[Chris Olsen]

Hi, I am in the process of re-building a few swords I have lying around, and want to give my own wire wrap a try, and I am at a loss as to figuring out how to measure the amount of wire I need. does anyone have any insight in how to do this, I did try to search the forums but was un-succesful, although I may have not put in the right criteria.

thanks in adavance

[Eric Allen]

Hmm,

Well, I suppose you could:

a) wrap a piece of kitestring around the hilt, then measure how much string you used.

b)Measure the diameter of the wire, and measure the length of the hilt and divide by the diameter of the wire to determine the number of whorls, then multiply the circumference of the hilt by the number of whorls.

c) Use a long piece of wire--more than you could possibly need--and cut it off when you reach the end.

d) guess

[Jim Adams]

Chris--

Finally discussion I can contribute something to...

You will likely need much more wire than you think. A moderately thick, four-inch grip (DT 2130) took almost an entire 50-foot coil of 20g wire. The length of the wire after twisting was about 20' or so. You'll need more length if you go with a thinner-gauge; less if you go with thicker-gauge. A Type XX sword with 6" of wood to wrap, took more than 25' of single-twist 18g, plus about 12' of untwisted 22g.

You can always clip when you reach the end, but you can't add if you run out half-way.

[Jim Adams]

Just wanted to add what might be self-evident: the tighter you twist your wire, the shorter the length will be when you're done. But you will want to twist the wire as tightly as you safely can--the strand will wrap more easily and neatly.

Annealed wire twists--and wraps--best.

[Thomas Watt]

Are you thinking brass/copper wire for this wrap?
Or something else?
I ask out of curiousity, as I have no idea what material would be ideal for the wrap, and am amassing project info/ideas.

[Chris M.]

i use 35ft of stainless 20ga wire for a four inch dagger handle about 1 inch accross. i fold it in half and put the 2 ends in a vice, then i chuck the folded end in a drill and run it at low speed. this completly covers the leather back so if your going to do a loose spiral you could use much less wire.

[Bill Love]

Another consideration will be the gauge of the wire and how tight the twist ends up. Too tight a twist, like the spaced out wrap on a typical saber, will gnaw right through the webs of your hands in short order if you wrap it it butted against itself like you would cord. 3/16" per twist in 22 gauge or thereabouts seems to be a good compromise between grip quality and tightness. As to wire type, 22 gauge black annealed steel wire works well, will turn gray after a little use and looks pretty cool. If you are wrapping the grip off the sword, the best thing to do is drill the holes all the way into the inside and put the wire all the way in after pulling it as tight as you can get it. If the grip is mounted, be sure to get as much of the wire ends as you can into the holes and stake the wire if necessary with toothpick slivers dipped in PVA Jade glue, available in the art department of most colleges. PVA is' used for bookmaking and behaves like Elmer's on steroids.