How to make a decent grip for your wooden waster:
Nov 29, 2009 5:03:07 GMT
Post by Mune on Nov 29, 2009 5:03:07 GMT
I decided to place this guide in this forum because I couldn't find a good subforum it might better fit in. I felt it unworthy of the sword design page, since it's all about making an inexpensive grip for a wooden waster (not a real blade). Any admins feel free to move it someplace it might fit better.
Without further ado...
Making a Waster Grip
The inexpensive and semi-authentic way to make a decent grip for your wooden sword
We all want an authentic feel to the grip of our swords, even our wooden ones used in sparring or practice. Unfortunately most wooden swords come without a grip, leaving us holding on to nothing more than a shaped extension of the blade. Wielding such a weapon left me with the unsatisfied feeling that I was swinging a stick around, so I decided to fashion a grip for my blade.
I began by researching how swords would originally be wrapped so as to get an idea on how to get an authentic and functional end result. Leather, being expensive and hard to work with, was not an option in my case. After a bit of trial and error, and some modifications for improvement, I have finally come upon a worthy design. I decided to make a quick guide on how I make them, in hopes of helping a sword-swinger facing a similar predicament.
Materials:
A Sword (of course), some Scissors, a length of soft-fiber thin rope, and grip tape (made of rubber, not the same as electrical tape).
Begin by looping the rope around the base of the sword as the picture shows below.
This length of rope running along the side of the grip will have the remaining rope wound around it. This allows a tight fit which wont come loose and gives the grip an added level of surfaces to it (instead of rectangular it becomes hexagonal).
To make the blade symmetrical, a short length of cut string is added to the opposite side of the grip and tucked underneath the next loop, as shown below.
Make sure not to pull this string too hard as it can come loose.
Continue to wind the rope around the grip. Keep the rope tight at all times, and give it a good tug every rotation or two. Make sure that the two parallel strings stay centered along the grip as you wind the rope around them. Pull the wound rope towards the pommel every few rotations to prevent gaps between the loops.
OPTIONAL: As you continue making rotations along the grip, you can at any point choose to make a double-loop. This is where the rope is wrapped on top of the previous loop to modify the surface of the grip as shown below.
The loop performs one complete rotation, then crosses back over and overlaps at the same location in which the rope originally deviated, as shown below.
sorry for the blurry photo
Note that on one surface of the grip the double-loop will cross over itself, while on the other side it remains straight. After you have made the double-loops, you can shift it around a bit to position it just right.
I decided on two double-loops for this sword.
As you continue making tight loops of rope, you will eventually run out of wooden grip to cover. Be sure to make as many loops as possible, so that the last one you make will tightly fit in between the guard and the loops, as seen below.
Cut the length of rope at the end of this loop rotation as shown. If you did it right, your hands and fingers should be painful and aching from ropeburn and strain by now. Take a moment to stretch them and relax.
Note that this sword, with a 4 and 1/2 inch grip, took 22 feet of rope to wrap.
Then, following in the same rotation direction as the rope, begin your grip tape wrap over the wound rope beginning at the end you just cut.
Do two complete rotations of the tape at the top of the grip without yet shifting it into an angled spiral. Let the tape hang over the top edge bordering the guard slightly and tuck it between the rope and the guard. Like with the rope, keep the tape tight as you wrap it around at all times.
Begin to shift the tape to spiral towards the pommel. You can adjust the thickness of your grip by having more or less angle to each rotation. I prefer a tape wrap where each new rotation covers an additional 1/8th inch of rope.
You will eventually reach the pommel. End your tape wrap much the same as you began it, with two non-angled rotations which overlap the pommel slightly (and get tucked in).
Cut the tape cleanly with your scissors, angling the cut so it is longer near the pommel. Do your best to tuck this end of tape between the pommel and the rope.
You are now done. Congrats! Note that the grip will be a bit sticky, but time (and use) will make it less so.
I hope you enjoyed my humble guide. Feel free to comment or make suggestions, as I'm sure I'm not the only person to customize their waster grips.
Without further ado...
Making a Waster Grip
The inexpensive and semi-authentic way to make a decent grip for your wooden sword
We all want an authentic feel to the grip of our swords, even our wooden ones used in sparring or practice. Unfortunately most wooden swords come without a grip, leaving us holding on to nothing more than a shaped extension of the blade. Wielding such a weapon left me with the unsatisfied feeling that I was swinging a stick around, so I decided to fashion a grip for my blade.
I began by researching how swords would originally be wrapped so as to get an idea on how to get an authentic and functional end result. Leather, being expensive and hard to work with, was not an option in my case. After a bit of trial and error, and some modifications for improvement, I have finally come upon a worthy design. I decided to make a quick guide on how I make them, in hopes of helping a sword-swinger facing a similar predicament.
Materials:
A Sword (of course), some Scissors, a length of soft-fiber thin rope, and grip tape (made of rubber, not the same as electrical tape).
Begin by looping the rope around the base of the sword as the picture shows below.
This length of rope running along the side of the grip will have the remaining rope wound around it. This allows a tight fit which wont come loose and gives the grip an added level of surfaces to it (instead of rectangular it becomes hexagonal).
To make the blade symmetrical, a short length of cut string is added to the opposite side of the grip and tucked underneath the next loop, as shown below.
Make sure not to pull this string too hard as it can come loose.
Continue to wind the rope around the grip. Keep the rope tight at all times, and give it a good tug every rotation or two. Make sure that the two parallel strings stay centered along the grip as you wind the rope around them. Pull the wound rope towards the pommel every few rotations to prevent gaps between the loops.
OPTIONAL: As you continue making rotations along the grip, you can at any point choose to make a double-loop. This is where the rope is wrapped on top of the previous loop to modify the surface of the grip as shown below.
The loop performs one complete rotation, then crosses back over and overlaps at the same location in which the rope originally deviated, as shown below.
sorry for the blurry photo
Note that on one surface of the grip the double-loop will cross over itself, while on the other side it remains straight. After you have made the double-loops, you can shift it around a bit to position it just right.
I decided on two double-loops for this sword.
As you continue making tight loops of rope, you will eventually run out of wooden grip to cover. Be sure to make as many loops as possible, so that the last one you make will tightly fit in between the guard and the loops, as seen below.
Cut the length of rope at the end of this loop rotation as shown. If you did it right, your hands and fingers should be painful and aching from ropeburn and strain by now. Take a moment to stretch them and relax.
Note that this sword, with a 4 and 1/2 inch grip, took 22 feet of rope to wrap.
Then, following in the same rotation direction as the rope, begin your grip tape wrap over the wound rope beginning at the end you just cut.
Do two complete rotations of the tape at the top of the grip without yet shifting it into an angled spiral. Let the tape hang over the top edge bordering the guard slightly and tuck it between the rope and the guard. Like with the rope, keep the tape tight as you wrap it around at all times.
Begin to shift the tape to spiral towards the pommel. You can adjust the thickness of your grip by having more or less angle to each rotation. I prefer a tape wrap where each new rotation covers an additional 1/8th inch of rope.
You will eventually reach the pommel. End your tape wrap much the same as you began it, with two non-angled rotations which overlap the pommel slightly (and get tucked in).
Cut the tape cleanly with your scissors, angling the cut so it is longer near the pommel. Do your best to tuck this end of tape between the pommel and the rope.
You are now done. Congrats! Note that the grip will be a bit sticky, but time (and use) will make it less so.
I hope you enjoyed my humble guide. Feel free to comment or make suggestions, as I'm sure I'm not the only person to customize their waster grips.
I'm just doing some "envelope math" because I was at the airport with my wife and bored out of my skull. 
