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I've got a couple milsurp M-2 fighting knives - both are Camilus manufacture. One is my garage knife - for when you need something beefy out in the garage or yard. Well the leather rings on the grip have shrunk and become brittle, and one distingrated so it's patched up with jute winding filler and a couple duct tape strips to fasten it all back down.

I know they make replacement grip kits, but they're pretty crude and you have to do all the shaping, smoothing, sanding and tooling work yourself. Basically it looks like they provide uniform circular disks that you shape after breaking the knife down, stacking them on the tang and re-pinning the hilt. Looks like a labor of love.

Has anyone here attempted this or seen it done to where they have some pointers? I think I'd be willing to pay to have this done by someone with the right skills - assuming the service exists. Any help or direction appreciated.

Quack

I've got a couple milsurp M-2 fighting knives - both are Camilus manufacture. One is my garage knife - for when you need something beefy out in the garage or yard. Well the leather rings on the grip have shrunk and become brittle, and one distingrated so it's patched up with jute winding filler and a couple duct tape strips to fasten it all back down. I know they make replacement grip kits, but they're pretty crude and you have to do all the shaping, smoothing, sanding and tooling work yourself. Basically it looks like they provide uniform circular disks that you shape after breaking the knife down, stacking them on the tang and re-pinning the hilt. Looks like a labor of love. Has anyone here attempted this or seen it done to where they have some pointers? I think I'd be willing to pay to have this done by someone with the right skills - assuming the service exists. Any help or direction appreciated. Quack
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[–] • 1 pt

Ok I won’t be snarky.

From my experience the trick is wet. When I made pocket holsters for my keltec p32 with a j hook I hated all of them so made my own.

I personally used 91% alcohol to wet the leather then nailed the leather to a piece of plywood, then formed by hand. I used alcohol so it would not rust the weapon.

For many things you can just use water, but for a knife I’d consider alcohol also.

My option is “tightness” is not as important as consistent tight wraps. Get it wrapped “tight enough” under pulle/tie the last bit, the saturate in alcohol. The leather will shrink and then get much tighter.

Is not cut my own leather unless you have that device that cuts perfect strips.

Tandy leather still has some stores around (love them) and you can just buy it in strips like shoe laces.

I also might consider horse hide, my final pocket holsters was that. The molded side was skin side, then a flat horse hide no pronounced stitching and smooth so it just looked like a smooth pocket.