My construction of a Magyar closed quiver
I wanted to share my reconstruction (with modern modifications out of necessity) of a Magyar closed quiver because I had such a hard time finding the information on making one. Note: I was reconstructing form not attempting to create an archeological clone. No two originals would have been identical so why would I want one that was identical to another.
I was watching a video of Kassai shooting while holding his arrows in his bow hand and like many people I thought, WOW he?s good. This of course was quickly followed by too bad Magyars didn?t actually shoot like that in the 9th century. Now my hat goes off to Kassai for glamorizing a sport and making it popular, I am sure there are many people who became interested in archery because of him. I just wish people would stop claiming there is anything traditional about what he is doing.
Kassai claims he devised the method of holding the arrows in his hand because drawing from the quiver was too slow. This was probably due to the fact he was using the wrong type of quiver. Simply put the arrows in his quiver were upside down. A majority of Magyars used closed quivers, and in all grave finds, their arrows are pointing upwards. This video shows a closed quiver but the arrows are upside down, sorry. http://www.atarn.org/magyar/video/Hungarian.WMV And while the style of quiver in the video was used by some Magyars, the closed quiver with a lid appears to have been far more common.
I wanted to shoot real traditional Magyar style, but to do this I needed a closed quiver. Unfortunately there was no one selling Magyar closed quivers with lids. After making one I figured out that this is probably due to the fact they are much more labor intensive to make so the profit just wouldn?t be there. But I also couldn?t find any patterns; all I could find were reconstructed drawings of the completed quiver. I used the attached drawing from Gyula L?szl?'s reconstructions as my pattern.
There are other images at http://steppes.proboards.com/index.cgi? ... hread=1225
The first thing I did was take this drawing and do measurements for the dimensions of the finished quiver. I based my quiver size by comparing the quiver in the picture to the leg in the picture, then comparing that to my own leg size.
I knew that Magyar quiver remains showed they used metal for internal support. Unfortunately I could only find photographs of partial remains that had mostly rusted away. So my first step to reconstruct this was to build a wooden frame to the dimensions of a finished quiver. I then went to my local hardware store and bought some steel reinforcing bars. I could have gone with a thinner metal (and probably lighter) but I was going to rivet these together. Not exactly traditional but I am not a blacksmith and I wanted to make sure the supports wouldn?t shift over time. Since they would be inside the quiver, if they shifted later I could not fix that without taking the quiver apart.
First I hammered the bars around the wood for basic shape, then I slipped the metal off the wood frame and using a vise I hammered the corners into more of a rectangle than a circle. I then put the rings back on the wood frame. Important note, the tops of Magyar quivers were flared slightly, this would allow for more broad head arrows. Unfortunately this creates an hour glass shape and you would not be able to get your rings off the wood frame. Thus since I would not be packing my quiver full of broad headed arrows I kept the top portion rectangular with only the base flared to give the fletching more room. After riveting all my metal pieces together I hit the wood a few times and it just slid right out the bottom of the frame.
Next is wrapping the frame in leather. First I wrapped it in cardboard. This gave me something cheap to practice with, and I would use it as a template for cutting the leather. When cutting the opening at the top it is important to allow enough room to reach into the quiver below the points, and then pull the arrow out and up. This will save you from nasty wounds. I chose a lid that opens downward but a side opening lid was also used in the 9th century. I went with a downward opening lid because when open I could secure it to the quiver with a hook instead of having it hang loose, as would be the case with a side opening lid that just flops open. The lid was made from the same leather but was made hard by dipping it in hot water. The hinge for the lid was a soft piece of leather sewn on with leather lace, and was kept closed using a string from the top of the lid looped over a button on the back. After cutting my leather I realized I didn?t allow enough room for the base to be installed underneath the wrap around body so I had to make an extra piece to cover the open space in the back. I took advantage of this covering and riveted the wrap around piece to the metal frame although this was probably over kill. The edges of the overlap piece were covered with the same thin leather I used for the hinge using contact cement; although I could have used hide glue the contact cement was easier to obtain and work with.
I used leather lace for all the stitching and the metal hardware was purchased from my local leather craft store. The support loops for the strap are riveted to the metal frame so there was no danger of the weight pulling on the leather. I couldn?t find any evidence of how the support loops would have been mounted on a Magyar quiver; however, I did find a close up of an Armenian one in a museum and the support loops are actually mounted on the corner. I did some testing on the metal frame and found that the further off center and closer to the corner I moved the loops the more the opening would tilt sideways while I was standing. This would be advantageous for arrow selection if I was carrying arrows with different points at the same time. Unfortunately my local store did not have any loops for corner mounting so I had to put the loops on the side. The strap is where I deviated 100% from traditional. I wanted something I could expand into a shoulder strap when needed and this is done just by clipping in a middle piece. The quiver was then lined with felt.
In all, I was very pleased with my very first leather project. In hindsight I would have used a lighter metal frame as the finished product is quite heavy, but I got used to the weight quickly. The first time I went to use it I was amazed at how natural and fast it felt to use. It is simply a matter of grabbing an arrow and handing it off to the bow hand (outside of the bow not inside), then sliding your string hand back along the arrow to nock it. The step of having to flip your arrow over, as you do if you grab the arrow by the fletching, is completely eliminated. And you don?t have the long cumbersome draw to get the arrow out of the quiver as happens in the video above.
In a few months I?ll post a video of me using the quiver; however, I just started using a new Grozer 57# bow and I?m still working on nocking without looking.
I was watching a video of Kassai shooting while holding his arrows in his bow hand and like many people I thought, WOW he?s good. This of course was quickly followed by too bad Magyars didn?t actually shoot like that in the 9th century. Now my hat goes off to Kassai for glamorizing a sport and making it popular, I am sure there are many people who became interested in archery because of him. I just wish people would stop claiming there is anything traditional about what he is doing.
Kassai claims he devised the method of holding the arrows in his hand because drawing from the quiver was too slow. This was probably due to the fact he was using the wrong type of quiver. Simply put the arrows in his quiver were upside down. A majority of Magyars used closed quivers, and in all grave finds, their arrows are pointing upwards. This video shows a closed quiver but the arrows are upside down, sorry. http://www.atarn.org/magyar/video/Hungarian.WMV And while the style of quiver in the video was used by some Magyars, the closed quiver with a lid appears to have been far more common.
I wanted to shoot real traditional Magyar style, but to do this I needed a closed quiver. Unfortunately there was no one selling Magyar closed quivers with lids. After making one I figured out that this is probably due to the fact they are much more labor intensive to make so the profit just wouldn?t be there. But I also couldn?t find any patterns; all I could find were reconstructed drawings of the completed quiver. I used the attached drawing from Gyula L?szl?'s reconstructions as my pattern.
There are other images at http://steppes.proboards.com/index.cgi? ... hread=1225
The first thing I did was take this drawing and do measurements for the dimensions of the finished quiver. I based my quiver size by comparing the quiver in the picture to the leg in the picture, then comparing that to my own leg size.
I knew that Magyar quiver remains showed they used metal for internal support. Unfortunately I could only find photographs of partial remains that had mostly rusted away. So my first step to reconstruct this was to build a wooden frame to the dimensions of a finished quiver. I then went to my local hardware store and bought some steel reinforcing bars. I could have gone with a thinner metal (and probably lighter) but I was going to rivet these together. Not exactly traditional but I am not a blacksmith and I wanted to make sure the supports wouldn?t shift over time. Since they would be inside the quiver, if they shifted later I could not fix that without taking the quiver apart.
First I hammered the bars around the wood for basic shape, then I slipped the metal off the wood frame and using a vise I hammered the corners into more of a rectangle than a circle. I then put the rings back on the wood frame. Important note, the tops of Magyar quivers were flared slightly, this would allow for more broad head arrows. Unfortunately this creates an hour glass shape and you would not be able to get your rings off the wood frame. Thus since I would not be packing my quiver full of broad headed arrows I kept the top portion rectangular with only the base flared to give the fletching more room. After riveting all my metal pieces together I hit the wood a few times and it just slid right out the bottom of the frame.
Next is wrapping the frame in leather. First I wrapped it in cardboard. This gave me something cheap to practice with, and I would use it as a template for cutting the leather. When cutting the opening at the top it is important to allow enough room to reach into the quiver below the points, and then pull the arrow out and up. This will save you from nasty wounds. I chose a lid that opens downward but a side opening lid was also used in the 9th century. I went with a downward opening lid because when open I could secure it to the quiver with a hook instead of having it hang loose, as would be the case with a side opening lid that just flops open. The lid was made from the same leather but was made hard by dipping it in hot water. The hinge for the lid was a soft piece of leather sewn on with leather lace, and was kept closed using a string from the top of the lid looped over a button on the back. After cutting my leather I realized I didn?t allow enough room for the base to be installed underneath the wrap around body so I had to make an extra piece to cover the open space in the back. I took advantage of this covering and riveted the wrap around piece to the metal frame although this was probably over kill. The edges of the overlap piece were covered with the same thin leather I used for the hinge using contact cement; although I could have used hide glue the contact cement was easier to obtain and work with.
I used leather lace for all the stitching and the metal hardware was purchased from my local leather craft store. The support loops for the strap are riveted to the metal frame so there was no danger of the weight pulling on the leather. I couldn?t find any evidence of how the support loops would have been mounted on a Magyar quiver; however, I did find a close up of an Armenian one in a museum and the support loops are actually mounted on the corner. I did some testing on the metal frame and found that the further off center and closer to the corner I moved the loops the more the opening would tilt sideways while I was standing. This would be advantageous for arrow selection if I was carrying arrows with different points at the same time. Unfortunately my local store did not have any loops for corner mounting so I had to put the loops on the side. The strap is where I deviated 100% from traditional. I wanted something I could expand into a shoulder strap when needed and this is done just by clipping in a middle piece. The quiver was then lined with felt.
In all, I was very pleased with my very first leather project. In hindsight I would have used a lighter metal frame as the finished product is quite heavy, but I got used to the weight quickly. The first time I went to use it I was amazed at how natural and fast it felt to use. It is simply a matter of grabbing an arrow and handing it off to the bow hand (outside of the bow not inside), then sliding your string hand back along the arrow to nock it. The step of having to flip your arrow over, as you do if you grab the arrow by the fletching, is completely eliminated. And you don?t have the long cumbersome draw to get the arrow out of the quiver as happens in the video above.
In a few months I?ll post a video of me using the quiver; however, I just started using a new Grozer 57# bow and I?m still working on nocking without looking.
Here are some additional pictures of my closed quiver.