Adding a Cord Wrapped Style to Your Leather Grip.
Feb 25, 2011 8:25:05 GMT
Post by Greg on Feb 25, 2011 8:25:05 GMT
With many of us getting the new Hanwei/Tinker (H/T) line of swords, we our finding ourselves missing the feel of the cord wrapped texture. This mini tutorial will show you that it's rather easy, and you might even pick up a few tricks.
Step 1: Apply Water
I prefer using a paper towel so that the water is held up against the leather longer. Any sort of cloth would work, but we are going for an even distribution of water along the grip's surface:
I usually like to let mine soak for about 10-15 mins. It can be hard to gauge how long you'll need to soak the grip. Dealing with the tanned side, as opposed to the rough side, of leather can make absorption difficult. Some people might tell you to keep pouring hot water over the area. I do not find this beneficial.
Since we are already dealing with water, leather, glue and a wooden core, over-soaking can be an issue. If the water soaks to deeply into the wooden core, then bad things can start happening like warping or cracking. I've found just 10-15 mins of paper towel soaking works just fine.
A great way to test the leather to see if it's soaked through, is to take your fingernail, and gently make a mark in the leather. It's best to try and make the mark in the same direction that you'll be binding. If the leather keeps the mark, even after you brush the water away, then it's ready to bind.
Step 2: Bind
Hopefully you have some sort of twine, string, cord, rope, fishnet stocking, thread, etc, to bind with. Keep in mind that the texture and size of the cord will imprint on your scabbard. I've tried to outsmart the system and used electrical tape before, thinking that it would just give me a smooth surface, but even the edges of the tape had left marks.
Also, be aware of any substance on the string. I have a spool of 'yard string' that is waxed. This did not make for a pleasant grip afterwords. You'll also want to make sure that it's generally free of dirt, dust or anything else that you don't want on your grip.
The following picture is how I generally set up my binding jobs:
(Ignore the butter knifes for now) It is not necessary to have such an elaborate setup. You could use a padded bench vice, or heck, even a stack of heavy books laying on top of your blade. The process goes a lot easier, and a lot safer, if you have something to hold your blade.
Avoid traveling over risers. If your grip has any risers in it, plan to skip thos. If the grip starts with a riser and you don't have anything to tie the cord to, then get a semi heavy object, like a stapler, and tie one end of your cord to it. Let that hang directly below the first riser. The object will keep the pressure applied until you are done with that section. Then just wrap the grip back up to where you started, and tie the whole thing off.
I also like to sprinkle some water over the area I just bound. It lets the peaks soak up the water and become more peaky, and the valleys become deeper as well. I'd also like to think that it makes the pattern more uniform. I have no proof if this happens or not.
Remember, take your time and make sure that the cord is connecting with itself while you wrap. You don't want to be able to see any of the grip through the cord. If you do, this will cause a mini leather riser to form in that area.
Remember tho's butter knives I told you to ignore? Well you can remember them now. Before you bind, you might want to consider imprinting an object onto the grip. The above picture with the butter knives sticking out of it will turn out to look something like this:
The depth of the imprint will largely be determined by the thickness of the leather, and how hard you bind it. For the above picture, I was using a rather thick leather and bound it till my arms were sore. Also, I played around with the winding pattern a bit near the guard. I've wanted to try an ito style binding, but haven't had the patience to do that on leather yet.
Step 3: Wait
Depending on how thick the leather was to begin with, I like to wait between 12 and 24 hours until I take off the binding. On one of my grips I had taken the string off after 6 hours. This wasn't bad, but I could tell the leather was still damp and opted not to cut with it. The fingernail test kinda still works, but I can leave a slight groove on grips that I finished months ago.
There is another method to tell if it's dry. But it requires another sword. Feel the grip on the non-worked grip, then compare the worked grip with the 'normal' one. If the worked grip feels cooler, then it still has some moisture down inside.
You CAN go ahead and use it, but the pattern won't be as crisp and you'll end up with some flat spots.
Examples from the H/T line:
Here is the GSOW. As you can see, it has it's fair share of risers. I basically treated this as two separate grips. I'd work the top one, tie it off to itself, then work the bottom. I went ahead and put a single binding in between the risers to make them really stand out.
Oh! And I don't know if you can notice, but on the flat sides of the grip the tooling really doesn't show. If you want to make this area stand out more, you should think about putting a plank of wood on either side and clamp them down.
Next we have the Longsword. Remember, the longer the grip, the longer the job. If you have to pause to step away from it, make sure you have something you can either tie the string to or some sort of clip to keep constant pressure. If you just let it go, the binding will want to unravel.
And lastly, the EMSHS. I saved this one for after the Longsword, so that it seemed all the more quicker, due to the shorter handle.
I've really wanted to cut out small 2D shapes out of sheet metal and press tho's into the leather before binding. But, by the time I remember, I'm already half way into the job. I do have another grip that needs wrapping, so perhaps I'll remember then.
Well, if this has helped or inspired even one person, then it was worth the time to put together. I hope that my details didn't become to boring, but I often go off on a rant when I'm here.
Step 1: Apply Water
I prefer using a paper towel so that the water is held up against the leather longer. Any sort of cloth would work, but we are going for an even distribution of water along the grip's surface:
I usually like to let mine soak for about 10-15 mins. It can be hard to gauge how long you'll need to soak the grip. Dealing with the tanned side, as opposed to the rough side, of leather can make absorption difficult. Some people might tell you to keep pouring hot water over the area. I do not find this beneficial.
Since we are already dealing with water, leather, glue and a wooden core, over-soaking can be an issue. If the water soaks to deeply into the wooden core, then bad things can start happening like warping or cracking. I've found just 10-15 mins of paper towel soaking works just fine.
A great way to test the leather to see if it's soaked through, is to take your fingernail, and gently make a mark in the leather. It's best to try and make the mark in the same direction that you'll be binding. If the leather keeps the mark, even after you brush the water away, then it's ready to bind.
Step 2: Bind
Hopefully you have some sort of twine, string, cord, rope, fishnet stocking, thread, etc, to bind with. Keep in mind that the texture and size of the cord will imprint on your scabbard. I've tried to outsmart the system and used electrical tape before, thinking that it would just give me a smooth surface, but even the edges of the tape had left marks.
Also, be aware of any substance on the string. I have a spool of 'yard string' that is waxed. This did not make for a pleasant grip afterwords. You'll also want to make sure that it's generally free of dirt, dust or anything else that you don't want on your grip.
The following picture is how I generally set up my binding jobs:
(Ignore the butter knifes for now) It is not necessary to have such an elaborate setup. You could use a padded bench vice, or heck, even a stack of heavy books laying on top of your blade. The process goes a lot easier, and a lot safer, if you have something to hold your blade.
Avoid traveling over risers. If your grip has any risers in it, plan to skip thos. If the grip starts with a riser and you don't have anything to tie the cord to, then get a semi heavy object, like a stapler, and tie one end of your cord to it. Let that hang directly below the first riser. The object will keep the pressure applied until you are done with that section. Then just wrap the grip back up to where you started, and tie the whole thing off.
I also like to sprinkle some water over the area I just bound. It lets the peaks soak up the water and become more peaky, and the valleys become deeper as well. I'd also like to think that it makes the pattern more uniform. I have no proof if this happens or not.
Remember, take your time and make sure that the cord is connecting with itself while you wrap. You don't want to be able to see any of the grip through the cord. If you do, this will cause a mini leather riser to form in that area.
Remember tho's butter knives I told you to ignore? Well you can remember them now. Before you bind, you might want to consider imprinting an object onto the grip. The above picture with the butter knives sticking out of it will turn out to look something like this:
The depth of the imprint will largely be determined by the thickness of the leather, and how hard you bind it. For the above picture, I was using a rather thick leather and bound it till my arms were sore. Also, I played around with the winding pattern a bit near the guard. I've wanted to try an ito style binding, but haven't had the patience to do that on leather yet.
Step 3: Wait
Depending on how thick the leather was to begin with, I like to wait between 12 and 24 hours until I take off the binding. On one of my grips I had taken the string off after 6 hours. This wasn't bad, but I could tell the leather was still damp and opted not to cut with it. The fingernail test kinda still works, but I can leave a slight groove on grips that I finished months ago.
There is another method to tell if it's dry. But it requires another sword. Feel the grip on the non-worked grip, then compare the worked grip with the 'normal' one. If the worked grip feels cooler, then it still has some moisture down inside.
You CAN go ahead and use it, but the pattern won't be as crisp and you'll end up with some flat spots.
Examples from the H/T line:
Here is the GSOW. As you can see, it has it's fair share of risers. I basically treated this as two separate grips. I'd work the top one, tie it off to itself, then work the bottom. I went ahead and put a single binding in between the risers to make them really stand out.
Oh! And I don't know if you can notice, but on the flat sides of the grip the tooling really doesn't show. If you want to make this area stand out more, you should think about putting a plank of wood on either side and clamp them down.
Next we have the Longsword. Remember, the longer the grip, the longer the job. If you have to pause to step away from it, make sure you have something you can either tie the string to or some sort of clip to keep constant pressure. If you just let it go, the binding will want to unravel.
And lastly, the EMSHS. I saved this one for after the Longsword, so that it seemed all the more quicker, due to the shorter handle.
I've really wanted to cut out small 2D shapes out of sheet metal and press tho's into the leather before binding. But, by the time I remember, I'm already half way into the job. I do have another grip that needs wrapping, so perhaps I'll remember then.
Well, if this has helped or inspired even one person, then it was worth the time to put together. I hope that my details didn't become to boring, but I often go off on a rant when I'm here.