Saber Aesthetics

[Symbiant]

Browsing so many pages upon pages of custom builds i find sabers of the simplest design to some crafted beyond true duplication. Using leather wraps to rubber grips rustic values and clean room white glove tested aesthetics. my question is for all the experienced builders is where you get supplies such as leather wrapping. i notice some of it almost looks like hockey tape. the yoda saber has such a clean rubber on the bottom of the hilt. where do you find these types of supplies? Is there a supply online? I search eBay and find some things but most of the leather i find is way too thick and probably stiff.

[Silver Serpent]

I think Tandy Leather is a fairly commonly used leather supplier online. I'm sure there are others, but that's one I've heard mentioned a lot.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Most "add-on" items are stuff that people find (more like accidentally stumble across) during their travels and say "Hey! That would be cool to add to... "

[Symbiant]

thank you, i'll have to check out that leather site

[the Director]

HobbyLobby is a huge craft type store with tons of stuff that could be used in building or detailing a saber. They sell a lot of different types of leather strips as well.

[dgregory]

I go to the flea market and always bring a pair of calipers.

[Symbiant]

^^^nice

[Symbiant]

Has anyone used bicycle handle bar wrap before?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Has anyone used bicycle handle bar wrap before?

I believe something like that has been used before.

[Symbiant]

I believe something like that has been used before.

yeah i'm looking at it. looks perfect. saw a decent tutorial as well on youtube for wrapping leather. looks amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I53JFcpEq4

[FenderBender]

I buy whole lamb hides on eBay. I usually find the ones suitable for glove leather then I cut either strips or panels for wrapping out of the hide. It's cheaper this way and you get a lot of material to work with. For rubber, either cording or sheets etc, I get from Mcmastercarr.com You can lose a whole day shopping at that site, so be careful ;)

[A Pieroway]

Like this (a ribbed rubber tube. I can't imagine what it is meant for), which I found on the road as I crossed the street in the -34 Celsius weather this morning on the way to work. I'm sure it'll end up on some saber eventually as a nice grip.
al
9505

[MrCafe]

All the leather wraps I have done are ether leather from a supply store here in my city or recover leather from coats at the thrift store mostly.

[Symbiant]

thanx man!! bookmarked. found the lamb skin

[Symbiant]

Anyone order switched off of ebay? see some for cheap but they're 12v

[Arryck Corso]

I also get my leather from ebay as well. I buy all my stuff from a guy in Minnesota. Most leather is sold in thickness measured in ounces. 1oz = 0.016" 2oz = 0.032".....so on and so forth. So 9 oz leather would be approximately 0.144" thick. I prefer to use the 2oz-3oz leather is this isn't so thin as to make it feel flimsy but just thick enough to make comfortable grips. But mostly it's a lot of searching and trial and error. That's how I've done it anyways.

[Sevinzol]

I found this video a while back.
How to braid 8 strands around a core - Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfFM_NJzg-g)
I thought it would be cool to do on a staff or sword handle and could just as easily be done for a saber hilt.
I think its how they covered Gimli's axe handle in LotR.

[ARKM]

McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/) is a great site for adhesive backed rubber. You can get it in different thicknesses, smooth or textured.

[Symbiant]

McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/) is a great site for adhesive backed rubber. You can get it in different thicknesses, smooth or textured.

Someone else posted this. Looks like a great shop. I'll have to spend more time browsing in there. We have a few electronics depots here I think a lot of people would go nuts for

Sayal and Active Surplus

Link

http://www.sayal.com