I finished this arm guard yesterday for the feller who got me into bowhunting. He and I are headed to Mexico next month to chase Gould's turkeys with our recurves and I thought he needed to be dressed appropriately. I actually don't remember if he uses an arm guard or not so, if he doesn't, I guess he has a nice leather coaster to set his coffee on.
This arm guard has a vegetable-tanned cowhide backing and a facing of leather that comes from a pirarucu, or arapaima. That's a giant fish that is native to the Amazon River basin. The tan trim is deer hide and the black leather is carp hide. I carved the lace hooks from deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew.
Darren