New Handle Wrap for an Old Knife

This instructable is another incarnation of my MAKING/FIXING TOOL GRIPS WITH PLASTIC BOTTLE STRING.

This time I'm wrapping the handle of an old shoemaking knife using this technique.

I always rememder having this pair of shoemaking knifes in our family. One I still use in the workshop. The other one though was a bit misused at some point, so his native plastic handle has fell off.

I have already cleaned the knife up a bit some time ago, and since it was laying on the shelve waiting for handle wrap.

And finaly, recently my aunt has donated me these tops from a couple of leather boots. Saying honestly I'd rather them intact since the're absulutelly knew. Well.. when life gives you a lemmon... you still need some damn sugar to make a lemonade. ... I'm sad very sad person.

One tongue piece was lsrge enough for what I needed. So I undone some stitches and cut one side to a straight line.

Then I used that edge to align the blade and them measuret it twice to get the width of the piece. I should have really add a couple more milimeters to compensate for the bend. Also the leather will be strethed so you should accomodate for that.

Whan doing jon on sharp tools it's aways a good idea to cover the cutting edge for safety.

Now I'm measuring the lenght of the piece and cutting it to the size.

The knife has an opening at the rear end that was used to hold it in handle. I'm going to utilize it so I'm marking it placement on the wrap piece.

Cutting holes with a hole punch.

To lace the wrap we'll need to punch some holes along the edges. To mark the spacing I'm using simple improvise device... 2000!!!

Now punch the holes. Round or rounded to prevent tear. Also make sure, you have the same ammount of them on each side.

Then, wet the piece to wash the marking, but mainly, to soak it up with water a bit to increse the flexability of leather.

Before securing the wrap with lacing, rub the blade with some machine oil to prevent rust.

Secure the wrap on the blade, and ten secure the blade. But you can hold it in your hand.

For lacing I'm going to use a plasic strip made of a plastic bottle. At some point I was experimenting with it and done some interesting stuff, like, for example these:

- STRAIGTENING PLASTIC (PET) STRIP AND MORE

- MAKING A BRUSH FROM A PLASTIC BOTTLE

- ADVANCED BRUSH FROM PLASTIC BOTTLES

You can lace with leather as well. You can also do different type of lacing but I find this one most practical in terms of efforts and the result.

Sorry for not showing the process of lacing in more details. My friend asked his camera back, the camera that wass good, so I have lefts with mine that doesn't get focused on what you're showing to it, like, whatsoever, so at this point I was erritated so much so I had to take a break to calm down. But this lasing is quiet easy to figure out, and I believe you won't any problems with that.

When finnished with lacing, cut the ends a bit long and hide them inside.

At this point edges on the plastic strip are a bit sharp and lacing is a bit rough to touch. We're going to apply heat to it to fix this problem, but main reason why we want to do it, is to shrink the string so It pulls the lacing tighter.

Use a heat gun. I don't have any so i just pour a boiling water on the lacing.

After that I've left the knife outside for the wrap to dry.

Some shooewax to protect the leather.

And a leather loop through the opening finishes this project.

The handle feels nice in hand. The lacing placed on the cutting side gives nice grip for fingers. One downside of using leather to wrap metal stuff though is that if it'll get moist the metal underneath will rust, so take care to keep it dry.

Well, this is it for now. Thanks for your attention and have some nice handles.

Also, you can find me on facebook.