The Rick Farman Rhombo memorial bracers

**Nighthawk** · 29th July 10, 04:19 PM

As many of you know, I recently lost a very dear friend by the name of Rick Rhombo. A few days before he passed, he and I were working on the leather cover for my flask, and he showed me this roll of leather that he had gotten. He told me that to his eyes, it looked liked dragon scales, and that he thought it would be really cool to make a pair of dragon scale bracers from it. Well, I thought it was a cool idea, but too much in the realm of fantasy for my taste. I put that leather out of my mind until a few days later, when I got the call that he had died. After that, all I could think of was that leather and those bracers that he had wanted. So I talked to his sister, who was handling the estate, and she was more than willing to give me the leather that I needed, so long as I used it for the bracers, and kept them for myself instead of selling them or whatever. Needless to say, I jumped at that. So here are the results:

The knife sheath. Those are Ricks initials- RFR- in Norse runes. He was after all a Viking reenactor! This is the left arm bracer, designed for a right hand draw.

I decided that a dragon on the right arm would balance out the knife on the left.

Some of you will recognize the knife. This is the patch knife that I made "for a friend." I posted a picture gallery of this knife a few weeks ago. Rick the friend I mentioned in that thread. His sister was kind enough to give the knife back.

Here they are on my arms.

The thread I use to tie the bracers comes from a project that my friend apparently abandoned. Among the many (and I mean MANY!) things that his sister gave me was a box of remnants. It looks like Rick was making a pair of moccasins and gave up on them. The threads came from those mocs. The chain mail that the bracers are sitting was made b Rick. He was teaching my son to make chain mail. His sister again kindly let my boy take that section of mail. What do you all think- a fitting memorial?

**azwildcat96** · 29th July 10, 04:40 PM

Nighthawk,
The workmanship looks great. True that they are fantasy in nature, but it is indeed a wonderful tribute to your friend.
It is an interesting contrast to the yellow Hawaiian shirt too.

**Nighthawk** · 29th July 10, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by azwildcat96

Nighthawk,
The workmanship looks great. True that they are fantasy in nature, but it is indeed a wonderful tribute to your friend.
It is an interesting contrast to the yellow Hawaiian shirt too.

A note on the craftsmanship- the scale leather is a 1 or maybe 2 oz cowhide leather. I glued it over the top of 12 oz saddle/armor grade leather. The sheath is made from 3 oz veg tanned cowhide, glued and stitched to the armor grade leather.

It was hot here today. The shirt is nice and cool. I'm going to the Colorado Renaissance Festival this coming weekend, though, so I'll get some pics of those bracers in an outfit that makes more sense. My friend was almost obsessed with dragons. He actually kept little scraps of leather from his projects and used them make 3D dragon models. His sister kept those, although I would have loved to have one to decorate my leather shop. She did give me his Viking horn, though- the one for blowing; not drinking. That now hangs above my work table. So his love of dragons and fascination with the Vikings were my inspirations for the bracers. I have like 30 square feet of that scale leather left, too. I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with it! Hi sister didn't give me what I needed- she gave me the whole roll. I think I may make a sheath for my basket hilt with some of it.

So, if anyone is interested, this is the group that my friend was involved in:

http://www.fjellborg.org/

And this was his persona within the group:

http://www.fjellborg.org/Farmans_gallery.htm

It has a small gallery of some of his work. He was a great and patient teacher.

**Mark E.** · 3rd August 10, 02:16 PM

Good looking pair, those. Ideal material, quality crafsmanship, and look, they would WORK-both for archer as well as swordsman. The knife is an interesting touch-that, and the blade inside the scabbard will afford you a bit more protection than say, a maille gauntlet cuff at that point.
Thought about a push dagger? Lower handle profile, and less likely for an enemy blade to catch and break your arm.

Most vambraces are pretty plain out there...I took liberty myself on a project, and made a clashy set, 8 ounce harness leather with 10 shotshell loops and a 1911 .45ACP pistol mag pouch on each, all leather, riveted/sewn, with brass buckle cinchers. Not Scottish, or even historical by any stretch, but something I felt like doing one day.

Mark

**Nighthawk** · 3rd August 10, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by Mark E.

=
Thought about a push dagger? Lower handle profile, and less likely for an enemy blade to catch and break your arm.

Mark

No. I hadn't. The type of knife was not at all the point.

Originally Posted by Mark E.

Most vambraces are pretty plain out there...I took liberty myself on a project, and made a clashy set, 8 ounce harness leather with 8 shotshell loops and a 1911 .45ACP pistol mag pouch on each, all leather, riveted/sewn, with brass buckle cinchers. Not Scottish, or even historical by any stretch, but something I felt like doing one day.

Mark

Sounds interesting! Have any pictures? I'm having a hard time visualizing how those would work!

**Mark E.** · 3rd August 10, 07:40 PM

Nope, just noticed the knife and had a flashback to a guy that got a wrist broken because he had studded bracers, and thought they would suffice in place of a buckler.

I can shoot you a few of the odd bracers on my end...Haven't quite figured out the pictures thing yet-been dumping my stuff into an album, then copying and pasting the url to the message...That, and they may be less than Scottish in nature, don't want to muddle things. Got a regular email?

Oh, and I have a ton of black leather-some 15 ounce strappy stuff (meant for pull harness, or stirrup straps), and a half hide of I think 5/6 ounce, Sedgwicks, made for cantle backs, as well as some pebbled pig dyed black, that I am willing to part with, barter wise. The 15 ounce was part of a failed project...another story for another time. Can take pictures of the leather too, if you are interested-seems black is your medium.

**Nighthawk** · 7th August 10, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by Mark E.

Nope, just noticed the knife and had a flashback to a guy that got a wrist broken because he had studded bracers, and thought they would suffice in place of a buckler.

I can shoot you a few of the odd bracers on my end...Haven't quite figured out the pictures thing yet-been dumping my stuff into an album, then copying and pasting the url to the message...That, and they may be less than Scottish in nature, don't want to muddle things. Got a regular email?

Oh, and I have a ton of black leather-some 15 ounce strappy stuff (meant for pull harness, or stirrup straps), and a half hide of I think 5/6 ounce, Sedgwicks, made for cantle backs, as well as some pebbled pig dyed black, that I am willing to part with, barter wise. The 15 ounce was part of a failed project...another story for another time. Can take pictures of the leather too, if you are interested-seems black is your medium.

Honestly, I like all kinds of colors! The baldric that I made for my basket hilt is a nice antiqued brown with mahogany accents. I actually am really interested in that pig- it makes for a good gusset. I've got a sporran project for a friend going on right now that I need some pebble grain leather for, and I haven't got any! I'll PM you.

Here are some examples of NON black items:

And the quiver I'm working on for my son... which he does want black. I thought walnut antiqued would look better, but he wanted black!