Author Topic: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)  (Read 15940 times)

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Offline dam_01

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Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« on: May 10, 2015, 03:26:03 pm »
Hiya,

I've lurked around this forum for a long time now. Theres LOTS of wonderful information about all sorts of subjects so hopefully I can add a tiny bit with my experiences this afternoon.

I'd recently got a loan of Bow Accessories by Volkmar Hubschmann and flicking thru the pages I spotted the details for the Oetzi quiver build.
This is a pic of the finished article from the book

This was a style of quiver I'd seen somewhere before  and really liked the look of. I have a 'normal' style of quiver which I have on a long loop over my shoulder, primitive style (since I mainly shoot field up in Scotland).  This works fine but isn't particularly weather proof and too short so on occasion I get arrows falling out of it. Since the Oetzi style quiver is full arrow length it offers some protection from the rain and elements and is long enough to 'grab' the fletches and prevent them falling out.


Anyhow.

The build-a-long in the book has it made from felt!  So I thought, "How hard can that be.....?"
I should add, my sister-in-law is a knitter/spinner/weaver in her spare time and she'd had some experience of felting before so she agreed to come and help. As a result, we deviated a bit from the instructions in that book which is why I thought I'd share what we did and what I might do differently next time, just in case anyone might want to give it a go.

Details.

The book suggested about 350g's of carded wool. There was a couple of options for they type of sheep's wool to use but I went for undyed merino. This was about £16 for 400g.


You also have to make a form of some sort. The dimensions the book suggests are 110cm x 33cm (at the wider end) and 24cm at the narrow, bottom end. The only thing I had to hand to do this was cardboard and some plastic bags, sealed up with duct tape.


The reason for the large size is that it'll shrink about 1/3 once it's felted but certainly it looked like a bit of a monster to start with!

The other things that we used/needed were some towels, a big sheet of bubble wrap, soap (the more 'pure soap the better apparently. The book suggests olive soap. Again, didn't have any so ended up using some handmade simple soap). and hot water. And time.

First thing to do was separate the wool out and wrap it round the form. It was fine to do this is smaller pieces, like 12" lengths, just try and wrap it evenly with no lumps and making sure that they were overlapped a bit. We also made sure that they wrapped around the edges rather than the end of a piece finishing at the edge of the form.

Wool was laid over the form in both directions, width-wise and length-wise. We also put an extra layer over the bottom so it would be slightly thicker and a bit harder wearing.




Next you sprinkle hot very soapy water over the wool and start to gently pat it down so it flattens and gets wetter. The soap is so the fibres don't stick to your hands and it's easier to rub over the surface.
At this point, it's worth noting that that was partly the reason for the bubble wrap. It holds the water to the underside of the piece so while you're working the top side, the underside gets a little worked too.
Once it's wet you can really start to put a bit of pressure on it and keep rubbing it backwards and forwards. Again the reason for the bubble wrap. We folded it over the top of the quiver, added a little more soap and water and rubbed up and down over this . The bubbles act a bit like lots of little points of contact with the surface of the work which (apparently) speeds up the process a bit.

We worked one side for 10 mins or so then flipped it over and worked the other side for about the same, paying attention to the edges and trying to keep it fairly even.

About half an hour of this it was looking like this:



At this point I cut about 15cm down from the top right across the front and up the sides to make a flap and to be able to remove the form from the inside.

It was at this point we differed quite a bit from the book so I'll detail what we did.

Once the form was removed, we put in some plastic bags inside then washed it in a shallow bath of hot water to help get the soap out. We then rinsed it in a cold sink of water and repeated a couple of times.
Once done, and with the plastic still inside, we put it in the washing machine at a 60 degree wash, without any soap powder or anything, for about half an hour.
In retrospect, it was a little silly as the bags bunched up in portions of the quiver so some sections of it fulled (or shrank) more than some other bits!!!!!!!

But it was shrinking!!!. I removed the bags, pulled/stretched the more shrunken bits out a little and stuck it back in the wash, again at 60 for about another 20 mins.





This is how it looked when it came out again after this. Better, but still a bit uneven at the edge.
In the book, it describes doing the fulling process by rolling it in a towel. Fulling means to compress and better pack the fibres together creating a denser felt.

Since the length was only a tiny bit longer (and this could be cut down to fit anyway) I concentrated on trying to reduce the width and even out that annoying edge.

I rolled the quiver along it's length in a towel, really quite tightly then rolled it back and forward with quite a bit of pressure, paying particular attention to the wider bits and not so much on the narrower section. I periodically flipped it over and rolled the other side too.

I did this for about 15 mins or so but by then it was getting quite dry so I wonder that there would be limited effect. I also stuck a straight edge down inside it and sort of bashed the lower points out a bit which also seemed to help.


Once it was almost dry, flattened out I then turned it inside out. The edges were slightly lumpy so turning them inside hid them and made the edge appear a bit smoother. :)

So this is where I'm up to so far. I've not got a hazel stick or anything to act as a strap as yet. I'm going to let it dry for a few days and see how it settles. I think I can wet any lumpy/uneven bits and smooth it out again.
On the whole tho I'm pretty chuffed!!  It worked way better than I thought it might and was a little easier with the washing machine method than the suggested hours of fulling by hand that the book suggests. Yes, I suspect you'd get a much more even finished doing it fully by hand but as a first attempt on what I had earmarked as being a bit of a "Such it and see, how difficult can it be?/trial attempt".

I'm also quite surprised at how solid it's become! it's going to be a pretty robust quiver once finished. Maybe not quite as slimline and refined as the one in the book but definitely "primitive" or rustic! hehe.

I'll post up some more pictures when I get it finished.



Offline lebhuntfish

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2015, 10:05:10 pm »
I'm going to keep my eye on this one. Very nice so far! Patrick

P.S.  Welcome to PA!
Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout!

Missouri, where all the best wood is! Well maybe not the straightest!

Building a bow has been the most rewarding, peaceful, and frustrating things I have ever made with my own two hands!

Offline Aaron H

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2015, 02:48:26 pm »
Very neat

Online Pat B

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2015, 11:47:40 pm »
This is very cool.  8)
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline dam_01

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2015, 12:19:40 pm »
I've been a bit quiet, work getting in the way.

After leaving it for a few days to dry out, (I swear you could carry water IN it given how long it took for the inside to dry!) I flattened out some of the bumps and cut the top flap round and cut the inner 'fletch cover'.



I didn't have any buttons or toggles to hand but some oak dowel cut, sanded and oiled will do the trick



I cut a small branch from a tree in the garden which will suit. I'll attempt to straighten it out a bit first..!



Not that exciting an update but there you go!

Offline TRACY

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2015, 06:53:05 am »
Really liking this build and new uses for wool!

Thank you


Tracy
It is what it is - make the most of it!    PN500956

Offline paoliguy

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2015, 02:08:29 pm »
This is very interesting!

Offline DC

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2015, 04:00:16 pm »
Is it heavy? How do you think it would compare with a leather one?

Offline dam_01

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #8 on: May 22, 2015, 06:18:25 pm »
Without the straightener piece of wood on it or the strap, it's roughly 12oz.
So similar I suppose.

Offline dam_01

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2015, 10:53:42 am »
Had a bit of time this morning to finish off this build to at least a 'working' state.

In the interests of reuse and recycle, I cut up some strips from bits of an old leather jacket to attach the toggles and various bits.

So, the toggles. I made a second one to go on the rear of the quiver to tie the flap to when it's open. I just cut a little hole, fed the two ends of the strips through and tied  a knot. I did toy with putting a button or something on the reverse side instead of a know but theres not going to be any loading on it so it's unlikely that it'll pull through. They're more or less opposite each other front to back.







This is with the flap folded back and toggled to the rear of the quiver with the flap which would cover the fletches also folded back and tucked in behind (if that makes sense!). The last pic on the door is also like this...

In the original build, there is an external twig tied to the top of the quiver to act as a straightener and something to tie your strap to.

I did get a suitable bit of wood (and I even managed to straighten it over my gas hob) but I just didn't  really like the look of it. The quiver is probably a bit bigger than the ideal anyway and I felt that this would add an extra few inches of width.

I had some more of the oak dowel so put a piece down inside the length and tied that through, making a loop to attach a strap to. I left it almost the entire length right to the fold of the top flap.









The bit at the top underneath the fletch cover was flapping about a bit so I tied the dowel there too. Much better.



All that was left to do was to tie on a strap of some sort and and set to with some sharp scissors and even up a few bits.





It's not 'FINISHED!' but it's now usable which was ultimately the end goal this time around.

Hindsight being 20/20, I'd have taken alot longer over getting it wrapped up over the form and probably paid more attention to getting the edges right before starting to felt the remainder. It would pay dividends no end to try and make sure the thickness is as even as you can get at this point too.
I've quite a few lumps and bumps throughout. I'll call that character...

I'd also probably used a bit less wool and made the form a little bit smaller. I reckon too that I'd get 18+ arrows in there without issue! lol.

An the whole, really pleased as a first time go at anything like this.
I'll probably get another ball of wool to go with the remainder and make a pouch of some sort, enough for a spare string and to keep my tab in.

Offline DC

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2015, 01:07:46 pm »
Very cool! Have you given any thought to water proofing it? Lanolin would be appropriate ;)

Offline dam_01

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2015, 02:02:32 pm »
Indeed! I've not looked into it yet but yes, some sort of coating would be good.
My nephew and his missus (who helped me with the felting) are going to see if they can put a strap of some sort together for me!
(they do alot of leather working and quiver making).

Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #12 on: June 02, 2015, 02:40:58 pm »
the quiver is really nice and thanx for the buildalong.
honestly the rope you attached the quiver to is a punch in a eye  :o. it ruins the primitive look

Offline dam_01

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2015, 05:34:41 pm »
I realise that, but I really wanted to actually try it out for size. Theres a 'Proper' loop in the works...!

Offline stickbender

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Re: Oetzi Quiver build-a-long (well this is what I did..)
« Reply #14 on: June 10, 2015, 08:18:05 pm »

     Wow! :o 8) Thanks, that is great.  As for what to do with extra wool, have you thought of making an Oetzi hat?  A hair on goat skin pouch would make a good pouch, for your extra string, arrow heads, flint,small knife, or what have you, and more durable.  Excellent build along, and much appreciated.  Makes me want to get into some felting in a few months.  I have always wondered how our ancestors did that.  Thanks again, and very nice quiver.  And a whole lot of ideas running through my head now, for making felt items.  Well done, sir.

                                    Wayne