inches on the back of your leather and mark it with your marker. Mark the beginning of the 6,5 inches, the end of the 6,5 inches, and the middle.
If you have a compass, making a circle from here on out is easy. If you don’t have one no problem. Take a ruler fixate it on the center mark of your line and tape your marker at the other end. Then simply move your ruler around to make a circle.
When the circle is fully drawn, cut it out.
Step 5
Make holes on your leather sheet and the quiver bottom spaced just 1 inch apart.
This is where your market and the leather hole puncher come in to play. You should get it one inch apart on your leather sheets. Mark a hole one inch apart on the three sides of your leather sheet.
The fourth side will be the top of your quiver, so you leave that one alone.
Take the bottom of your quiver, the lower width of your leather sheet, and overlap them. Take the leather hole puncher and punch a hole through the leather circle, and the leather sheet at the same time. Now sow the bottom of the quiver to the leather sheet.
Conversely, you can, take a needle and a strong thread and sow the bottom to the lower side of the leather. Like this.
I advise the use of a hole puncher. But as you can see you could use a strong needle and a strong thread to make it happen.
Once you make a hole on both the circle and the leather sheet you put a thread through the hole. And you make another hole and pull the thread through this hole as well.
You are sowing the bottom leather circle to the leather sheet.
Once that is done you proceed to step 6.
Step 6
Sow the two sides of the leather sheet together.
So the leather circle is attached to the bottom of the leather sheet. Now you bring the two sides of the leather sheet together and sow the two sides together.
You weave the thread much in the same way as the laces on your shoes or sneakers.
Once this is done, you cut the thread and make a knot in the bottom of the quiver so the thread stays in place.
Step 7
Attach a strap to your quiver.
Now decide, how you will be carrying your quiver. Will it be a hip quiver, back quiver, or both?
Lucky for you it can be all of the above. Take a normal belt. Punch 4 holes on the belt where you want your quiver to hang. Now punch 4 holes in your quiver where you want the quiver to be attached to the belt.
Now you should have holes in the belt and in the quiver. Now simply use the leather thread and line up the four holes and sow the belt to the quiver.
Make a knot in the end and cut the excess thread away.
There you go.
That’s one homemade quiver for you. You can carry it around your waist and on your back.
When You Should Avoid Homemade Quivers
Now if you’re doing normal target archery these homemade quivers are awesome. They showcase you are handy and good with tools. And also you can showcase your uniqueness.
With bowhunting be a tad more careful. The homemade quivers can in effect cause a lot of noise since there are many arrows in them and as the bowhunter moves so do the arrows in the quiver.
That causes added noise which can scare the animals away.
So if you are a bowhunter, I would avoid homemade leather quivers. if you go down this route, don’t carry a lot of arrows in the quiver.
Less noise means greater chances of success for bowhunters.
In Conclusion
Making your very own quiver is awesome. Chances are you will be shooting in a controlled climate or at the very least a forgiving one. To see how often you should shoot to get better I suggest you look here.
All in all, your homemade quiver will last you a good deal of time.
Definitely recommend giving it a go. If you mess up, that’s okay, you will improve and get better with each attempt.
If you want to see another DIY project then go here to see how to make your own archery target.
And to see how to install a bow wrist sling then simply click here.
And lastly, if you want to learn a cool archery trick where your arrows curve in flight, which means you are able to hit a target that’s hiding behind an obstacle, then click here for an article explaining how to do it.
So have fun trying it out.
Take care