What to use for handle wrap on viking axe?

H

Hawgsnawt

Joined
Aug 16, 2015
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Hey guys...

I'm getting ready for the summer projects... things to do here in Texas when its just too hot to be outside during the day...

To that end, I've bought a couple Cold Steel Viking axes, hand axes, war hammers and spears....all the usual suspects.

I want to strip the heads and cold blue them, stain the handles, then give them some kind of leather handle wrap.....so I go to Fleabay looking for leather supplies to use as a wrap and I either end up with 197,000 results.... or if I try and narrow it down, I get leather belt blanks....too thick to use as a handle wrap.

The closest thing I've been able to find to what I'm looking for is leather bicycle tape.... but its all very highly finished stuff and thusly very friggin expensive for my needs....

Suggestions?....I know I'm not the first guy to mod a Cold Steel axe or Tomahawk and wrap the handle.....what are you guys using and where are you getting it?

Thanks!!!
 
I dont know whats "authentic".
I suppose thousands of Vikings had wrapped handles & just as many were not.
Anyway, I would go with rawhide strip wrapped or plaited. Applied tight whilst wet. Finished off with multiple wrapps of sinew threads.
 
craft shops have bags of leather remnants for cheap. you can make your own strips and follow lieblads advice.
 
Check out some of the leather wraps on old tennis rackets. Second hand stores practically give them rackets away. Some of them older ones have real nice leather handles.
 
A plain Wood handle would probably be most "Authentic".
Norwegians used Axe as weapons for peasants long after the viking age; several of them are in museums, none of them has leather wrapped handles.
 
Yeah I would tend to agree that the leather obsession is primarily a movie thing. By the same token, who cares? When I look for leather on ebay I search for the ounce weight/thickness I want. Like 2-3oz maybe for what you're looking for. I also search for "trim pieces" and "remnants". That should weed out a lot of the rest. If you want to just by strap vs making your own, you could search specifically for strap. I had good luck putting in "2-3 oz leather strap" just now, or you could try 3-4 oz or whatever if you want a thicker strap.
 
for the record, I found a source for 72-90 inch leather straps in your choice of thickness from between a 2oz to 12oz for about 10 bucks each..choose from 1/4 inch all the way up to 4 inch wide strips broken down in 1/4 inch increments .... I'd post a link for anyone else who may be searching for such a supplier but as they are not paid members I do not know the rules for such considering they do not sell knives.

They do have better prices on this kind of stuff than I have been able to find anywhere else though...

Which leads to the next question... which would make a better wrap? 1 inch width? 1.5 inch width? and will I have better results with 3oz or 4oz? just looking at the scale on Tandy websight, I'm thinking 3oz would be better.... but I don't know how far off what I'm seeing is to actual size based on moniter distortion and display resolution settings... 3oz is 1.2mm thick.... 4oz is 1.6mm

I know if its too thick it will want to roll pretty badly where it overlaps....
 
cityofthesouth said:
Yeah I would tend to agree that the leather obsession is primarily a movie thing. By the same token, who cares? When I look for leather on ebay I search for the ounce weight/thickness I want. Like 2-3oz maybe for what you're looking for. I also search for "trim pieces" and "remnants". That should weed out a lot of the rest. If you want to just by strap vs making your own, you could search specifically for strap. I had good luck putting in "2-3 oz leather strap" just now, or you could try 3-4 oz or whatever if you want a thicker strap.
Click to expand...
There's a Tandy leather on Northwest Hwy in East Dallas. The guys are relatively helpful and there always seems to be a discount/scrap table if that helps any.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
Hawgsnawt said:
for the record, I found a source for 72-90 inch leather straps in your choice of thickness from between a 2oz to 12oz for about 10 bucks each..choose from 1/4 inch all the way up to 4 inch wide strips broken down in 1/4 inch increments .... I'd post a link for anyone else who may be searching for such a supplier but as they are not paid members I do not know the rules for such considering they do not sell knives.

They do have better prices on this kind of stuff than I have been able to find anywhere else though...

Which leads to the next question... which would make a better wrap? 1 inch width? 1.5 inch width? and will I have better results with 3oz or 4oz? just looking at the scale on Tandy websight, I'm thinking 3oz would be better.... but I don't know how far off what I'm seeing is to actual size based on moniter distortion and display resolution settings... 3oz is 1.2mm thick.... 4oz is 1.6mm

I know if its too thick it will want to roll pretty badly where it overlaps....
Click to expand...

4oz is like 1/16th - I suppose any thicker than that and you'd have to wrap it with the edges butter together. For $10 I would just get something in the 2-4oz range or a piece of each, and see what looks best to you. That sort of stuff is always handy to have around even if it doesn't work for this project. As far as width, I'd say that is really just personal preference, or the look you are after.
 
In this video you can see the leather wrap I put on my CS Viking hand axe. If you're interested, I can go through my Amazon records and find what I used. It was a 1/2" strip of saddle leather.

[video=youtube;V5BPPf0gQfE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BPPf0gQfE&app=desktop[/video]
 
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