There is a giant fish in the Amazon River basin called a pirarucu, or arapaima, whose hide is turned into some very unique looking leather. The Springfield Leather Company has some in their store and I periodically go in and pet the hides because I cannot afford to buy them. The cool look they sport comes with a hefty price tag.
So I walked into that store a couple of weeks ago and the first thing I saw was a beautiful hair-on calf hide. Now I normally don't buy those things because I think they're hard to work with but this one spoke to me so I picked it up in case I found something else to go with it. Well, that "something else" was a piece of pirarucu hide over in the remnants pile that was just big enough to make an arm guard out of. As soon as I saw those two pieces of leather together, I knew immediately what I was going to make and who I was going to make it for.
I have a good friend named Mike Dunnaway who is the owner of Wild Horse Creek Bows. He a bowyer second to none, but he is also an avid fly fisherman. He has some great stories about him fly fishing for peacock bass in Brazil and when I found that piece of Amazon fish leather I knew I had to make him something out of it. I didn't even know if Mike wore arm guards but he was getting one nevertheless.
So here is the finished product. Mike got it yesterday and seemed quite pleased with it. As it turns out, his birthday is in a couple of days so he received an unplanned birthday present from me. The facing is made from the piece of pirarucu I found and the backing is vegetable-tanned cowhide. The horse head silhouette is made from that calf hide and I did the black matting in deer hide. The maroon trim is elk hide. I carved the lace hooks from deer antler and sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew.
Happy birthday, Mike!
Darren
