Covering handles for crops and other items

[Drac]

TOOL LIST

Template

24" straight edge

Small hammer

Kite string (yes. Kite string)

Scratch awl

Pneumatic stapler (with 18 ga. x 1" staples) or you can use 1 1/4" x 16 nails

65mm rolling cutter

Leather shears

Exacto knife

6" metal molded ruler

45 degree corner line placer for 2x4s

Small curved forceps

Needle nose pliers

Pencil, pen, silver ink pen

13" straight edge

Lacing needle (not pictured)

Small fib (not pictured)

Something to cut the dowel (I use a miter saw) (not pictured)

Pick what leather you want to use for your tails, your handle braid, your Turks heads, the handle base (1" OAK dowel), leather glue (not pictured), gel super glue (not pictured), ½" x 19 nails, and some tacks.

Edited January 25, 2008 by Johanna

[Drac]

Pick your handle braid style.

Cut your handle braid leather (½ " x 13" or 14" for most handle braids)

Take the 2x4 corner angle tool and use it to draw a line on the end of the dowel after cutting it to the length you want. I use 7". Turn the dowel 90 degrees and do the same thing again so you have an "X".

Take the pencil, set it on top of one of the straight edges, place the end of the dowel you made the "X" mark on against the edge and the pencil and spin it so you have a line all the way around it about 1/8" from the end.

Line a tack up with the lines and make a hole with it at all 4 points.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Drac

[Drac]

Now take a tack and put a hole at one end of each handle braid strip.

Now put a ½" x 19 nail through 2 strips according to what pattern you picked.

Use the needle nose pliers to hold the nail in the starter hole you made in the dowel and hammer it in with the small hammer. Make sure you don't set the nail completely yet since it needs to rotate some.

The end should like about like this.

[Drac]

Cut the end of the top strips at an angle. About 30 degrees.

Now start wrapping the lower strips around the handle with them lined up right next to each other. Try to keep them a little snug, but too snug. It'll take some practice to find the right bit of snugness.

When you get to the end use tacks to tack the ends of the strips to the dowel. Make sure you push the tacks in really well.

Now take the curved forceps and go under a wrapped strip, grab the end of a top strip and pull it through.

Keep going all the way down the handle making sure your braid lines are running straight.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Drac

[Drac]

When you get to the end nail 'em down with the ½" x 19 nails, trim the excess, and finish setting the nails at the other end so both ends look like this.

Now take a bit of the leather you're using for your tails and cut a strip that's as long as your tail section will be wide and 1" or 1 1/8" wide. Use 1' for thicker, heavier leather and 1 1/8" for lighter leather (suede, deer tanned, deer, etc). use this chart for figuring your tail section. W = tail width, X = number of tails, plus ½".My usual is 25 tails that are ½" wide, so I have ½" x 25 + ½" = 13". (WxX+½"=T)

Now attach the strip to one end of the handle (I use gel super glue) and wrap it around making sure it's lined up with the end.

[Drac]

I use more super glue to stick the end in place until it's stapled down.

Now use the pneumatic stapler to attach the leather. 2 at the end, then 3 more around the handle at 3, 6, and 9 (think of a clock with the first 2 being 12 when looking at the handle from the end).

Now glue a piece of scrap of the same leather as the tails to the end. I use Leather Weld for this bit.

When the glue's dry trim it down with either the leather shears (easier for us lefties) or the exacto knife

[Drac]

Turkshead! I'll let you decide what kind you want to use. Mine are always this one (the only one I figured out) and are made using 3/16" beveled lacing and the end is super glued when finished and tucked.

Now cut your tail blank. (W = tail width, X = number of tails, plus ½". My usual is 25 tails that are ½" wide, so I have ½" x 25 + ½" = 13". (WxX+½"=T)). for length whatever length you want plus 1". my tails are 20" long so my blank is 21" on the long side and 13" on the short. Take a scratch awl or pen and mark a line 1" from one of the short edges. For darker leathers I use the silver ink pen, for lighter leathers the black ink pen, and for suedes the scratch awl. You can see the line I made on this piece.

[Drac]

Take the long straight edge and place it on the leather lengthwise, and use the metal ruler to measure your tail width. Cut towards the line to prevent stretch. Get close to the line but don't go past it.

When you get to the end cut off that bit of excess. Now take the exacto and finish the cuts right to the line. This way you don't end up with strays when it's used.

Make a line one inch from the end all the way around on the end opposite the Turkshead on the handle.

Now attach the tails to the handle the same way the other end was done making sure the edge lines up with the line.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Drac

[Drac]

Use the kite string to gather the tails tightly together about ¼" from the ends at the base. 4 or 5 wraps is usually enough. pull is snug as you're wrapping it then tie a square knot.

Do your Turkshead, remove the kite string, make sure you know how to use it and voila! Spankies all around!

[leatheroo]

Drac, these are wonderful instructions and so clear, thank you for taking the time and effort to do this.

This is a very GENEROUS thing to do.

Many many thanks.

[wolvenstien]

Thank you Drac

[Chitin]

Thank you Drac

This is a fantastic tutorial! If I may suggest one addendum to the design - why not use a thinner dowel and have the tail leather extend all the way down through the handle, then braid over that? This improves durability, balance, and makes the handle a little bit soft so that it's easier to the grip.

[howardb]

Drac,

Thank you! I'm knot much of a braider (hahahahaha), but some GREAT tips on toy making here. I will definitely be adding one of these to my list of things I can't show my mother in law.

Brent

[Drac]

leatheroo

I figured if other professionals here were nice enough to show how they make some of their items, then I could too. making this stuff was me livelihood for a long time, but I'll still share (unlike most in me biz).

chitin

with the way I attach tails, no loss of durability. you can hang from me floggers. also, I've seen 'em done the way you're talking about and seen the handle break during a hard session. plus it's very hard to get a consistent handle size. I actually used to do them like that (never heard of any of mine breaking) and I'd used electrical tape to do a compressing wrap before doing the handle braid. another problem is when done like that you get a seam that runs down the handle. it's not that noticeable with softer leathers, but something like latigo definitely shows it. also I've noticed the balance tends to vary a lot from flogger to flogger when done that way. when done this way the balance point is about a 1/4" into the top turkshead out from the handle. but let's face it, balance doesn't really mean anything since there's so many different ways to hold a flogger. it's more about what feels right for an individual.

howard

I don't think of the the handle being braided until is done since I suck at round braiding anything more than 4 strands. that's why I came up with the way i do the handle braid. it's much quicker and easier. try it and you'll see what I mean. the only semi-difficult part of it is figuring out how snug to wrap and pull, and you figure that out fairly quickly. plus, an advantage to it is if you have to let go it for some reason it's not gonna unravel itself.

[Chitin]

Interesting... I'd never thought of it that way! Thanks!

Also thanks for the supplier tip in the other thread, I'd been wondering that for a long time!

[Johanna]

Drac- Thank you! Really well done lesson there, and we all appreciate the time it took to put that together for us. You're a peach!

Johanna

[Alexblow]

Waouw,what a tutorial ! Clean,clear,easy to learn !

You've said "i suck at round braiding",i don't think so ...What a fantastic work.

Its so generous,thank you for sharing.

[Drac]

alex

*L* thanks, but I'm actually no good at the round braiding. I can only do a 4 strand round braid the normal way, and I'll still screw up on those occasionally. that's why I came up with doing the handles with the wrapping and pulling the other strands through. made it much simpler, quicker and easier for me. the hardest part was figuring out how to do the turksheads. me head exploded several times over those, not to mention the migraines. that's why I only figured out the one turkshead braid.

[Maeshin]

Wow, just wow! Fabulous post ^_^ Thank you very much for that incredibly thorough tutorial. I'll have to give it a try now that I know how to go about it ^_^

[Drac]

so, everybody's had a few days, let's see some pics o' work!

[leatheroo]

drac, my heads still exploding over the turks head

[Drac]

*L* yeah, mine did too. several times. but I was having to figure it all out meself without a snazzy site like this. maybe I'll attempt a tutorial on how I do mine.

and BTW, I've gotten to the point where to do a flogger from start to finish takes me about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. that took me awhile though.

[broncobuster]

very nice tutorial. Im planning on doing a few things. got a biker party at a nudist camp lol so going to make some stuff like this. this campground not far away n they have a lot of this alternative stuff.(just speaking in mild way lol) my mouth is more expressive if I talk at ya in person lol. they are after me to come to all there events. most things dont bother me but im sure i could get a bit red at a couple of these events they hold. I know the owner. so Ill leave it at that lol. thanks again this is a new area of leatherwork for me. sort of :angel_not:

[The Major]

Drac,

Thanks for the tutorial. Good info.

[Spider]

Hey Drac, you read my mind. I was wondering and looking for a book on braiding handles. This seems like an easy but stylish way to do it. Very nice and thanks again.