[Julien M]

Hi all,

First I'll say a few words to introduce myself. My name is Julien, I'm a French born guy now living in London. It is my first post on myArmoury, but like many I have been crawling this forum daily for years now, trying to educate myself further in the matter of swords and learning about the treacherous subtleties of the modern replica market.

As far as I can remember, I have been interested in matters related to swords. I was (and still am) a Tolkien enthusiast, I studied history in university (even though I then spent most of my time then playing RPG at night at the time). My interest in swords became more specific when I became eager to find a "real sword" on the internet 5 years ago. The rest is easy to guess, since anyone who seriously asks himself that question should end up posting here after buying a handful of Ewart Oakeshott books and a few carbon steel blades.

My "collection" is very modest at present. My first sword was the well known Towton sword, shortly followed by a dynasty forge 1060 katana. I also own a genuine 1851 French Infantry short sword and a rather crude Guadeloupian machete (perfect for practicing polishing). I have been satisfied with those for a while now, but I’m afraid it won’t last since I’ve had my eyes on the Albion Crecy for too long now.

Now back to the topic of this post: making a new grip for the Towton. It is a well known fact that most windlass swords come with rather low quality grips. For all its improvements, the Towton was no exception. The grip is far too thick, made of poor quality leather, and worse, allowed no secure grip on the sword. The sword being rather slender and nicely proportioned, I had been keen on improving it the minute I took the sword out of the box. Though I’ve never seen nor touch an Albion sword yet (if someone is willing to show me one in London I’d be interested!), I found their grips to be very elegant and decided to try my luck at doing such an handle for my Towton. I’ve been reading thoroughly every post written on the subject of grip wrapping on myArmoury (especially Peter Johnson post) as well as Sean Flint customisation guides. All very precious advices that gave me a fairly good idea of the process.

But since it was my first try, two things really inspired me to start on the right foot: the short Albion video (how its made) were you can actually see how they wrap a sword (it’s brief, but I noticed that there was no cord underwrap, that the pattern were actually an imprint of the overwrap, I could have a better idea of the thickness of the leather used, how the raisers are placed and so on). The second is Greyson Brown’s wrapping of a maglite. Since I was sure to screw up the first attempt better make those mistakes on a worthless object than on the sword itself. So I did a quick and crude try on the first thing at hand, a large pen. I tried different combinations on it, with and without underwrap, different overwrap cord size, different raiser sizes etc and made all possible mistakes you can think of. From that I could decide that no underwrap would do best. My advice to all that want to attempt such an endeavour is not to skip this crucial trial step.

I won’t go into too many details, the process is well known here I’m sure. For materials I used cotton twine for the raisers, very thin lamb skin (a nightmare to find, prices on the net are off putting too…finely found plenty for 5 pounds a meter in a London flee market), nylon cord for the overwrap, and epoxy to bind it all. I did a lot of reshaping of the wooden grip before, using sandpaper and files.

Conclusion:

I am rather pleased with the results, but couldn't avoid a few mistakes. I did clamp the sword to allow better control during the overwrap but as a result I was hardly able to check the side facing the ground. Also I won’t try to pass over the raisers again when doing the overwrap, it leaves a mark and I wanted them well defined (next time I’ll cut the cord, attach a weight and will continue overwrapping using a new bit of cord on the other side of the raiser. Finally, I won’t use epoxy again for that kind of work, it is damn smelly when you’re working indoors, but it’s also too thick and increases the risks of getting bulges and other oddities. I’ll go for a lighter glue next time (any suggestions btw?). I’ll probably let this grip sit for a few month, take it off and do it all over again to get it better.

Pictures attached, looking forward to read your comments!

Cheers,

J.

[Julien M]

a closeup and a shot of the back as well, less satisfying (you can see marks on the raisers I was talking about previously).

Cheers,

J.

[Richard Gessman]

Wow, for your first serious re-wrap that turned out extremely well, it looks much better than I could have done.

Edit: Looks like you posted the second picture while I was writing.

Even with that crease being visible, the wrap still looks very good. And if you do end up trying it again, I'm sure it will turn out even better.

[Corey D. Sullivan]

Wow, very, very nice Julien. These lower-end swords always look worlds better with a proper grip wrap.

As for your question about glue, I've found that ordinary wood glue works well, though hide glue is better if you can get it.

Congrats, and welcome to the forum.

[Gary A. Chelette]

Very well done, that's all I can say. I have a Del Tin Bastard sword I'd like to redo and you may have given me the excuse to try.

It's ugly, but I bought it that way. The handle is loose as well.

[Dan Dickinson]

Looks quite good, especially for a first attempt.
I would second the vote for hide glue.
Dan

[David Sutton]

That is a brilliant job you did on your Towton grip, Julien. I think I would be loathed to rip it of and start again, this first attempt looks very good. You might have a little trouble shifting epoxy if you do decide to redo it. On the few occasions I've used epoxy (none of them sword related) it has set like concrete when mixed properly.

Did you do anything to the sheen on the hilt of your sword, it looks a little more satin than the way MRL/Windlass fnnishes them? Maybe its the just the photos? I used some sand paper and sword oil (finnishing with fine scotch brite and oil) to knock back that mirror sheen, on my MRL Ulfberht sword, to a nice satin. I think a mirror sheen looks a little gaudy and a historical.

What materials did you use for the wrap and where did you get them?

[Julien M]

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for your encouraging comments! You mentionned hide glue Corey, I've seen it on this forum once or twice. I'll look around see if can get some or will try regular glue next time.

David, I actually did a first wrap on this sword and was about to let it rest for the night when I realized that by binding it I uncovered two millimeter at the base of the hilt, just below the guard, showing the bare wood. After a good amount of swearing, I decided to take it of and redo it all over again. It came of quiet easily, the leather and cord having soaked most of the glue, but the epoxy was probably not completely dry too (of course that previous attempt showed no defect at all when I took the overwrap off ) Regarding the hilt and blade, you're right, I've removed all that glossy varnish using steel wool, sandpaper etc. But I still need to finish it with some metal polish. About the material used, I've mentionned them all in the post above. The harder to find was the leather. I'm pretty sure the piece I have is lamb skin, bought in fieldsmarket (london, liverpool street tube station). Most of what is sold there probably comes from old leather clothes, but is perfect for that kind of use (and very cheap!)

Cheers,
J.

[Hugo Voisine]

Very well done Julien, especially for your first (or should I say second) attempt. Have you applied beewax on the leather, like Albion does ?

[Julien M]

Hi Hugo,

I used regular shoe polish and cream to finish the grip. beeswax? The same wax used for wood and furnitures?
Why not. What effect does it have on the leather? Does it contribute to that matte effect visible on Albion's grips? David, you use oil to polish your sword. I've used dry sandpaper only so far. What's the benefit of using oil when doing so?

[Sean Flynt]

Great job! It makes a difference in the handling, too, doesn't it?

[Julien M]

Thanks a lot Sean.
It certainly changes everything in terms of handling. I placed the middle raiser to fit precisely the size of my right hand and the pattern on the leather definitely makes for a safe and comfortable grip. I just wish I wasn't living in a flat...can't afford as much swinging about as I'd like to

[Chad Arnow]

[Greyson Brown]

Julien,

Welcome! That looks really nice. I like the different sizes of risers by the pommel. That is really classy.

I wish I had practiced a bit more before doing my first one. I also need to find some better leather, but, as you pointed out, the prices can be off-putting (good choice of words).

-Grey

[David Sutton]

[Hugo Voisine]

I think Albion use beewax on their grip to "seal" the leather and make it shrink to some degree (I may be wrong on this last portion)...

A good polishing compound for the hilt components and the blade would be some "Metal Glo" paste... I prefer to use it instead of oil. Gets more result quicker.

[Greyson Brown]

[Chase S-R]

Beeswax is easy to put onand does give a matte efect. Use a blow-torch and melt the beeswax on it will go on in globules than re-melt the wax this shrinks and hardens the leather as well as making the globs of beeswax dissapear.

[Julien M]

Thanks to you all for the warm welcome!

It's actually great to be able to discuss such matters (our hobby is often a lonely one, easily considered odd by most to say the least).

All interesting suggestions here, and all duly noted...more things for me to add in my sword toolkit!
I'll begin with metal gloo since achieving an even satin polish is the next step on this project. I'm also working on matching the scabbard (it's still windlass shiny) with the grip. I'll use sand paper on it, then will re dye it in black and will apply shoe polish to finish. That should do the trick. I'm afraid I'll have to rule out hide glue and hot beewax for now. My current working area being the diner table, I'm pretty sure my girlfriend will prefer if I keep the mess to a minimum. Wood glue should do fine for now.

I'm also working on those marks on the raisers too. It seems I can erase those cord markings by applying pressure with a metallic round object on it. You loose a bit of definition on the raiser but I intend to humidify that part of the grip and then bound cord around the raiser again very tightly. let see how that goes too.

Cheers,

J

[David Sutton]

I know exactly what you mean Julien. A friend of mine thinks I totally bonkers, if I ever tell her im going out shopping she asks me 'oh are you off buying more swords'?

I hope you will post more pics of your projects and keep us up to date.

Also a source for period materials that I found on the net:


http://www.traditionalmaterials.co.uk/html/main.php