How to Make a Rope Grip For Your Sword or Shield

I know that you have been on the field and seen that friend who either knows how to make a really nice rope grip or purchased a professionally made weapon that has one. Many people love this style of grip. It fits comfortably in the hand, offers a fair amount of shock cushioning, wicks off some of the sweat from you hand, and it looks very sharp.

Today I am going to show you two simple methods to not only wrap your handle in rope but to do it in such a way that it won't come loose on you after the first couple of uses. The first thing that you are going to need is some supplies. For demonstration purposes I am going to do my wraps on this piece of wooden dowel rod. It is probably a good idea to do this yourself for practice purposes until you are comfortable with the technique. Note: If you plan to use method one then you need to use a rope small enough to feed through a drinking straw.

Method 1: This method is a little tricky to master. It can be done without an adhesive but for best result a basic white adhesive like Elmer's Glue or Aleene's Original Tacky Glue works just fine. First I like to tie a clove hitch on the handle and I tape one leg into place like this. I then spread my adhesive all over the wrap area.

The next step is a trick I like to use. If you try to simply wrap the surface then you will end up with a twisted mess like this.

To avoid making a twisted mess I use an ordinary drinking straw like this.

Make your wraps loose because you do not want to crush the drinking straw. You are going to need to be able to feed the rope through it. Once you have the handle surface completely wrapped do just that; feed the end of the rope through the straw then pull the straw out with the rope. This is now the pull string that you will use to pull your wrap tight.

The tricky part of this is that you will have to keep working the loops tighter and tighter as you pull the slack through with the pull string. Once you have your handle wrapped down tight trim off the excess with a pair of scissors. If you are using a nylon or plastic rope you can keep the ends from fraying by melting it with a lighter. Put the weapon up for a few hours to allow the adhesive to dry and you should now have a handle that will last you for a long time.

Method 2: This method is a little simpler. It involves the use of double sided carpet tape. I have the E-Z carpet seam tape here and it is an incredibly strong. Start by cutting a length to cover your handle then pull off one side of the non stick paper. Wrap it around your handle.

Now what I like to do first is to secure one end down with a little electrical tape. Then you tightly wrap the rope around the double sided tape. When I get the tape off on the other end I again secure that end with a little electrical tape. Then I trim it off with some scissors and you have a very simple and functional rope handle that should last for a very long time without coming loose on you.

I hope that you found this article helpful and I hope to see you out on the field.

stay tuned for the next episode of The Bald Foot Curse coming soon to DA Guardian.

Thorne the Mercenary