By special request I am doing a tutorial on how I make leather wraps on my sabers. This will cover my method for making and stitching a wrap around the switch. I am not good with videos so bear with me on the pictures.
Step 1:
I used a piece of goat skin leather from Tandy. I cut it 2 ½ wide and just under 5 long. The width is up to you but the length should be pretty close to this though you may need to adjust it depending on the thickness of leather you use. Cut long and trim as needed. I then made my tool for cutting a perfect hole. I used a piece of ½ copper pipe and cut it with a tube cutter (pictured left) to get a perfect cut. I then used a pencil reamer (pictured right) to ream the inside of the pipe to a very sharp edge.
Step 2:
I used the tool I just made and my wooden mallet to punch my hole. Measure where you need it, in this case it is centered, and set the edge you just sharpened on the leather. Then hit it with the mallet until it has gone through the leather all around. I use an old piece of counter top to do my cutting and stamping on. DO NOT do this on your coffee table as it will leave a nice ½ ring in it.
Step 3:
Next I punched my stitching holes. I used a four hole punch sold by as a hobby shop to do this. Draw lines on the leather where the holes will be , I went 1/8 from the edge, set your tool so the prongs are on the line, and tap it with your mallet. It does not take a lot of force. The tool punches 4 holes at a time. In order to keep your spacing true, put the first prong in the last hole you just punched so after the first time, you will only punch 3 new holes. In the end you must have the same number of holes on each side and they must line up and be spaced correctly.
Step 4:
Do whatever dyeing, stamping, or carving you want to at this point. I just made a few lines on the edge and dyed it russet. Now is the stitching. You need thread, a needle or two, and tape (and of course a saber)
Step 5:
Pop the leather over the switch. The hole we made in step 2 should be a little smaller than the switch body but that is ok, the leather will stretch and mold itself to the switch guard.
Step 6:
Make a loop with the thread. A big loop. Tape the looped end near the emitter, past the edge of the leather. On the other end, tape the short end of the thread to the hilt. Leave the long end free and put the needle on it. Keep an eye on these loops as you stitch because it is easy to pull too tight and pull them out of the tape without noticing.
Step 7:
Pull the edges of the leather together and get ready to stitch. Put the needle through one of the end hole from underneath and pull it topside.
Step 8:
Then bring the thread straight across and put the need through the matching hole on the other side going from the top down. As the needle goes through the hole, angle it to the next hole on the other side from underneath. Look at my low tech drawing for a better idea. The blue parts are on top of the leather, the red parts will be underneath and not seen. You may have to play around to get the hang of it.
Step 9:
When you get to the emitter end and you have made your last stitch, pull the thread through to the under side and THEN, go through the loop we made in step 6. Now comes the trick to it all.
Step 10:
Gently pull on the free end towards the pommel end where we started. This will pull the loop on the other end under the wrap and capture the end of the thread that had the needle on it. Here is another low tech drawing of how the loop looks under the leather.
Step 11:
Once you have the loop about centered under the leather (you need to guess as you cannot see it), clip the ends of the thread. NOTE, there is no knot that holds all of this together. It is all held together by the interlocking loops pulled under the wrap. I have never had one of these come undone.
Step 12:
Enjoy and show off your saber. If you have further questions, feel free to ask on the forum or PM me. If you cant figure it out, send your saber to me along with a six pack and I will do it for you.