leather longbow grip

[jbpharmd]

My longbow has a locator grip and I wanted to sew on a leather grip using some artificial sinew and some scrap leather I had lying around. How do I stretch the leather to fit the locator grip of the bow? I would assume I have to soak it in water. Any suggestions on how long it would need to soak and how to get it to shape to the grip? Would I have to sew it and re-tighten my thread once it stretches to fit the shape?  
Has anyone done this before and can run step-by-step through their process?

[Butch Speer]

There was a pretty good write up in the how-to section.

[Gdpolk]

I did my grip at home with some left over elkskin.  All in all it took about an hour including sewing.

1) I started by wrapping the grip in plastic food film/saran wrap.  Then I taped over the grip with masking tape.  
2) Cut the tape up the middle carefully to make a straight line.  then trim to have edges fit where you need them.  This will make your rough fit pattern.
3) Cut a patch of garment grade leather slightly larger than the pattern in all directions and with about an inch of overlap at what will become the seam.
4) barge cement bow grip and back of leather
5) pull leather TIGHT around bow grip and clamp with copious amounts of binder clips at the front seam area.  Keep pressure around all the areas that need to lay tight and wait for cement to dry.
6) trim away excess to match contours of shelf, base of grip, etc
7) Trim away the seam area to fit flush
8) pull back leather ever so slightly from seam area to allow for stitching
9) stitch it shut for a seamless finished look
10) clean up runoff cement carefully with exacto knife and tweezers.

   
   

[Yewbender]

Nice job on the leather grip!

You can also add a step to the above directions and soak the leather in warm to hot water which will allow it to shrink when it dries making for a tighter fit.

[jbpharmd]

Thanks!! That really helps.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey Jacob... Getting the right type of leather the right thickness makes a world of difference in how easy it stretches. Some of the elk and dear skins i've used stretched a lot. I like to use spring clamps and stretch it to fit the belly of the dished or locator style grip real well, and overlap the back dry.... Then i mark the center top and bottom on both layers and cut them about an 1/8" short. this allows me to tighten up the stitching a bit and pull the seam together perfectly..... i also use barge cement, or contact cement works well too.

It takes a little practice to get them looking nice, but after you've done a few, you can do the job in less than an hour.


Wetting down leather can cause a lot of problems unless you work with it all the time. You can't use cement on wet leather,  when it starts drying and shrinking you never know how much its going to shrink.

[Jock Whisky]

I cut a piece of leather slightly oversized to what I would want. I soaked it in water overnite, and then wrapped it around the handle as tight as I could get it, making sure the ends overlapped where I would stitch it. I then wrapped the whole thing with 1/4" dia cord to hold it to the shape I wanted. After it had dried, I removed the cord, contact cemented the leather to the handle,  carefully cut away excess leather with a utility knife and cut thru both layers of leather at the overlap. Punch s few holes, sew it up and you're on your way.