Leather wrapped handles

A.McPherson

A.McPherson

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Jan 27, 2012
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Hey guys, I'm making a leather wrapped wooden handle. The wood of the handle well be completely covered by the leather wrap. Any recommendations for wood type? I was leaning towards oak, since it's available, dense and fairly cheap...
 
My suggestion to you is Oak. The porous/open grain is great for epoxying stuff to. I would wet the oak to raise the grain, let it dry, then do your wrap.

I suppose I should ask what type/style of wrap you are doing? That makes a difference in how you would go about things.
 
I was planning on doing a 3 stand cockscomb with a tripple Turkshead acting as the "guard" for lack of a better term.
 
So I finally got around to drawing up what I planned to do with the handle of this knife





So what do you guys think?
 
looks good.
Something you might want to know:
Heat shrinks leather. So if you wrapped your handle and afterwards go over it with a heat gun (or hair dryer)
the leather will shrink a bit and will give a tighter fit.
(works with sheaths as well)
 
Are you putting the "cockscomb" braided part on the top or bottom of the handle? (When you hold the knife, will it be in your palm or at your fingers?) The two areas of the hand that get the most abuse with knives are the first inch or so of the index finger and the heel of the palm. Both would be in contact with the woven part if it was on top. I would put it on the bottom... but I have no experience with that wrap so take it with a grain of salt, bud.
 
It will be on the bottom(finger area). I kinda thought it would be a good "index" point, plus I think it'll look cool. Then again it could turn out to be ugly and uncomfortable! Lol! Only time will tell!
 
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