Let me start by introducing myself. I have lurked on this forum for awhile now, but haven't posted. It was only recently that I seem to have been taking my sword infatuation to the next level. My interest niche is primarily the swords and armour of the 11th Century Normans.
I recently purchased a 1st Gen Albion Mark Hastings X, and dearly love the sword (though it makes the desire for a Next Gen. that much harder to bear :lol: ), however it has inspired me to do a home improvement to an older piece in my collection, an MRL Classic Medieval. I am interested in doing a grip rewrap, and make an period appropriate integral scabbard/belt. However, my leather working experience is fairly limited. I am hoping some of the good people of this forums might have constructive ideas on what I should work on to get my skills up to par for taking on this task. Or should I just dive in, and learn as I go? Ultimately I would like to have the grip and scabbard/belt match, and I think the MRL is a good platform for these renovations. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated...

R. Montague Smith

Hi Robin,

Just dive in! There are some excellent tutorials on rewrapping grips on this site.

To start, check out the following:

http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_antique.php
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=5822
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=3808
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1814

If you do a search on the forums you will find several examples of scabbard making as well. Check out the Favorites feature and look at the Top Favorites. You'll find lots of DIY threads. :)

Best of luck!

There are grip wrapping instructions and photos here:

http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_bench_ws_estoc.html

If you're nervous, just try it on a 1.25' wooden dowel or scrap lumber first. You'll have lots of chamois, twine and glue to experiment with.

Robin,
Both Pamela and Greyson have done great jobs rewrapping grips and have done nice write-ups in the threads posted. If I were you, I'd do like Sean suggested and try it first on a wooden dowel if you are worried. Of course, if it doesn't work out to your liking on the sword, there is always the ol' "give her one more shot".:}

If you're making a scabbard strictly for dress, you will be much happier with a wood-core. Your bud has a very good point about all leather in re-enactment use, but it sounds like that isn't an issue here. Don't be afraid of the leather working. Just take your time and do what comes natural. Use good 2-3 oz. tooling kip leather, keep it damp while you are sewing the edges and remember to burnish it gently with bone or smooth hardwood as it dries and you will have a great finish to dye with. If you decide to tool it, do that after it's sewn on over the wood. Peter Johnsson made a wonderful drawing on how to do a historical scabbard which Patrick Kelly posted here at one time. I'm sure a search would bring it up. It helped me a LOT. Best of luck on both projects!