[Isaac H.]

Hello there,all you do it yourself people I am trying a leather wrap (spiral type) on a dagger for the first time . Doing a leather wrap seems fairly stragihtforward,but i did have a question. Is it best to leave the leather natural until after you fasten it to the grip,and then dye it,or is it better to dye it BEFORE you put it on ?? Is there anything I should watch out for when leather wrapping a grip? Thanks

[Julien M]

You can dye the leather after, it all depends on the color you want to use according to my experience. The only difference is that it can make the seam more visible if you dye it after the wrap (that is if you are overlapping the leather) when using light tones (light brown or red). If you plan to use a dark tone such as black or dark brown, dye after, it will be less messy to handle the piece of leather and won't make any difference. While I am saying this, I have always dyed the leather after for practical reasons (mainly because I did not have vinyl gloves at hand).

Among the things to pay attention to in order to have a nice finish: use leather or cord for risers, cord being more tricky to handle because it hardens when you glue it in place at the area were both ends meet around the grip. This can result in an ugly thing under the leather.

Also choose the thinnest leather you can find. I have seen many wrapping with too thick a piece.

Don't be too impatient to check the result and leave it to rest with the cord over wrap overnight. (again, an advice I rarely follow )

The rest is pretty straight forward. Good luck!

J

[Isaac H.]

Thanks you so much ,Julien that's just what I needed to know ....